It’s been a tumultuous week in Australia after the voting down of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

It’s a complex issue and a sign of things to come for not only our country but others walking the same path. It’s very sad and frustrating to see such an important issue, the most important issue of our generation, becoming power games for politicians – the motivations behind which have very little to do with the environment.
 
The politics of it all aside, something that keeps coming up is various parties screaming about any real attempts to reduce carbon emissions will result in job losses along with more expensive goods and services.
 
So what if we can’t buy that piece of junk we don’t need in order to pay for staples?

So what if we actually have to start turning lights off when not in use because energy is more expensive?

I don’t mean to sound heartless, but the old saying goes, “ye shall reap what ye sow” – and that’s where humanity is at now. We need to suck this up.

The alternative is to maintain business as usual and the result will be the same anyway through increased or more intense droughts, floods and other natural disasters due to climate change. Not in a hundred years, not even in 50 years.
 
It’s happening already, or the very least clear warning signs of what is to come.
 
For example, when Cyclone Larry hit Queensland in 2006, banana prices soared around the country – people in Sydney were paying up to $2.50 for a single banana. Australia’s food bowl is currently in the grips of an unusually severe drought; sending the price of many fruits and vegetables skyrocketing.
 
The writing has been on the wall for so long now and the companies that profited through environmental destruction should have channeled some of their mega-profits into preparation.

They should not be pointing their fingers at the environmental movement for their misfortune, but at themselves and the shareholders who profited from their pillage. Instead, some of them spent a fat wad of cash trying to cover up their environmental transgressions and financing climate change deniers.

We also need to look at ourselves for having bought the items these companies create that we don’t really need and when it comes down to it; don’t really want anyway.
 
While there will be job losses, they are the right kind. However, there *will* be new jobs, jobs in the green energy sector. People who may be affected by job losses need to make a change or at the very least start preparing to make a change now. Reskill, relocate; start growing your own vegetables, whatever.
 
Higher costs of living are inevitable whichever way we turn – the fear mongers need to stop pinning the cause on humanity trying to finally do the right thing by the environment.

We just all need to understand that we’ll need to get by with a little less of our luxuries and be ready to lend a helping hand to the real victims in all this who will be hit hardest – those already impoverished.

How we address climate change could be humanity’s finest hour…or will it be our darkest moment?