Oil and the damage done

Tim Winton is right to launch a withering truth attack on the fossil fuel companies undermining our future. The lobbyists and politicians are their accomplices. Australian domestic greenhouse gas emissions peaked around 2007 and have been slowly reducing year on year, but emissions from fossil fuels exported from Australia have been steadily rising at a much higher rate. We play a much greater role and bear much greater responsibility for climate change than industry and political apologists would have us believe. The companies responsible for all this have clearly been well aware for decades of the dangers inherent in planetary heating due to burning of fossil fuels. Just as clearly they have been more motivated by short-term profit than any concern for the future. Climate justice and accountability is arguably the key issue for the coming federal election. It has never been more important to send a clear message to the parties and candidates that have failed us.

– Frank Nicklason, North Hobart, Tas