PARIS is grabbing almost all the headlines at the moment, firstly, and very sadly, because of terrorist attacks, and secondly because all the world is heading there for the climate change talks.
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Let’s hope its outcome isn’t as worrying as the bombings.
Prime Minister Turnbull will end his peregrinations there, and a lot rests on his shoulders. At the time of writing there are mixed messages coming from his office.
On one level comes news that with little fanfare, Mr Turnbull agreed on the sidelines of the G20 gathering with European leaders in Turkey last week that the language of the Paris agreement should agree on a long-term goal to ensure that temperatures keep within an increase of two degrees on pre industrial levels (Sydney Morning Herald, November 20).
On the other hand there are widespread reports that the Turnbull Government is blocking international moves to reduce OECD countries' subsidies to coal-fired power stations in developing countries.
Indeed, the government is trying to block moves by the US and Japan to reach a deal to restrict these disastrous fossil fuel subsidies, which are currently holding back the global transition to clean energy.
And with new research showing the Antarctic ice sheets are dangerously close to collapse, many climate change aware groups are urging the Turnbull Government to dramatically increase its Abbott-era climate pollution targets.
The government’s denialism is reflected in its pathetic pollution reduction targets, which show that we will continue to be the worst polluters in the world per head.
In fact Australia's targets are so bad that they could have a wrecking effect at the global talks in Paris by giving other countries an excuse to sit on their hands.
Right now we have just had Australia's hottest month on record and the bushfire season has started dangerously early. The only way we can avoid catastrophe is to slash our carbon pollution globally to keep warming to under 1.5 degrees at the maximum, and make even deeper cuts to our carbon pollution.
All of which points out the need to keep up the pressure on the government, the ALP and the independent cross-benchers, and of course, to increase the awareness of the community. With this in mind there are two important events in Wagga this weekend.
First cab off the rank is a free community screening at 6pm this Saturday, November 28, at South Wagga Public School Hall, of the acclaimed film This Changes Everything, inspired by Naomi Klein's international bestseller,This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate, it looks at the catastrophic consequences of capitalism through the eyes of seven diverse communities on the front lines, from Montana's Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond.
“The result is galvanizing. It avoids leaving the audience to feel helpless in the face of inevitable destruction. It chronicles the front lines of climate change social justice, bringing us into a movement bolstered by thousands of people around the world and affecting serious change.” (Indiewire Review).
The screening scheduled to precede the world-wide People's Climate March being held on Sunday, November 29. The Wagga component assembles at Station Place at noon and then marching down Baylis Street to Michael McCormack’s office. Everyone is welcome.