Ten years ago, on this day, September 23rd, 2014,
While US President Barack Obama told the UN Climate Summit [23 Sept 2014] that climate change will “define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other”, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (replacing Tony Abbott, who did not attend) surmised the Australian position to “striking the responsible balance of safeguarding economic growth while taking action on climate change.”
Limbrick, 2014
And this was the event where Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, channelling his inner John Howard, did not attend, even though in New York the following day –
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 399ppm. As of 2024 it is 422ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that Obama could afford to give all the soaring speeches because he wasn’t going to be up for re-election. And it’s his strong suit, isn’t it – soaring speeches. Legislating, not quite so much. Paris was coming. And soaring speeches make your followers feel good, don’t they? So everyone’s happy.
What we learn is that we are easily seduced by wonderful rhetoric from people who we can praise and then pat ourselves on the back for not being racist. Pro tip, not being racist is a little bit more complicated than very occasionally voting for a black person.
What happened next? Obama made all the money. Paris happened, the emissions kept climbing.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
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Also on this day:
September 23, 1986 -Joe Biden suggests urgent #climate action…
September 23, 2013 – Media Watch versus climate denialists …