From Spring into Summer, catastrophic bush fires have swept the Australian landscape. Some parts of Australia have been ravaged by droughts for up to 7 years, so the effects of the fires were monstrous and unheard of. The toll at least, 29 people dead , 5900 buildings destroyed, with more than 10 million hectares of forest burnt sterile and billions of dead animals.
Against another year of record temperatures, and in a decade of higher record temperatures both on land and sea; this is the rolling storm of global climate change that scientists have warned of for over 30 years.
Science is not a dogma or set of opinions, it is a way of observing phenomena, describing, measuring, seeking to discover cause and effects and endlessly testing to seek truth. From these discovered truths other scientists seek to harness the knowledge to benefit humanity, identify the problems and to mitigate against the bad effects.
International scientific and political forums have sought to work towards solutions. They have identified that burning fossil fuels -coal, oil and gas and the subsequent release of carbon dioxide as the prime cause of global climate change. Many developing countries will suffer the greatest effects from global warming whilst having contributed least to its cause. The world knows that it is wealthy western nations that have done most of the damage through their heavy fossil fuel consumption.
Large corporations that own and control fossil fuels have fought tooth and nail to stop any limits on fossil fuel use and against action to keep carbon dioxide to a (relatively) safe percentage of 1.5% in the atmosphere. Pressure on governments , massive funding of campaigns, subtle and not so subtle arm twisting behind the scenes as well as suppressing the new technologies like solar ,wind and hydrogen that would replace them; are all part of their armoury .
Global climate change is the cause of Australia’s recent record droughts. When experts at the CSIRO spoke out, they were silenced and sacked. Eminent scientists at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology were ridiculed and put on notice by LNP government members and shock jocks in the employ of the fossil fuel interests – the mining industry and their financiers. The scientists have predicted lower rainfalls and higher temperatures in locations across Australia. To counter this, PM “Smoko” Morrison mocked people’s concerns and waved a piece of coal provided by the Mining Council during parliament. Other climate denier clowns like Barnaby Joyce, Herman Abetz , P. Dutton and Craig Kelly are also on parade spruiking for their fossil fuel masters .
Their role is to protect the profits of these U.S. , British , Japanese , Swiss and Korean mining companies – Anglo American, Peabody, Rio Tinto , Mitsui, Mitsubishi Industries and Xstrata to mention a few. And then there are the oil and gas companies – Exxon Shell, Chevron. These corporations are fighting to maintain their hold on the energy sources and the profits that they generate. Like all forms of imperialist transations, the taxes and royalties are paltry and the profits are immense; flowing out via tax havens to head offices in Wall St , London, Tokyo and Zurich.
But after months of destruction and Australian government inaction the Australian people are angry. Angry at the loss of lives, of property and of our precious forests with the abundant life within. Angry at the feeling of hopelessness as multinationals plunder the resources of Australia and contribute to the global climate change.
At the same time, we must remember those Australian who work in the coal mining industry- 37,000 by all counts. To the mining companies they are expendable, considering the death toll of workers in mines. If the coal mining industry were to be shut down these people would be thrown on the scrap heap just like the 100,000 people in the car industry by the Abbot LNP government. A real peoples’ government would provide paid retraining, new jobs and paid retirement for older workers and this this would come from the profits of those mining giants that profited from their employment. There would be remediation and re-vegetation of the denuded landscapes.
At the Sydney Climate Rally on January 10, there was a rallying chant –
What do we want ? Stop climate change! When do we want it? Now! How will we get it? Fight for it !
If you don’t fight you lose. The peoples’ anger reflected in climate rallies across Australia reflects the recognition of necessity. We have to take action. We need to take control of Australia out of the hands of the clowns who serve interests other than that of the Australian people.
The first steps have been taken. Unity from the regions to the city and from north to south. The unity must cherish and include the indigenous voices. We are the people.
