-
IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Global Warming
- Thread starter Disco08
- Start date
For a start we should be tackling the problems we create, all the emissions we emit and also the emissions we export with our fossil fuel exports. A good place to begin would be to remove all fossil fuel subsidies immediately.
In fact, the above points to one step on the path to making sure other countries don't offset any efforts we might make (at the moment we make no effort, so irrelevant until we do) is to stop fossil fuel exports. Now I know that the objections will be about employment in the fossil fuel mining industries, but those jobs will be gone soon anyway and the companies currently exporting fossil fuels will be the first to make their workforces redundant while governments wring their hands and claim there is nothing to be done.
What this country should be doing is to exploit the massive advantages we have in renewable energy. Clean hydrogen production, wind power, solar, solar collecting, tidal power, wave power etc. A number of Middle Eastern countries have become rich on the back of fossil fuel reserves. Why we are allowing them to get rich while causing damage to the only planet we have is beyond me when we have such advantages in the energy sources of the future.
The reality is also that a lot of the world (Europe and the USA in particular) are looking at tariffs for countries which do not reduce emissions. We will likely face tariffs unless we get our act together and we should be using tariffs against countries like China, India etc if they don't take action. We actually do have some power in this game because we have the resources they require (for the life of me I don't know why we don't respond to China's restrictions on some of our exports with restrictions on what we export to them - imagine if we told them to shove their restrictions on our wine exports and if they don't - no iron ore). We have vast reserves of lithium which will increase in demand as cars move to electric. Of course, if China do what they are promising, and reduce their emissions to zero by 2060 (I know, we can't trust them, but we can't trust any other country either, no reason why they are being more or less truthful than anyone else) then emissions will fall.
The alternative is to watch as temperatures rise, agricultural regions lose viability, more droughts, more extreme bushfires, more extreme temperatures, sea level rise etc. Experimenting with altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the only planet we have is not a good strategy. We are already seeing the impact of climate change with a 1.1C increase in global average temperature, waiting until it gets worse is simply dumb.
DS
Morrison said yesterday Australia would produce emissions projections in Glasgow which show we will "meet and beat" the 2030 commitment to Paris. Is he lying?
The 2030 commitment by Australia is woeful.
Morrison would not so much be lying as fudging - he was forced to walk back on claiming Kyoto credits (even though Australia was actually allowed to increase emission under Kyoto) and I'm sure he would be banking on low targets, fudging the numbers and safe in the knowledge he won't be responsible for anything by 2030 so he doesn't give a f***.
I trust Morrison as much as I trust Xi - not at all.
DS
If Australia meets its commitment then we have the right to tell other countries to STFU.
Yep. Of course he is, still in the pocket of the fossil fuel lobby and the far right of the LNP.
And even our domestic projections exclude the fact we are a massive coal/LNG exporter.
Oh, Morrison will do his best to fudge our figures somehow. But he won't deal with our true emissions footprint - Australia profits - or rather multinational fossil fuel exporters profit - by massively adding to the global CO2 emissions total. Unlike say Norway, most of that money ends up in foreign pockets because we refused to have a realistic mining exports royalties system to build up sovereign national wealth.
Morrison will do whatever it takes to protect global fossil fuel elites.
What commitment would that be?
We have an "policy" to reduce our emissions by 26 to 28% of 2005 levels by 2030 (compared to the UK who have a commitment to reduce their emissions by 78% on 1990 levels by 2035). 1990 emissions are, obviously, a lot lower than 2005 levels and the UK commitment is a far larger reduction.
Then we have, what exactly, some sort of aspiration to eventually, maybe, aim for carbon neutral by 2050?
Given Australia has no commitments does this give China the right to tell us to STFU?
DS
But if China can do what its wants till 2030 its all a farce. They are a massive problem especially impacts to our oceans. Over fishing.
Tariffs hit onto China. Will be interesting to see their reactions. Great points. Love em. Will it happen by Aust, dont think so but wld luv to see it.
Aust is making changes and meeting targets it had agreed to. Next target is 2030. So Aust is doing something. Not worried about anyones assumptions to Aust or what other countries might do.( tariffs) Spectulation that could be wrong.
Import / exports of fossil fuels in / out of a country is all about maximising profits. Creative accounting measures by em. Stopping exports wont happen whe industry is live.
Im all for other renewable power options. Theyre options i saw manyvyrs ago of self generating electric/magnetic power for homes. Units on homes. But tech didnt cont being looked at.
Europe & USA agree issues there but dont believe Aust shld destroy its industries to meet zero emissions when other big nations dont. I would haye to ser those industries end up at countries like China. What a waste and self destruction. Now that is dumb
The island of Sicily in Italy just recorded Europe's highest ever recorded temperature of 48.8 degrees..
The move to renewables will undermine fossil fuel industries whether we like it or not.
Our choice is whether to leverage our massive advantages in renewable energy now and ride the wave, or, potentially miss the boat. We might get away with it anyway and still be able to build an economy based on renewables after other countries do, but I reckon there are huge advantages to acting now and setting ourselves up as a clean energy powerhouse now.
The predictions of more extreme weather are certainly coming true this year, and this is a La Nina year when the overall temperature is not so hot. The temperature records being broken are not just local but regional - highest temperature in Europe, highest temperature in Canada. The signs are there and we ignore them at our peril. Some of the temperature records are ridiculous, over 50 in Canada, that broke the previous record by about 5C.
DS
Our choice is whether to leverage our massive advantages in renewable energy now and ride the wave, or, potentially miss the boat. We might get away with it anyway and still be able to build an economy based on renewables after other countries do, but I reckon there are huge advantages to acting now and setting ourselves up as a clean energy powerhouse now.
The predictions of more extreme weather are certainly coming true this year, and this is a La Nina year when the overall temperature is not so hot. The temperature records being broken are not just local but regional - highest temperature in Europe, highest temperature in Canada. The signs are there and we ignore them at our peril. Some of the temperature records are ridiculous, over 50 in Canada, that broke the previous record by about 5C.
DS
Disagree and pure specualtions.
Amend the China target of do what they want till 2030 then we are having a serious conversation to fix things. Rest is bs.... there lies the big white elephant of all the climate stuff.
Fossil fuels will still be needed in various formats for many years to come. Many posts just bs views on Aust actually meeting their targets. Criticising govt on their targets and those targets being bs is serious bs blind peddling crap by many on this thread.
Transitions away for many fossil fuels will be good but infrastructure and development need to be done first to make it viable and without destroying industry immediately
China already knows about renewable energy and is building heaps of renewable technology for export. We used to be a world leader in this, we've probably missed the boat now. They are also investing bigly in renewables in overseas markets as well as domestically.
China's renewable energy revolution
China is at the center of a global energy transformation, which is being driven by technological change and the falling cost of renewables, write Jonathan Woetzel and Jiang Kejun in <em>Project Syndicate</em>.
Countdown to COP26 | Climate Council
In the run-up to the hugely anticipated conference, we launched a 'Countdown to COP26' mini-series, with each post highlighting the importance of a particular theme that must be discussed at COP26.
climatecouncil.com
Thanks fossil fuels corps and Australian governments for suppressing investment and innovation in these areas! We really are the lucky country eh. In ten years Lee and his denialist mates might finally concede that renewable energy might be a good idea.
