The planet is trending in a very dangerous direction. It's getting hot in here, and not in a good way. Current projections indicate that we are on track for 2 degrees of warming by 2050, seriously altering the state of the climate for the first time in 11,700 years.
The good news? We have the skills, technology and capacity to not only address the climate crisis, but to build a more fair, resilient and thriving Australia as we do it.
Since humans started burning fossil fuels to produce energy, we’ve released about 2000 gigatonnes of excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. All this extra CO2 leads to an increase in temperature through the greenhouse effect - basically creating a giant puffer jacket around the earth that keeps all the heat in.
And we’re not talking about good beach weather: this warming has the potential to fundamentally change the planet and perhaps more importantly; our ability to survive on it.
As oceans absorb all the excess heat, sea levels will rise due to the thermal expansion of water and the melting of ice sheet and glaciers.
As temperatures rise, we’ll see more bushfires and drought as well as more frequent and intense monsoons, cyclones and flooding thanks to increased evaporation and water vapour in the atmosphere.
From the ocean acidification that causes mass coral bleaching events like we're seeing in the Great Barrier Reef, to mega-bushfires that destroy habitat and kill millions of animals, climate change is already fundamentally altering our natural world.
Time for some good news! While the costs of inaction are incredibly high, we have everything we need to cut the majority of emissions already.
As well as creating new jobs, ambitious climate action will have many lasting benefits such as revitalising Australian manufacturing, creating regional jobs and improving air quality.
The days of relying on fossil fuels are quickly coming to an end, whether we like it or not, and the faster and more decisively we act as a country, the more we stand to gain.
Make everything electric: We need to electrify as many things, as quickly as we can. Cars, stoves, heating - you name it, let's make it electric.
Make our electricity renewable: Once we ensure our energy grid is designed to handle renewables, we must urgently phase out the use of fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy production.
There are some things we still need to figure out, such as agriculture and transport that can’t be electrified. While we’re electrifying everything, we can develop the technology to address these other, more complicated challenges.
We don't know about you guys but we haven't quite figured out how to move our electricity grid to 100% renewables or build more public transport on our own.
That’s why we need decisive action from governments (most important!) and businesses. Governments have the power to shift us onto a greener path through incentives, regulations, direct investment in research and technology and by creating policy certainty that empowers businesses to transition to net zero.
The cool thing is? We get to choose our government! And there’s heaps of ways we can help speed up this transition to avoid catastrophic levels of warming.
Want to dig a little deeper?
We’ve put together a collection of our favourite climate books, podcasts, documentaries and other resources. Read, watch, share and let us know what you’re loving!
