https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/oth...-shift-to-zero-emissions-–-report/ar-BB164qLf Why is our Liberal government so reluctant to catapult us into the 21st century? Any thoughts? Cheers
Corruption. They are getting paid to keep it as it is - and I did read that that was so but cannot remember the details.
Alexa, those are the same people who said climate change is not man made and doesn't need to be addressed. I am surprised that this subject doesn't attract more forum users. Is the future of our children and grandchildren (in my case) not worth to be discussed? Reg.
Corruption may be part of it, but, I think it's simpler than that. People don't handle change well. Every great invention was dismissed before it caught on. The only way to make this work is for the current system to completely break thus leaving people scrambling for alternate solutions.
I need to apologise that I had not looked at your link, just took it in general. The Australian people,, some of whom I have heard moan at the possible cost of saving the planet are paying it says $4,4bn to subsidise just one mine!!!!!! https://www.theguardian.com/environ...viable-without-44bn-in-subsidies-report-finds One which will as what happened this year is repeated and worse in future years lead to them being burned. Australia is on the edge and by that I mean we in the UK, in Scotland even more have a few more years left than you to get our act together though we do have it already more together than you...and as I said once before it is no longer accepted here for anyone to argue that against man made climate change. The people who do think this now are supposed to be just a very tiny amount. I think it was in connection with the coal that I read hand outs were being given to your Politicians. Other people must have read it as well so it must not bother them. However when we get to your article and look at it and see that the intent is to kill two birds with one stone - give people who have lost their job due to Covid 19, a job with pay, creating an energy system which will be extremely cheap and which will not just save people the money subsidising a system which is going to destroy them, but will offer them the possibility of having a home to offer their children, it is beyond comprehension why they will not be demanding this. All I can think of is that Covid 19 has taken talk about the desperate situation we are in re the climate emergency that somehow or other people have created other priorities and so their energy is not raised to demand this be done. Possibly to make it worse I hear that Morrison was let off all his previous failures and was restored to good esteem by the people of Australia because he dealt well with Covid - certainly at first. What Covid 19 did show us by the amazing difference in air quality people noticed as factories closed, was that we may still have a chance. That we know and as your article says, that there is going to be a recession and this was expected almost everywhere before Covid 19 and could end up being a long possibly a permanent one, we do have now the opportunity to make the changes necessary for our future survival - which will be different to how we have lived before. The opportunity for people made unemployed to get a job, to have an income, while at the same time providing a far cheaper source of energy than they now have, while at the same time working together for the possibility of being able to live in Australia longer than just a few decades, if that is beyond belief. I thought we were called Homo Sapiens. Bye the way I was reading an article some time ago about many not so poor Austr4alians who have already bought homes in other places, quite often the UK so that they can survive - at least for a little longer when Australia lets itself go under. Unbelievable.
Think of the fires you had at the beginning of this year. How bad do you think people need to let it go. Sadly the climate emergency will not allow you another chance if you do not act in time. That is the fear many scientists now have that people simply will not act in time and it is game over. Many of them were happy because they thought Covid 19 showed people how much better it could be. They hoped that doing things different during lockdown - for instance home working and meetings by the internet rather than Planes, they would be motivated to make changes necessary. It does not have to be this way.
Dear Alexa, I wasn't taking you on, but the others of my fellow Aussies..... Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. Yeap I think that Covid 19 is a welcome distraction for our government, now they will put their weight even more behind coal. Of course not that you or me would hear about it. The Libs are a very yesteryear party, I think. I have read somewhere that the windfarms in northern Europe create that much energy, that all residential homes in the Netherlands as well as in Germany are covered by their electricity. If that is true, you wonder why we can't do it. We have so much wind down here, it really makes you wonder.... Stay healthy!
AussieLand should get their new energy friend Elon Musk in a state / private enterprise on Board. Be an exporter of Green Energy systems while building your own, Green Grid. Then on to solar powered desalination ocean water, piped into the big, hot, dry middle - creating Australian Great Lakes. A vast climate and ecological benefit. Use California's Salton Sea as an example. Australia FIRST! Yes You Can. Moi Don't ize Australia.
I like having electricity whenever I want which is all the time. Don't screw with my electric utility or I will come after you. Not kidding.
Some people might want to know where their power comes from, and in times of global catastrophes (due to climate change) some might want a change.......
It’s weird isn’t it? The insurance companies have got away from coal investments and they are usually conservative about their money. Can it just be the stranglehold that the Nats have on the current Govt?
Sally, I don't know. All I know is that future costs to combat fires/droughts and global warming as a whole are getting higher and higher, to the point of.... That isn't even taking things like famine or other life related tragedies into account.... Reg.
And then, on the ABC, we see this- Australia to spend $270b building larger military to prepare for 'poorer, more dangerous' world and rise of China By political reporter Jade Macmillan and defence correspondent Andrew Greene Updated 1hhour ago I dunno where we are headed.
I didn't think you were having a go at me. However I had not looked at the link and when I did understood more your surprise at lack of interest in the thread. That saving the planet goes hand in hand with the fact that Capitalism is not working and can no longer provide a decent standard of living for most people probably creates an extra difficulty in making the changes to secure our future as the ever more tiny amount of people who are making vast amounts of money and with that power through fossil fuel do not seem to want to let go of that while a sizeable amount of people who would benefit from a change instead support those who are in reality working against them..
See, I had a dispute with my son in law, lost his job some time ago, but is only looking to get one with a similar salary. I told him life is getting harder, just grab another job, even if the pay isn't as good, and once a better opportunity knocks, take the better offer. But just don't sit at home doing jack ****.... What I want to point out is while I don't like capitalism, socialism would also be misused. Some wouldn't move their arse if they don't have to. So a good mix of capitalism and socialism would be good, however sustainability must be a core ingredient. Reg.
Sorry your son in law lost his job and hope something comes along soon. I think there is a good argument that neo liberalism is not Capitalism. What we see is that a fewer and fewer number of people hold most of the wealth of the world and with that the power, and of course with the decrease in jobs there will be due to IT less and less people will find themselves with a job. In several countries it is said that the real wealth of people has not increased since the 70's and that this has caused a strong diminishing of the MC, The US seems to be where this is most keenly seen now. The land where anyone could make it if they were prepared to work is no more. This is going to get worse. The choice is to allow a few to have all the wealth and the rest to live in increasing poverty with less and less rights or change the economic system. Now I believe that the climate emergency itself will make demands on us in this respect and I think one of the ways we can manage it best would be to help each other. It is of course also argued that Capitalism is the very reason for us being on the edge of extinction. I support Democracy - not the rule of the mob though so Government in a democracy needs to take care of situations where the mob could attack minorities as the base of Democracy is not so much one vote but that that vote represents that each person has equal rights. What we have seen both before WW2 and now is that the Government has been serving those with most wealth not the people. It was because it was recognised that this was happening and that Corporate Power works well with fascism that steps were taken after WW2 to put restrictions of Capitalism. That and the fear of Revolution. I am particularly aware of that in the UK and US. In a Democracy a Government must serve the people. Since Thatcherism in the UK and Reganism in the US this has increasingly not been so. The Government serves the most wealthy, the Oligarchs, Corporations. This of course is not Democracy. That is why Political Theorists say that in order to live in a democracy it is essential that Governments do have restrictions on business (and finance) so that they do not become so powerful that the Government must serve them and not the people. When this has happened as it has now in most Western States it is called a Plutocracy - though I know one Political Theorist who believes we are currently living under a new form of Despotism. He is by the way Australian!! Retired now possibly. Another way you can look at the fact that Capitalism does not work with Democracy is that work is not democratic. To overcome this is the idea of Co-Operatives - and these have been on the line since well before Capitalism. An example of how this could work and one which the Corbyn Government was intending is, when a business is to be sold they must give the first offer to buy to the workers. The Government would provide them with the loan needed to buy it. When they have bought it it is owned by all the people who are working in it while they are working in it. They make all the choices for example how long they will work and how they will spend profits. A couple of advantages which have been suggested is that when some new tech is introduced and they can make twice the amount of money with half the people, instead of firing half the people as happens in Capitalist owned business, they would likely choose to work half the week while receiving the same amount of pay. Given that most of them would be living in the area it also would be expected they would not be wanting to destroy it with chemicals and what not and are likely if they do well in a year to give some of that money back to the community they all live in. There have been places where co-operatives built a strong foundation - I think Spain is one such place. They have been found to be very successful. There was a lot of talk about them being the natural place to move prior to Thatcher and her monetarism and then Neo Liberalism. I am not sure that people prefer to lie in their beds than to be involved in creative work and I do not believe keeping people at an increasingly absolute poverty level - which is a punishment, helps those people or society in general. I am sure that is not what you had in mind, just saying. So I would certainly be in favour of things like Co-ops and I do not have a problems with some honest capitalism but I very much do have a problem with the New Liberalism the UK and US have had since Thatcher/Regan which has gradually spread just about everywhere which at its very foundation increases inequality and gives riches to the few at the cost to the majority. I believe we need to bring both ethics and respect for human beings back into the picture.
I see I made some silly mistakes. For instance 'and these have been on the line since well before Capitalism.'. Instead of Capitalism should be neo liberalism.
Years back I went to Albany in WA and they happened to have an open stage in one of their pubs. People could walk up there and sing a song or perform something or read notes of their own. It was terrific.... I sometimes wished that people like you alexa, bb, sw, LRL, tv, Sally, gwendo and many others would live close by, and we could meet fortnightly in a pub, have a few drinks and discuss whatever subject we feel for investigating... Stay healthy, m
