Emissions reduction is everyone else’s responsibility

Many people have now come to the realisation that most virtue-signalling elites want everyone else to change their behaviour by reducing their CO2 emissions in order to save the planet, but they will be doing little to reduce their own CO2 emissions.

There are many examples of this, as evidenced by Al Gore, who reportedly lives in a house with 10 times the emissions of an average American home, recently coming to Brisbane in a private jet to lecture us on reducing our CO2 emissions. The Duchess of Sussex flew to New York in a private jet to attend a baby shower. In recent weeks 114 private jets flew in with delegates to a resort in Italy to talk about how they could get everyone else to change their CO2 emissions.

It is interesting to note that these conferences are usually held in salubrious places, never in developing countries. Imagine them going to Mumbai and lecturing Indians why they should forgo coal-fired power in their villages.

Just because someone can act, or has a voice for some other reason such as almost becoming US president, doesn’t make them an expert on climate change and many real experts on climate change seriously doubt that humans are the main cause. They actually have credibility on the topic.

Brian Barker, East Brisbane, Qld

Two words come to mind when reading about climate and Qantas chief Alan Joyce (“Qantas boss warns climate hysteria threatens air travel”, 8/8). Karma describes bad luck resulting from one’s actions, and schadenfreude describes pleasure derived from the misfortune of others.

For the past few years Joyce has become a corporate social justice warrior, supporting climate alarmism, diversity, and full-on wokeness, all of which has come back to bite him as foreign governments start taxing airlines in the name of climate change.

He remains poorly informed on the subject when he claimed the recent heatwaves in western Europe were a sign of increasing climate change, when eastern Europe at the same time was experiencing equally alarming freezing weather.

Some reading on Joyce’s part would show him that there has been no increase in extreme weather for the past few decades, and the one thing we can hope for is that Qantas stays right away from using any IPCC climate models when keeping his aircraft in the air, as climate models remain deeply flawed and at the root of all our unscientific climate alarmism.

G. M. Derrick, Sherwood, Qld

If the predictions are right, our lifestyle is going to change with our adjustments to global warming. Here is the problem for well-meaning progressives who want to do their bit — which part of our lives are we going to adjust? Will we change ourselves or will we expect others progressives to change their habits? I suspect even if we tax and legislate the world towards a green and more sustainable future, the people telling us how to do all this will still be flying business class.

Murray Horne, Cressy, Vic

Commenting on the charge by the Australian Energy Regulator that wind farm operators were responsible for the 2016 blackout in South Australia, Graham Lloyd says this could tip the scales in favour of future investment in some traditional forms of base-load power (“Regulator’s verdict on blackout sure to buffet industry”, 8/8). Wind turbines are not only noise polluters, land hogs and bird killers, but these 100m monsters shut down once wind speeds reach 80km/h.

Climate change hysteria that Alan Joyce says is threatening to take us back to the 1920s, is driving the push into renewables. The South Australian experience has proved that wind is a substandard, unreliable and costly form of power. Common sense must now prevail by restoring coal-fired power generation to its rightful place.

Dale Ellis, Innisfail, Qld

Decades of exaggerated claims of impending climate doom and renewable energy as our saviour have created a world in which the Qantas boss warns of climate hysteria.

Climate catastrophists and renewable energy advocates have woven a web of deceit. It caught a mix of the genuinely concerned, political opportunists, rent-seekers, the young and the gullible and enough others to create this mess. But we know the truth now. Nothing dangerous or unprecedented is happening to the climate and renewables wouldn’t help if it was. It’s time to restore reliable, affordable power we once had.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT