What you’d spend to prevent climate change — and what you could get with your money

As the country burns and temperatures rise, climate change is once again at the forefront of our national consciousness. 

How much would we spend to prevent climate change? 

It’s a problem that seems intractable and has dogged politics for decades.

More than 54,000 Australians took part in the nationally representative Australia Talks National Survey, and the number one thing they said was keeping them up at night was climate change.

When we asked how much more they’d be personally willing to spend to help prevent climate change, the numbers varied.

Some people wouldn’t spend anything more (21 per cent) and some were happy to spend thousands (9 per cent) — but most of us sit somewhere in the middle. On average, we’re willing to chip in at least $200 each year*.

To halt climate change we’d need to make some major changes to the way the world works, so would an extra couple of hundred dollars a year even make a difference?

Read the special article from The Age - “What you’d spend to prevent climate change — and what you could get with your money.”

Young people won’t accept inaction on climate change, and they’ll be voting in drove

Today young Australians will hit the streets for the second Climate Strike of 2019.

School students take part in the global #ClimateStrike
 rally in Melbourne, Friday, March 16, 2019.

Youths are often brushed off as being politically disengaged, but the Australian Electoral Commission has reported record high numbers of youth enrolment, and climate change will be at the forefront of their minds when many take to the polls for the first time.

But unlike older generations, who develop and stick to lifelong party allegiances, we’re seeing dramatic shifts in the way young people vote, choosing sides based on issues and specific policies instead.

Read the story from The Conversation by a PhD Researcher in Science Communication from the Australian National University, Hannah Feldman - “Young people won’t accept inaction on climate change, and they’ll be voting in drove.”

NSW election roundup: independents join forces on climate change

Three independent MPs who could become kingmakers in the event of a hung parliament have put climate change, and “future-proofing” the environment and economy, at the forefront of their agenda. Sydney’s Alex Greenwich, Lake Macquarie’s Greg Piper and Wagga Wagga’s Joe McGirr joined forces on Friday to call on the two major parties to commit to a 10-year adjustment strategy for coalmining communities, “backed by substantial financial resources to affected regions”.

Gladys Berejiklian is seen at a news conference in Lismore
 on Friday. Polls have consistently suggested the two main
 NSW parties are locked in a dead heat.

“A transition away from coal is what the planet urgently needs but it requires planning to avoid social and economic impacts in mining regions,” they wrote in a letter to the New South Wales premier and opposition leader.

Polls have consistently suggested the main parties are locked in a dead heat, and a Coalition minority government is widely regarded as a likely outcome of the 23 March election.

Read the story from The Guardian by Josephine Tovey - “NSW election roundup: independents join forces on climate change.”

Jane Goodall: “We Don’t Have Unlimited Time' to Save the Planet

Jane Goodall has been at the forefront of the conservation movement for decades, helping to illuminate human understanding of wildlife and the need to protect it. But never has the challenge been as urgent as now, she told TIME.

Jane Goodall speaks onstage during Global Citizen
 Festival 2017 on Sept. 23 in New York City. 

"When I began there wasn’t any particular need for conservation the way there is now," Goodall said. "If we carry on with business as usual, it will be too late."

Goodall listed a wide range of concerns, including poaching and deforestation, as key issues affecting wildlife, but highlighted climate change as the threat with the potential to do the most damage in the long term. Still, Goodall remains cautiously optimistic, citing the passionate people she has met who are working to tackle the issue and noting that there is still a small amount of time to act before some of the worst impacts of climate change become irreversible.

Read the Time Magazine story - “Jane Goodall: “We Don’t Have Unlimited Time' to Save the Planet.”