Barnaby should know better
As the heatwave drags on, we are facing the probability this weekend will bring the hottest days on record. On top of that, there is the possibility that the NSW will face blackouts when our need for air conditioning to cope exceeds the power supply.
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The Climate Council last week released a report titled “Cranking up the Intensity: Climate Change and Extreme Weather”. The report finds that the links between heat waves and climate change is well established. Heat waves are getting hotter, longer and occurring more often. Here in the northwest today, we can only agree and hope that our air conditioners keep working.
Burning fossil fuels, such as coal, releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and causes climate change. Yet in federal parliament the Prime Minister was arguing that the way to avoid blackouts in hot weather was to continue to rely on fossil fuelled power stations. Our representative Barnaby Joyce was seen handling a lump of coal as part of the general hilarity of the occasion, he should know better.
Ultimately the electricity blackout problem is result of global warming. So it is insane to argue that to prevent the problem recurring in the longer term is to keep using the stuff (coal) that caused the problem in the first place. The government’s embrace of coal-fired power shows that it has abandoned all pretence of taking climate change seriously.
The heat, that we are all suffering this weekend, is only going to get worse, unless we act on effectively climate change and embrace renewable energy.
Dr Robin Gunning
Tamworth
