Open Chinese coalmines and close Aussie ones to stop Kiribati sinking like the Titanic
Critical shortage of climate panic in the media. Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post, October 16:
Last week, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a … (report) warning that a bigger crisis could come sooner than we thought … but this earth-shattering story was buried … Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org … (says) “climate change is actually the biggest thing that’s going on every single day” … So why isn’t the media covering this story all day, every day? … Anything less would be media malpractice.
Plenty of climate panic here. Former Kiribati president Anote Tong, Guardian Australia, October 10:
The (latest IPCC) report shows that the difference between 1.5C and 2C of warming is several centimetres of sea level rise … We may have to abandon our islands … (while Australia) is twiddling its thumbs.
Not everyone is panicking. CBS News, November 20 last year:
Some leaders (of Kiribati) have begun planning for a worst-case scenario … relocating the population to other countries … (but President Taneti Maamau said:) “We don’t believe that Kiribati will sink like the Titanic ship … (The plan is) … to transform Kiribati into the … Singapore of the Pacific.”
Why isn’t Singapore sinking? Samanth Subramanian, The New York Times, April 20, last year:
Singapore is … (tinier) than Tonga … (but thanks to) … land reclamation … (has grown) by almost a quarter.
US pulling out of Paris is bad. Tong, Guardian Australia, October 10:
It’s bad enough that the US … has pulled out of the Paris agreement. Now … (some) Australian politicians want to do the same
US leads in emissions cuts without Paris-style regulations. Jennifer Dlouhy, Bloomberg, October 18:
Data released Wednesday … showed total US greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.7 per cent … (last year and again) … led the world in reducing emissions … “These achievements flow largely from technological breakthroughs in the private sector, not the heavy hand of government,” (the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said).
We’ll turn to China. Tong, Guardian Australia, October 10:
Australia is failing in its duty as a regional leader. The implications of this … are immense, as the inroads made by Chinese diplomacy have shown.
What about its emissions? Lucy Hornby, Financial Times, May 30:
China’s carbon emissions are … (rising) at their fastest pace in more than seven years … (It is) the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
No new Aussie coalmines. Tong, Guardian Australia, October 10:
Australia must play a more constructive role. Ceasing to approve new coalmines would be a good … start.
China? Reuters, August 2 last year:
China’s state planner … (said) 200 million tonnes of new coal capacity will be launched this year.
More climate panic. Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, October 16:
The world’s beer industry could be particularly susceptible to … climate change as … “heat shocks” reduce barley yields worldwide.
Don’t panic. Bart Watson, Brewers Association.org, October 16:
The paper on (beer and climate change) … doesn’t make any sense … Barley crops have long shifted around the world (as weather changes) … Yield decreases anticipated … are very small compared to … (predicted rises).
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