Climate summit in Nagambie

Rural councils from across Victoria will descend on Strathbogie Shire in May for a summit to address the changing climate and demographics of regional municipalities.

Councillors and local government staff will join with business and industry leaders, economic and community development officers, academics and education providers to discuss the challenges.

‘‘This summit aims to equip all these leaders with the information, skills and capacity to respond to the ever-changing environment we are facing,’’ Strathbogie Shire Mayor Amanda McClaren said.

She said the theme Does Size Matter? Doing More with Less reflected what local government aspired to, by addressing national and global issues with limited time and resources.

The summit features Craig Reucassel from ABC TV and climate change specialist Charlotte Turner.

Speakers also include Victorian Gender and Sexuality Commissioner and Violet Town local Rowena Allen and Victorian Small Business and Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek.

A Rural Youth Summit for those aged 18 to 25 will be held to coincide and integrate with the summit proper, recognising the importance of this demographic to rural Victoria.

• The Rural Council’s Victoria Summit will take place at Mitchelton Wines in Nagambie from Wednesday, May 6, to Friday, May 8

Story from The Shepparton News - “Climate summit in Nagambie.”

Vatican climate scientist Ramanathan to speak at Creighton University

Veerabhadran “Ram” Ramanathan.

The climate scientist won’t sugarcoat it: The fate of the world is no longer in the hands of the researchers and academics. Now, it’s up to everyone else.

“We’re wasting time talking to people like me,” said Veerabhadran “Ram” Ramanathan. “It’s up to people like you to solve it. This is a human tragedy.”

This week, Ramanathan, climate scientist with the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, will speak at Creighton University about the toll climate change will take on human lives and what we can do to fix it. His talk, “Climate Change: Morphing into an Existential Threat,” will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the university’s Mike & Josie Harper Center. It is free and open to the public.

Read the Omaha World-Herald story by Blake Ursch - “Vatican climate scientist Ramanathan to speak at Creighton University.”

Has ‘denying’ won? - Radio National

The science is 150 years old and growing each day, yet it is still being rejected by politicians and some academics. 

The "pale blue dot".

We shall talk to a few of those who remain unconvinced by climate research and its conclusions: a former vice-chancellor, a renowned Princeton mathematician, a space scientist from WA who worked on the Apollo program, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a climate researcher in America. 

Have they ever changed their minds on the topic? Do they perceive any risk at all? What do they think of President Trump’s policies? How can critics remain unmoved as the evidence mounts? Sharon Carleton reports.

Listen to the Science Show on Radio National - “Has ‘denying’ won?”

Quentin Bryce in high-powered group calling for coal power to be phased out

Quentin Bryce is calling for an expansion of
the national renewable energy target as part
of the decarbonisation of the market.

The former governor general Quentin Bryce is part of a high-powered group of academics, business leaders, financiers and energy providers urging the Turnbull government to extend and expand the national renewable energy target and create a market mechanism to govern an orderly phase out of coal-fired power in Australia.

Representatives of the group came to Canberra on Monday to meet the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, armed with an eight-point plan to drive a sequenced decarbonisation of the national energy market.

The intervention follows weeks of political attacks by the Turnbull government on state-based renewable energy schemes and the government’s continuing refusal to say whether it will use a planned review of its Direct Action policy next year to overhaul an emissions reduction framework experts say is woefully inadequate.

Read The Guardian story - “Quentin Bryce in high-powered group calling for coal power to be phased out.”

Yes, we are in the 'Anthropocene'

Humans have produced enough concrete to thinly pave the entire surface of the Earth, while carbon dioxide emissions are rising 100 times quicker than at any time during the past 800,000 years.

Such dramatic transformations of the planet are showing up in the world's sediments and warrant the declaration of a new geological epoch - aptly known as Anthropocene to reflect humanity's role - according to a new paper published in the journal Science.

The research, compiled by two dozen scientists and academics, identified planet-wide impacts ranging from nuclear fallout from weapons testing to mining that displaces 57 billion tonnes of material a year - or almost three times the amount of sediment carried by the world's rivers.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Humanity's impact on Earth opens Anthropocene epoch, scientists say.”