Parliament must back Labor’s climate policy if party wins power, Mark Butler says

The shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, has issued a stark warning before the coming election campaign, declaring the Australian parliament must end the stalemate and back Labor’s climate policy in the event of a Bill Shorten victory, or politicians will betray the next generation.

 Shadow minister for climate change Mark Butler says if
Labor wins the coming election, changes will be
implemented regardless of pushback.

In an interview with Guardian Australia’s political podcast, Butler says Labor’s commitment to reduce emissions by 45% on 2005 levels by 2030 is a “rock solid commitment”, not an “aspiration” or “something that would be nice to achieve” – and he says voters are more agitated now about climate action than he has ever seen during his time as an MP .

Butler says the Morrison government is lining up to deploy “tired old scare campaigns” about carbon taxes in the coming campaign – with Scott Morrison this week characterising the measures this week as a “Borat tax” – “but what I see as I get around the country after a very angry summer … the hottest summer we have ever had … is Australians are sick of it”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Parliament must back Labor’s climate policy if party wins power, Mark Butler says.”

The climate change story that is never discussed

O

n November 30, world leaders will gather in Paris for a pivotal United Nations conference on climate change.

Given its importance, I want to use the next couple months to explore some alternative perspectives on the unruly aggregate of topics lumped together as "climate change."

There is an urgent demand for such alternative narratives and it rises, in part, from the ridiculous stalemate we find ourselves in today. But the endless faux "debate" about the state of climate science also obscures a deeper — and more profound — reality: We've become a species of enormous capacities with the power to change an entire planet. So, what exactly does this mean?

Read Adam Frank’s story - “The Climate Story Nobody Talks About”.

Conference to focus on psychology and climate

Psychology for
 a safe climate.
 

A group of psychologists and caring professionals are working together to help the community psychologically understand climate change and encourage strong and urgent action on the dilemma.

The Melbourne-based group has set up “Psychology for a Safe Climate” and has its 2013 conference on October 12 and 13.

In organizing the conference the group asked: “How can psychology and the social sciences help us face the reality of climate change?”

“How can we understand and move beyond the current stalemate, - indeed the current apathy – towards the reality of climate change. How can we foster collective engagement to urgently and effectively tackle climate change?” it asks.

The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners and writers in psychology and the social science to examine the prevailing dynamics of climate change.
Details of the event are available from the group’s website: http://www.psychologyforasafeclimate.org/