WARNING: This post is a political piece which contains my personal opinions.
Whether we like it or not the G20 has arrived in Brisbane, the capital city of my home state, Queensland. Today is a declared public holiday for all who work in the Brisbane City Council area. I am included in that number. Even when I was in the city on Monday and Tuesday, there were barricades everywhere and the footpaths were literally swarming with police.
Powerful and influential leaders from nations across the world are descending as I write and the spotlight of the world media will be on Brisbane over the next 3 days. The total influx of people is in excess of 7,000. This includes support and security staff for the world leaders as well as a huge contingent of journalists and other other media staff.
So what is the G20? This link gives a brief, unbiased overview. In reality, Mr Putin is arriving with a flotilla of Russian warships steaming towards Australian waters, the USA and Chinese delegations fly in with the ink barely dry on an agreement to work together on greenhouse gas emissions and David Cameron has come to hang out with his ‘new best friend’.
Who knows what the weekend will bring. The one thing that we will all endure is hot weather. It does not matter whether you are a young child whose home is here or one of the most powerful leaders in the world – it will be hot – probably hotter on Saturday and Sunday than any previous November day on record in our city. This is not a one-off. It is indicative of our changing climate. Already, most of the temperature records are from the past 10 years, despite the fact that records have been kept for well in excess of 100 years in this country.
Mr Abbott does not think that the G20 is the right forum for discussions about climate change. That’s right, just continue to bury your head in the sand. We all know that you do not believe in the science of climate change. You have told us so, yourself.
I will not be protesting this weekend but I am sure that there will be others who do. They will have all sorts of items on their agendas that they want to put in front of this group of powerful and influential leaders.
My weekend will be spent making sure that my garden is kept well-watered and protected from the searing sun and heat as I do my best to ensure the survival of the food crops that I am growing to feed my family. I will also be thinking of those farmers who struggle to make a livelihood while doing battle with the increasingly extreme weather conditions. They do this in order to provide food to you and I. The advertisement below, was one which was banned by the Brisbane Airport Corporation as being “too political” for display during the G20. It features a South Australian grape producer, David Bruer. You can read more here.
While grapes and the end product, wine, may not be essential to our survival, agriculture in the broader sense is most definitely necessary.
Remember, Mr Abbott – without a planet there will be NO economy. Addressing the issues of climate change should be front and centre of any global economic forum.
I was looking for a final quote for this post and amazingly I found this. Need I say more?