Aslan Shand, acting editor
While the world is literally melting before our eyes – for once I can genuinely say ‘literally’ – major organisations from the UN to the Australian Post, not to mention scientists across the board, are sounding the alarm on the climate catastrophe.
In the meantime it appears that Australia remains mired in the juvenile, misogynistic, bullying antics of the likes of Alan Jones. Add to this the disturbing argument, apparently put forward on your behalf and mine as taxpayers, by the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance that, as Australia accounts for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions and our Pacific neighbours for even less, then helping our neighbours and addressing our own contribution to climate change ‘will do virtually nothing’.
Well, that’s the spirit! Let’s all start selling drugs to children, hey? I mean, if someone else is going to do it it may as well be us? Right?
We are in a climate crisis and if we don’t start to look at how we function as a global civilisation then we are going to be in serious trouble
Well, no. We are in a climate crisis and if we don’t start to look at how we function as a global civilisation then we are going to be in serious trouble.
Currently, we base our success on a constantly growing GDP (Gross Domestic Product). That means that as long as the population continues to grow and people buy more stuff then we are good. Our economy continues to grow, we are a success and we don’t move into recession or, even worse, depression. That’s why governments have been keeping interest rates low and are talking about increasing spending on infrastructure – to keep the money flowing and you and me buying more stuff.
The massive, overwhelming problem with this (we could call it a tsunami) is that the increasing number of humans, along with the continuing drive to consume and ‘buy more stuff’ to keep our economies going, is destroying the planet. The need to feed, clothe, house, and encourage people to spend more on ‘stuff’ is not only emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse gases that are warming up the planet; it is also drying out our water sources, clearing land, and destroying other species at a pace never seen before.
To escape from this death spiral there are real, practical steps that can be taken by each individual and at all levels of government
To escape from this death spiral there are real, practical steps that can be taken by each individual and at all levels of government. Rather than removing the word crisis from the Pacific Islands draft declaration, as our PM did on Thursday, as well as removing references to coal for deep-pocketed mates, our government and PM should be inspiring Australians to embrace the changes needed to stop the temperature rising beyond 1.5 degrees.
In fact this week I’ve been inspired by my youngest son who has stopped collecting ‘ooshies’, plastic dross now handed out free at Woolies to keep the kids encouraging the parents to come back and shop for more. Even he recognises that his choices – each small choice – have an impact. If he can see it, then what is wrong with the likes of ScoMo and his dodgy mates?
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. 
