The request for Wagga City Council to declare a state of emergency on climate change was always going to prompt a response from one or more camps.
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On one level, those who deny the consensus of a vast majority of the scientific community, that human activity is causing negative changes to the world's climate, were highly likely to protest the move.
Those who accept the scientific consensus but are concerned that making too many drastic changes will create an economic disaster were also likely to speak out.
And finally, the fairly common view that councils should not stray too far from their traditional mandate of road, rates and rubbish had a different reason enter the debate.
Wagga is entering a miniature version of the Adani coal mine debate, the latest hot topic in the ongoing political grudge match over climate change and energy policy in Australia.
The climate change issue seems to have been custom designed to be one of the most difficult for humanity as a whole to solve.
Vastly different societies, ranging from the first world to the third world, many separated by giant continents and oceans, are being asked to make tough choices on reducing carbon emissions.
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The short-term costs of taking action can be high, especially for the first nation, community, organisation or corporation to put the first foot forward and adopt a direction that could slow down economies or profits.
With so much of Wagga's economic future being tied to freight transport and industrial growth, two industries that have a history of producing a lot of carbon emissions, there is an even greater need to ensure that climate policy can co-exist with business.
All the progress and all the setbacks are shared regardless of what an individual people, areas or countries do as we all share the same air.
Even those who take measures are at risk of seeing it negated by the decisions of others as climate activists search for a global tipping point for collective action.
Against this backdrop, the saying "think global, act local" will be tested in Wagga.