We must use our voice to limit the damage

Coal is the unquestioned villain in relation to greenhouse gas emissions.

And now again it appears as if the economy has trumped good sense with the Australian Government planning to capitalise on Victoria’s Latrobe Valley coal.

Latrobe Valley coal - again the
economy has trumped good sense.

Today (April 19) it was reported that a senior Gillard Government Minister saw the Latrobe Valley with its abundant coal becoming an export hub on the scale of Western Australia’s Pilbara region or New South Wales Hunter Valley.

The export of coal may seem relatively benign in relation to carbon dioxide emissions, but it is not.

The burning of coal anywhere on the planet is inappropriate and so exporting does not absolve you of responsibility, it simple means you have foisted the accountability upon another country, allowing you smile as you pocket the profits.

Maybe the cash from the coal will be comforting, but with the assurance that a snowflake would not survive in the Pilbara, we will need every cent to help the nation deal with the extreme weather events that climate change worsened by the continued burning of coal, anywhere in the world, will bring.

We might profit from the sale of coal, but we will pay dearly as extreme weather events sweep around the world.

Individually, we must use our voice to limit the damage to our atmosphere and so in whatever way we can discourage the exploitation of the Latrobe Valley coal.