We have the means to help low-income earners combat climate change.
If you’re a renter living in a small apartment, the chances are you’re not allowed to hang your clothes on the balcony - most bodies corporate forbid it. Instead, you’re probably forced to use a clothes dryer. It’s bad for the environment and bad for your bank balance.
And it is not only low income rental accommodation that has these rules! It is the same case where I live. I do air dry my washing on racks indoors but the whole clothes dryer thing is so unnecessary.
We do need to include renters, especially low-income renters, in the solution to climate change.
Adapting to climate change can be as cheap as allowing people to hang out their washing, but it can also involve considerable expense.
Low-income families can’t afford to install solar panels or buy hybrid cars. But enormous reductions in emissions are possible through much simpler and easier means. These include installing gas heating, insulation and compact fluorescent light globes, buying energy efficient refrigerators and other appliances, sealing gaps, and giving people better access to public transport.
We need solutions and we need them fast. In 2010, the new emissions trading system will be introduced, which will push up the price of energy. And because basic energy costs make up a higher proportion of low-income earners’ weekly income, they’re going to be hit the hardest.
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