There has been an almost universal failure of democratic governments to act decisively on climate change across the earth over the last 30 years. The reality of the climate emergency has materialised as extreme weather events now frequently occur around the world. Last year was the hottest since records began, and included many extreme weather events highlighted by floods in Spain and more recently by the winter fires in Los Angeles. Governments and big business have been aware of this for at least 60 years. The CSIRO has been measuring the main greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere since 1977 and at Mauna Loa in Hawaii it has been measured since 1957.
Against this the fossil fuel lobby, assisted by a complicit media, have opposed any meaningful action on climate and managed to delay decisive action for decades. In an 2014 election speech I warned of worst-case climate change scenarios and of the criminal actions of the Murdoch media. In this speech I recycled a quote I had made a further ten years earlier – that is 2004. This stated:
“The political power of the oil and coal industries is far, far greater than that of the tobacco lobby. Currently they have the most senior politician of the most powerful country (on earth) in their pocket (George Bush)… They have the power to delay ameliorating changes almost indefinitely, thus eventually exaggerating the effects of global warming. Perhaps we all should be preparing for a worst-case scenario.”
Twenty years later the political situation is, if anything, worse. The climate denier in chief has been elected again as President of the US – a moron who famously bragged to his followers that climate change ‘was a hoax’. The Republican party has been captured by the fossil fuel lobby, the media (Murdoch) and various plutocrats (Musk, Bezos). The situation is similar in Australia with the climate deniers of the LNP and their plutocrats (Rinehart, Pratt) threatening a return to government – following a 10 year period of failure to act on climate when in government.
This will probably all be in vain. China is currently leading the world in the adoption of solar power and electric vehicles. Soon these products will flood the earth – at least outside the tariff-protected zones of the US and the European Union. Ironically it is the climate actions of a totalitarian regime that may save us from the worst-case scenarios of climate destruction, rather than the so-called democratic countries that have been swamped by lies and misinformation and other propaganda.
In a review of Barry Jones book What is to be done I wrote “Essentially though, Jones is writing about the failure of Australian politics to confront the climate crisis… Jones solutions are many but his emphasis is on a massive political re-engagement by the public in the political process and the main parties. I differ slightly from the author in that I would argue that the most likely path to rapid change comes from outside the main parties.”
I remain hopeful that the Independents and the Greens will capture the balance of power at the approaching Federal election and climate action based on science be given the priority it should always have had in a truly democratic system. Included in this I hope will be big swings in the electorate of Monash.