Tony Abbott bet me $100 the climate will not change in 10 years

Tony Abbott has bet me $100 that in 10 years’ time the climate will not have changed.

When I found myself in a Manly coffee shop last week being offered the bet, I was incredulous.

A protester dressed as Tony Abbott joins the 2019
Australian federal election campaign. 

 Abbott was smiling, charmingly dismissive. This person with the power to help steer the world away from anthropogenic disaster wasn’t having a bar of my concerns about climate change. He wasn’t going to help; he was going to wield his status and wealth to show how confident he was in his position of not doing anything.

He was going to prove he disagreed with climate science, with the majority of Australian voters and with the mother of a six-year-old who had just literally begged him to take the climate emergency seriously, with a jocular bet. No doubt he expected me to laugh and back down.

And maybe I should have, amazed and insulted beyond belief. Maybe I should have said instead (as my husband suggested when I got home) “I’m not going to bet $100. Bet me something substantial, like your electorate, or all your power, so that you’ll actually be motivated to work to save the climate.”

Read the story from The Guardian by Cassie Flanagan Willanski - “Tony Abbott bet me $100 the climate will not change in 10 years.”

Tony Abbott says no need to pull out of Paris climate agreement after all

Tony Abbott has changed his mind and now says Australia should stay in the Paris climate agreement.

 Tony Abbott has gone back on his opposition to the
Paris climate agreement, during a debate with his federal
 election opponent in the seat of Warringah, Zali Steggall. 

Abbott, who signed up to Paris when he was prime minister but then declared that Australia should pull out during the prime ministership of Malcolm Turnbull, confirmed he had changed his mind again during a debate on Friday morning with the independent challenger Zali Steggall and other federal election candidates in his seat of Warringah.

Asked by moderator David Speers if his change of heart was due to the ousting of Turnbull as prime minister, Abbott said it partly was.

“I certainly thought that the only way to break the emissions obsession was to pull out of Paris,” he said. “I think that the government has lost its emissions obsession now that Angus Taylor is the energy minister … Circumstances have changed. We have a new prime minister and a new energy minister.”

Read the story from The Guardian by Naaman Zhou - “Tony Abbott says no need to pull out of Paris climate agreement after all.”

(Tony Abbott would not be taking such a stance if he wasn’t feeling threatened by the arrival of Zali Steggall who has a clear policy on helping the residents of Warringah address and deal with climate change. Listen to Zali Steggall during an interview on Climate Conversations - Robert McLean)

Paul Hawken to visit Bendigo in February for Drawdown Summit

Paul Hawken first brought the Drawdown message to Bendigo in 2009 and changed the minds of many people.

And now the American environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author will be back next month at the Bendigo Climate Drawdown Summit.

Mr Hawken’s latest book,”Drawdown” is described on its cover as “The Most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming”.

The Thursday, February 22, event is being staged by the Bendigo Sustainability Group, which it says, will allow Mr Hawken to provide insights on how Bendigo, and regional communities with clear goals, targets, actions, and projects will reap the economic, social and environmental benefits of the fast increasing global shift to a zero emissions economy.

The international Drawdown organisation is a group of qualified and experienced researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. 

The Bendigo group said: “What was uncovered is a path forward that can roll back global warming within thirty years. It shows that humanity has the means at hand. Nothing new needs to be invented.

“The solutions are in place and in action. Our work is to accelerate the knowledge and growth of what is possible. We chose the name Drawdown because if we do not name the goal, we are unlikely to achieve it.
“We’ve had global climate summits. We’ve had national targets and goals that come and go. 

“The real action however is happening and will continue to happen at the city and local community level,” the group added. 

The February 22 event will be held at Ulumbarra Theatre on Bendigo’s Gaol Rd with the two-hour session to start at 7:00 pm.

General admission is $32.65 and concession is just $22.45 and tickets can be secured from
https://goo.gl/DXdxW3

Climate change: How do we know?

The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples
contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements,
provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased
 since the Industrial Revolution.

The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.¹

Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

Read the NASA story - “Climate change: How do we know?”