US & Australia fuel greenhouse disaster
by Marcus Browning The world is faced with an inferno of global warming and environmental disaster while the two biggest producers of greenhouse gases, the US and Australia, fuel the fires of destruction. Concerns over this unacceptable situation flared up last week when six of the island states at the Pacific Island Forum in the Fiji capital of Suva gave vent to their anger at Australia's refusal to sign the Kyoto climate change convention. Kiribati, Nauru, Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands, all threatened with rising sea levels, expressed "profound disappointment" at the decision of Australia to tail along behind the US as the only two developed, industrialised countries to refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol. The US is the world's biggest overall producer of greenhouse gases, and Australia is the biggest producer per capita. Instead of responding positively to these concerns of the island nations, Prime Minister John Howard opportunistically tried to hijack the Forum, arrogantly lecturing the Pacific nation leaders on "good governance", threatening to cut Australian aid if it wasn't "dispersed and dispensed wisely and frugally". Out of arrogance inevitably comes hypocrisy: Howard, the head of arguably the most deceitful, anti-democratic and corrupt Australian Government in history, self-righteously lecturing Australia's Pacific neighbours like a colonial overlord. Howard's performance at the Pacific Forum is in line with his Government's smoke-and-mirrors act on greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Last week Environment Minister David Kemp produced a greenhouse gas inventory as measured by the Government's Greenhouse Office. Kemp claimed that Australia was "within striking distance" of the Kyoto Protocol targets. (The Protocol's modest aim is to keep emissions at around eight per cent more than the 1990 level.) The Australian Greens labelled this as a "greenwash", saying that no amount of number-crunching can disguise the Australian Government's appalling performance on global warming. The Government is manipulating the figures by claiming that some changes to land clearing and agricultural practices have brought Australia within reach of the Kyoto target. The reality is that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use have escalated to such a degree that by 2010 our carbon emissions will be an estimated 33 per cent more than the 1990 level. The US and Australia want the world to ignore the growing environmental crisis now taking place around the globe — floods, droughts, cyclonic storms, increasing desertification — climate extremes causing widespread devastation. As the Cook Islands Prime Minister, Robert Woonton, said in response to Australia's claim that the rise in sea levels is due to coastal erosion rather than climate change: "If the polar caps are melting, where do you think the water's going?" In a statement the Greens outlined the looming danger. "For the world to avoid financial, social and ecological tragedy this century, these emissions need to be reduced 60-80 percent. This means massive restructuring to an economy based on eco-technologies like solar and hydrogen power."