I wonder if the Emissions Trading Scheme is a distraction from the real issue. The real issue as far as I can see is how can we overcome the problem of depleting the planet to the degree that it is uninhabitable.  There is more to it that emitting greenhouse gas.

In responses to the recent international monetary crisis governments encouraged people to keep buying more stuff and injected more liquidity into the economy so they could do so.  Doesn’t it make more sense to find ways to use fewer resources. Do bigger and faster necessarily increase the quality of life?

Even if sources of energy are developed that have no adverse effect on the atmosphere of the planet, the problem remains that the materials that are being mined are not renewable and pollute the land and the ocean, and deforestation both removes carbon sinks and increases erosion of the earth.

What about providing incentives to planting trees and planting trees on every piece of land not being used for other purposes.  Isn’t it of highest priority to develop fast efficient public transport to decrease the need to use materials to build more roads and power more vehicles.

I regret that the big polluters of the atmosphere are not given greater incentives to find more planet friendly ways of producing.  I regret that the that the present government has pushed through such important legislation in such a hasty fashion.  At the same time I believe solutions will come when sufficient people care about depleting the planet and robbing future generations of the necessities of life so we of the present generation can use more than our share of resources on luxuries that we could live  without.

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