Council’s climate policy a backwards step

Dear News Of The Area,

I READ with horror that the Port Macquarie/Hastings Council has repealed its climate change policies.

Cr Maltman argues that we cannot change the climate on the globe nor the climate in our

local area. This to me is limited thinking.

The argument that the council cannot change the global or the local climate is misleading. We all have a responsibility to do our bit to cut emissions, including the council.

Australia, while small in population, has the highest carbon dioxide emissions per capita.

If the rest of the world pumped the same amount of emissions into the atmosphere we would be choked and our temperature rise would have gone well above 2 degrees Celsius.

Climate change is not limited by council or country boundaries.

Yes, we can focus on rates, roads and rubbish, but it matters how we do it.

Are we including bike tracks on our roads? Are we making sure there are safe road crossings for our koalas? Are we leaving space for EV charging stations? Are we trying to encourage recycling and composting in our rubbish collection? Where do we allow further housing or industrial development?

Focusing on rates, roads and rubbish does not take away our responsibility for a cleaner planet.

I would like to urge the council to urgently reinstate the previous climate policy.

Regards,

Lava Kohaupt