Australia: the next great hope for climate
My cousin Roz who lives in Oz sent this to me and I have signed it. Previously I admit I have remarked on the pointlessness of a carbon tax in Australia due to the fact they are responsible for only a small fraction of climate change. I have similarly held the same opinion about it here in the UK who, though 9th in the world for overall CO2 emissions, only produce 1.75% of the overall tonnes of carbon dioxide being pumped into the air compared to 18.11% coming from the US and nearly a quarter coming from China. Statistically the entire European Union - that's 27 countries - produces 1,000,000 metric tonnes LESS carbon than the US does despite our overall population being 500,000,000 EU citizens to 300,000,000 Americans.
Naturally I felt that without forcing the US, China, India and other countries like this to comply with CO2 cuts, the cuts in countries like the UK, Australia, France etc. would amount to diddly-squat.
However upon speaking to Roz, who is very environmentally conscious and even grows her own food, I discovered that despite being responsible for just 1.32% of CO2 emissions, Australia are responsible for 18.9 metric tonnes per capita making them 11th in the world and one ahead of the US for most oil guzzling citizens, which made my head hurt. She explained to me that statistically one Australian is responsible for twice as much CO2 than one Briton is. The level of CO2 per person here in the UK (while still too high for my liking) is 8.5 metric tonnes, making the UK the 43rd oil guzzling country in the world. The reason I think this isn't good enough for the UK is because France are 63rd in the world, despite having only a slightly larger population than the UK, and are only responsible for 6.1 metric tonnes per capita!
So before we ask the question "what are France doing that the UK aren't?" Well, it certainly isn't a carbon tax as bit companies have already forced the President to drop the policy. And now Murdoch is trying to do the same for Oz.
Frankly I think someone has to lead the world in cutting carbon and we do need to work our way up to the top. Nothing ever works top-down, it has to be bottom-up. Therefore we have to stop the whole passing on of the blame for climate change. It's not fair or good enough for us to keep saying, "Well, the US is responsible for WAY more carbon emissions than MY country is!" because it goes without saying.
The US have a population of over 300,000,000 people whereas the population of Australia is just over 23,000,000... yet the latter produces about the same (if not a little more) carbon per person. If both these countries cut their emissions by more than half (i.e. to the level that France operates at) it WOULD make a dent in the overall emissions. Oz would probably be producing less than 1% overall if carbon could be cut right now.
Would I be in favour of a carbon tax here in the UK? Provided more money was put into public services, then yes I would. I can't drive and am too poor to afford a car. Here in the UK car ownership went down for the first time since the 1920s so people are obviously using less of their cars not least because the oil prices are terribly high here in the UK.
The people who would suffer the most from carbon tax would be the big businesses - which is why Murdoch is using his last sphere of influence in Australia to crush the tax. I'm sure if the tax was being considered here in the UK he would have tried to do the same. These businesses consume a great deal of fuel. It would also encourage people, businesses and countries overall to seek greener methods of fuel.
I know its an idealic thought but it's worth a try, isn't it? India has a carbon tax and HAVE managed to cut their carbon to meet their reduction targets. China are thinking of bringing in a carbon tax (and so they should - they are the worst offenders). I would recommend, in regards to my country, that the carbon tax should be used throughout the EU and not just pick and choose between our countries. Seeing as we have an overall target we want to get down to, it's definately worth a go.
My point is that we need to have a tax that will hit the companies and get them (and our governments) out of their cuddly relationships with the oil companies. So as unpopular as I know the measure is in Oz, I think other countries should follow their example and at times fly in the face of unpopularity.
But then again I'm left-winger. I love a tax! )
