We’ve run out of elections to waste – this is the last chance to make a difference on climate change

I’m no expert on Australian politics – I don’t know all the cross-currents that will determine this week’s balloting.

 “No matter what country you’re in, “fundamental
transformations” don’t come overnight; if you want
to dramatically trim carbon emissions in 2030, it means
you better start in 2020.” 

But I do know a fair amount about the climate crisis, having written the first book on the subject back in 1989. So I can say with confidence that if Australians want to play a serious role in fixing the greatest challenge we’ve ever faced, this may be about the last election where people retain enough leverage to make a real difference.

Global warming, after all, is a math problem: how quickly can we reverse the flow of carbon into the atmosphere? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its report last year, said that unless a fundamental transformation was fully underway by 2030, we stood no chance of meeting the targets the world set in the Paris climate accords. No matter what country you’re in, “fundamental transformations” don’t come overnight; if you want to dramatically trim carbon emissions in 2030, it means you better start in 2020.

Read the story from The Guardian by Bill McKibben - “We’ve run out of elections to waste – this is the last chance to make a difference on climate change.”