New coalmines will worsen poverty and escalate climate change, report finds

New coalmines will leave more people in poverty, Oxfam has said in a new report, calling on Australia to commit to no new coalmines and to end public subsidies for coalmining.

 An Oxfam report says the climate change impacts of coal-fired
power will disproportionately affect the world’s poor. 

The report comes as the Queensland and federal governments continue to push for the controversial Adani coalmine in the Galilee basin, signalling potential infrastructure support and “royalty holidays”.

The government’s support for the mine, which would be the biggest in Australia, has been met with a fierce campaign of resistance from environmental, legal, social justice and human rights groups.

Read Ben Doherty’s story on The Guardian - “New coalmines will worsen poverty and escalate climate change, report finds.”

Bringing Paris home - to Australia!

In December 2015, at the Paris Climate Change Conference, the world reached a universal agreement for tackling climate change. On 22 April 2016, world leaders will sign the Paris Agreement in New York and ensure it enters into force as soon as possible.

But for Australia, the gap between what this agreement demands of us and the level of commitments we currently have on the table remains extraordinarily wide. Australia continues to lag far behind other countries’ actions.

The months since Paris have delivered forceful reminders of what is at stake: temperature records have been shattered; the Great Barrier Reef has suffered unprecedented bleaching; Cyclone Winston brought devastation to Fiji; and a super-charged El Niño wrought havoc across our region.

Australia must act immediately to bring its actions into line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, including efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C, providing adequate support to developing countries, and protecting the rights of vulnerable communities. Australia has all it needs to be part of today’s climate and energy solutions, and to create a brighter future for Australia and the world. A majority of Australians support stronger action, but big polluters, vested interests and failures of political leadership are holding us back.

As we approach the 2016 federal election, Australia needs a visionary plan of action to address climate change, and this should be at the heart of all parties’ agendas.

Read the Oxfam report – “Bringing Paris home.”

Environment and farmers' groups call for zero emissions by 2050

M

ore than 50 environmental, charitable and farmers’ organisations have written an open letter to the government urging it to adopt a zero carbon emissions target by 2050.

Greenpeace - one of the many
 organizations that have called
 on the Australian
Government to adopt a zero
emissions target by 2050.

The letter, signed by groups such as Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam and Save the Children as well as agricultural organisations and unions, stressed the economic benefits of moving towards renewables.

“Australia and Australian people stand to lose so much from the impacts of climate change; it is in our national interest to be amongst the leading nations to ensure the world limits warming to well below two degrees,” the letter said.

The Guardian reports on this push - “Australian government urged to adopt a zero carbon emissions target by 2050”.

Being and environmentalist is both good and bad

by Robert McLean

Demonstrate an interest in mitigating what it is that changes our climate and almost immediately you are lumped-in with environmentalists.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be both a handicap and a distraction.

Concern for what humans are doing in disrupting the earth’s climate system is bigger than simply worrying about our environment.

Naturally, environmental matters are high on the agenda, but the fundamental concern for most climate change advocates is rarely among those matters foisted upon them by the popular media and so top of mind for many people.

Being labelled as an “environmentalist” brings with it certain baggage, certain stereotyping in that many immediately see you as a long-haired, sandal and hair-shirt wearing anti-establishment person with your roots in the 60s and so disengaged from what is real.

Concern about climate change equates directly about human welfare, how people are going to live and prosper (not economically) and how we are going to keep the infrastructure upon which we all depend intact.

Yes, I care about the environment, deeply, but I also care about how we live, how we behave, how we treat our fellows and understand that all of those things are inherently implicated in and depend upon how we treat our home, hence the environment.

Interestingly, Oxfam has just released a story headed: “Climate change is not just about the climate, it is about our lives” as the world gathers in Lima to work on drafting a global treaty on climate change. The story makes a similar point.

The 'crunch' we enjoy is really 'climate change crunch time'

The “crunch” we enjoy in many of our foodstuffs is a manifestation of the “crunch of climate change”.

This crunch is discussed in a story just published by Oxfam headed: “It’s crunch time for climate change”.

Oxfam points out that some of the creators of our favourite brands are being accused of things like reckless de-forestation, overuse of polluting fertilizers, large scale land clearance, burning forests and harmful production practices in their supply chains.

“These are the kinds of production practices which drive dangerous climate disruptions and more hunger. For many farmers around the world this means they are not able to grow enough food to feed their families or that they are unable to make a decent living,” Oxfam reports.

Oxfam concerned about crisis arising from conflict and unseasonal rains

Food security is not something most Australians have to worry about too much, but Oxfam is encouraging us to move it the centre of our thinking.

The Oxfam website present carries a story headed: “South Sudan warning: respond to humanitarian crisis now or face catastrophe” in which it attributes the impending difficulties to unseasonal rains and conflict.

Conflict always worsens any difficulty, but it is the former, the unseasonal rains, and the resultant food insecurity that further aggravates the trouble faced by the Sudanese people.

Delay of decades to food security because of climate change

Food security is one of the great emerging threats manifested by climate change.

And now a report from Oxfam declares that climate change could delay the fight against hunger by decades.

“What Oxfam is discovering more and more in our world to address hunger and poverty globally is that climate change is one of the single biggest threats to winning the fight against hunger,” Oxfam International’s climate change policy manager, Heather Coleman , to the Huffington Post.

The Post story headed: “Climate change could delay the fight against world hunger for decades:report” tells of this dilemma.