Many world leaders face an intellectually impassable chasm

Many of the world leaders understand, but to the Abbott-led Australian Government it appears to be an intellectually impassable chasm.

Herman Daly's book has
been around since 1977
and it is long past time
it was read and taken
seriously by world leaders.

Climate change is rooted in complex science, but its impacts are real and understandable and its mitigation and processes of arrival at that are equally real and understandable.

The difficulty that many face, particularly the Abbott-led coalition, revolves around a new understanding of growth, making a lie of the goals at the present Brisbane G20 Summit.

Prime Minister Abbot and his principal cheer leader, Treasurer Joe Hockey, want the Brisbane G20 to agree on two per cent in the gross domestic product (GDP) for the world.

Sounds good, but defies all clearly understood mathematical realities of trying to achieve infinite growth in a finite world.

Also, the type of growth advocated by Australia’s PM and Treasurer flies in the face of what is needed if the world, and Australia, is to play a real and influential role in climate change mitigation.

Rather than advocating for growth as it is understood by his contemporary counterparts, Mr Abbott should be encouraging his fellow G20 participants to first read the work of Herman Daly who wrote in 1977 about the world’s need of steady-state economics and then talk about how they should shape business in the world.

Not everyone is as remote from the realities the world faces as Turkey's prime minister has described climate change in he Melbourne Age today as "the biggest challenge to all humanity today" and outlined a much broader and more inclusive agenda for when his country succeeds Australia as chair of the G20 next month.