Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
failure to create a viable carbon market drove investors and developers out of
renewable developments.
In summary, this is an inequitable society, hopelessly incapable of managing
the risks of climate change. Shortages of water and food are ever-present risks.
Urban areas are poorly equipped to deal with heatwaves. Looking forward,
without substantial policy intervention, this is a society where the gap between
the rich and the poor will continue to grow, and where the poor will continue to
be disproportionately impacted by climate change.
Scenario 2: Terroir Australis
The State
is guided by the value of social justice, and derives its legitimacy from
the degree to which it is able to achieve a fair distribution of wealth. Thus
the state plays the role of economic manager, intervening to remedy unequal
outcomes across the economy and seeking to minimize inequalities caused by
climate change. The state is Keynesian in the sense that it is an active regulator
of markets to achieve full employment. It is also a state that seeks to decentralize
decision making to localities - a regulator, then, not just of markets, but of
'bottom-up' plans for change to ensure that such plans do not themselves create
inequalities. But it is a vain state, in that its orientation is for the nation rather
than the international community, and for the present more than the future.
Public policy
is made through a corporatist system of negotiation between the
state, businesses and labour, and frequently in association with regional entities
seeking to pursue regional development goals. Regional planning contracts,
which set goals and outline the roles and responsibilities of different arms and
levels of government, capital, labour and civil society, are the centrepieces of
policies.
Social norms
include the values of equity and liberty. This is a caring society,
as demonstrated by public discourses, government policies and tolerance in
everyday encounters. Consumption is important: wealth is distributed but still
measured in terms of material goods and services. Nationalism prevails, so that
the community of concern is the population of the country, and not those in
other countries.
Social justice
prevails, at least with respect to consumption. Australia becomes
more urbanized as the city turns its back on, and increasingly consumes the
hinterland. However, this process of rural transition is smoothed, and relatively
painless, due to the pacifying effects of the welfare state.
International relations
- this is an inward-looking society. It continues the
attributes of the Terror Australia storyline in seeking to limit immigration and
hold population close to constant. This is in recognition of the threat of global
warming, a sense that Australia is powerless to affect the outcome, and therefore
the need to protect its own citizens. Seen from the inside, it is a society that
strives to be fair, from the outside it is selfish and self-protecting. With a shift to
nuclear power, this storyline has a greater likelihood of meeting any international
requirements for emissions reduction.
