When do special circumstances click in and make acceptable kinds of behaviour which ordinarily would be plain bad, asks John Armstrong.
Greenhouse pollution
Why global greenhouse targets are in Australia’s national interest
Prime Minister Rudd’s address yesterday to the United Nations was remarkable both for the repeated and deserved applause for Australia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, but also for the candid way in which he declared that the costs of inaction would be far worse than the costs of action - for Australia and for the world. It was a stark reminder that action on climate change is in Australia’s national interest, writes John Connor.
2020: what global warming did next
Lets imagine it’s 2020 in a warmer world. The future is not as bleak as we once feared it might be. Global greenhouse emissions peaked five years ago in 2015. The world has weathered the worst point in tackling the climate change problem. Now unprecedented cooperation between nations, rich and poor, continues to reduce greenhouse pollution each year.
Memo: to the next environment minister
The science is in. We cannot delay any longer. Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, so Australia has a seat at the table of international climate negotiations, is a vital first step. We have been laggards, not leaders, for far too long, writes Don Henry, executive director of the ACF.
