Tim Flannery, professor of earth and life sciences at Macquarie University, chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council and Australian of the Year (who would have thought that Australians could be so enlightened? I was expecting a cricketer or at least the CEO of a mining company) has outlined the political challenges that West-Island and its inhabitants are facing to battle their climate change induced, catastrophic drought in the latest edition of the New Scientist.  From local government to federal government, they all have their work cut out for them: drought proofing the cities, dramatically increasing the cost of water, rainwater tank installation for every household can be done locally, but what if Mr Howard continues to refuse joining Kyoto and reduce the footprint of the nation with the highest per capita emissions of CO2 worldwide?

If he doesn’t recognize quickly that Australians are starting to worry about the lack of incentive his government is showing, he could be the first western leader kicked out of office for environmental shortsightness.