Australia’s drop in the Ocean – the Draft Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill is open for comment

History in the making!  Australia contributes their “drop” in the rising ocean….  Be quick!  The Australian Draft Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 is open for comments and submissions. You have just over one month to contribute your comments. 

Exposure Draft of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Legislation at Australian Government Department of Climate Change: 10th March 2009

The above LINK will give you information –  Fact Sheets,  How to Make a  Submission,  Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper, and the  Australian Treasury’s     Economics of Climate Change Mitigation for Australia’s Low Pollution Future .

I, for one, will not be commenting, (as I just don’t have the scientific & monetary policy intelligence  – but many other’s DO)  on this scheme. I do, however, wish to document this occasion on my webpages……

Why?

I reckon that this upcoming Legislation is another instance of creating alot of paperwork, ambiguity and brainfreeze over money, the economy and the environment.

It is another legislative form of sustaining the myth that we can, as an “enlightened nation” – buy our way out of anything.

My own feelings on this matter are:-

• Environment and Economic education require intrinsic and deeply modified linking within ALL  Australian Educational Systems. 
• Environmental understanding should be the basis for education, not economic outcomes (as is the current trend of modern mainstream Australian Society).
• The Australian Environment, as a source for healthy economic balance is still largely forgotten.

• Environmental understanding  is currently an appendage that is tacked onto the economic mindest of education policy custodians. 
• Environment is life. The Market place and the Economy of the market place is a symptom of life. If  life is well, then the economy is well. 
• If the Environment is well, then the economy is well. At present, the environment is not well. 

Australia could, in it’s government policy wisdom, create biodiverse forestry systems Australia-wide, that create

1. jobs and regional industries – Australia wide

2. biodiversity – Australia wide

3. timber for selective harvest and timber products – Australia wide

4. renewable resources for economic strength, trade and market well-being – Australia & world wide.

When, back in the early 1990’s, I talked with Queensland Forestry marketing and agroforestry workers, I was led to believe that the cost, back then, of producing timber was greatly subsidised, and that pricing of timber products did not fully reflect the cost of production of the timber itself. I was also told that the increase of the cost of hardwood would rise, and that over the coming few decades, the amount of hardwood timber that could be harvested in Australia would not be able to keep up with demand (and hence, the market price would rise). Of course, since then, many pine and hardwoord plantations have occurred. The biodiversity factors associated with these plantations? I will not comment on them here. Possibly some have high biodiversity, possibly other’s do not.  

Regarding Forests, Australia and Market solutions to the increase in Carbon? Well, other than individuals ceasing their compulsive obsessive, over the top consuming of  resources and associated thoughtless waste management – My simple solution is to create a massive, widespread  BIODIVERSE FORESTRY industry.

An industry that is fostered fully by the Australian Government(s) and the Education system(s).

Oh, yes, an one more thing – the knowledge for creating, sustaining an Australian wide forestry initiative, within a Regional Context is already with us. It just hasn’t been implemented at a grand level. 

 

Phantom Koala (PK) and Litoria decide it is safer to stay in the forest, than venture to the Australian Treasury and plead their case for more Biodiversity. They trust that Nature will teach Australians in the end, to care for the Land and it's "Balance of Faeries".

 

 

There is a song that sums up how I feel about carbon trading and the Air Quality of this planet. The song may not have intended my interpretation, but I shall use it to illustrate my educational stance:-

The following is by David Byrne, the song AIR on the Talking Heads 1970′ s   Album Fear of Music

“Air…Air

Hit me in the face
I run faster
Faster into the air
(I say to myself)
What is happening to my skin?
Where is that protection that I needed?
Air can hurt you too
Air can hurt you too
Some people say not to worry about the air
Some people never had experience with…
Air…Air
It can break your heart
So remember when the weather gets rough
(You’ll say to yourself)
What is happening to my skin?
Where is that protection that I needed?
Air can hurt you too
Air can hurt you too
Some people say not to worry about the air
Some people don’t know shit about the…
Air…”

Tags: air, Australia, biodiversity, carbon reduction scheme, Climate Change, draft legislation, education, environment, environmental education, forestry, government, legislation, pollution reduction