Life on the West Island - The wombat trail

West Islanders cannot say that we were not warned! Just on 60 years ago, professor of mathematics and musician Tom Lehrer penned a song which became a global hit, entitled Pollution. Each time he sang it, accompanying himself on an “eighty eight string guitar,” (ie piano, he gave a spoken introduction before launching into song:

Time was when an American about to go abroad would be warned
by his friends or the guidebooks not to drink the water.
But times have changed, and now a foreigner coming to
this country might be offered the following advice:

If you visit American city,
You will find it very pretty.
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!

Pollution, pollution!
They got smog and sewage and mud.
Turn on your tap
And get hot and cold running crud!

The song, written in 1960, goes on to list the many dangers posed by air and water pollution in advanced countries. Then, in 1962, Rachel Carson released a book which would shake the world and become the foundational document of the global environment movement.

The book, Silent Spring, documented the adverse environmental effects, particularly water pollution, caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry’s marketing claims unquestioningly. The book was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but, owing to public opinion, it brought about numerous changes. It spurred a reversal in the United States’ national pesticide policy, led to a worldwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, and helped to inspire an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

From that time on, there has been growing concern among scientists, environmentalists and the general public about global warming and the serious effects of human-induced climate change, now so comprehensively documented as to be beyond dispute, except by a few fringe lunatics and conspiracy theorists. But on the West Island, we have somehow found our political system and climate policies (or lack of them) heavily influenced by these crazies.

Dealing with climate change by drastically reducing the use of fossil fuels and reducing poisonous emissions is not a Left-Right issue. For example, we shouldn’t be surprised at the genesis of Margaret Thatcher’s commitment to fighting climate change. As a Conservative, she wasn’t a pushover, but as a scientist, she rigorously tested the science and was convinced. In 1992 – that is 27 years ago – she saw the imperative to act, and that made her the first leader of a major economy to commit to the Rio Earth Summit. In turn, it was her influence that brought George Bush to the table.

Now, in 2019, we have had a West Island election campaign framed around arcane arguments about what this might cost our economy in 2030! A far better question would have been – what would it cost if we fail to take effective action now?

Our Prime Minister admitted this week that under the coalition government, carbon dioxide emissions have increased in every one of the past six years. Yet he is happy to rely on accounting tricks, rather than pollution reduction measures, to disingenuously claim that “we are on track to meet our emissions targets.” This is not just a provable lie, he knows that it is a lie, yet continues to parrot it whenever asked questions about measures to deal with climate change.

Regrettably, the response to the collapse of the Murray-Darling river systems is just as weak. Responding to massive pollution, fish deaths and water theft by multinational companies, the Prime Minister blames the drought and the Basin Plan. The main problem has been the failure by regulatory authorities to properly enforce the Plan by policing water extraction quotas and apparently pandering to big companies and their chief apologist, Barnaby Joyce.

So, after 60 years of constant warnings, the West Island is facing a climate crisis and a water crisis. Are we really just slow learners, or is our focus on today’s jobs and profits blinding us to the need to implement long-term policies to deal with these pressing emergencies?

Tom Lehrer was pessimistic about how such issues would be tackled. This is the final verse of Pollution:

So go to the city,

See the crazy people there.

Like lambs to the slaughter,

They're drinking the water

And breathing [cough] the air!