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Climate change will be most extreme if we ignore the need to take action. If we do fail to act, the changing climate will impact negatively on Australian wildlife and landscapes, and things that we cherish will be lost. Regional areas of Australia need healthy environments – to sustain tourist enterprises, to keep the land and water healthy for farming and fishing, and to enjoy for recreation. This paper features just some of the many regional communities that will be adversely affected as climate change damages the environment around them. Climate change is occurring now and will accelerate. However, the worst impacts can be avoided if we take action now to reduce the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. There is a need for reductions in greenhouse pollution by about 60 percent of current levels. To achieve this goal the solutions to climate change must be introduced immediately. There are many economic benefits for regional communities in being part of the solution. There is also the additional, priceless value of retaining healthy wildlife populations and diverse ecosystems that are part of our communities, identities, heritage, and web of life. There are more jobs in building and operating the solutions to climate change than there are in the industries and operations that are causing it. Sustainable energy In Australia, most of the greenhouse gases causing climate change are from the burning of coal for the production of electricity. More than 80 percent of our electricity comes from burning coal. Greenhouse pollution is also caused by clearing land and burning oil for transport. Renewable fuels for energy and transport can provide the same services as traditional fossil-fuelled power, but do not create dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable energy solutions are also the best option for regional communities for several reasons: 1. Decentralising power to the regions Moving to sustainable energy will mean moving away from the use of existing coal-fired power stations. This will require new investment in sustainable energy power stations and this opportunity allows the community to make more sensible decisions about where to locate power stations. Decentralised systems can be designed to suit their consumers, are cheaper, quicker to build, and able to be adapted to changing needs. It is best to produce energy close to where it is needed as it is more efficient and reliable. Transmitting power through lines strung across hundreds of kilometres is expensive, wasteful and unreliable. 95 percent of power failures occur in the transmission or distribution of power from the centralised station to where it is used (Rocky Mountains Institute, 1997). Centralised power stations are extremely inefficient, losing up to 20% percent of the electricity in the process of moving it from one end of the powerline to the other. This means that more fossil fuels have to be burned in order to produce enough electricity to be transmitted and then meet the demand. Decentralised power production has the additional benefits of making regional areas more independent and is a way to create local jobs. 2. Jobs in sustainable energy There are more jobs in building and operating the solutions to climate change than there are in the industries and operations that are causing it. Renewable energy projects employ more people for each unit of power produced than do coal-fired power stations (ACIL, 2000). In 1999 – 2000 sustainable energy and energy efficiency industries in Australia employed 22 800 people, which was less than the traditional electricity industry which employed 33 000, but rapidly catching up. Many of the new renewable energy developments are located in regional Australia (Australia Institute, 2001). 3. Go with the growth industries Renewable industries are projected to grow rapidly over the next few decades as the world becomes even more aware of the damage that fossil fuels are causing. In 1998, sales in the renewable energy industry totalled $1.2 billion in NSW, with a growth rate of over 25 percent per year. The growth of sales and jobs in this industry in NSW is faster than tourism, information technology, manufacturing and coal mining (Ellis, 1999). There are over 80 new sustainable energy projects, worth more than $3 billion, under construction or proposed in regional Australia (Australia Institute, 2001). It is estimated that the rate of worldwide photovoltaic market growth will be 30 percent up to 2020, and 15 percent between 2020-2040 (Reuters(a), 2001). In rural areas of the United States, farmers are adding to farm income by leasing land for wind turbines to a local electricity company. The wind turbine income is typically US$2,000 an acre per year in royalties from the electricity produced. This is important additional income for farmers in the rangelands where an acre produces US$20 worth of beef a year and US$120 worth of wheat (Brown, 2000). Growth in coal use may still be increasing in Australia, but it is an industry that is declining in importance around the world. Its share of world energy, which peaked at 62 percent in 1910, is now 23 percent (Dunn, 1999). 4. Income goes to regional communities: The income from renewable energy and transport fuels produced in the region generally stays in the region. Diesel generators that power many rural and regional communities in Australia run on imported oil and the money to run them disappears from the community to an overseas oil company. 5. Independence from oil price fluctuations Rural and regional communities of Australia are highly dependent on imported transport fuels. In 1998 – 99, 84 percent of energy used by the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector was provided by diesel. Australian crude oils are light and are less suitable for making diesel, so heavy crude oil is imported for this purpose. Only 40 percent of the oils used in Australian refineries are domestic and the rest are imported (Fuel Tax Inquiry, 2001). This dependence on diesel made from imported oils makes rural and regional communities vulnerable to price fluctuations and potential shortages. The peak of global oil production is expected in 2010 – 2020, after which time it is very likely that prices will become volatile (Fuel Tax Inquiry, 2001). The production of alternatives to diesel can make rural and regional Australia more economically secure and can produce local jobs and income. Biodiesel can be made from a range of agricultural wastes and crops, and renewable energy can replace diesel generators for electricity. American agricultural groups estimate that a four-fold increase in renewable fuel use by 2016 would add $6.6 billion to the U.S. farm economy and 300,000 new jobs, and reduce dependence on imported oil (Reuters(b), 2001).
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Great Barrier Reef Great Barrier Reef, Image courtesy of World Wide Fund For Nature Links http://www.greenpower.com.au" target="_new">Visit Green Power website http://www.energysmart.com.au" target="_new">Visit Energy Smart website
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