farmdoc's blog post number 211

In Geraldine Brooks’s wonderful novel People of the Book, she mentions the hoary aphorism: when you hear the sound of thundering hooves, think of horses and not zebras. That is, common things are common; and vice versa. Therefore in Farmdoc’s Blog I keep banging on about global warming and climate change – because it’s the most important problem mankind faces today. Last week Nyrstar, the world’s largest zinc producer, said its Australian smelters – including one in Hobart – could be unviable under the Rudd government’s proposed greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. Welcome to the 21st century, Nyrstar. You’re a major producer of greenhouse gas, hence you’re a major climate wrecker. So get real and clean up your act. Or go into another, more environmentally friendly, business. Don’t cry jobs. And don’t blackmail politicians for emissions subsidies or other corporate welfare. This matter is above politics. And so is a proposal to make all new homes six-star energy efficient. The local builders are bleating that this would add A$10,000 to the price of a new home. Maybe, but the running costs are much less, and the ongoing environmental cost is lower. So governments must subsidise this A$10,000 in some way. Perhaps with the money Nyrstar will ask for and must be refused. Oh for a smidge of policy innovation instead of the same old, same old.