Farmers from across the nation have met in Parkes NSW to express their concern about government action on the now 4 year long current drought. The previous ‘drought’ went on for 5 years.

However, during that event city water storages were able to buffer the rainfall deficit. Now Sydney is at 40% of capacity, the continuing draw down slowly eroding the volume stored. Many regional NSW cities are lower, for example Goulburn is at 10%. 

Melbourne’s storage has increased from 48 to 54% over one year due to the rainfall pattern over Victoria. Indeed, Western Districts farmers cannot remember a summer with such storm rainfalls. 

In Broken Hill,  an impact of a long dry and water restrictions has been the death of lawns releasing the lead from the soil that is now producing a dust drifting through the town. The suppression method in Rosebery, another lead dust mining town, has been to wash the streets through dry periods, more frequent in the summer, a means not available when drought stricken. 

The impacts of these early warnings of the scale of the climate crisis that are not being clearly counted are the reduction in the national income through reduced farm exports, the decline of the genetic capital developed by farmers and graziers and the stress that falls on individuals and communities.

The draw down on farmer’s savings makes it more difficult for them to invest in drought strategies for their properties or for community to invest in climate crisis ameliorating measures. Without those investments when we can afford the greater the guarantee of major impacts on communities from the changes that we could, with actions we are technologically able to take now, ameliorate. [The COOL program].

Poorer countries unable to take measures

Whilst the west is currently wealthy this is a lesson in microcosm for the less developed world, poorer countries unable to take measures and countries in the middle not giving such measures a high priority believing they come at an economic cost.

Internationally, aid such as the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism and to some degree the early measures in Carbon Trading assist in amelioration measures that benefit us all being taken. Nationally, much of our assistance is directed into short term measures such as income support rather than building the infrastructure that assist us to lessen or greenhouse gas production.

One reason for this is that our experience does not extend to a climate crisis or an extinction event. This is the knowledge of academe, occasionally exploited to make a program such as the recent, Volcano. Usually these lessons of time are ignored so not to scare Boxer, his work invaluable down in the animal farm of globalization.

I have outlined an alternative for heating water, a means of retiring excess generating capacity and thus lessening Australia’s contribution to the climate crisis or diverting the need for investment in new coal fired power stations in Australia giving us capital to invest in other alternative energy sources. These are also possible export industries to less developed countries in our greater region, the technology more appropriate to the many who continue to live in villages and towns and are less able to take climate crisis ameliorating measures.

Biodiesel and wind power

There are other readily available measures to reduce Australia’s contribution to the accumulation of greenhouse gases that require no new technology and little or no economic cost, such as biodiesel fuel and wind power.

The Treasurer, prince Peter, has admitted that families in the middle are doing it hard,  right after his 10 times greater tax cut to high income earners, and Labor offering an alternative where the difference was only 4 times. Either may be swallowed up by changes in economic circumstances driven by a cycle of droughts, that early warning.

The arguments over these measures will rank as nothing as the climate crisis deepens, sufficient greenhouse gases being present to send the atmospheric carbon to some 450ppm, unprecedented levels.

And in the easy ealy stages of this crisis the Howard government abolishes the Australian Greenhouse Office. Another brilliant move clearly demonstrating the interest they have in the environment, nothing at all unless absolutely necessary.

As we move into this uncharted territory of ppm levels the climate patterns that used to reference our lives will change, perhaps sometimes appearing to return to normal but more likely, according to the science, to be abnormal, that degree becoming greater.

Indeed, we are on a course to runaway climate change at this moment, unaware if can be stopped, our knowledge about the impact of the increased greenhouse gas levels less than perfect. You can be sure that if we continue along the present course of growth of these gases, tax cuts and forest deals will become irrelevant in the desperate struggle for individual survival.

Supporting any old party that tinkers with the environment, its seriousness determined by their perception of the electorate’s opinion and so its chances on the Treasury benches will ensure that the climate swings will become wilder and the costs of dealing with the impacts of climate change ensure that tax increases to fund government inaction are inevitable.

phill Parsons hopes that the human, being what it is, is able to act to save itself from this crisis. Some of the changes needed have been programmed by a few European governments, prepared to invest in a more sustainable future. But here, only in the policies of the rising Australian Greens are solutions with sufficient impact on the climate crisis offered. I would prefer not, but it appears that further deepening of this crisis, with the associated extinctions, is needed to stimulate real action in the land of lotus eaters.