Notes from an article by former Supreme Court of Victoria Judge David Harper AM

The climate has changed, is changing, and will continue to change. Humankind is by default moving the globe towards four degrees of increased warming. Such a change will destroy civilization, and with it everything that is precious in life. The most vulnerable will, of course, suffer most quickly and most deeply, but none will escape the natural disasters and the human descent into tribal conflict which will likely follow. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – the extent of impending catastrophe, we seem incapable of acknowledging it, let alone taking concrete steps to meet it.

First, we must accept that both the science and the economics are settled… Scientific study after scientific study has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that not only is the earth’s temperature rising, but also that these alterations are almost certainly the result of human activities. That is the conclusion reached in a joint report entitled ‘Climate Change – Evidence and Causes’, published 26 February 2014 by the Royal Society (of the UK) and the National Academy of Sciences (US). Each of these professional bodies is of world renown. Their view, and that of the IPCC, is endorsed by such an overwhelming majority of relevant scientific opinion that climate change deniers occupy a space in which knowledge is turned upside down. Were the issue to be determined by a jury after rigorously fought litigation, any verdict to the contrary would be overturned as being perverse.

There is a comparable majority of economic opinion for the conclusion that a carbon price is the best way to move all the relevant markets at once, thereby cutting emissions for the cheapest possible price. In a survey of 35 leading Australian economists, 33 agreed.

Direct action… would be beneficial to the extent that it resulted in the closure of coal-fired electricity generators. Otherwise it falls short… by every measure of both cost and benefit. No listed company would have a carbon cost greater than 5% of pre-tax earnings.

Those in public office hold their positions on trust for the people they serve. Climate change presents a real and present danger. It may not involve invading armies, but it is no less real. The policy (of the present Australian government) must be scrapped.

And there is much that we individuals can do. And if we can do, we must. Individuals can aim to reduce society’s carbon footprint by cutting a minimum one tonne of carbon dioxide from their daily lives. We can direct our consumption to products that use less energy to produce.

Australia should lift its target for cutting emissions from 5% below 2000 levels by 2020 to 19%. Making that steeper now will avoid a much steeper cut later. Adopting tougher motor vehicle emission standards of the kind already in place elsewhere would cut running costs as well as emissions… Another suggestion is to buy extra emissions reductions from other countries. They are going cheaply at the moment.

Each generation has an unfair advantage over those which follow. The unfairness of our position is far greater than that of any predecessor. We have an unavoidable moral duty to our children and their heirs to leave them a planet on which civilization thrives; not one on which a decent human existence is impossible.

On 1 December 1862, Abraham Lincoln urged Congress (re the emancipation of slaves): ‘Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remember in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honour or dishonour, to the latest generation. We – even we here – hold the power and bear the responsibility… We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.’

Our politicians cannot escape history. They must not be allowed to relinquish the obligation of trust by which they are bound. We have all the powers with which citizens of a democracy are endowed. We must ensure that each member of parliament allocates primary importance to the reality of climate change and to the adoption of policies which will minimize its impact. It can be done. Action now may be costly and difficult, but action later will be doubly so.

The Melbourne Anglican, May 2014, p. 19