Australian’s political view on climate change still far behind the ball

As our Climate Change forum comes to an end we hear from Gregory Mueller, who’s undertaking a Bachelor of Environment degree. Despite moments of despair that nobody cares what is going on, he still sees a glimpse of hope for a better future.

As I am halfway in my degree in Environmental Studies I have become increasingly aware of the significant gap between well proven science and what is portrayed in the media, the political stage and the general public.

From communicating with other staff and lecturers in varying environmental facets, it’s demoralising to see the majority of my peers spending their entire careers on coming to a conclusion about the effects climate change can and will have on our future and then observing that Australian’s political view on climate change is still so far behind the ball.

Many students in my course almost laugh at the fact that we’re still debating whether climate change is real in Australia while a lot of European countries are well on the way to implementing plans to mitigate the effects of even a low level rise in global climate temperatures.

One of my lecturers from a previous subject spoke of his despair when working for a government agency. After completing a detailed environmental report, the summary that actually made it to parliament was spun so far that it did not even remotely resemble the findings of the initial report.

I am sure this is no shock to anyone who reads this but we all still let it happen! From some lectures I can walk away in despair and feel like no one really cares what is going on. Still other days these topics strengthen my resolve to aim my career towards environmental management and policy.

I like to think I am still keeping an open mind to anything I learn in this course and if anyone reading the blog has good arguments against climate change please respond and post with alternative viewpoints.

On a positive, lighter note for those interested in a short sharp environmental fix, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France is such an awesome display of science not giving up on the elusive clean fusion energy source!

The joke being that fusion energy is and always will be 30 years away may fly in the face of so many who have tried to harness fusion energy and failed, but we have to admit that with this amount of infrastructure and money being invested that maybe it could just be feasible in the near future… maybe in 30 years…