
Before I had my daughter I was told by knowing friends that I would see the world differently after she arrived.
Of course, a lot changes when you bring home a little person – from sleeping with one eye open, to the natural and enormous sense of responsibility for another person’s future.
One of the more profound changes I’ve noticed is how I view the news. Of course, stories involving kids, accidents and crimes are difficult for everyone to watch, but I’ve always worked in a media environment, and, in most cases, I’ve been able to force myself not to let it weigh too heavily. These days I can’t help but view the news through a different lens. Sometimes, you just have to turn the TV off and hold your baby a little bit closer.
A couple of weeks ago I watched David Attenborough’s extraordinary journey through the Great Barrier Reef.

At the end of the final episode he warned that if we didn't take immediate action to stem global warming, the reef would be dead within a couple of decades.
Dead. Not ‘damaged and able to repair itself’ but ‘dead and never coming back’. It made my heart skip a beat.
On a selfish level, I feel sad that my daughter might not be able to dive into the water and experience the beauty of the reef, as her parents have. More broadly, it’s devastating to think of the consequences for future generations of global warming - to food security, biodiversity and extreme weather events.
Top Comments
More like our kids will rightfully ask why we loaded them up to their eyeballs with debt that we carelessly ran up and were too selfish to settle.
I find it unfathomable that people are still denying climate change. The science is strong on this one.
And even if it wasn't real, why the hell are people so deadset against shifting to renewable fuel sources? Cars with near zero emissions, low power bills, cleaner air, no ugly mines. Fossil fuels are going to run out sooner or later, best we start developing the technology to replace it now
One word. Cost.
The consumers like you, me, everybody is not willing to stump up and pay more expensive quarterly power bills as the alternative.
I agree. We have an enormous, mostly unpopulated land that surely could be put to better use than mining fossil fuels. Wind farms and solar energy perhaps? Look, I'm no expert and I have no idea of the actual costs, but it seems like a waste of space to not be utilising such a large amount of inhabitable country for other purposes.