I’m encouraging my nine-year-old daughter to wag school this coming Frida

I’m encouraging my nine-year-old daughter to wag school this coming Friday.

Students across Australia walked out of school in
November to protest inaction on climate change.

It’s not that I don’t value her education. I absolutely do. It’s just that on Friday 15 March I think she’s likely to learn more outside the classroom than in it.

She’ll be joining students in over 50 countries, and 40 separate locations around Australia, for the School Strike 4 Climate rally.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Kasey Edwards - “I’m encouraging my nine-year-old daughter to wag school this coming Friday.

Banning fossil fuelled cars isn't enough; we have to rethink our transportation system

The UK and France have banned the sale of gas and diesel powered cars by 2040, but it is too little, too late.

Last month the French Government announced a ban on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered cars by 2040. Recently the British government followed suit.

2040 is a long way away, but a UK government spokesperson said “poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and this government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible.” According to the Guardian, it’s estimated that “outdoor pollution, much of it from vehicles, causes 40,000 deaths a year in the UK.” But that number is disputed, even by organizations such as Greenpeace who note:

…while a car crash can be said to be the exclusive cause of an individual’s death, nobody is dying purely as a result of air pollution. It could well have had a significant impact on somebody who died from heart disease, but it’s likely that other factors, such as diet or exercise, played a part too.

This is an important distinction. These French and British moves are encouraging, as is the wildly enthusiastic reception to the launch of the Tesla Model 3. But does a ban on ICE powered cars really make that much of a difference? Does it go far enough, fast enough? Is the pollution from cars their biggest problem? 

Read Lloyd Alter’s Treehugger story - “Banning fossil fuelled cars isn't enough; we have to rethink our transportation system."

Looking back over the major climate change moments of 2014

In just over two minutes Climate Desk takes us back through 2014 pointing out the major moments in climate change discussion.

Some of the “moments” and both good and encouraging, others are the opposite and remind us that there is much yet to do.

Invest just a few minutes watching – “2014: Climate Desk's Year in Review” – to remind yourself of just a few happenings from the year gone.

Australia's attitude 'Nothing short of alarming'

Australia’s official attitude toward dealing with climate change is “Nothing short of alarming”.

 

That is the view of the organizers of this coming weekend’s “Australian Climate Action Summit 2014”.

“The lack of political will to address climate change is nothing short of alarming, and the dismantling of climate policy a step backwards at a critical point.

“But a civil society movement,” it said in encouraging people to attend the action summit, “is growing from the grass roots and up, and now is your chance to get involved”.

Speakers at the Brisbane event, at Queensland University of Technology’s Gardens Point campus will be peak oil and finance analyst, Nicole Foss; the Climate Council’s Will Steffen, Doing it Ourselves Theo Kitchener; Sustainability Showcase’s Kari McGregor; thinker, advisor and comedian, Rod Quantock; UK ecocide lawyer, Polly Higgins; Generation Alpha’s Ben Pennings; and Jane O’Sullivan from Sustainable Population Australia.