Climate and the economy: we need imagination and leadership
Climate and the economy: we need imagination and leadership
The issue
Dear Prime Minister Albanese,
I’m deeply dismayed at reports in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning that you are not willing to stop exporting fossil fuels because you are worried about “the economy”:
“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says banning fossil fuel exports and new coal and gas mines to try and reduce climate emissions won’t stop global warming but would devastate the Australian economy.”
What is the point of an economy that is going to leave our planet uninhabitable? We have known that human activity is changing the climate for over three decades and yet emissions keep increasing, precisely because of ‘the economy’.
What we need is imagination and leadership to make ‘the economy’ work for us, and not against us, killing the life support systems we all depend on.
Did you know tomorrow, 28th July, is Earth Overshoot Day? Globally, we have used all the resources the planet can regenerate in one year, for the rest of the year we are taking from future generations (https://www.overshootday.org/ If the whole world lived like Australian's we would have reached Earth Overshoot Day on 23rd March. This is not sustainable.
I can recommend literature on degrowth, which is a way to reduce our resource use whilst still meeting the needs of all and addressing global inequality. Jason Hickel’s Less is More, or The Future is Degrowth are great places to start. Concerned about my children's futures, and dismayed by our unwillingness to actually do anything about our emissions, I have also written about degrowth: https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/cec60ef9-32e5-47be-b914-76cd62cf17ac
Please consider wisely what notions you are implicitly perpetuating via your belief that we need economic growth to meet the needs of Australian’s. This is a profoundly growthist & capitalist way to look at the world. It is no coincidence that because of this ideology we are harming the planet & failing to solve our ecological crises. There are other ways to live on this planet that won’t render it uninhabitable - and I am not being hyperbolic when I say it will be uninhabitable, quite possibly in our lifetimes: (https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/80df1713-3292-4626-911f-48decadc37ae
Naomi Klein summed it up well when she said "Our economy is at war with many forms of life on earth, including human life. What the climate needs to avoid collapse is a contraction of humanity's use of resources; what our economic model demands to avoid collapse is unfettered expansion. Only one of these sets of rules can be changed, and it's not the laws of nature."
You have choices beyond perpetual economic growth on a finite planet. Please take the time to learn about these options. You do not want your legacy to be leaving the planet uninhabitable. No amount of exports is going to be worth that.
Kind regards,
Erin Remblance
Seaforth, NSW
The issue
Dear Prime Minister Albanese,
I’m deeply dismayed at reports in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning that you are not willing to stop exporting fossil fuels because you are worried about “the economy”:
“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says banning fossil fuel exports and new coal and gas mines to try and reduce climate emissions won’t stop global warming but would devastate the Australian economy.”
What is the point of an economy that is going to leave our planet uninhabitable? We have known that human activity is changing the climate for over three decades and yet emissions keep increasing, precisely because of ‘the economy’.
What we need is imagination and leadership to make ‘the economy’ work for us, and not against us, killing the life support systems we all depend on.
Did you know tomorrow, 28th July, is Earth Overshoot Day? Globally, we have used all the resources the planet can regenerate in one year, for the rest of the year we are taking from future generations (https://www.overshootday.org/ If the whole world lived like Australian's we would have reached Earth Overshoot Day on 23rd March. This is not sustainable.
I can recommend literature on degrowth, which is a way to reduce our resource use whilst still meeting the needs of all and addressing global inequality. Jason Hickel’s Less is More, or The Future is Degrowth are great places to start. Concerned about my children's futures, and dismayed by our unwillingness to actually do anything about our emissions, I have also written about degrowth: https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/cec60ef9-32e5-47be-b914-76cd62cf17ac
Please consider wisely what notions you are implicitly perpetuating via your belief that we need economic growth to meet the needs of Australian’s. This is a profoundly growthist & capitalist way to look at the world. It is no coincidence that because of this ideology we are harming the planet & failing to solve our ecological crises. There are other ways to live on this planet that won’t render it uninhabitable - and I am not being hyperbolic when I say it will be uninhabitable, quite possibly in our lifetimes: (https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/80df1713-3292-4626-911f-48decadc37ae
Naomi Klein summed it up well when she said "Our economy is at war with many forms of life on earth, including human life. What the climate needs to avoid collapse is a contraction of humanity's use of resources; what our economic model demands to avoid collapse is unfettered expansion. Only one of these sets of rules can be changed, and it's not the laws of nature."
You have choices beyond perpetual economic growth on a finite planet. Please take the time to learn about these options. You do not want your legacy to be leaving the planet uninhabitable. No amount of exports is going to be worth that.
Kind regards,
Erin Remblance
Seaforth, NSW
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Petition created on 26 July 2022