I know, I’d like a loose-fitting robe, any colour will do to sing in a heavenly choir to the King of Kings.

I haven’ been able to get to the beach for years since taking to my wheelchair but between choir practice I look forward to ducking out for a swim.

Yes, in my new birthday suit to a beach that will make Moon Bay look like a swamp.

I also hope to be living in a mansion, by His grace as with His other disciples.

It’ll be a change alright.

Yours faithfully,

Ian Dalwood

Kalaru

Climate change advice

SIR,

WHEN we lived in Central Victoria, we drove to town two or three times a week for shopping.

We kept hearing the advice “save the environment, take a bus to town, not your car”.

There were no bus routes out there, so we bought our own bus, a lovely old Bedford which we then used to go to town for our shopping.

That’s just the sort of folk we are: dedicated to helping the environment, and prepared to put our money where our mouths are.

After a while we realised that we had been given bad advice.

It stands to reason - the car used 10 litres of fuel for the round trip, and the bus used 44 litres.

The car must be better for the environment.

So we sold the bus and moved to the beautiful Bega Valley where we found people just like us - people who were dedicated to helping the environment, but who had been given bad advice.

For in this whole climate change business, there are some facts that are absolute.

1. Saving the environment is seriously big business. A lot of money is involved.

2. Where a lot of money is involved, bad advice is freely given by those who make money out of promoting green energy.

3. Inviting people whose job is selling mega-buck wind factories to advise communities about clean energy is like inviting Saddam Hussein to advise on human rights.

4. Many green power solutions such as photo-voltaic solar farms are relatively non-invasive, while some solutions such as wind factories and emissions trading schemes have victims whose lives can be shattered.

5. In a country formerly renowned for fair play, we don’t compensate the victims. Money speaks louder than conscience.

6. If we turned Australia off tomorrow there would be no measurable difference in the environment. We are just too small to count. Anything we do is just tokenism, which is fine and worthwhile provided the cost is not too high.

7. The rest of the world is not waiting with bated breath to see what Australia does to save the environment. Candidly they couldn’t care less what we do.

Whether or not climate change is real, there is no question that it is pretty dumb to poke all that pollution up into the air we breathe.

However, we need to be realistic about what can be achieved and what the costs can be.

Ineffective solutions that shatter peoples lives are just not worthwhile.

Paul Scherek

Tantawangalo