Yesterday I Attended A Protest Rally

Yesterday I attended a political rally. It's the first one I've gone to in my 58 years and I went because of climate change and our Australian government's attacks on renewable energy.A sad reality is that solar power isn't just about banging panels on roofs. It's about politics too, because politics affects the prices we pay for our systems, the number of solar systems that are installed and the number of people that can benefit from having their own power station on their roof.In Australia where I live the Prime Minister has started an inquiry into our Renewable Energy Target (RET) that could add thousands of dollars to the price of a solar system. Currently we have things called STC's (Small Scale Technology Certificates) which are basically a subsidy that brings down the price of solar systems. A 1.5 kW gets about a $1100 subsidy, a 5 kW system about $3700. The STC's are only there because of our current Renewable Energy Target.Tony Abbott, our Prime Minister, has four people on the panel reviewing the Renewable Energy Target. The chairman of the panel is a climate change denier. The other panel members are as bad. Talk about picking the panel to give the result you want. Mr Abbott has already slashed just about everything he can with "science" or "climate" in its name or description. He's on a roll and has vowed a "blood oath" to get rid of Australia's carbon tax. Most likely the RET will be cut badly. Solar system costs will go up, installs will go down, and thousands of solar power jobs will go. Luckily, not all Australians are the racist redneck science deniers the rest of the world must surely think we are. Many of us are appalled at our government's actions on climate change, and on a whole range of other issues.So there are around 100 rallies around Australia to send a message to our pollies, to say their actions aren't acceptable. The one I attended was in Armidale NSW. Armidale is a small city, population around 25,000, and we had 450 people at the rally. Tens of thousands of ordinary people protested at the rallies and marches around Australia. Attacks on climate action and renewables isn't just an Australian thing. Around the world there are other ideas around to discriminate against solar owners for example with extra charges.What I'm trying to say is, we can't trust politicians to do the right thing on renewables and the climate just because it is right. If we're complacent we'll be trodden on. Politicians will look after their big business financers first, and to hell with the rest of us. If we care about using renewables like solar power we need to be prepared to take action. Attending rallies, marches and protests is great if you can do it, but if you can't, signing online petitions will help. Don't let yourself be walked over.

Reference: our-green-energy.blogspot.com