Australia is built on lies, so why would we be surprised about lies about climate change?

2019 was a pretty great year for me. I got married and finally made the move from renter to owner.

‘Australia is home to the oldest living cultures on earth,
cultures that understood the health of the land, the
water, the animals and the people are one and the same.’

As the year started to wind down I was excited for what 2020 would bring.

I didn’t realise it would bring unprecedented fires devastating much of the nation.

We spent New Year’s Day at my mother’s after leaving our house when fires closed three of the four roads out. We watched the reports and constantly checked our fires near me app to see how the fire was travelling. We watched it go from 29 hectares to almost 1,000. Luckily, for us at least, it spread away from our little coastal town and moved inland. It’s still burning as I write, although thankfully it has had its status downgraded from “out of control” to “under control”.

When I was only 17 I fought a fire on my family farm. It took several hours and cost us a few burns, but we won the day. Twenty-two years later and I was not so keen on fighting another, and with one child with asthma, we decided it was best to get out before the final road was closed. Luckily it never happened. The roads reopened the next day and we came home.

Many others have not been so lucky.

Read the story from The Guardian - “Australia is built on lies, so why would we be surprised about lies about climate change?”

Global emissions to hit 36.8 billion tonnes, beating last year’s record high

Global emissions for 2019 are predicted to hit 36.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂), setting yet another all-time record. This disturbing result means emissions have grown by 62% since international climate negotiations began in 1990 to address the problem.

Coal emissions are falling, but gas and coal
 use are strongly rising around the world.

The figures are contained in the Global Carbon Project, which today released its 14th Global Carbon Budget. 

Digging into the numbers, however, reveals a silver lining. While overall carbon emissions continue to rise, the rate of growth is about two-thirds lower than in the previous two years.

Driving this slower growth is an extraordinary decline in coal emissions, particularly in the United States and Europe, and growth in renewable energy globally. 

Read the story from The Conversation - “Global emissions to hit 36.8 billion tonnes, beating last year’s record high.” 

Earth Day, planetary boundaries, and the Green New Deal

As we celebrate Earth Day in 2019, we need to recognize that more than climate change threatens our environment and our very existence. We have passed or are approaching several Planetary Boundaries outside of which human society may not survive.

Image Credit: EcoIdeaMan/Twitter

Environmental scientists have developed the concept of Planetary Boundaries to identify Earth system processes that human activity is disrupting. They have tried to identify boundaries beyond which that disruption will trigger radical planetary environmental changes that endanger the survival of human society. 

Of the nine planetary boundaries these scientists have identified, they say that we have already passed four of them:

Read the story from Nation of Change by Howle Hawkins - “Earth Day, planetary boundaries, and the Green New Deal.”

Record breaking temperatures in 2019, warns Met Office.

A new report by the Met Office has found that 2019 could be a record-breaking year for global temperatures due to climate change.

The British Met Office has warned of record-breaking temperatures in 2019.

The Met Office forecasts the global average temperature for 2019 to be between 0.98 degrees Celsius and 1.22 degrees Celsius, with a central estimate of 1.10 degrees Celsius.

Since 1850, 2016 is the warmest year on record with a central estimate of 1.15 degrees Celsius above the baseline.

The forecast is based on modest warming from El Nino combined with much larger effects due to rising levels of greenhouse gases.

Read the ClimateAction story by Rachel Cooper - “Record breaking temperatures in 2019, warns Met Office.”

Singapore will charge polluters a carbon tax from next year

Singapore has announced plans to introduce a new carbon tax from 2019.

Carbon tax in Singapore from 2019.

The tax will initially be levied at $5 Singapore dollars ($3.8 US) on all facilities which produce 25,000 tonnes, or more, of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Heng Swee Keat, the country’s Minister of Finance, made the announcement on Monday in the yearly budget proposals.

Agence France-Presse reported Mr Heng saying: "Singapore produces less carbon emissions per dollar of GDP than most countries”

Read the ClimateAction story “Singapore will charge polluters a carbon tax from next year.”