This is a cross-post from Transition Town Kenmore District and may not represent the views of the CCNQ.
As part of the Copenhagen Accord Australia agreed to submit is emissions reduction target by Jan 31st. The government has announced it will only commit to its minimum greenhouse gas reduction target of 5% by 2020. If you aren't happy with this miniscule target then you could consider writing to Penny Wong and telling her it's not good enough.
Now to be completely fair the government has left its 5-25% reduction on the table. As opposed to a 5% target which will do next to nothing to slow global warming, a 25% reduction target by 2020 would be a more positive step, showing leadership on climate change and in-step with what the Europeans and Japanese are doing.
However the government has put a number of conditions on a target higher than 5%, and even though some of these conditions appear to be being met, (ie: targets from major developing countries), the Australian target is still rock bottom.
As a rich country with sky high per-capita emissions, Australia has a moral duty to take the lead on this and not hide behind poorer countries, some of whom, like Brazil, are currently pledging more than we are.
So if you want to let the government know that pledging (next to) nothing is not a viable option, here's where to do it.