Page 160 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 December 2008
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So climate change is clearly a solvable problem. We need to choose to solve it. And one of the positive things about the ACT election is that it seems that a lot of people share the same view. We need to solve the problem. We need to act to do it now and we can do it now. I believe that climate change is one of the major reasons for the Greens’ electoral success.
All over the world people seem to be saying they want to stop climate change. In the lead-up to the Poznan, Poland, conference on climate change, which is currently in progress, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia, Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark, said:
At Poznan, environment and climate ministers will meet for the first time to chart out a long-term vision of cooperative action. … We need an agreed institutional architecture, a serious commitment to an Adaptation Fund and, above all, a willingness of both developing and developed nations to do their part.
That is a pretty diverse and powerful group of men saying, “Do something now.” We need to act globally and locally to address climate change. And I have always believed in the slogan “think globally and act locally”. And, locally, Canberra can change.
We can build houses that work in this climate. We can fix our existing houses so they too suit the climate. We can do the same for our commercial buildings—build new ones well and fix up our existing stock. We can change our transport system to use human power, walking, and bikes for shorter distances. This can be linked to high quality public transport. Cars will no longer dominate Canberra. We can transform our suburbs into communities, not dormitories. This will work well as a more local human-based transport system. And research indicates we will probably be happier and live longer in more connected communities.
We can provide appropriate housing for all the residents of Canberra. We can generate our own energy using the sun. We can empower our communities to become more sustainable. We can assist our business community to invest in the opportunities for a more sustainable economy. We can encourage our biggest employer, the commonwealth government, to become more sustainable. Many of these changes can be brought about through the planning system, so I am very enthusiastic about my new role as the Greens planning spokesperson. The business community will be a key to transforming Canberra and, as it is where I have experience again, I am looking forward to being the Greens business and economic development spokesperson. The other areas that I am spokesperson for—territory and municipal services, arts and Indigenous affairs—are also all vital to a sustainable Canberra.
One of my hopes is that as we change to avert climate change we can change in ways that will make us more sustainable in all senses of the word: socially, environmentally and economically. There is much research to show that once a reasonable standard of living is reached societies do not become happier by becoming more materially wealthy.
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