Letters to the Editor

March 23, 2012
Issue 
915
Letters
Cartoon: Stephanie McMillan

Population growth

I’m tired of hearing how population growth and leaky boats cause the destruction of our environment — as if two-child families, frugality and no migration would make us sustainable.

Take any industry you like, sustainability is blatant nonsense. A log truck speeding down our country roads, even if it’s full of plantation trees is incredibly destructive. These trees are ripped out like carrots every few years. How many wooden rocking chairs do you need? This timber is largely intended for woodchips and those are probably earmarked for export.

How much industrial production is intended for local consumption and how much is actually exported? How many wheat farms would suffice to feed ourselves. If a tiny country like Cuba sends trained doctors to East Timor, we can do much better.

Let’s stop blaming migrants — we are responsible for greed and over-production.

Yvonne Francis
Apollo Bay, Vic

Climate inaction

Australiais a world leader in annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution. Pro-coal, pro-gas Australian PM Julia Gillard has an appalling record of climate change inaction falsely dressed up as the opposite.

The most outrageous untruth of Gillard Labor is that it is “tackling climate change” for a “clean energy future” — but in reality its policies in 16 major areas involve increasing Australia’s already disproportionately high greenhouse gas pollution. For detailed analysis Google “Australian PM Julia Gillard’s appalling record of climate change inaction”.

Thus, under the fraudulent carbon tax-emissions trading system Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas pollution will increase from 578 Mt CO2-e in 2010 to 621 Mt CO2-e in 2020. Most of the claimed “160 million tonnes” of greenhouse gas savings in 2020 will be purchased overseas and Australia’s domestic plus exported greenhouse gas pollution will be 1.7 times greater in 2020 and 4.2 times greater in 2050 than that in 2000.

Tackling climate change means decreasing greenhouse gas pollution, but Australia痴 domestic plus exported greenhouse gas pollution will be 10% bigger in 2013 after six years of Labor than that under the Coalition in 2007.

Voters must punish Labor for its egregious lying and climate change inaction.

Dr Gideon Polya,
Macleod, Vic

Comments

Richard Lutz replied on

Ban assault vehicles I dare say readers were horrified that a mentally deranged man launched a lone wolf attack last month with a SUV he drove into a crowd of defenceless people in Graz, Austria, killing three people and injuring dozens more. One of the dead was a four-year-old boy whose distraught parents urged authorities to do more to prevent such attacks. With the increased threat of terrorism and the growing number of deranged individuals due to the Ice epidemic, we desperately need to ban all vehicles that can be driven at high speed into crowds, even though this will be met by resistance by the powerful vehicle lobby and selfish vehicle owners who love their cars more than they love children. Petrol and diesel powered vehicles produce an enormous amount of pollution just like tobacco products do as a result of the combustion process, to say nothing of the enormous amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) they produce which contributes to global warming that is killing our planet. How many people in cities need an assault vehicle? By “assault vehicle” I mean any motor vehicle that can easily kill people as a result of not being limited to a top speed of 30 KPH and fitted with massive foam bumpers to protect vulnerable pedestrians, and assaulting people and our planet due to the enormous amount of pollution and CO2 they produce (as they use fossil fuels). Electric and hydrogen powered bicycles, scooters, gophers, and golf cart type vehicles speed limited to 30 KPH and fitted with massive foam bumpers to protect vulnerable pedestrians, are all that the vast majority of people need in cities, while electric and hydrogen powered trains, buses and taxies can service non-vehicle owners. Banning assault vehicles that are not essential for occupational use (like police cars, ambulances and fire trucks) would lead to a massive boon in the eco-friendly vehicle industry. Governments must introduce legislation to restrict the sale and use of assault vehicles in order to help people and the environment. The media also has an essential role in stigmatizing the private ownership of assault vehicles just as it has an essential role in stigmatizing the private ownership of assault weapons. Only occupational users with a genuine need must be allowed to own assault vehicles or assault weapons. We must not let the murder of the boy be in vain.

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