The climate change debate, important to most people aspiring to a sustainable future, has reached the pinnacle of achievement for our adversarial democracy; total ideological log-jam.
Over 90 per cent of scientists think it’s important and yet the almighty POTUS is a denier and our current Prime ULP (unprincipled, lying puppet) is ideologically bound to agree. After all this time, the best our political system has managed is a ‘stand around muttering’ ideological standoff.
On second thoughts however, to beat a political system, almost wholly owned by ‘business as usual’ and dedicated to obstructing any change, to a ‘stand around muttering’ ideological standoff was quite an achievement. Well done everyone and we seem to be lining them up for the next bit.
That was the science now here comes the money; superior economics.
Renewable energy infrastructure and electric vehicle costs are approaching, and in some cases exceeding, parity with fossil fuel generation and internal combustion engine vehicle costs and getting cheaper.
It’s an inevitable, unstoppable transition and, due to the rapidly reducing costs, happening a lot faster than most people think. We can probably expect the industry and its puppets to get increasingly dirty and desperate as the fossil fuel age comes to a close.
This energy transition gives support to the notion that sustainable practice is an economically smart thing to do. Applying this to other sectors could result in similar rapid transitions.
The sector most in need of radical reform is the one that dictates how we humans live with each other and our earth; the housing development marketplace.
All the currently available development models, variations on suburbia, are completely unsustainable and we know where that leaves us. We upgrade that sector or we humans don’t upgrade to a sustainable future.
The economic driver is potentially huge. Just as well really.
Robin Harrison, Binna Burra
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
