Telling it how it is on climate change

Great post from Lindsay Tanner at The Age, tell it how it is on climate change.

Some key quotes...

Economic and population growth drive emissions higher every year. And the proposed base year is 2000. Emission levels in 2009 are well above 2000 levels, so the actual cuts required to meet the 5 - 15 per cent objective would be roughly in the order of 13 - 24 per cent. That will involve significant challenges for our economy and for many households.

and

Unfortunately the Greens have not followed their lead. They lined up with the climate change deniers in the Liberal and National parties to vote down the Government's proposals in the Senate. Why? Because the only outcome they're interested in is taking votes from Labor, not outcomes on climate change. Hence, rather than contributing constructively to help produce an outcome that's actually got a chance of getting through the Senate, they're happy to grandstand from the sidelines, safe in the knowledge they'll never have the responsibility of actually doing something. So we witness the bizarre spectacle of the Greens voting with Barnaby Joyce and Nick Minchin to knock over a climate change policy that much of the environment movement regards as reasonable.