Tory Shepherd: Denialists will say it’s alarmism but they are competing with the roar of consensus science
Halls across the country have filled with furious retirees waving their fists in the air about losing a bit of gravy. I hope there are similar halls of people voting on May 18 who are more worried about planetary devastation, writes Tory Shepherd.
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It’s unfair that a bunch of retirees – mostly rich – who planned on getting cash handouts through their twilight years may now have to change their plans.
They may even end up having to fetch their own lemons for their gin and tonics if they can’t afford to keep the hired help.
It’s more unfair, though, that a particular generation was feted with such generous loopholes, and promised such riches in a time of plenty, and that their kids and grandkids should be expected to continue supplying the money to shower them with gold.
It’s unfair that a younger generation struggles to buy a home, struggles with stagnating wages, and has to watch wealthy retirees in their expansive bluestone homes struggle with the concept of giving up the extra pocket money former Prime Minister John Howard bestowed on them.
Most unfair of all, though, is that this election is fiddling around with something that only affects a tiny proportion of Australia, while the Earth burns.
No doubt the usual denialists will say it’s “scaremongering” or “alarmism”.
But the bleating of those denialists is the merest pip competing with the roar of consensus science.
The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services issued its Global Assessment on biodiversity on Monday.
If you’ve never heard of IPBES, it represents more than 130 countries, including Australia, under the auspices of a handful of UN bodies. The report was put together by 145 authors from 50 countries across three years using 15,000 sources.
This isn’t some sketchy, back-of-the-envelope modelling, based on flaky assumptions and designed to scare the crap out of voters.
It’s not scaremongering – it’s flat out terrifying.
The report found:
ONE million of Earth’s eight million species are at risk of extinction. Many of these extinctions will happen within decades, and they’re happening at a higher rate than ever before in human history;
MORE than 40 per cent of amphibian species, almost a third of reef coral, and more than a third of all marine mammals are under threat;
HUMANS have caused this, and ultimately humans will suffer as species collapse threatens our way of life.
Humans are knocking over rainforests and covering habitats with asphalt and concrete. Humans are clearing swathes of land for agriculture and urban sprawls. We’re making fatbergs in sewers and floating mountains of rubbish in the oceans and stinking carpets of fish in the rivers. Humans are pumping emissions into the atmosphere and climate change is exacerbating the effects we are having on our only planet.
IPBES chair Sir Robert Watson said the “overwhelming evidence … (presents) an ominous picture”.
“The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide,” he said.
Ominous indeed. But we humans find it hard to focus on such large-scale devastation, especially when the grand distraction of cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits appears more threatening to our way of life.
For what it’s worth, we don’t know enough about the unintended consequences of Labor’s policy. And in general bringing in something without grandfathering it seems unfair.
And it’s not clear how many not-so-wealthy people might get caught up in it. But as a simple proposition, it’s not as unfair as the current system that features a cosy little club with exclusive perks for some but leaves the majority of the country out in the cold.
Halls across the country have filled with furious retirees waving their fists in the air about losing a bit of gravy. I hope there are similar halls of people voting on May 18 who are more worried about planetary devastation.
Meanwhile, their children and grandchildren are on track to inherit a Mad Max-style planet of arid desert, killer storms and collapsing ecosystems where people scrap it out for food and water.
The IPBES makes it clear: not all is lost. With drastic action we can turn this around. There is hope.
It’s just hard to hold on to that hope when those who have benefited the most from reaping the riches of this world won’t open the door to their club: not even a crack.
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