Australia is devastated by drought, yet it won't budge on climate change
Australia is suffering its worst drought in living memory, as dozens of bushfires are blazing out of control. It's hard to believe that it's winter "down under." Summer is yet to come.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday committed 1.8 billion Australian dollars ($1.3 billion) in relief funds for farmers, whose livelihoods are disappearing down the cracks of their dry, barren land. The very next day, he announced he was dropping a national policy to cut carbon emissions from the energy sector that was supposed to help Australia fulfill its obligations under the Paris climate change agreement.
The vast majority of Australians accept human-induced climate change is real and scientists have linked the current record-slashing drought to global warming, yet the subject is still highly controversial in Australian politics, and climate change skepticism is still given political space.
David Gray - Reuters