[defrost]

In the US, sure.

In Australia we established a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, looked at all the schools and institutions regardless of creed (and, it turned out, the Christian Brothers were the clear worst of the worst - although few came away unscathed) and then put a senior Vatican Cardinal on trial.

TBH it's been a lot harder to get the worst carbon offenders under close scrutiny in a very public eye.

[jordanb]

Check out the timing. The sex abuse scandal broke in the US in the late 90s/early 2000s and the fight went on here for many years before it spread to the rest of the church.

The church in Rome was blowing it off as an American problem for many years.

That Australian commission was established in 2012. The battle had already been going on for well over a decade in the US.

If you want to see how things were going early on you can look at things like Sinéad O'Connor stuff from 1992:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_O'Connor_on_Saturd...

[defrost]

The Australian Commission wasn't the first effort in a known problem ongoing since first landing, it was the peak response in Australia after many decades of battle ... has there been a national effort of a similar scope in the US ?

[SiempreViernes]

As a leading exporter of coal Australia isn't really a good example of a serious climate actor.

[defrost]

Australia's a good example of a country that sells out its resources for a pittance NSR in exchange.

We can talk about Indian coal companies (Thermal), global steel demand (Metallurgical), US natural gas extractors, etc.

Still, at least we have the vast areas untouched by modern man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh9IkUUgaww

[HDBaseT]

Australia has the highest number of solar panels per capita in the world. Australia has extremely high uptake on EV's given the cheap solar.

Australia is about as serious as you get in terms of climate action without being unreasonable. We need power, you can't switch off coal overnight. We also need the country to remain afloat, we cannot turn off all natural resource exports either.

[HWR_14]

Is that better than the US response? By the time the Royal Commission started, the total amount the Catholic Church in the US had paid out was approaching a billion dollars (back when a billion dollars could buy you instagram). Dioceses have continued to pay since then and many had to file for bankruptcy protection in the US.

That seems like a more severe response than a single cardinal getting arrested.

[defrost]

The comment I responded to seemed to imply that the US was hung between two paths and took no action.

I'm pleased to hear a response was made and hope Eddy_Viscosity2 sees your comment.

[Eddy_Viscosity2]

There were consequences, but only eventually as the depravity of what was happening became ever more apparent as the list of victims willing to speak out grew.

But in all the places this was happening, it was an open secret that it was happening for years before any meaningful response occurred. The first victims to speak out were not believed and even punished for how dare they accuse the holy priests of such behavior.

Will we see a similar tipping point for climate change where people on mass begin facing the issue head on? It hasn't happened yet.