"Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."
R.E.M.'s 'It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)' from their 1987 album 'Document'.
On Saturday 17th November, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Fourth Assessment Report. The Synthesis Report outlines the "abrupt or irreversable" impacts of anthropogenic warming and reveals a bleak future for our planet if immediate action is not taken.
According to the report, approximately 20 -30 % of species are likely to be at an increased risk of extinction if increases in global average warming exceed 1.5 - 2.5 degrees celsius (relative to 1980 - 1999). Partial loss of ice sheets on polar land could imply metres of sea level rise, major changes in coastlines and inundation of low-lying areas, with greatest effects in river deltas and low-lying islands. Impacts of large-scale and persistent changes in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the Atlantic Ocean are likely to include changes in marine ecosystem productivity, fisheries, ocean CO2 uptake, oceanic oxygen concentrations and terrestrial vegetation.
The report finds that in Australia, by 2020, significant loss of biodiversity is projected to occur in the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland Wet Tropics. By 2030, water security problems are projected to intensify in southern and eastern Australia, and production from agriculture and forestry is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia due to increased drought and fire. By 2050, ongoing coastal development and population growth in some areas are projected to exacerbate risks from sea level rise, and increases in the severity and frequency of storms and coastal flooding.
A table outlines adaptation and mitigation strategies that could be implemented as they relate to sectors such as the tourism and agricultural industries, and infrastructure (water, health and transport), along with the attendant "constraints" or "opportunities". For example, with a sector such as energy supply, the IPCC suggests the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies, along with taxes or carbon charges on fossil fuels, plus "feed-in tariffs for renewable energy technologies", renewable energy obligations and producer subsidies. Yet the report acknowledges that "resistance by vested interests" may make these policies "difficult to implement".
The "Climate Change Coalition" is running candidates in this election. This new environment-conscious party believes that subsidies which promote emissions should be eliminated - eg Fringe Benefit Tax concessions for corporate vehicle use which encourage extra driving, hence extra fuel usage and emissions, subsidies to coal-fired power stations and concessional excise for aviational fuels etc.
This unique party is made up of a diverse group of individuals from around Australia. Broadcaster and scientist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and writer and media presenter Patrice Newell are running for the senate in NSW, and are the most well known candidates. Climate Change Coalition supporters include actress Rachel Ward, comedian and writer Wendy Harmer and broadcaster Phillip Adams. The Queensland Senate candidates are Civil Engineer Steve Posselt, who recently completed a kayaking odyssey from Brisbane to Adelaide to make a statement about the urgent need for climate change action, and Phil Johnson, who has a research and business background in the health sector.
The Climate Change Coalition candidate for Hunter in NSW, John Harvey, recently said:
"Climate change is not Liberal or Labor, Greens or Shooters Party, Christian Democrats or Secular Party. Climate change is the greatest crisis we have ever been faced with - it is not only an issue of politics, it is a concern that affects everyone on our planet.
"Electing a Climate Change Coalition candidate into the Senate will mean that every person who is concerned with climate change, no matter what their political allegiance, can be represented."
As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon said of climate change: "It's the defining challenge of our age".
So, this Saturday when you're filling out the ballot papers in the polling booth, take your time, and vote below the line. But make sure that you follow the instructions and number every single box or else your vote goes straight down the memory hole!
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