I dont consider myself a very politically minded person and Ive never protested

against government decisions, but looking on as our national climate change laws
were recently repealed was a tipping point for me. There is a protest march for a
better government this coming weekend, and Ill be attending. While most people
profess low levels of trust in government, like many other countries, Australian
attitudes to climate change and political voting intentions are strongly linked.
1
Tony
Abbot and the coalition delivered on their election promise repealing a package of
climate change laws which (in theory) reduces the cost of living by an average of
$550 per household per year.
2
As a nation we sold our environment for $550. This is
less than a return flight to Bali. When did we become such environmental sell outs?

The articles in the July issue of Nature explore the potential national and
international implications that threaten the political momentum of climate change
action ahead of the binding international climate agreement scheduled to be signed
in Paris next year.
3
I argue however that very little momentum and even less action
has been taken to combat climate change since the relationship between
greenhouse gases and global warming was discovered over 50 years ago.
4
The
pioneering Australian carbon tax legislation which has just been repealed was the
first of its kind to tackle this issue, yet it didnt last more than a few years.
5
Instead I
have contemplated how we as a nation have succumbed to short term political
exploitation of consumerism by allowing the dismantling of the only Australian laws

1
Zoe Leviston and Ian Walker, Baseline Survey of Australian attitudes to climate change: Preliminary Report
(Social and Behavioural Sciences Research Group, CSIRO, January 2011) 3.
2
Quirin Schiermeier, Anger as Australia dumps carbon tax (2014) 511 Nature 392.
3
Editorial, The wrong kind of carbon cut (2014) 511 Nature 383.
4
For example the work of Charles Keeling who studied the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and
the greenhouse effect. He is responsible for the Keeling Curve which measures the progressive accumulation
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
5
Ibid.
which had the ability to contribute to the restoration of the climatic equilibrium of our
planet. In my opinion the degree of apathy of Australians in relation to climate
change is what ultimately makes this decision morally unacceptable.

Although it would be easy to blame the politicians for this outcome the government
has only achieved this legislative repeal through the endorsement of the Australian
voting public. This paper argues that the underlying apathy towards climate change
by Australians is a result of a psychological disconnection to the natural environment
and that this is the underlying tragedy of the situation. At the same time repairing this
relationship is suggested as the only way that meaningful and consistent action
towards climate change can transpire.
6


To try and understand how weve reached this point we need to trace our steps
backwards to when this psychological severance from the natural environment
occurred. This takes us to a time not so long ago when the entire human civilisation
was deeply connected and in tune with the Earth. The land was a source of spiritual
and emotional fulfilment as well as the provider of practical needs for survival food,
shelter, water. The rise of modernity and the creation of capitalist economies turned
the environment into a commodity to be exploited and thus the age of forgetfulness
as Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh describes
7
, commenced. Human displacement
from the natural environment and the commodification of the Earths resources under
a capitalist economic system left a void in the human psyche, and that void has been
attempted to be filled by consumerism ever since.

6
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (ed), Spiritual Ecology: The cry of the earth, A collection of essays (The Golden Sufi
Centre, 3
rd
ed, 2014) 42.
7
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Bells of Mindfulness in Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (ed), Spiritual Ecology: The cry of the
earth, A collection of essays (The Golden Sufi Centre, 3
rd
ed, 2014) 25.

Evidence of this disconnection is clear in the most recent annual CSIRO study on
attitudes towards climate change which surveyed over 5000 Australians.
8
47.3% of
people believe climate change is a result of human influence
9
however on average,
climate change ranked the third least important social issue and the second least
important environmental issue.
10
The results confirm that climate change as a result
of anthropocentric influence is accepted by around half of the population but what is
lacking is a sense of urgency in addressing the issue within this group. This is not
surprising since the publics understanding of the potential impacts of climate change
only entail modest increases in the severity of weather events such as heatwaves
and drought.
11


On the contrary economic priorities such as the cost of living, employment, education
and the Australian economy were at the top of the list of social concerns.
12
In terms
of environmental concerns the results were more interesting. Out of eight choices
including water shortages, pollution, water quality, drought, deforestation, household
waste, climate change and salinity (which were answered as listed from greatest to
lowest importance) although climate change was listed as the second least
environmental concern,
13
many of the other environmental issues listed were
potential climate change impacts. The research makes an important finding that the
general public does not necessarily view the earth as an interconnected organism

8
Zoe Leviston, Jennifer Price, Sarah Malkin and Rod McCrea, Fourth annual survey of Australian attitudes to
climate change: Interim report (CSIRO, January 2014) 3 <
http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Adapting/Annual-Survey-of-Australian-Attitudes-to-Climate-
Change.aspx>.
9
Ibid 5.
10
Ibid.
11
Above n 8, 12.
12
Ibid 5.
13
Ibid.
but sees these issues as independent from one another. The public does not appear
to understand how natural physical and biological processes are interrelated.

The research findings allude to a critical point made in The wrong kind of carbon cut
that the Australian public has been too easily influenced and confused by the power
and money of carbon producers. Collusion between the corporate media and the
fossil fuel industry is a well concealed triumph of propaganda.
14
The crux of the
matter is that our disconnection to the natural environment has correlated with the
rise of the modern economy which has in turn resulted in the exploitation of the
Earth. In the Living Planet Report 2012 scientists calculated that we need about 1.5
earths to sustain the current economy.
15
This is referred to as an ecological
overshoot a term used to describe when at a global level, the ecological footprint is
larger than the biocapacity of the Earth.
16
Despite a scientific consensus that human
influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming of our planet since
the mid-20
th
century
17
and that limiting climate change will require substantial and
sustained reductions of GHG emissions
18
mainstream media tends to represent
climate change discussions as though it was an open ended argument. Television is
a good example of this misrepresentation, usually where one climate sceptic argues
against one scientist that accepts human induced climate change. The one to one
ratio feeds into the perception that both sides have equally valid points and that the
viewer can make a decision on the validity of the argument. However commonly the

14
Above n 6.
15
Monique Grooten, Living Planet Report 2012 (Report made by WWF in conjunction with the Global
Footprint Network and ZSL, 2012) 8.
16
Ibid.
17
IPCC, Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis Contribution of
Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 2013) 17
18
Ibid 19.
entire argument is focused on the question, does human induced climate change
really exist? We dont get a chance to get off the starting block to look into the issue
as the general public as we a stuck at that basic question which has already been
proved by the scientific community. I believe if human induced climate change was
more accurately represented in the media the position of the remaining half of
Australians who either dont believe humans have influenced climate change or
dont know would be significantly influenced.

Perhaps Australia needs a crisis get us going as Paul Gilding suggests in his
engaging TED Talk, The Earth is Full.
19
Crises have the ability to raise us out of
apathy with extraordinary speed and determination. We can be very innovative and
pro-active under extenuating circumstances. A crisis would surely mobilise public
opinion which would in turn put pressure on government to implement legislation to
regulate climate change mitigation and adaption.

What is the alternative to taking action on climate change aside from coercion from a
devastating crisis? Globally there are numerous innovative solutions of which carbon
emissions trading schemes recently abolished through legislative repeal is but one.
However, its rarely a lack of knowledge, concrete data or technological innovation
that result in missed opportunities on acting towards climate change.
20
Rather, it is
the social and political will which is lacking. I believe for Australia and the world to
take climate change seriously it requires the reinstatement of the bond between
humans and the natural environment and addressing the psychological barrier that

19
TED, The Earth is Full, TED2012, February 2012, 13:00 (Paul Gilding) <
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_gilding_the_earth_is_full/transcript?language=en#t-99000>.
20
Marc Bekoff and Sarah Bexell, Ignoring Nature: Why We Do It, the Dire Consequences, and the Need for a
Paradigm Shift to Save Animals, Habitats, and Ourselves (2010) 17(1) Human Ecology Review 72.
prevents people from addressing climate change.
21
This could be in the form of
programs which encourage engagement with nature and living systems, but
ultimately it requires a reprioritisation of our value system and the relationship
between humans, the economy and the environment. I am concerned that without a
change to the capitalist economic structure all efforts to reinstate human connection
to the natural environment would be futile. Infinite economic growth is not an option
on a planet with finite resources
22
and the economic system needs to respond to this
fact accordingly.

The repeal of Australias carbon legislation was a bad move, not because it has
potentially made Australia look weak at upcoming international climate change
conferences, but because it highlights the deep psychological disconnection from the
Earth so much so that we have been persuaded by our government to buy it from us
for $550. As our collective economic and social values change so too will the political
weight towards the issue in favour of proactive climate change legislative solutions.
But theres no time to lose and I believe it is up to those who are aware of the issues
to make their voices heard above the large shrug of apathy. So Ill be marching at
the protest this weekend to influence positive action on climate change until our
fellow Australians also reconnect with the natural environment and join us.

Word count: 1,517




21
Ibid.
22
Above n 16.