The real beneficiaries of Australia’s carbon tax package will be people not yet born, all over the world, who will be one step further on a long journey to end global warming. But the cost falls on us, here and now, because it tackles our part in warming. This is a modest start, with modest costs, as part of a loose coalition of nations tackling climate change the world over. If we care for those who come after us, we cannot afford the risk of leaving them a planet where the icecaps are melting, seas are rising, low-lying land is being flooded and today’s food bowls are turning into tomorrow’s deserts. Let’s stop the whingeing and make it work.