In January, Friends of the Earth published a report quantifying the cost of ‘natural’ disasters exacerbated by climate change. Yes 2 Renewables received the following letter from Mik Aidt in response to our coverage of the report:
A new report from Friends of the Earth shows disasters related to climate change—fires, floods, heatwaves and storms—have cost Victoria almost $20 billion between 2003 and 2013.
Climate change will keep raising that figure in the coming decades. But instead of following the advice of impartial scientists, governments continue to delay the inevitable transition from polluting fossil fuels to clean renewable electricity generated by wind turbines, solar rooftops and dams.
PM Tony Abbott is attempting to stall the march of renewables with a review of the Howard-era Renewable Energy Target. The PM has also backed another costly inquiry into the health impacts of wind farms despite 19 reviews showing the technology is clean and safe. At a state level, anti-wind farm laws introduced by Premier Baillieu have stalled the sector—costing jobs, income for farmers and climate safety action.
It’s time for PM Abbott and Premier Napthine to get informed about the impacts of climate change. Future generations will thank them if they change tack and take leadership on climate change and renewable energy.
Mik is a Geelong-based sustainability journalist and founder of ClimateSafety.info. Hailing from Denmark, which is a world leader in wind energy, Aidt tells me Danes support clean renewable energy from the wind and find the opposition here in Australia bizarre. Mik is spearheading a petition to encourage local political leaders to make Geelong fossil fuel free. You can sign it here.
yes2renewables.org 
We need to understand why the extraction of gas, coal and oil isn’t just simply stopped, now that we know that this is what we need to do in order to protect ourselves and our families from an escalating climate catastrophe – and considering that we do have have alternatives: We can replace gas, coal and oil with renewable energy sources to generate our energy.
So why doesn’t it happen as the most natural thing in the world? – and why do we keep seeing newspaper articles and letters trying to convince us that climate change isn’t happening and that it is a matter of “blind faith” and scientists who fudge with data?
Here is an article in the Huffington which gives some hints:
“Whether you’re talking about tobacco or global warming denial or toxics in furniture, it’s all the same strategies,” said Glantz. “It’s this whole idea of creating doubt. Then it becomes a ‘he said, she said,’ and the weight of evidence gets lost.” (…)
“It took several decades of accumulated data before the harms from lead and tobacco became widely recognized. Both industries are now attempting to fend off court-ordered penalties for past behavior, including hiding known health risks.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/07/flame-retardants-tobacco-lead-paint_n_4734449.html