Reviewing the annual Eco Fiesta in tropical Far North Queensland: UNESCO World Heritage Wet Tropics.

I went to the Cairns Ecofiesta for the second year running and was duly impressed: 2023’s highlight was the eloquent female doctor speaking on behalf of Doctors for the Environment Australia — her presentation needs to be compulsory reading for all schoolchildren and adults in this country. The stats are startling. 2022’s highlights for me included the sheer range of environmental groups and charities, the unexpectedly large number of volunteers and climate change activists who are committed to saving the environment of Cairns and its regional wonders.

From the Great Barrier Reef to the Daintree Forest, nothing is invulnerable from the impact of climate change. I picked up a brochure of the AMCS, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, and was struck by the achievement of Queensland in a global ranking: Queenslanders have the third biggest carbon footprint (per capita) in the world.

“Queensland alone contributes a third of Australia’s emission and is ranked third highest in the world per capita for carbon emissions”. [Page “Queensland is failing to hit the target to save our Reef”, in “Fight for our Reef” brochure, AMCS, 2023].

Think about that. A tiny population comparatively speaking, yet a massive, destructive presence on “the world stage” as we Aussies like to describe what lies beyond the Qantas flight routes of our big brown land.

Evidently, the per capita carbon cost of producing trillions of tonnes of coal and fossil fuels then exporting that dirty cargo to the rest of the globe has a significant bearing on why Queenslanders are guilty of being in the Top 3 on the world ranking. What we focus on as our key, primary industries adds up. If we switched those human-killing, air-polluting activities to ones that were instead beneficial for human health and wellbeing — like renewable energy production and exports of Green Technologies products and services — then we would see QLD drop down dramatically that eco offenders’ list.

It is time to reckon up and stop all the misinformation and bluster against Green Technologies and renewables. There is an established, global consensus on how to solve and essentially stop climate change from getting any worse. That is reduce net carbon emissions — you can’t deny the body of facts and science anymore or you are clearly placed on the Lunatic Fringe. The majority of peoples and countries are taking action to replace fossil fuel production as rapidly as possible.

Just because we can get high prices on these toxic goods for now doesn’t make it a sustainable industry over the long term. Even the oil producers admit that. We can create new jobs in the new Green Tech industries — it’s inevitable.

Originally published at https://www.taniapeitzker.expert on July 12, 2023.