Climate refugees

It is unlikely to be a problem for at least a decade, so why worry about it? We can expect the world to avert the causes of such a threat by developing and applying technology which will limit global warming.

We already have that capacity but lack the political will to take timely and adequate action. Instead we cast around to justify our inertia putting forward the quite spurious claims that effective action would harm business. It would damage our economy cause massive unemployment and make us less competitive internationally, destroying our export advantage.

We ignore the fact that France and Sweden have abandoned use of fossil fuel to generate electricity without harming their economies. The largest economies in Europe, the UK and Germany are working to achieve a 50% reduction of their 1990 CO2 emissions by 2030. Their economies are slowing because of the Euro and global financial crises, not because of their efforts to reduce their emissions. We shrug our shoulders and think them mad but, as climate changes for the worse and migrants seeking refuge in Australia increase, we will come to a very different view.

The top 10 greenhouse gas emitters (Australia is #15) are doing far too little or nothing to limit global warming. With the exception of European Union countries they have refused to commit themselves to reduce emissions by 2020. That failure entrenches the certainty of sea level rise and climate change having devastating effects on rapidly growing populations to our north.

These effects are going to become evident sooner rather than later. They are no longer hypothetical but an approaching reality.

How should we deal with them?