United States Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Indonesia and delivers a powerful warning:
“Because of climate change, it’s no secret that today Indonesia is … one of the most vulnerable countries on earth. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk …
“Think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It doesn’t keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists. The bottom line is this: it is the same thing with climate change. In a sense, climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.
“Terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: all challenges that know no borders. The reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them.”
Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, goes bush — to regions devastated by worsening drought — and stands on bone-dry fields among dead cattle and broke farmers.
He is not asked about the impact of climate change.
And he doesn’t once address it.
Peter Hannam in the SMH Feb 16 reports the PM saying it’s an “unprecedented drought”. That’s pretty explicitly climate change-related isn’t it?:
Despite today’s good soaking rains “it doesn’t mean the drought is over”, Mr Abbott said. “We are close to finalising a drought package which will address the economic and social needs of the people of rural and regional Australia that have been significantly affected. The package will be “both fair and economically responsible,” the Prime Minister said. “For people on the land, a severe drought is akin to a natural disaster.” Just as Australia has arrangements in place to assist with natural disasters, the government should have assistance for those dealing with “very severe and unprecedented drought“.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/tony-abbotts-drought-tour-gets-off-to-a-wet-start-20140216-32tez.html
He indirectly addresses climate change.
He says the problems of the farmers are exacerbated by the carbon tax, so we’ll get rid of it!
Presumably Abbott wasn’t asked about climate change because the answer is so predictable – ‘Australia has always had droughts, this one isn’t particularly prolonged, intense or widespread,’, etc. Going through these motions will not achieve anything other than further entrenching existing opinions on climate issues. Sadly, it’s going to take truly exceptional events (i.e. droughts/heat waves/fires that are unprecedentedly sustained, acute, frequent or extensive) to shift opinions sufficiently to translate to significant policy action.
The most intense red shaded areas will have to join up and advance a fair bit further before getting most people’s attention: bom.gov.au/climate/drought/drought.shtml
Scary stuff. Still, at least there hasn’t actually been any global warming for 16 years!