In the 1960s, the brilliant American satirist Tom Lehrer sang about German scientist Wernher von Braun, co-inventor of the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets used towards the end of World War II. Although the missiles were made using slave labour, killed 6000 civilians, wounded another 17,000 and damaged millions of buildings, von Braun’s skill was highly regarded by the Americans. At the end of the war he was quietly translocated to the United States to help with their rocket program.

Lehrer’s salute to this man, “whose allegiance is ruled by expedience” as he put it, included the lyrics:

“‘Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department’, says Wernher von Braun”.

This criminally blasé sentiment accurately sums up the attitude of the Australian coal industry and its friends in government. While we dither about, in full view of the world, agonising over the timing and affordability of our modest carbon emission reductions, the Federal government has allocated $580m to double the NSW Hunter Valley’s capacity to export coal.

The coal industry must be laughing all the way to the bank. Now that it looks like we’ll be adopting a ‘mustn’t go it alone’ attitude to emissions reduction, to be able to double the supply of cheap coal to our major trading partners is, to the local coal industry, a jolly good result. China will burn the stuff like fury, so we can too — perfect!

And despite the looming recession, apparently we have scads of money to burn as well. Here’s an official announcement from the Australian government:

“Take this grand in the hand. Whip down to a discount store and buy another telly. No, don’t pay off your debts, that won’t do any good; you must spend the lot.”

Really, what a pack of no-hopers we have running the place. Suppose the money was used instead to give every pensioner a free solar water heater on the roof? Thousands of jobs would be created to do the work, the solar industry would receive a shot in the arm and it would provide increased purchasing power for the recipients, not just for a day or two, but for years.

When carbon emissions are costed in proportion to the damage being done to the atmosphere, the price of fossil-fuel electricity will increase. Green power in the transition stage is also likely to be more expensive. But if we’re serious about reducing harmful emissions in electricity production, sooner or later we’ll have to start shutting down coal-fired power stations and switch to cleaner, safer technologies.

Yet adding to the Alice in Wonderland feel of contemporary politics, the newspaper that reported the aforementioned gift to the coal industry showed, on the same page, an advertisement from the Department of Climate Change. It announced the upcoming ‘Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper public information sessions’. I kid you not. It would be funny if it were not so terribly tragic.

Every day the sun rises, providing sustenance to all living things as it shines inexhaustibly, available to be put to whatever use we choose. How much longer will we allow the shadow of corporate greed and political stupidity to delay the inevitable switch to this safe, bountiful source of energy?