Carbon Slaves

A late entry for the stupidest letter of the year, in today's Age:

I AM struck by the parallels between the struggle to abolish slavery and the struggle to confront climate change. In both, a way of life and the path to wealth were/are challenged; the need to tackle the issue was/is a moral challenge; and the aftermath is better and worse than what had gone before. With the abolition of slavery, the certain knowledge that black Americans were meant to be enslaved was replaced with 100-plus years of racism. Now we find a black American president is no better or worse than a white one.

In tackling climate change there will be decades of tumult as lifestyles and industries adjust. If temperature rise can be forestalled, there is a chance that the lives of many millions in Bangladesh, China and sub-Saharan Africa may be saved. If we refuse to tackle climate change, our moral shame and selfish stupidity will be as inescapable as our horror that slavery still exists in parts of the world.

Russell Downie, Balwyn

The author observed that after all those struggles a black American president is no better or worse than a white one. So it would follow that after "decades of tumult as lifestyles and industries adjust" we'll find out that the climate is neither better nor worse...