No community interest served by avoiding science

Residents of low lying areas are dreaming if they believe that Council's avoidance of a "planned retreat" policy will protect their real estate interests (Planned retreat not understood, edition 475).

Information on sea level rise predictions for the whole of Australia is readily available for insurers, government and community members to see on http://coastalrisk.com.au amongst other sources.

As we are seeing in the current building industry scandals, insurers will be the first to shy away from insuring "uninsurable assets" as they become too expensive to protect.

Insurers understand the economics very well.

Residents of the Peninsula who are concerned about the fact and impacts of climate change would do well to demand stronger action from all levels of government to do everything in their power to combat climate change and reduce fossil fuel use.

No community interests are served by avoiding learning from the science.

Like our Pacific Island cousins, and the esteemed environmentalist David Attenborough, I would much rather have a government and community that planned to reduce well-identified risks, than one which buries its head in the sand waiting for disaster to occur before acting.

It is incumbent on us all to advocate strongly to all levels of government for strong climate change action if we are to have a positive future.

Email, 15 Aug 2019

Sue Ellis, Umina