The world is on fire. Forests are burning in Siberia, Indonesia, Brazil, Greenland, The Canary Islands and Alaska. What is to be done?
First, let’s state the obvious, we are in a #ClimateEmergency which is why more than 3 million Australians are now represented by local governments across the nation that have stepped up and voted in climate emergency declarations.
Second, as horrific as things are, we have to keep our eyes on the horizon. We know that through the fire and smoke, a flourishing future is still possible. That must be our morning star; our truest orientation.
Third, hope is having a plan. All of us need a plan for how to make a contribution in the most effective way possible.
To be clear about this, I don’t mean personal consumption decisions, but committing time, resources and energy to working with others to bring on clean energy and regenerative agriculture - and to ending coal, oil and gas.
We have no responsible leadership on climate breakdown at a federal level. But the government is not the country.
Huge amounts of climate action can occur in cities, towns, states, territories, businesses, institutions of all kinds… all of these can take action.
Once you have a plan for how you will make a contribution, then you can stay focused. This means accepting the truth and being as ambitious and active as possible - but keeping some detachment from the things that you cannot control.
Fourth, let’s remember, though the earth may be wounded, our planet remains beautiful beyond measure.
And given the chance, people will naturally incline towards justice and goodness and that we human beings, working together, can achieve practically anything.
The terrible noise is not to be mistaken for the sounds of a planet dying, but the just rage of life-fighting for life.
It will take the work of millions of human hands, but we can get there; through all the disasters that will come, we can still secure the conditions for recovery and regeneration.
As October ends, the drumbeat of extreme weather events is deafening - the consequences of climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil & gas.
This shocking weather must not become normalised.
Let’s take a closer look to understand just how far from normal we are. 🧵1/17
October began with flash floods and powerful downpours in New York city, a “new normal” NY Governor Kathy Hochul attributed to climate change.
Such devastation does not have to be ‘normal’ if we stop the problem at the source—phasing out fossil fuels. sbs.com.au/news/article/t…
A rapid attribution study conducted by European scientists showed that the storm that hit New York was 10-20% wetter due to climate change. theguardian.com/environment/20…
Peaceful protest has been crucial to winning just about every right and freedom currently enjoyed by Australians - and so much we love and care about.
So how have two women ended up in the Supreme Court today, having to defend rights of peaceful protest?
🧵#knitting#nannas
Earlier this year the NSW government passed regressive laws which could be applied to punish peaceful protest, so Dominique and Helen - represented by the wonderful crew at @EDOLawyers - have brought a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court: theguardian.com/australia-news…
Under the new laws, protestors can face up to 2 years of jail and a $22,000 fine if protests are considered ‘disruptive’ which could apply, for example, to people protesting near a railway station and causing people to be redirected around them: abc.net.au/news/2022-04-0…
BREAKING:
Huge numbers of Australians have owned, driven and trusted Toyota cars over the years, so this may come as pretty shocking..
Turns out #Toyota has grim record of greenwashing and lobbying against measures to reduce climate pollution from cars.
New reports out today..🧵
Toyota has been ranked dead last in the Auto Environment Guide for its lobbying against climate action, refusal to embrace electric vehicles, and continued advocacy for highly polluting hybrids: greenpeace.org/static/planet4…
Toyota’s dismal global record had already caused it to be ranked in the worst three on the @InfluenceMap list of global corporations most negatively influencing Paris-aligned climate policy: influencemap.org/report/The-Car…
This week people were angered to find that massive polluter @WoodsideEnergy is sponsoring parliament's midwinter ball.
It's just one tactic in Woodside's industrial scale 'reputation washing' strategy to enable it to keep on polluting. Thread…
🧵 #auspol tinyurl.com/yywm7xsz
Woodside’s problem is that it makes profit by mining and selling oil and gas - fossil fuels that are driving the climate emergency.
Indeed Woodside is now one of the ten biggest oil and gas majors in the world - and the only one based in Australia: marketindex.com.au/news/a-merged-…
In Australia, Woodside is best known as a gas producer.
As @adamlmorton noted this week in a helpful explainer piece, “gas is a central driver of the climate emergency”: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Lest we forget…
As the new Australian Parliament begins work, it is worth remembering that the last government led by @ScotMorrison was truly a ‘wrecking crew’.
Post-election revelations have reminded us just how much damage they did.
Here’s a thread…
🧵#auspol#wreckingcrew
Infamously, Scott Morrison indicated to fellow believers at his church last weekend that it is right not to have trust in government. 'Wrecking crew' politicians want none of us to have trust in government. theguardian.com/australia-news…
A decade or so ago, US commentator Tom Frank coined the idea of ‘wrecking crew’ politicians who - perversely - deliberately or recklessly seek to govern badly in order to advance an extreme ideological agenda: tcfrank.com/product/the-wr…
Angry about yesterday’s State of the Environment report?
Well, there’s an opportunity to do something practical within the next 24 hours, by lodging an appeal against Woodside being allowed to extend massive fossil gas polluting operations until 2070.🧵 soe.dcceew.gov.au
The background is that WA’s environmental agency (EPA) has recommended that this extension to Woodside’s vast pollution operations be approved - which would mean locking around 50 years’ more of climate-wrecking fossil gas extraction on a massive scale: theguardian.com/australia-news…
The EPA did not assess the impacts from the gas when it is actually burned by end-users.
Yet, if approved, it is estimated that the North West Shelf extension would pump out 4.3 billion tonnes of pollution from climate-wrecking gas over the coming decades: abc.net.au/news/2022-06-3…