The coronation of Greta Thunberg as Time Magazine’s person of the year may finally be the end of the denial and procrastination of the reactionary rump determined to pretend that climate change is a conspiracy designed to subvert civilisation as we know it.
Time Magazine is hardly a radical publication, but even the conservatives can no longer argue that Thunberg can be dismissed as a mentally disturbed delinquent who should be spanked and sent back to school while the rest of the world continues to pursue its refusal to face the reality that unless urgent action is taken, we are all on the way to hell in a hand basket.
Even as the ludicrous Angus Taylor, a kind of reverse King Midas – everything he touches turns to shit — rants in Madrid about the need to cook the books as a preliminary to cooking the planet, the bulk of the establishment has been forced to acknowledge that business as usual is no longer an option.
Thunberg may only be a symbol, but Time regards her as the most important person of 2019, and even in far off Australia, cantering blithely towards its inadequate response to the existential threat burning our suburbs and choking our cities, there is a sense that something has changed.
Our Prime Minister and his government are still reluctant to go further than a few weasel words: ScoMo, through gritted teeth, has admitted that yes, perhaps climate change may be part of the problem – although, absurdly, he seems to be arguing that the ongoing disasters are mainly due to the prolonged drought, which he apparently thinks has nothing to do with global warming.
And of course he has no intention of doing anything useful; Australia is playing its part, punching above its weight, beating its targets, reducing emissions – don’t you worry about that.
But all the state governments, the vast majority of businesses and the increasing weight of public opinion have moved on. Even within the coalition there is movement – not enough to get Morrison, Taylor and the rest of the recalcitrant off their arses, but a dawning realisation that sooner rather than later, the issue will have to be tackled.
And in a sense this may not be quite as hard as it seems, because the real resistance against the activists is not based on anything more substantial than perverse ideology.
It is not so much that the hardliners resist the evidence and the science—they are not really interested in either. They see the conflict as a key element in the culture wars: if the elitist inner city latte sippers of the left are in favour of acting on climate, true conservatives must be against it, and that’s all there is to say.
But now it is becoming embarrassingly clear that it is no longer a lefty fringe issue; quite apart from the inferno on our doorstep, and the certain knowledge that this is just the beginning, climate change has become mainstream, and is well on the way to becoming an unavoidable political priority .
And it is not about to go away. The picture of Greta Thunberg on the cover of Time is the confirmation that the change is not only urgent, but inevitable.
Mungo MacCallum is a veteran political journalist and commentator. His books include Run Johnny Run, Poll Dancing, and Punch and Judy.
mungomccallum@staging-johnmenadue.kinsta.cloud
Comments
8 responses to “MUNGO MACCALLUM.-Greta Thunberg”
Brilliant.
Deeply drink your legacy. Know that we all owe you so very – so very, very – much.
With my infinite gratitude.
This piece ranks with your best Mungo.
Woo! woo! Welcome back Mungo – someone must have noted my comments in the survey.
I dips me lid to Greta: addressing the UN no less in a foreign, to her, language with such eloquence and passion.
I hope one of your readers can confirm this but I’m sure it was Canavan on the ABC this morning proudly asserting that in the first forty years of this century, we will have burned that same amount of coal that has been burned throughout history. He saw great economic benefits particularly for his constituents.
Glad you re back Mungo. Here are a few comments on the problem, originally submitted as a letter to the Age, but not accepted, yet still relevant:
“Though some might entertain optimism that certain Liberals are now recognizing the reality of anthropogenic climate change, the LNP is unlikely in the near future to alter its utterly negligent attitude to climate change mitigation. Notwithstanding those in the parliamentary party who will never accept the science of climate change, there is also the political axiom employed by so many political leaders: you never admit you are wrong. This malady has affected both the ALP and the LNP and even if the effects of climate change become much more evident to the general public–an absolute inevitability in the near term–the LNP will not change tack in any kind of fundamental sense.
It has invested far too much in its unconstrained–if not black and white–opposition to the science. Whilst it might use soothing words occasionally about Kyoto carry over credits and reaching reduced emissions in a canter, the truth is that it cannot shift tack. To do so would require an irrevocable break in the LNP’s hitherto evangelical repudiation of climate change and leave its supporters utterly confused, if not angry.”
Good to have you back at the desk Mungo. Keep supporting Greta
It is known people suffering from Asberger are often highly intelligent and that intelligence can reach a peak at late teen age of about 16 to 19 years age. The betrayal of life on Earth by the political classes world-wide is now exposed, as in Hans Christian Andersen’s metaphor, ‘the king is naked’.
Thanks Mungo – I hope you’re right.
Poor old Greta has copped a lot of abuse from vicious idiots like Trump and Bolt – along with some inappropriate adulation – simply for being an honest and well-informed kid who just tries to get everyone to face the facts and listen to the actual scientists. It would be great if her efforts actually led to some real results, which seems to be all she (and a fair few of the rest of us) ever wanted.
I would rather be criticised by the likes of Trump and Bolt than to be ignored, my usual response.