Page 3333 - Week 09 - Thursday, 22 August 2019
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In the ACT, 2018 was the hottest year on record. We had the hottest summer on record over 2018 and 2019. Several of the months this year have already been the hottest on record.
Our ability to respond to climate change directly relates to our ability to continue having a planet that is livable in the future. The environmental, social, health and economic costs of runaway climate change are extreme and catastrophic.
I can understand why, when faced with these predictions, young people might start thinking: “Why am I even going to school? I need to get out there and help change the direction of this ship, otherwise we will not even have a future.” I have heard young people express those views. Students are acutely aware of the urgent time pressure. It is a climate emergency.
The science has determined a remaining carbon budget, and if we emit more than this budget we are essentially throwing away the hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees or less, or to two degrees or less. Those are key numbers that have significant impacts for the world. On 1 January 2018, the carbon budget that would give a two-thirds chance of staying below two degrees was 1,170 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions. That number is lower every single day.
Members may be interested to know that the coal burned from Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine, which is starting to be constructed in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, will itself use up 0.5 per cent of the entire global two degrees carbon budget—one single coal mine in Queensland.
Meanwhile, people like the Prime Minister are essentially telling concerned students to butt out. He tells them to stay out of politics, stay at school and everything will be fine. It is hard to swallow that when the government’s approach to climate change is so obviously out of step with what the science demands and when many of their pronouncements are patently false.
As an example, the claim that Australia “will meet its Paris targets in a canter” has been rebuffed by a range of leading economists, climate scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The recent IPCC report said that Australia’s emissions on current trend are projected to remain at high levels rather than reducing in line with the 2030 target.
The students know this. They are not stupid. Good on them for learning about climate change, learning about the science and about the solutions and demanding that governments take action. The students are already receiving a good education if they understand climate change and the actions that are needed to combat it, and they are willing to sacrifice their time and energy to make sure that there is action.
They may be missing a day of school but they are already smarter than many of our supposed adult leaders. Maybe it is the climate change denying and apathetic politicians that in fact need to go back to school. The ACT Greens put on the record our support for these students. They are admirable young leaders who are taking this action because they care; they care about the future, about people and about the planet.
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