Our Government Has Failed Us

We all heard the announcement this week that Kevin Rudd will be putting off the national Emission Trading Scheme until 2011. The good news is that he is proposing to increase our commitment to reducing our emissions (if the world agrees ...) to a 25% reduction of our emission levels in the year 2000. But at the same time, he is also giving away more freebies to big industries, to shut them up.

When is Mr Rudd going to realise that you can’t keep everyone happy all the time? What happened to doing what is right by our country, and by the world?

Whilst emissions reduction continues to be used as a political tool, nothing is going to be achieved. 

So, Australians will have to stop seeing themselves as world leaders. We are the worst country in terms of emissions per capita in the world - yes, even worse than the fuel guzzling Americans. We are followers, not leaders. Our government literally cannot make a decision to save us, and none of us will doing anything if the government doesn’t.

The problem seems so big to the individual, that it’s easier to blame the government, and sit back and wait for someone else to take action.

When will we start taking responsibility for ourselves and quit waiting for the government to lead the way? If millions of us make small changes, and take small steps to reduce our personal emissions, we will achieve something - more in fact than the government has managed to achieve, ever.