EDITORIAL: Climate pessimism becomes self-fulfilling prophecy

Crops will fail, major centres including parts of Brisbane and Sydney will disappear under water for most of the year and those of us who haven’t dropped dead from searing heat or dengue fever will be left significantly poorer thanks to the plummeting value of our now uninsurable homes.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s vision of the future, as outlined in the first National Climate Risk Assessment report, is a bit of a downer to say the least.

The report, released Monday, by the Australian Climate Service, outlines three different warming scenarios modelling the impacts of 1.5C, 2C and 3C temperature rises.

And boy are they bleak.

So what are Australians to do as we march towards this dystopian future? Start scanning the real estate pages for properties in Guyra and the supermarket catalogues for good deals on bulk purchases of canned beans? Or skip straight to it and start sizing up which of the family pets to eat first, should push come to shove?

This report, endorsed as it is by Mr Bowen, is a picture of an impending climate armageddon.

It’s hard not to be left with the impression that this horror story is all a bit of a game.

The question is: what are we meant to do about it?

The images conveyed are so dramatic, so dire, that if they do present an accurate picture of the future, surely Mr Bowen and his government have no time to waste?

But rather than hit the panic button as this report demands, when asked by The West Australian’s Katina Curtis what exactly are Australians meant to do about this, Mr Bowen has no answer.

Suddenly the drama is transformed into calm assurance.

Everything is going to be all right, we got this.

Which raises the question, what really is this report all about?

What are we meant to make of it all?

Is this a catastrophe in the making or not?

And if the answer is yes, what exactly are we doing about it?

Well not much.

Which is exactly why it is difficult to take the scaremongering seriously.

It’s hard not to be left with the impression that this horror story is all a bit of a game.

The to-and-fro about targets for 2035, and the climactic Year 2050.

And lo and behold, there is a new milestone year: 2090. Yes 2090.

By 2090, the report warns grimly, a third of coastal communities, three million people, could be at “high or very high risk”.

In the end, this is the mother of all scare campaigns.

All of this is meant to encourage households to back in the renewable revolution.

This is meant to give households the mettle to stick out the exponential increases in energy bills.

This is meant to fortify the nation against resistance to spending billions of dollars on wind turbines and solar panels and batteries.

Most agree now that we have to adapt to climate change. Unfortunately whatever our response to the doomsday scenario being pushed by Mr Bowen, on the current policy settings will cost us a fortune, make us all poorer, and do very little to avoid the promised disaster.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.