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The hot topics this season still relate to the worsening drought in the country and the sudden awakening and reluctant concession by the PM to the idea that there is a very strong probability (over 90% according to the consensus of the world’s top scientists) that climatic change is directly caused by or linked to human-induced activities (eg carbon gases emission) in the past fifty years.

Despite the evidence presented, some recalcitrant skeptics like Senator Minchinstill prefer to cast doubt on the direct link – he says it is healthy and very Australian to be skeptical. I must point out that this is no different from gambling on the fate of the planet, the future of the country and the future of humanity. It is like Russian Roulette, gambling on the future of your life. If the Senator wins in his gamble, everyone is laughing. But what IF the senator loses in this gamble in which he puts the whole future survival of humankind on the gambling table as betting capital? He would have lost the whole world in one single losing bet – no more betting because the world exists no more. No please. This is not betting on whether Makybe Diva will win the third Melbourne Cup. This is a much more serious matter. Back to climate change and carbon emissions. What can ordinary people do to help reduce carbon emissions?

One thing we can do is to cut down on energy consumption – every activity that uses energy will lead to carbon emission even in minute quantities. Common habits that waste energy and increase carbon emission should change.

These include:

• Leaving the lights turned-on when no one is in the room
• Using high-energy light globes instead of energy-saving fluorescent light-tubes
• Leaving the computer logged on all day and night when no one is in front of it to work
• Leaving the hi-fi sound system playing in the room when you have gone out for a while
• Boiling a large jug of hot water just to make one small cup of tea/coffee

• Leaving the hot water urn to boil the whole day/night
• Central heating or central cooling the entire building when only a handful of people are inside the premises or in one or two rooms
• Leaving the family car running and ticking when not in use
• Two people driving two vehicles to the same meeting place instead of car sharing
• Driving to the local milk bar 500m away to get a litre of milk
• Driving a 4-L-engine car instead of a smaller 1.5-L-engine car
• Putting your foot down to accelerate to high speed only to come to an
• abrupt full stop in front of the red lights 500m ahead – a very common driver habit

In the garden and on the farm some common practices that contribute to carbon gases emission include:

• Burning off materials that can be composted or mulched
• Leaving the farm ute, 4WD, tractor or lawn-mower engine running and ticking when not in use
• Land clearance, logging and tree felling

Some suggestions on how to help reduce carbon gases emission or to sequester carbon gases:

• Plant more trees – trees remove (sequester) carbon from the air by photosynthesis and lock up the carbon in the form of wood (cellulose). On average, oven-dried wood is about 50% carbon by weight. It is said that wood biomass can provide a ‘sink’ equivalent to about 0.7 billion metric tonnes carbon dioxide per year.
• Avoid starting bush-fires – in 2006 alone some millions of hectares of native bush and forests have been destroyed in Australia by bush-fires which were lit by man either willfully or negligently.
• Join the Green Fleet program – they plant trees on your behalf to make your vehicle carbon-neutral. Plant fast-growing native tree species that have a low water demand.
• Prefer a clean-fuel vehicle or a ‘hybrid’-fuel vehicle
• For new installations – include a solar-energy panel on every new building