Demand a Moratorium on Coal

Demand a Moratorium on Coal now!

It’s getting close to make or break time on the climate change front. The need for the world to reduce its green house gas emissions has never been so important. The planet is already in the midst of a climate change crisis, which has seen major disruptions to the world including:

• thousands of people dislocated from low-lying islands

• frightening rates of ice-melt in polar regions, resulting in habitat loss for species such as the polar bear, and contributing to rising sea levels

• increasing frequency and/or severity of extreme weather events such as droughts, bushfires, floods, and cyclones

• major disruptions to ecosystems, resulting in severe impacts on some species, and in at least one case (the Central American Golden Toad), extinction.

This has all resulted from an observed global average temperature increase of about 0.7 degrees Celsius. If the planet continues to warm to 2 degrees, impacts of climate change could include:

• a quarter of a billion people displaced by rising seas and cyclones

• up to 2.8 billion people without enough water

• mass species extinction and loss of ecosystems. For example, 97% of the world's coral reefs would die.

With a global warming of just 2 to 3 degrees, there is also a worryingly high chance that climate change would become self-reinforcing and unstoppable. As forests, soils, and oceans turned from “carbon sinks”, into “carbon sources”, the global temperature would spiral ever higher, leading to sea level rises of 25 metres, chaotic weather on every continent, and the very real possibility of the extinction of most species on earth.

To avoid this situation, there needs to be wholesale reductions in global greenhouse pollution – a 90% cut by 2050. Industrialised nations like Australia need to make the same sort of greenhouse pollution cuts even sooner – 90% or more by 2030. Since coal is the most greenhouse polluting fossil fuel, and a major source of global emissions, that means we need to cut back on coal. And we need to do it fast.

Its time for us to call upon the Australian, State and local governments to put a moratorium on coal and turn seriously towards the renewable energy sector. Prominent NASA Climate scientist recently made a plea to Kevin Rudd for a moratorium on coal. He asked,
“Perhaps the most important question is this: Can we find a country that will place a moratorium on any new coal fired power plants? Unless this happens soon, there is little hoe of avoiding the climate tipping points, with all that implies for life on this planet. It time to let the governments know that nothing is more valuable than life on earth.”