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There is a moral obligation to the creatures of the Earth, including our children, to responsibly address the causes and issues of Climate Change. The fact is, our atmosphere and ecosystem which we rely on for our mere survival, is becoming inhabitable for all living things. Already the Polar Bears are suffering and finding it hard to maintain their homes, crops are having to be grown closer to cooler regions, reefs are dying, entire ecosystems are being disrupted as the least durable components die off, therefore changing the predation orders.

Only this week in Magnetic Island off the North Queensland coast, we suffered a King tide in conjunction with very strong winds and a rain depression. Why does this matter? Because the exceptionally high tides and pounding waves wiped out the entire turtle hatching process for the year, let alone the large trees on the beachfront. Both Leatherback and Green turtles nest on our beaches above the usual high tide mark annually. The repurcussions of this are there will now not only be less new turtles, but there will be less in future to eat the deadly box jellyfish. The potential of serious breeding problems will see the demise of these beautiful creatures.

The mere fact that we ourselves breed at unsustainable numbers is enough reason to curb our destructive activities. We all have children or are related to some somewhere. If we are not prepared to forgo material possessions and unsustainable practices, we should make every woman/man infertile, as there will be no point in breeding if there is not enough food, fresh water, clean air or areas of bearable living temperatures for survival. Harsh? No, merely reality. Regardless of why the sea is rising, we are ALL responsible for the future of ALL creatures on Earth.

This week has brought home the harsh reality to local residents that their formerly safe resorts and holiday homes are no longer safe. They watched in horror as waves swallowed the bbq area, large palms and Casuarina pines, then continued to cross the esplanade threatening their establishments. It will only take another cyclone to destroy much of what tourists come here for.

We are all guilty of adding to the problem every time we turn on a tap, light switch, car engine, purchase manufactured goods, food that has travelled to the store, and almost everything we in the post WW11 era take for granted. There may be no turning back, but we can at least slow it a little by acting as a collective in a responsible manner.

Learn more about this author, Barbara Gibbs.
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