World full of possibility

I HAVE just watched Greta Thunberg’s address to the UN for the third time. Her truth cuts through the self-interest and wilfully naive inaction like a searing blade. It reminds me of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech and of Jesus throwing the corrupt money-lenders out of the temple. It is a powerful indictment of our leaders and a call to do better. It is truth in the service of “abundant life” and love. This young teenager is genuinely a prophet for our times. We ignore her at our peril.

Too many of our leaders are yesterday’s men operating with yesterday’s attitudes, although sadly many have become pawns of the fossil fuel industry. We do not need the PM for coal! We need leadership that can face difficult realities and engender hope in a world full of possibility. It has fallen to Greta and the kids of the world to show us how to be brave. Much money has been spent by industry funded think tanks to create just enough doubt to undermine political will and frustrate meaningful action. It is past time to get on board and demand action. It is our kids’ and their kids’ futures at stake rate, with the US, Saudi Arabia and Russia dominating production at about 11 million barrels a day each. In natural gas we are rated 13th at 640 million cubic metres. We have overtaken Qatar as leading LNG exporter helping mitigate CO2 emissions and we are the leading coal exporter. Our most valuable export alongside iron ore is metallurgical coal used in steel production and vital in renewable energy construction such as wind farms and hydro dams. currently there) is not feasible on that site. The cost to find a suitable base under the river bed to support bridge pylons would be astronomical. The site was dismissed many years ago. I suggest the Mercury do some digging (pardon the pun) to find out the facts and make our state government accountable for showing abominable leadership and allowing this never-ending conversation to continue.