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Australia urgently needs to get serious about long-term climate policy – but there’s no sign of that in the election campaign (theconversation.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The election campaign must prioritise climate policy to ensure the next government drives the transition to a clean economy in a world upended by Donald Trump.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Well yeah but we also need to prioritise global trade, the economy, jobs and growth, health, education, cost of living, home ownership, and so on and so forth.

ALP's policy is to achieve 82% renewable energy by 2030.

The Liberal's policy is to pivot to nuclear which is just another way of saying "keep burning coal indefinitely".

The reason no one is talking about these things is because it's not a priority for the electorate.

That said, Liberal's nuclear policy seems like a weak point to me and I suspect Labor are holding it in reserve in case they need to regain the narrative at some point or to roll it out in the final week of the campaign.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

"it’s not a priority for the electorate." - it's worth diving deeper here, rather than stopping at this surface level of thinking.

For example:

Why is concern about climate change and the environment less of priority in Australia than other highly educated, OECD countries?
What is the role of our media environment; in particular, the narratives from dominant NewsCorp and Sky News?
How has the Overton Window shaped what people pay attention to in terms of public policy and possible futures?
Acknowledging that mining and extraction have played a large part in the history of Australia's economic development but we now need to transition to renewables and cleaner industries, what changes do we need to make to policies, public discourse, science education, jobs-ready training, systems and structures?
What narratives, systems and structures are favouring short termism and limiting our ability as a nation to address long term issues? Experts and government agencies are fully aware that the climate crisis already impacting (and will have massive effects on) global trade, the economy, jobs and growth, health, education, cost of living, home ownership. The Insurance industry is sounding the alarm already.. Impacts on communities worldwide through bushfire, flood and other natural disasters are just the starting point. So, thinking broadly, how might we improve our systems so that we don't just keep throwing money at short-term fixes, and start to make change that will could massively change the future for Australians?

These are complex issues that need layers of analysis. Systems Thinking is a useful approach, rather than thinking about just the citizens, politicians, and industry in isolation

More about Aus attitudes to climate issues:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-05/australia-attitudes-climate-change-action-morrison-government/11878510--- tps://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/australian-attitudes-to-climate-change/

Systems thinking and climate change:

"In the context of climate change, a systems thinking approach refers to understanding and predicting people’s response to the crisis by exploring the factors and vulnerabilities that influence them. It involves simultaneously seeing the overall climate picture and how it intersects with health, gender, livelihoods, and other sectors–this helps achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the issue." https://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/connecting-the-dots-systems-thinking-for-climate-solutions/

Short online course: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/using-systems-thinking-to-tackle-the-climate-and-biodiversity-crisis

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Really? I think people are too busy being terrified about the US descent into fascism and tearing down global trade. That has ultimately had a much stronger impact on this election than either parties climate change policies.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yes, and systems thinking would encourage us to explore why that is: Starting with understanding the patterns, systems and structures, mental models that cause ppl (especially in Aus) to treat Climate Change like a less important problem than the rise of fascism.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mean as someone who is deeply concerned about climate change... our main military ally becoming a Fat poorly run Nazi state with nukes is kind of a big deal...

Both are problems one is like a fire on a cooktop the other is like a more like a leaking pipe in a wall both will ruin your home... But you put out the fire before you call the plumber

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Agreed, we must direct a lot of attention to what's happening in the US. But we have multiple government departments to work on concurrent crises (not one person with one phone).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

Amazing.