Being conned with bullshit

Until such time as the Prime Minister of Australia puts aside his belief in a literal truth of the Bible and listens to the same science that convinces him to place drugs on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme; as tells him that we are damaging our planet and its inhabitants to the point of extinction, then it is incumbent on us scribes who opine on such matters to keep the public up to date on what Scott Morrison; and other leaders are doing to destroy the planet.

Even if we find ourselves repeating our gloomy truths as often as the lie itself.

The old adage that if you tell the same lie often enough it will eventually be believed has never been truer than the one where we will meet our Paris target in a canter or the less-used one about Why should we do anything about our emissions when we only emit 1.3 % of the world’s total emissions?

I notice now that all government MPs, given that their boss tells these blatantly obnoxious lies, feel at liberty to do so themselves.

At the G7 the Prime Minister described himself as a “conservationist”. In Australia we know that all the evidence suggests he is an environmental vandal.

Have you ever thought about the fact that if Australia emits 1.3% of the world’s emissions, or thereabouts, then there must be other countries similar to us in size and stature, with much the same emissions? Well of course there is:

And that being the case, what might their total emissions amount too?

Well I found such a list and the total emissions are about 25% of the total. So that if Australia and all of those similar to us in output made an effort to reduce emissions then we would reduce the world’s emissions substantially.

Is there not a journalist who can ask this simple question of the Prime Minister?:

“Sir, you say that Australia only emits 1.3% of the world’s emissions and in lowering them we would hardly make any difference. Is that correct?”

“Yes, correct”

“Well then my question is this: If there are a number of countries who emit 1.3 %, or thereabouts, and the total is about 25% of the worlds emissions would you not think it in Australia’s best interests to encourage these countries to match us or even go beyond our target?”

An important point to remember here is that if exported “Australian coal was factored into Australia’s emissions,” as this article in The Canberra Times tells us, “our contribution to global emissions would be 4 per cent rather than 1.3 per cent. This would make Australia the world’s sixth-largest contributor to climate change.”

Why then are the journalists, media outlets, the scientists and others not telling us in the most forthright manner that this is what we should be trying to achieve?

All the government is doing by telling us that we can do nothing is just perpetuating a lie of omission.

The thing about the first lie is that at the original Kyoto meeting John Howard refused to sign up. Then as the curtain was coming down on the conference Australia was offered some rather remarkable concessions as inducements in the form of carbon credits, to join up.

Of course, if we use these credits it would make it much easier to reach our target but the world would rightly think that we were not making a serious effort.

In spite of the fact that all the government agencies saying that we cannot make our target and our emissions are continuously rising Scott Morrison insists that we will. No one knows what secret information he has, nor will he tell us. Worst of all though is that no one asks.

When the government’s own departments tell us that we haven’t a hope in hell of doing so and he contradicts them, who should we believe?

This article from the ABC Fact Check explains how the government is misleading or actually lying about how Australia will meet its Kyoto 2020 carbon emissions.

It is a matter of great amusement to me to hear people call for – as they did on Q&A last Monday night – a common sense debate on the subject. I would have thought the debate had been overwhelmingly been lost by the right of politics a long time ago. Enough said.

A thought

The current destruction of the Brazilian rain forests, as alarming as it is might be, or could turn out to be, might just be the catalyst for an event of monumental proportions.

One that might force us into action. The lungs of the earth, as the rain forests are called, as I write are experiencing 7,300 fires and the illegal harvesting of the trees is beyond tally.

Something will have to give sometime.