We are so far behind
With a population of 80 million and massive heavy industry, Germany still has considerable coal reserves. Yet they recently hit 85 per cent energy from renewables. Why? Because they are well-educated, well-organised and financially astute. They also understand the importance of clean water and clean air to food production, health and the environment. And they understand the importance of fairness and equitable living costs for the entire population. Meanwhile, our leaders are campaigning for fracking and coal mining, exporting our gas to other nations yet our gas and energy prices continue to soar.
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So exactly who, is reaping any benefit from this?
Australian politicians are backing a dead horse. Their ignorance and conformity are an embarrassment. Major institutions and governments the world over are divesting from coal and fossil fuels. Stock prices are falling. Insurance companies are factoring in climate disasters. It took 8 billion years for the surface of the earth to become habitable for mammals, 8 billion years for all those gases and plant materials to be locked into the earth’s surface. Within 200 years we are releasing them back into the atmosphere.
Neither we, nor our leaders, can continue to plead ignorance. We have a responsibility to those who live after us.
Maggie Morgan, Northcote, formerly of Albury
The problem with surveys
Phil Haines should have been more certain of his facts before launching his sanctimonious attack on Coalition MPs (The Border Mail, July 18).
Federal members were not asked “to agree to new ethical standards” as he claims. Instead, they were requested to complete a survey. The problem is that the “survey” was circulated and promoted by the Australia Institute which is a left-wing think tank associated with the ALP and headed up by a former Greens senior operative.
In my 30 years in Parliament, I seldom filled in a survey even though I received plenty from pressure groups such as Right to Life, animal welfare advocates and green activists. My experience was that, almost invariably, my answers would be misrepresented and used against me especially if the questions were of the yes/no variety with no opportunity for nuance.
If Phil Haines is so keen on ethical behaviour, he should have disclosed that he is a major cog in Cathy McGowan’s Indi campaign machine instead of masquerading as some innocent abroad as pure as the driven snow.
Bill Baxter, Norong
Meat-free challenge
A new study has found that there are four things we, as individuals, can do to combat climate change: have less (or no) children, ditch our cars, avoid air travel and move to a plant-based diet. The report says that other tactics such as recycling, using your own shopping bags, changing your light bulbs to energy efficient varieties and doing your laundry in cold water garnered almost tokenistic results by comparison.
Now, most of us only decide on procreation once or twice in a lifetime; we might buy a car every few years, and we may fly a handful of times a year. But we make decisions on our eating habits three times a day (sometimes more), and that is an empowering thought.
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, it takes up to 10 kilograms of grain to produce just one kilogram of meat, while more than 90 per cent of all Amazon rainforest land cleared since 1970 is being used for grazing livestock.
The Worldwatch Institute reports that a staggering 51 per cent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Try going veg for your next meal. You'll not only reduce your carbon footprint, but you'll improve your health and help save animals from horrific deaths.
