‘It’s real’: 16 Southern Downs residents speak out on climate change
More than a dozen members of the community have had their say on climate change and the environment, and they certainly didn’t hold back. Find out what people had to say here:
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Members of the Southern Downs community have given their thoughts on climate change, addressing their concerns and views on one of the most topical and current global issues.
From their opinions on sustainable energy sources to water supply, nothing was off limits when the Border Post spoke to residents on Monday.
Find out the views of the 16 people here:
Lynne Mungall from Ballandean said climate change was a very “real” and “scary” issue.
“It’s scary what’s happening, we don’t know how to fix it. The whole world needs to be involved in fixing it,” she said.
“I’m always worried about the water, it’s an issue that unfortunately people across Australia take for granted.”
Ruth Offer from Tenterfield said climate change had been changing on and off for years.
“It happened in lifetimes before us, but in our lifetime we’re thinking it’s the first time we’re experiencing it,” she said.
Ms Offer said it was important for political figures and governments to address the issue.
“Present politicians left or right need to sit up and take notice of their environment and listen to what their constituents are saying and the world is saying, we don’t want Australia to get left behind,” she said.
Ms Offer further reiterated that the government only addressed an issue in reaction to a major event.
“Probably not enough is being done and they’re leaving this for the last minute, this is not the way to go,” she said.
Sue-Ann Gilmour from Stanthorpe believes there is a reason why the weather has become more unpredictable recently.
“It’s a whole cycle of the heat, the extremes. I know the hailstorms are part and parcel of the Granite Belt, but on Thursday it did happen in places you don’t normally get the extremities of the weather,” she said.
Anita and Arnin Stockburger from Logan said climate change was a “huge” issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible.
“We’re killing this world, we have to think about the next generation and our grandchildren,” Mrs Stockburger said.
“Climate change could be addressed by having clean air and clean water, no rubbish and electric cars would be nice.”
Mr Stockburger said a good solution to resolving the major problem was getting rid of coal, which would make the air cleaner.
“With the car diesel the big truck they use a lot of fuel and that smoke goes into the air, so reducing that would help,” he said.
Shelley Jackson from the Gold Coast believed climate change was a major issue that needs to be addressed by implementing sustainable practices.
“I think we have too many carbon emissions, the government aren’t doing enough,” she said.
“We need to change to better power sources rather than coal, like solar or wind power, something more sustainable,” she said.
With temperatures heating up each year, Mrs Jackson said she was concerned for future generations’ wellbeing, especially being in the sun.
“I think we already have a hole in the ozone layer, and because of that children have a bigger chance of skin cancer in Queensland,” she said.
Brad and Joy Neville from Stanthorpe were of the opinion that climate change was not a current issue.
“(The government) need to look back further in history at records and see what the weather used to be like, it’s not different now to what it was then, it’s definitely just the different seasons,” Ms Neville said.
David and Sutin Anan from Stanthorpe said they had noticed the effects of climate change.
“Everything’s changed because of the climate. Yesterday was beautiful and hot and today is crazy, it’s ice cold,” Mr Anan said.
Mr Anan said while he believes it is the council’s responsibility to address environmental issues he does not envy their position.
“You’ve got to feel sorry for the council here, first we had drought and they put all the money into water and now they don’t have enough money for funding anyway,” he said.
Maureen Yeboah believed the government were making out climate change to be a bigger issue than it was and believed more time needed to be spent dealing with other issues.
“What’s happening with climate change it’s not a serious thing at all. There’s been hot and cold weather in all the years of life, the temperature’s no different from 60 odd years ago,” she said.
Mrs Yeboah said she felt it was important for a non-biased expert to “speak out” about the topic.
Judy Everson believed the weather had changed over time, but didn’t think there was much to be done to resolve the impact.
“It’s probably going to get worse in time to come,” she said.
“Can anybody really change it? There’s only so much we can do, but nature is nature.”
Vikki Skinner from Tenterfield has seen and felt the weather changing over the years, but doesn’t believe it is because of climate change.
“The droughts are longer and it rains for longer too,” she said.
“People panic because of the weather change, (but) I think it’s just Mother Nature - this weather has been happening for a thousand years.”
Liz Einam from Stanthorpe thinks climate change is a real issue that impacts the weather and water security.
“I think that there will be more droughts, so we need to look after our planet better, this stems from everybody,” she said.
Faamu Tauatlae from Stanthorpe said the weather was constantly changing and this was a direct impact of climate change.
She said she thought more needed to be done to address the issue from a community level.
“I think the government are doing the best they can for the best of everybody,” she said.
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Originally published as ‘It’s real’: 16 Southern Downs residents speak out on climate change
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