 So, here we are….. another federal budget has been announced by the Australian Prime Minister & cohorts. In it much talk and debate concerning tax increases - and decreases; taxes (or rather, ‘levies’) on banks, limitations placed on welfare recipients, money (or not!) for schools, less money for universities, farmers’ deals, and so much more – mostly grim news but not altogether too bad.
But, But – not one mention of the word ‘ENVIRONMENT’. No mention of the phrases ‘CLIMATE CHANGE’ or ‘GLOBAL WARMING’. Sorry, but isn’t the future of our planet THE most important matter to be discussed and DEALT WITH by governments right now? As former Greens leader, Bob Brown says: ‘We only have one planet – there is no ‘planet B’. We must save this one – or else the future is too horrible to contemplate. What is wrong with our leaders? Our PM praises the notion of ‘clean coal’ and talks about ‘natural’ gas and the income our country will continue to reap by selling these (dirty & harmful) products. Other current politicians make light of the seriousness of climate change and even throw derogatory comments towards the proliferation of wind turbines and solar farms. Our previous PM, (Tony Abbott) claimed that the ‘moral panic’ about climate change had been ‘completely over the top’ and that he ‘never thought it was the most serious issue faced by Australia’. What? And now we have the US president, the execrable D.Trump, (sorry, I couldn’t stop my fingers from typing in that extra ‘e’ word!) - furthering the notion of his unsuitability to govern by believing that ‘global warming is a scam’ How frightening that people in power are anti-environment, climate-change deniers. In the newspaper, the other day: ‘The decision about the future is also a decision about what kind of democracy you want. As in the US, the Australian mining industry has for decades had a disproportionate amount of power over politicians. It cares about one thing only – not the greater good, but its own perpetuation.’ This leads to a position that can only be called ‘questionable intent’. Can we ever vote OUT these ‘vandals’? I fear that any ‘replacements’ might turn out to be just as bad – or even worse. (Is that possible?) What are they thinking? Why are they not using their knowledge and intelligence to help their countries – and the world - survive? Are they all at the mercy of the money-men, who only have thoughts for themselves and the $$ bottom line? They do see what is happening, of that I’m sure, but still refuse to take heed of what scientists are telling us. Of course they know, it’s just that, as in so many instances, money overrules the real needs of people. AND…money overrules any form of compassion and sensibility towards struggling nations already experiencing the results of climate change. ‘Already, there is less and less of Kiribati for its inhabitants. The coastline is regularly being lost to king tides and to creeping sea levels, and in a very real sense, there is nowhere to go.’ (report in The Guardian 14/05/2017) Money overrules the knowledge that the children and grandchildren of (yes, even) these politicians may well suffer greatly from the effects of the wrong decisions of the current world leaders. And still they ignore the facts. Sadly our money obsessed political leaders are not budging from their constant pandering to big coal and ‘natural’ gas (read, big money/ big political donors) ‘mates’. The stink of corruption is starting to be strong The only hopeful news: Thankfully wind farms and solar farms (not to mention individual use of solar power) are growing. Investors have ‘seen the light’ and are putting money into renewable energy ventures. It's abut time the politicians followed. *** A timely reminder (popped through on my Twitter feed, just now): "People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change." says Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
