The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change

Our climate is changing, and our approaches to politics and activism have to change with it. That’s why The Nation, in partnership with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, has launched “Taking Heat,” a series of dispatches from the front lines of the climate-justice movement, by journalist Audrea Lim.

Audrea Lim.

In “Taking Heat,” Lim explores the ways in which the communities that stand to lose the most from climate change are also becoming leaders in the climate resistance. From the farms of Puerto Rico to the tar sands of Canada, from the streets of Los Angeles to Kentucky’s coal country, communities are coming together to fight for a just transition to a greener and more equitable economy. 

At a time when extreme-weather events and the climate-policy impasse are increasingly dominating environmental news, “Taking Heat” focuses on the intersection of climate change with other social and political issues, showcasing the ingenious and inventive ways in which people are already reworking our economy and society. Follow along here. 

Read the story from The Nation by Audrea Lim - “The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change.”

I’ve Studied Climate Change Up-close for the Past Three Years. Here’s How We Can Save the Planet, and Our Global Economy

For the past three years, I’ve endeavoured to learn just how drastically global warming is changing our planet and our lives.

The Illuissat Icefjord in Greenland. 35 billion tonnes
of iceberg calve off and pass out of the fjord every year.

And what I’ve learned is staggering. The threat of global warming on our global well-being looms larger and more immediately than most of us know or care to consider. And this apathy is perhaps the greatest obstacle when it comes to addressing global warming, the most pressing crisis in the history of human civilization.

For the vast majority of us, the effects of global warming are minimal. We might have a rainier spring or an extended summer, but these are minor inconveniences, and they belie the enormity of the issue.

So I decided to visit sites around the world where the effects of our global warming are most pronounced and interview subject-area experts in each location. In order to fully understand global warming and its impact on our environment and economy, I had to experience it first-hand.

Read the story from Medium by Sasja Beslik -  “I’ve Studied Climate Change Up-close for the Past Three Years. Here’s How We Can Save the Planet, and Our Global Economy.”

Language is the Latest Weapon Against the Climate Emergency.”

The language of our impending environmental disaster is changing. In a note to staff, the Guardian on Friday announced it was responding to increasing concern about climate change by calling it the “climate emergency” instead.

Using language to combat a climate crisis.

The email, as tweeted by BuzzFeed reporter Mark Di Stefano, reads: “Use climate emergency, crisis, or breakdown instead of climate change. Use global heating instead of global warming… Use climate science denier or climate denier instead of climate skeptic.” The memo states that the aim is to “accurately reflect the phenomena they describe,” and points out that the term climate change “sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”

It’s a good point — the word “change” hardly captures the self-imposed extinction of humankind, akin to calling an airstrike a “land-changer.” But not everyone agrees. One person on Twitter replied sarcastically: “THIS is what will finally convince people. Lol.” If by “people” they’re referring to those actively promoting denial, then fair enough. But when it comes to non-dogmatic skeptics, the change in language might actually help. And believe me, newspapers like the Guardian take language very seriously.

Read the story from OneZero by Erica Buist - “Language is the Latest Weapon Against the Climate Emergency.”

The Most Definitive Report on Climate Change in America

The burning of coal, oil, and gas is changing the global climate faster now than at any other time in modern human history, threatening our national security, our economic prosperity, and our children’s future. All this will get worse, perhaps unimaginably so, unless we shift to cleaner, smarter ways to power our future — and do so now, because we’re running out of time.

Tropical Storm Irma’s effects in Charleston, South Carolina.

That’s the conclusion of the new National Climate Assessment, the most definitive report ever compiled on climate change in America. The congressionally mandated quadrennial review pulls together experts from 13 federal agencies to connect the dots between what the science is telling us and what we’re seeing on our TVs, in our newspapers, and out our kitchen windows. “The impacts and costs of climate change are already being felt in the United States,” the report states in sum. “Future risks from climate change depend primarily on decisions made today.”

In little more than a century, the temperature has risen 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, on average, across the continental United States. That might not sound like much, but it is remaking the map of America and altering the country in ways that touch every aspect of our lives.

Read the story from the Natural Resources Defence Council by Rhea Suh - “The Most Definitive Report on Climate Change in America.”

‘We've turned a corner': farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy

Out in the bush, far from the ritualised political jousting in Canberra, attitudes are changing. Regional Australia has turned the corner when it comes to acknowledging the reality of climate change, says the woman now charged with safeguarding the interests of farmers in Canberra.

 Fiona Simson on climate change: ‘Farmers have
 come quite a long way in their attitude.’

Fiona Simson, a mixed farmer and grazier from the Liverpool plains in northern New South Wales, and the president of the National Farmers’ Federation, says people on the land can’t and won’t ignore what is right before their eyes. “We have been experiencing some wild climate variability,” Simson tells Guardian Australia’s politics podcast. “It’s in people’s face”.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “‘We've turned a corner': farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy.”

5 Plants and Animals Utterly Confused by Climate Change

Every year, as the seasons change, a complex ballet unfolds around the world. Trees in the Northern Hemisphere leaf out in the spring as frost recedes. Caterpillars hatch to gorge on leaves. Bees and butterflies emerge to pollinate flowers. Birds leave the Southern Hemisphere and fly thousands of miles to lay eggs and feast on insects in the north.

Lauren Kolesinskas for The New York Times

All of these species stay in sync with each other by relying on environmental cues, much as ballet dancers move to orchestral music.

But global warming is changing the music, with spring now arriving several weeks earlier in parts of the world than it did a few decades ago. Not all species are adjusting to this warming at the same rate, and, as a result, some are falling out of step.  

Read the story by Livia Abeck-Ripka and brad Plumer from The New York Times - “5 Plants and Animals Utterly Confused by Climate Change.”

International Women’s Day – Meet the women shaping our future

We’ve all read the stats and we see it every day in the office and on the streets. We want progress, especially in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), to get more women in these roles and leading the charge. And we are making progress. Women are changing the world. We’re lucky enough that some of these incredible women work right here. They’re changing the world every day not because they’re women, but because they’re working on curing diseases, saving the environment, exploring the skies, and developing new technology and industries.

Anna Crewell - PhD candidate, CSIRO Ocean and Atmosphere. 

But before we meet some of these amazing women who are helping shape our future, we also want to acknowledge that to shape Australia’s future in with science, we need to consider the next generation and how we can encourage more young girls to consider STEM as a viable career option for them. Many young girls still think that STEM subjects are for boys and they couldn’t succeed in these careers. This is because you can’t be what you can’t see. We need more role models for the future generation so they too can shape our future and #PressforProgress.

Read the CSIROscope story by Nikki Galovic - “International Women’s Day – Meet the women shaping our future.”

This Girl's Letter To Trump Telling Him Climate Change Is Real Is So Poignant

The Earth is warming up and the weather is changing. Say what you will, but this year has shown that global warming and climate change can't be stopped if world leaders and citizens keep ignoring it. It's frustrating to know that people — especially those with power to make actual change — refuse to believe science when so many people are asking them to listen, and that includes kids. Although President Donald Trump won't listen to it, this girl's letter to Trump telling him climate change is real could have the power to make him and other people want to listen.

The girl's letter and Donald Trump.

The letter, written by an 11-year-old Austrian girl, was reportedly handed to Trump during the United Nations General Assembly last week — yes the same United Nations General Assembly where Trump taunted North Korea and called Kim Jung Un "rocket man." Instead of speaking to the world in a way that, according to CNN, "no American President" has ever done, maybe Trump could have paid attention to the letter gifted to him by Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, according to NDTV.

Read the story by Casey Suglia on Romper - “This Girl's Letter To Trump Telling Him Climate Change Is Real Is So Poignant.”

How to Feed Ourselves in a Time of Climate Crisis

Changing the food system is the most important thing humans can do to fix our broken carbon cycles. 

30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions is
 from industrial agriculture, including deforestation
to support livestock.

Meanwhile, food security is all about adaptation when you’re dealing with crazy weather and shifting growing zones. 

How can a world of 7 billion—and growing—feed itself? Here are 13 of the best ideas for a just and sustainable food system. 

Read the Yes! magazine story - “How to Feed Ourselves in a Time of Climate Crisis.”

Changing light globes is great, but changing the govenment is better

R

ather than simply changing their light globes, Australians should be simply changing their government.

Phases of abuse leap to mind when reading The Guardian story - “Climate change ignored in energy white paper that lets market rule future policy” – but fade when reason kicks in.

Abuse has never won an argument or changed minds, rather it does more harm to those doing the abusing than those subject to it.

The best place to illustrate our disenchantment with the Abbott-led Coalition Government is at the ballot box.

Of course if that doesn’t work because of the government’s mischievous machinations and their plea to populism, strengthened by this year being the 100^th anniversary of Anzac, those who truly understand our intergenerational responsibility, have little choice by civil disobedience.

The world, and by implication Australia, faces serious climate disruption and resource shortages if our behaviour continues unaltered and if the Abbott Government has its way, it will not only continue as is, but worsen as market-driven choices will take us even closer to catastrophe.

"Cooking the books' as we cook the planet

U

nderstanding climate change can be really simple or incredible complex and so almost impenetrable.

And it is the latter upon which our climate denying Federal Government depends when it introduces policies to a largely uninformed public.

Today’s Melbourne Age says, “The Australian government is changing how it expresses climate change targets in way that could make it appear to the public as though it is cutting greenhouse gas emissions more rapidly than it is.”

The story - “What's in a target? Australia warned not to 'cook the books' on emissions cuts” – reports: “As bureaucrats in the Prime Minister's department work on a pledge Australia can take to a year-end global climate summit in Paris, it is understood they are canvassing shifting the year against which any cut is measured.”

“Australia's emissions were significantly higher in 2005 than 2000. By adopting the later year as a baseline, the government could announce a bigger target number without increasing what it is doing to reduce emissions into the atmosphere,” the Age reports.