Warnings continue to roll in, but still our 'responsible men' refuse to act

Warnings about the unfolding severity of climate change to continue to roll in.

Sadly, the people who could make a difference, such as our government and the responsible men, continue to obsess about growth, profit and jobs, and, of course, business as usual – the root cause of climate change.

The immediacy of the need for action is evident to everyone, except it seems, for those who could play a lead role in instigating the behavioural societal changes that might, and “might” needs to be emphasized, turn humanity away from the abyss.

Today’s Melbourne Age reports how a “New IPCC climate report predicts significant threats to Australia”

As PM Tony Abbott is positioned to initiate ideas and processes that might help mitigate climate change and within that set up structures that would allow Australian communities to build their resilience.

Mr Abbott is an ex-Rhodes Scholar from the University of Oxford and if ever there was a time for him to illustrate his allegiance to the core morals of that scholarship it is now.

Among other things, a Rhodes Scholar is meant to understand and have respect for “truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship”.

For Australians to endure the rigours and not yet understood demands of a changing climate, we will need all that criteria in spades.