The World in 2030

The World in 2030 27
itself from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol 39 on climate change by
refusing to ratify the agreement. John Howard, Australia’s
Prime Minister has recently been forced into a U-turn on
climate change 40 (like his reluctant friend George W. Bush). V
As I spent an hour in Sydney’s beautiful botanical gardens
the solar energy beaming down on me was so fierce that my
skin was burned, yet I saw not a single solar panel in use in
the city. And below my feet I knew that there was enough
accessible geothermal energy to provide all of Australia’s
power generation needs 41 for the rest of the 21 st century.
The solution to the energy crisis (and to the ever
worsening effects of climate change) is literally all around
us, in the wind, in the waves, in hot rocks and in the sun’s
heat. It will be difficult and expensive to harness natural,
clean energy sources (although plastics have a great role to
play here) and it will be economically painful to wind down
our investments in fossil fuel energy extraction. But it must
be done, and quickly.
4. Globalisation
The term ‘globalisation’ has many meanings and evokes
many different emotions. At one extreme the word is used to
mean ‘global economic exploitation of the poor by the rich’
and, at the other, ‘a global movement to reduce poverty and
V
On May 8 th 2007 John Howard’s finance minister delivered a budget which offered a national A$8000-ahouse
solar subsidy 6 to assist in installing solar panels in a program costing $150 million over five years.