What we really can't afford

Again we hear the empty rhetoric.  Barnaby Joyce on the carbon tax: "we can't afford this toxic tax".  "Australia cannot afford this tax right now".

Here's what we cannot afford, people:

We can't afford extra energy in weather events leading to the largest cyclone to ever hit Queensland

We can't afford an increase in temperature leading to more frequent bushfires

We can't afford extreme weather events leading to 150mm of rain in an hour (unprecedented in Australia)

We can't afford more frequent wild weather events such as the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri

We can't afford to have the sea levels rise - just ask anyone in Kiribati!

This is the gravity of the situation.  Do nothing now, and in fifty years it will cost so much more to act urgently.  We are merely complaining about a tax we don't like.  Consider the alternatives above.  THAT is the real cost.