Climate change addressed

The president of a Shepparton environmental group ‘Slap Tomorrow’ has spoken up about climate change following the recent release of a United Nations climate change report.

Shepparton's John Pettigrew urges the community

 to consider their everyday decisions in the hope that 

as a region we can build a brighter future.

John Pettigrew said after the report found the current levels of global heating were increasing the risks of water scarcity, soil erosion, vegetation loss, fire damage, coastal degradation, permafrost thawing and declines in crop fields, he felt it should be a “wake-up call” for all.

He said having seen the effects for some years, now was the time for individuals to take responsibility for their actions and consider the future when making everyday choices.

“We’re all making decisions that have the potential to impact the environment every day - whether you drive your car down to the corner shop or you walk to the corner shop - these are critical decisions.”

Mr Pettigrew said it all came down to living healthier, more planet-friendly lives and working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.

“The issue of climate change needs to be considered. It’s as simple as that.”

He said while the use of a motor vehicle was an obvious contributing factor to the ongoing problem, people’s diets should also be assessed.

He said meat consumption contributed to the rising issue significantly.

“There is no doubt that a diet containing less meat is a healthier diet -  it’s better for our health but it’s better for the environment as well.”

Having had a strong focus on the issue of climate change for more than a decade, Mr Pettigrew said his mission was to inform people of the reality of climate change.

And he has done just that through the environmental group for about seven years, but Mr Pettigrew said with little of the population paying attention to the issue, he did not like the look of the future.

“Unless we can all make some big changes, the future doesn’t look too flash for my grandkids.”

Story by Laura Briggs from The Shepparton News - “Climate change addressed.”

The health impacts of climate change and why calls for action are growing louder

We tend to think about climate change as an environmental problem.

WHO estimates that climate change is already
 causing tens of thousands of deaths every year.

But it's the impending impacts on our health that have medical experts sounding the alarm.

Last November, planetary health professor Tony Capon co-authored the first national report to track Australia's progress on climate change and human health.

It coincided with the release of a global report from leading medical journal The Lancet, which warned climate change is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century".

"When we understand the connections between climate change and human health, it makes it clear that this is urgent," Professor Capon said.

Since then, calls for climate action from health bodies and medical professionals have grown louder.

Read the ABC News story by Olivia Willis - “The health impacts of climate change and why calls for action are growing louder.”

Intensifying climate change protests 'could rival Vietnam War activism’

Mass protests of the scale held during the Vietnam War are just around the corner for people concerned about climate change, environmentalists have warned, as a growing number of activists turn their attention to those who fund fossil fuel industries.

Intensifying climate change protests could rival
 those challenging Australia's involvement in
the Vietnam War in the1960s

Activists on Sunday disrupted Labor's national conference in Adelaide to oppose oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight and the Adani coal mine in Queensland — two proposals considered "lightning rods" for unilateral climate protests.

It happened weeks after thousands of school students defied Prime Minister Scott Morrison and marched on capital cities to demand significant action to reduce carbon emissions — surprising authorities with the number of participants involved.

Read the ABC News story by Malcolm Sutton - “Intensifying climate change protests 'could rival Vietnam War activism’.”

When planetary catastrophe is your day job

The smiling young woman approaches me, hand outstretched to shake mine. “I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your talk,” she enthuses. I thank her warmly; I’m as grateful for a compliment as the next person. But my heart is sinking. I’ve failed, again. The “enjoyable” talk I’ve just delivered was about climate change and its impacts, now and in the future – planetary catastrophe in a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation. And now the audience is filing out, eager for a coffee or something stronger, already thinking about where to get a taxi, or what to have for dinner, or any one of a million things other than mounting a revolution to save the planet.

Professor Lesley Hughes.

I give a lot of these talks – to university students, business groups, community organisations, anyone who’ll listen. I work hard to be engaging, keeping the text and complex graphs to a minimum, adding lots of pictures and analogies, personal anecdotes and even the odd joke. And therein lies the conundrum. As a scientist I feel a compulsion to deliver the facts as we currently understand them. But too much gloom and doom is paralysing. Apocalypse fatigue can send people under the metaphorical doona.

Read the essay from The Monthly by Lesley Hughes -  “When planetary catastrophe is your day job.”