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| A storm in a teacup, perhaps? |
paraclete |
10/31/06 |
World 'furious' over Aussie climate inaction
October 31, 2006 10:16am
Article from: AAP
THE rest of the world was furious at Australia's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the Greens said today.
A major report released in Britain overnight warns of economic and climatic disaster if urgent action is not taken to tackle global warming.
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change said action now would save about $US2.5 trillion ($3.25 trillion) compared with doing nothing, and would help avert catastrophe.
The report's author, British government Economic Service head and former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern, said the Kyoto Protocol should be seen as a first step towards global emissions trading.
However, the federal Government says there is no need for Australia to sign the protocol.
Greens senator Christine Milne said this worried the global community.
"The rest of the world community is, in fact, privately furious and despairing about Australia," Senator Milne said.
She said the Government just didn't understand the ramifications of global warming.
"When you come to climate change in the last five minutes as the Howard Government has done, I guess it is pretty difficult to absorb what those of us who have been studying for 20 years understand."
"It means the Great Barrier Reef dead; it means huge desert areas across the world, including expanded deserts in Australia; it's a massive sea level rise," she said.
Senator Milne said Sir Nicholas wanted to give Australia room to change its position on climate change.
"What Sir Nicholas Stern is doing is trying to create the space for Australia to change its position without losing face," she said.
But Australia had been given too much space already.
"What Sir Nicholas Stern doesn't understand is that appeasing Australia just encourages bad behaviour."
Greens leader Bob Brown it was a disgrace that Australia was not acting on climate change.
"Australia should be leading the world on climate change technology - we've got the best solar powered technology in the world. But it's all being exported to China and to Germany and elsewhere because this Government won't get behind it."
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Now I would have thought that if we have the technology and we were exporting it to the real polluters, this was a good thing, but appearently not. I think we are expected to turn the country into one vast solar cell, but who will turn the lights on at sundown?
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