Contributed by Ugly

The Morrison government’s approval of the gas project at Narrabri made me angry. I bet I’m not the only one. A lot of us have spent years doing our bit to put an end to the use of dirty fossil fuels. We know that unless the carbonisation of our atmosphere is stopped, there’s not going to be much of a world left for any of us.

Coal seam gas, otherwise known as fracking, is a nasty industry, causing quick poisoning of the land, animals, and people, as the water table is contaminated.

Santos has now been given to green light to go ahead and drill 850 wells into good grazing land. Farmers are upset. They know their cattle will be affected, and this will impact on the quality of the food they produce for the rest of us.

Forrest will also be destroyed. This will reduce the water supply and the quality of the soil.

Photo by Chris Gillette

If this is what the gas led economic recovery looks like, none of us should want any part in it.

It gets worse. A third of Australian land is subject to petroleum exploration licences.

Farmers for Climate Action have been busy fighting this. Now that global warming has reached 1.4 degrees, they say there is no excuse. The organisation’s Chair Charlie Prell says, “Every new report on climate change tends to be more dire than the last, and this new research from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology is no exception.

“Over the last year, farmers have grappled with droughts, floods and some of the worst fires in living memory,” the New South Wales sheep producer said. “There’s now clear evidence that rising emissions are driving the risk of these events, and without action on climate change, 2019 won’t be exceptional, it will be the norm.

“Today we have a choice, but very soon that choice is going to be taken away. Will we choose to invest in a sustainable and profitable renewables-led recovery, or will we sacrifice our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren, and make decisions mired in out-dated tradition and ideology?

“The recent Deloitte report has already identified how much money we can save by acting now to address climate change.”

Farmers for Climate Action CEO, Wendy Cohen will be joined by report author, Richard Heath and former New South Wales Agriculture Minister, Niall Blair to discuss the paper and the impacts of gas on farmers. Register here to attend the launch.