Colin Clarke, Ocean Shores.
The sight of little children cheering on the Stop Adani Mine on the front page of last week’s Echo is truly nauseating.
In the process of brainwashing and manipulating their children I am sure those parents have not discussed the deaths of over one million Indian children each year through the ingestion of polluted air in their homes from cooking and heating fires. http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health
That the Adani coal is to be shipped to India to fuel new power plants to provide electrical power to those in need is of no interest to these parents. That children cannot attend school as they are needed to search for twigs and animal dung to fuel their home fires, who cares, they are going to die anyway.
That if Australia does not provide the coal it will be sourced elsewhere? So what, this is all about feeling good about ourselves and caring less for others.
But wait I forgot, the Green movement who initiates these protests believe the world is overpopulated so isn’t it good that a million little Indian children die each year to help keep the population increase down.
Go outside and play with your new signs kiddies and leave Mummy and Daddy to feel so good about their first world selves.
A good note of caution Colin. Many young first world people have little idea what a difference electricty makes to people’s live, reducing risks from fire and home and street accidents in the dark, extended hours of study and lesuire, connectivity , fans in summer, fridges and many other safety and comfort improvements. My mother had to study using a spirit lamp before the war near Conding and had no romantic regrets about its replacement by electricty.
A point well made Colin and lacking in any discussion surrounding this project. From the manufactured Traditional Owners group to the ludicrous claims about water consumption and workers flown in from India, Adani has borne the brunt of a malicious campaign. About two thirds of India’s population relies on biomass for cooking and heating, and no, solar systems that perk up a 40 watt bulb for a few hours a night are not what they need to work their way out of such despair.
Gary Doggett is a pen name for a Qld Mining Executive.
Dear Colin & Greg please spare me your vitriolic ideological moralising. Adani are not altruistic heroes. Adani is not doing this as a public service to the millions of poor starving Indian children, nor will Adani’s plans be the panacea for their ills. As for malicious campaign? ABC Four Corners clearly demonstrated Adani’s track record of corruption, environmental destruction and illegal tax avoidance, and that not only have they been ruthlessly exploitative of their poor and starving countrymen, but their sole motivation is massive short-term profits squirrelled illegally in tax havens. For this proposal alone, they have repeatedly been exposed for the numerous occasions where they lied and misrepresented figures about job creation, extent of local employment, water usage requirements and level of indigenous consultation.
Under every objective measure Adani’s plans are not good for the reef, the global climate, existing Australian coal-industry jobs, nor Australia’s future economic prosperity as we attempt to transition away from a coal-based economy. The only benefits to Queensland economy will be through coal royalties, not net job creation.
Adani would have a more immediate and greater impact on those poor starving millions if they turned their efforts and attention to provision of education and cheap solar power. Likewise, Adani’s plans ignore the facts that India is the world’s fastest-growing solar technology market, solar the most affordable energy technology for poor starving Indians, and the only coal-fired power stations recently built or currently planned are those in Germany and Japan to replace nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster.
No one has suggested that Adani is an altruistic hero – it is a commercial for profit company. Colin simply points out that the coal is needed to fuel power in India and that is an important of overcoming poverty there (at no point does he refer to starvation). It is Adani’s commercial decision what business it is in and in respect of power, what power generation it invests in. Plainly it believes it is better at power generation than providing for profit education opportunities, and that a fast growing demand for power requires both coal and solar .
Any concerns for the reef and the Australian environment, and our tax or labour concerns should be addressed directly through QLD and Commonwealth laws and monitoring agencies, not by placing unrealistic expectations on a commercial company to act as public benefit organisation. .