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54 comments on Rachel Nolan - Peak Oil Speech in Qld Parliament
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It's remarkable that in Australia it's like in the US, the states are recognising and responding to the problem while the federal government remains clueless.
I think its partly because state and local politicians have more free time to think about issues, and a stronger connection to their local communities.
And its also because the greenhouse mafia concentrates its lobbying on Canberra, leaving the provincials types unmolested.
Sure, there's those things.
But what we're seeing in many parts of the world is that the local and state/provincial governments are responding to climate change with positive action; not always what I'd consider the best actions, but they are at least addressing the issues. And at times they're actually going up against their federal governments in court to get things done.
But that took a decade or so. I expect issues of depleting fossil fuels to take as long. On the plus side, the measures required for both problems have got quite some overlap. If we're already trying to prevent climate change, we'll be reducing fossil fuel consumption. So while the recognition of the problem may take another few years, the response will be a bit quicker.
Kiashu, I think on the surface the Feds seem clueless, but there is a deeper problem than simply not understanding Peak Oil. Bush, Cheney, Fox, and all those aligned with their particular way of thinking seem to perceive that 'reality is what you insist it is', rather than most other people's viewpoint, which is 'reality is what it is'. So in the same manner that they think insisting the Iraq war was an incredibly beautiful event, they are also able to insist the interior of the Earth is a gooey nugat of inifinite oil production and the oil industry just needs to expand infrastructure to increase the flow to a sufficiant level to reduce the price.
We can only hope future leadership will adhere to the above latter view of reality and initiate a serious course towards a Plan B before we are all bicycling to work.
And yet there will be no delegate at the Australia 2020 Summit that has a Peak Oil as a focus.
Quoting the list administrator of Beyond Oil South Australia: "My conclusion - the Labor Party wants to avoid the discussion of peak oil and resource limitations at all costs! This is also evident from a reply that I have seen from Senator Penny Wong (federal Minister for Climate Change and Water) to a letter from a peakist specifically addressing peak oil, cycling and other issues. She addressed everything but the peak oil topic."
while it's great to see these kind of speeches, i don't think we should kid ourselves about where the reality is at yet.
there are a handful of inner city councils with a significant number of executive officers who really understand peak oil, but beyond that there is very little to shout about. the Vic and NSW State Governments are not recognising and responding to the problem in any strategic manner.. just a few token measures while the road building and urban sprawl goes on. Qld has some serious representation on the issue in State Parliament, but the Government is still pursuing the big roads/tunnels solution.
at Federal Level there is remarkable variation in awareness and response to peak oil even amongst senior ministers.
cheers
Phil.
My brother advises the premier of Victoria. 4 years ago I had a discussion with him about peak oil. He said they were fully aware, but the government will ignore the issue because it would not be politically popular to scare the electorate.
France is using Global Warming as a cover to do something effective about Peak Oil.
Most effective is a recent goal of 1,500 km of new tram lines in a decade. Adjust for population, and that would mean 500 km for Australia. Towns as small as 100,000 are getting trams in France.
Mulhouse France is my favorite example. Population 110,900 metro 271,000. No trams in 2005, 54 km of trams in 2012. Velib rental bicycles all around town (first 30 minutes free), and the LGV Rhin-Rhône arrives in 2011.
Mulhouse, in a few short years, is going from an oil based transportation system to having a very viable non-oil based alternative.
All good for Climate Change, but also good for Peak Oil !
Please pass this on, too few know what can be done !
Alan