Any
notion that climate change is an issue that could be dealt with effectively in
some distant future has been shown to be untenable given events of the past few
years. Extreme weather events, severe
droughts and longer and more catastrophic bushfire seasons have shown more
people that there is a connection between these events and the growing carbon emissions in the earth’s atmosphere.
Australians
concerned about climate change are becoming increasingly frustrated with the
ostrich-like attitudes of many of their politicians and government agencies.
One
group which is taking legal action in an attempt to force a NSW government
agency to do more on climate change is Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action
which is taking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to court because of
its failure to better protect communities.
Jo
Dodds, president of the group, says that all its members have experienced a
bushfire at first hand. They believe
that climate change is a major contributing factor to the cause and growing
intensity of bushfires in Australia.
She said
that the issue isn’t being taken seriously enough and “There’s a sense that the
bushfires are over and we can get back to normal life after COVID-19 – but the
fires are going to come harder and more frequently.”
The
Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is representing the group.
David
Morris, the EDO chief executive, said the EPA had “a statutory mandate to
protect the environment … but the EPA don’t have a current policy to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions.
“Those
two things can’t co-exist.
“We’re
simply asking the court to tell the EPA go and create environmental quality
objectives with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, regulate the pollution and
use their existing powers to do so.”
According
to the EDO the EPA is in a unique position.
As an agency “with teeth”, it has the power to issue licences to control
pollution, as well as putting caps and prices on substances which are harmful
to the environment.
The case
is listed in the NSW Land and Environment Court in Sydney on May 8.
- Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on April 27, 2020
