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What good would Australia moving away from coal do anyone? If Aus stopped all coal activities, absolutely nothing changes about climate change.

Zagitta 5y ago
Lower supply means higher prices which increases the attractiveness of renewable energy?
matthewdgreen 5y ago
It would mean fewer stories like this one, for one thing.
wongarsu 5y ago
How does burning less coal do "absolutely nothing about climate change"? If you state something like that you have to at least give a convincing argument.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  fruityrudy is arguing in other comment replies that the Australian coal is "only 3%" of CO2 emissions so he probably thinks that's so close to zero it's basically zero and negligible.. I wonder how he'd feel about a 3% pay cut.
- fruityrudy 5y ago
  Climate change is not directly proportional to co2 in the atmosphere. To reverse it requires large reductions. China, India, US. Australia’s production and usage is a rounding error at the moment.
koolraap 5y ago
Economics 101 is killing coal, nothing else. Digging rock out of the ground, lugging it across the world in massive quantities and then burning it is an expensive activity. There are cheaper alternatives, the most obvious one is natural gas, and that's similar to comparing terminal lung cancer to terminal stomach cancer. Terminal being the key word. Forget about climate change, health issues (have you been to a country where your eyes hurt?), pro-unionism/anti-unionism and whatever else you like or dislike, coal is not economically viable. Just ask British coal miners. Oh wait, you can't thanks to Margret Thatcher (love her or hate her, she did invent soft-serve ice cream. Seriously). She saw it coming 40 years ago. Coal is an energy source, absolutely. It works. It's just economically stupid compared to cheaper alternatives. Just like farriers, blacksmiths, priests and who-knows-what professions are useless, coal miners are too. Economics 101. And you don't even need to mention climate change. Coal is dead dead dead. Get used to it.

Zagitta 5y ago

Lower supply means higher prices which increases the attractiveness of renewable energy?

matthewdgreen 5y ago

It would mean fewer stories like this one, for one thing.

wongarsu 5y ago

How does burning less coal do "absolutely nothing about climate change"? If you state something like that you have to at least give a convincing argument.

bellyfullofbac 5y ago
fruityrudy is arguing in other comment replies that the Australian coal is "only 3%" of CO2 emissions so he probably thinks that's so close to zero it's basically zero and negligible.. I wonder how he'd feel about a 3% pay cut.
fruityrudy 5y ago
Climate change is not directly proportional to co2 in the atmosphere. To reverse it requires large reductions. China, India, US. Australia’s production and usage is a rounding error at the moment.

koolraap 5y ago

Economics 101 is killing coal, nothing else. Digging rock out of the ground, lugging it across the world in massive quantities and then burning it is an expensive activity. There are cheaper alternatives, the most obvious one is natural gas, and that's similar to comparing terminal lung cancer to terminal stomach cancer. Terminal being the key word. Forget about climate change, health issues (have you been to a country where your eyes hurt?), pro-unionism/anti-unionism and whatever else you like or dislike, coal is not economically viable. Just ask British coal miners. Oh wait, you can't thanks to Margret Thatcher (love her or hate her, she did invent soft-serve ice cream. Seriously). She saw it coming 40 years ago. Coal is an energy source, absolutely. It works. It's just economically stupid compared to cheaper alternatives. Just like farriers, blacksmiths, priests and who-knows-what professions are useless, coal miners are too. Economics 101. And you don't even need to mention climate change. Coal is dead dead dead. Get used to it.