Letter to Aus government about the need to set a proper target to reduce emissions.

29.01.09
I am sending this to Rudd, Gillard, Garrett and Wong.

I am a student in Environmental Restoration (BSc) at Murdoch University.
While being a Labour and Greens supporter I am disturbed by the lack of action on this governments behalf in terms of climate change.

The recently set ‘goals’ for emissions restrictions were quite pathetic. To have any impact at all these targets need to be closer to 50% reduction by 2020 to try and mitigate the worst of what’s to come for the human race and all living creatures.

It is already too late to prevent a lot of the catastrophic events, according to the IPCC, but if we carry on using coal powered electricity we will have done nothing to reduce the CO2 and methane that this country produces.

There are many green jobs that can be created to replace blue collar jobs that will be lost in the transition to a cleaner future. Manufacturing and installation of renewable energy are just two areas that promise increased employment prospects.

I understand that the cost of electricity will rise through some of the emission reducing measures but I have noticed there is little talk of individuals reducing their consumption through more efficient use of products. Public education could be used to make people more aware of the simple measures we can take to reduce household consumption. Retrofitting homes to be more thermally efficient and solar panels being made cheaply available to rental homes would be two ways to reduce electricity use in lower income families. These two concepts could also create more jobs.

Please listen to the concerned citizens of this great country Australia. The public can try all we might to reduce our personal carbon footprints but unless the government and industry takes action to reduce emission through using less coal and becoming more energy efficient there will be little reduction in dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.
There isn’t time to wait for other countries to act. We need to show the rest of the planet that we are serious about being the change we want to see in the world.

Sincerely,