Page 1862 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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I’m not going to do that. We’ve had 30 years of pep talking and selling positive ideas, and I’m sorry but it does not work because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now. They haven’t.
And, yes, we do need hope. Of course we do. But one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then and only then, hope will come today.
I agree with Greta Thunberg 200 per cent. That is the point of today’s motion. We need to do more. There is an emergency and we need to do it now. There has been a false debate about whether an individual’s actions are important or whether only governments can solve the problem. We have one atmosphere, one planet. It is an emergency. We need everybody to work on it. Individuals, communities, government and industry all have a part to play.
I would like to make a few points about how we can act, as Greta Thunberg said, to respond to this emergency. We are currently aiming for zero net emissions from the ACT by 2040. This counts the emissions directly produced in Canberra, such as the composting of waste as well as those produced by generating the electricity we import from the rest of Australia. That is good and much needed—nothing against that. However, the ACT is also responsible for a lot more emissions, which are embodied in the goods and services that we buy. This is our ecological footprint. An ecological footprint measures the amount of land and water required to produce goods and services and absorb waste, including carbon pollution.
The ACT Commissioner for the Environment found that, for the period 2011-12—and that is the most recent, unfortunately, that she has worked on—Canberra’s ecological footprint was 8.9 global hectares per person. Global hectares mean productive land, and that excludes deserts and icecaps. This is the largest in Australia and 3½ times the world average. The main component of our ecological footprint is household spending. Probably because we are an affluent community, Canberrans are the biggest consumers in the country.
The factsheet the commissioner has goes on to list the top ten items that Canberrans buy that impact our footprint. Electricity is number one. It is very positive that the ACT will soon be buying 100 per cent renewable electricity. We buy an awful lot of it now already. Now that electricity has basically been addressed, I think it is important that we concentrate on reducing the other emissions that the ACT is responsible for. This, of course, includes emissions produced in the territory such as the soon-to-be number one producer, the transport sector. There is then gas, buildings and waste. But the ACT is also responsible for those emissions produced so that goods and services can be consumed in the ACT, not just those produced in the ACT or for our electricity.
Firstly, there is almost certainly low-hanging fruit in reducing the goods and services that ACT imports in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We have had some discussions about this. Ms Orr has moved motions about coffee cups and plastic waste. This is all good. But the point is that we need to look at our consumption more broadly. The Greens have long supported the five Rs of consumption—refuse, reduce, re-use, recycle, repair. These days we add a sixth R, which is remember—remember to bring your cup, your shopping bag et cetera.
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