The dire warnings contained in the 2018 report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should make us all sit up and take notice. In stark terms, the IPCC report warns that unless we reduce our greenhouse emissions we will face dire consequences of global warming.
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The peer-reviewed scientific analysis says we will see threats to water resources, food security, infrastructure, with billions of people displaced or adversely affected if we continue on our current trajectory.
The consequences of inaction will impact on us internationally, nationally and locally.
Should average temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees, we can expect to have endure droughts, extended bushfire seasons and summer temperatures marching towards 50 degrees.
Global warming will affect us all so it stands to reason we all have to work together to try to slow it down. Not acting will condemn our children, their children and grandchildren to a life that will be increasingly unendurable.
With that realisation dawning on more and more people – and now backed by the world’s leading climate scientists – the time for talk is now being overtaken by the time for action. That means action from the top all the way down.
While locally, Kiama Municipal Council is hosting a local government climate summit, in Shoalhaven there’s outcry because that council has disbanded two committees, which gave voice to the global issue. Shoalhaven residents are keenly aware of the fragile environment in which they live, an environment prone to fire and flood.
Residents are also aware of the rising costs council faces, costs passed on to ratepayers with increasing regularity. A committee that could find ways for council to wean itself off fossil fuels by, for instance, recommending solar panels be placed on the city’s buildings, seems to make perfect sense but not for the majority of Shoalhaven councillors, who seem intent on keeping their heads in the sand.
With the federal government still fumbling around without a clear climate policy, it’s time for state and local governments to become more vigorous in fighting climate change. Shoalhaven’s shortsighted decision to disband two important committees looks even more hokey in light of the latest IPCC report.
Kiama, on the other hand, seems to be grasping the nettle.