Not always I, me, mine

There is no question Australia has benefited massively from the resources boom. But there’s also no question that economic benefit comes at an environmental cost.

On a trip through the Hunter Valley a couple of years ago I was amazed at the expansion of coal mines since I’d lived in Maitland in 2003. It made me think about the impact of my electricity use and we have since installed solar panels on our house and changed our habits to remember to turn off electronic devices at the wall – no more standby.

We come out just about even with electricity generated and used and the largest proportion of our electricity bill is a premium charge for green power.

I don’t believe the people of the Hunter Valley should have to suffer the consequences of the rest of NSW’s insatiable appetite for electricity so I have some sympathy for our region generating our own electricity from the large conventional gas field at Casino, which has been approved for a power station. But I have no sympathy for the idea of building a pipeline so the gas can be processed in a World Heritage area and shipped off for export.

There are alternatives to fossil fuels. Solar, wind, wave power.

Just because you can do something it doesn’t necessarily mean you should. We make moral choices all the time about what’s right to eat (I’ve decided I’m a localarian, where I mainly eat food grown, reared and processed in the Northern Rivers, but I certainly have a level of self-serving rationalisation as I have a fondness for white wine, particularly that from the Marlborough region of New Zealand), how to educate our children, what we believe about faith, religion and spirituality, and any other number of issues.

Just because the gas is there it doesn’t mean we should take it without really examining the consequences.

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson claims he doesn’t see a conflict between gas mining and tourism.

Well, I do. And I see one between gas mining and agriculture. And another between gas mining and the future of our planet.

Enough already. Leave the gas in the ground and find another way to make money – we’ve already got better ways to make electricity, let’s use them instead of putting our environment and future at risk.