Inhaling Smoke

A letter in today's Sydney Morning Herald:

While rural communities burn in potentially the worst fires NSW has ever seen, a courageous activist called Jonathan Moylan has used a hoax to expose the companies adding fuel to this fire (''Environmentalist's hoax triggers $314m Whitehaven share price fall'', January 8).

On Monday, Moylan issued a fake ANZ press release outlining its disinvestment in Whitehaven Coal. This action exposes an inherent problem in our system where we are allowing the continued expansion of coalmining despite the horrific implications such as extreme bushfires.

It seems like we are stuck in a beginners' science class with the petulant political leaders who refuse to connect the dots on climate change and their addiction to coalmining.

So, while we witness the bushfires raging, companies such as ANZ and Whitehaven are continuing their campaign to burn fossil fuels for profit. Nicola Moir Randwick

Perhaps the man charged with leaving a campfire unattended, sparking the bushfire, can plead "Climate Change" as his defence.

Clearly Ms Moir's "beginners science class" skipped the whole bit about cause and effect.