Where’s the leadership and courage?

NOT since Kevin Rudd did an about face on his climate change declaration — that it is “one of the greatest scientific, economic, and moral challenges of our time” — have I been so disappointed in an Australian Prime Minister. With COP26 approaching rapidly, Scott Morrison made this public statement on the issue: “Until you get developing and developed countries on the path to zero net carbon emissions by 2050, the world just gets hotter.”

I’d have thought that a good reason to show leadership on the matter and become part of the solution instead of steadfastly digging in (or digging up in the case of coal) and being an ongoing part of the problem; only being prepared to follow and not lead.

As it stands, Scott Morrison looks like leaving Rudd in the shade, which is exactly where he’ll need to be in the not-too-distant future, along with the rest of us.

Michael McCall Primrose Sands

NATIVE FOREST VALUATION

LAST week we saw more compelling reasons to cease clear-felling native forests in Tasmania with the Australian carbon offset price jumping to a record price of $29.50 a tonne of carbon dioxide. The Climate Protection Opportunities in Tasmanian Forests 2020 Update report prepared for The Wilderness Society by Treemod was based on a price of $15.94/tonne.

The estimated net present value of Tasmania’s future potential production forests, that STT recommenced harvesting last year and the Permanent Timber Production Zone forests was estimated to be $822 million to $939 million at the $15.94 price in the report. At the current price it almost doubles to $1.6 billon to $1.8 billon. These amounts translated at the $15.94 to an annualised net revenue of around $46 million to $52 million from 2022-2030. Today’s price makes it is a net $80 million to $100 million per year. Forico’s release of its Natural Capital Report last week identifies the value of the natural assets they manage for their natural values at $3.39 billion.

Among other values they include carbon sequestration and biodiversity which will soon be monetised as well. Soil carbon in forest soils is now being measured and will produce a return in the near future. It is economic madness to be destroying native forests by clearfelling when Natural Capital Accounting is now measuring nature’s values. These new income streams will replace the outmoded forestry management of clear-felling native forest. Forico’s plantation model is the future for forest products.

Gordon Cuff Lauderdale

OUTRAGEOUS ATTITUDE

JUST read Stuart Harris’s pro-forestry letter (Mercury, October 7). During the out-of-control fires in the Derwent Valley last autumn, there were protests from the inhabitants as well as from tourism operators in that region, such as canoeing ventures. One of the leaders in tourism, a resident, expressed his horror at the smoke and fire that had “escaped” boundaries and was threatening his tourist clients and his buildings. Water bombing helicopters were required at Molesworth. His own operations were forced to an immediate halt and dissatisfied tourists dispersed on the grounds of air quality and safety. Previous to the burn, in beautiful weather the tourist operators had been “as busy as bees”.

The forest industry’s fire bombings showed total disregard for publicly owned land, the tourism industry and the damage sustained during the autumnal harvesting of grape and berry crops. One comment reads: “Even if burning a timber coup isn’t enough of a disgraceful waste of resources, this one action today will pump enough CO2 into the atmosphere to negate the efforts of every single Tasmanian to live lighter and lessen their carbon footprint. SST’s arrogance and complete disregard for the farmers at harvest and tourism business operators on a long weekend is appalling.”

On March 7, a tourism operator’s comment reads, “today the burn is running a little more to plan; just dominating the view, destroying the day and blocking the sun”. A good description of what used to be a glorious autumn day in Tasmania.

Add to that the fact the timber is not processed in Tasmania. Large numbers of tree trunks provide an edifying sight as trucks rumble through Macquarie St at all hours, destined to lie in heaps to be exported at ports both there and in Burnie. Yet we are forced to watch advertisements that try to tell us the housing industry is in short supply of timber house frames? Why are the raw materials being exported at a loss to the Tasmanian community?

The decimation of vast tracts of 200year-old, flower-bearing leatherwood trees over past years just adds to the whole tragic outcome of forestry’s swathes of destruction.

It is the presumptuous bullying tone evident in Mr Harris’s letter and forestry’s careless entitled attitude to publicly owned land and assets that really “needs to stop”.

Anne Francis Sandy Bay

BEHIND THE HYPE

WITH all the hype generated in the lead-up to Glasgow Climate conference, including the Mercury’s Climate Spread (Power Up, October 11), it is time to drill down into what is possible in the short to medium term. We do not want to put the cart before the horse or go back to the horse and cart.

Firstly, electrical supply systems must be in balance. The Tasmanian Hydro has gone from devil to hero as hydro power is dispatchable and produces the lowest total system CO2 emissions. Of course Hydro is subject to rain catchment (prolonged droughts) and the proclivities of cash hungry governments (Labor-Greens, Tasmania 2012-2014).

Secondly, the experiences this year of Texas, California and China shows what happens when virtue becomes divorced from reality — brownouts and blackouts. That is an outcome widely predicted for Europe and China this year. If so, many will die of cold. An extreme version is Lebanon which is for energy supply what Greece is to economics.

Whether we like it or not, what primarily separates us from the Dark Ages is access to cheap and reliable power. Despite a lot of virtuous feelings most of the world’s electricity grids rely on fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) and nuclear energy (low CO2) for at least 80 per cent of electricity. Renewable power generation technology is just not capable of efficiently generating/capturing and reliably supplying the bulk of the population. On a global scale this paradigm will take decades to change.

What needs to be understood is that in an energy limited world, billionaires like Twiggy Forrest and Mike CannonBrookes will be relatively unaffected. They will charge their phones, keep warm/cold and keep the lights on. No, the people in our community who will be affected will be pensioners, the retired, welfare recipients and those doing it tough. Post Covid, this segment of our community will be expanded, particularly if electricity becomes expensive and unreliable.

Evan Evans Lindisfarne