Bert Lobert and his compatriots from "Save our Strathbogie Forest" are eager to keep what remains of the forest intact, especially for all the animals who live there and, of course, the thousands of people who enjoy the amenities it provides. The focus of the original legal case put by the group was the Southern Greater Glider (a young Greater Glider is pictured looking out from its threatened forest home), but Justice Horan found that "planned burns" in the forest were not a threat to the Greater Glider population. The Stratbogie group had been raising money through Chuffed to help fund its legal costs, but that is now closed, so those eager to support the campaign should contact Mr Lobert directly. The group's appeal against the planned burns will be held at the High Court in Melbourne on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 20 and 21. People are welcome to personally sit through the hearing or can watch it live via the High Court website. Writing on its website, the group says: "We’re appealing the recent Federal Court ruling on planned burns, which allowed the Victorian government to burn parts of the Strathbogie Forest last Autumn. Our legal argument stems from the knowledge that the Strathbogie Forest is home to one of the healthiest populations of the Endangered Southern Greater Glider in Victoria. But our broader concern is for the long-term health of the forest -the complex partnership of plants, fungi, microbes and animals- and the beneficial influence a healthy forest has for everyone and everything that shares that landscape."
Anna Rose (pictured) told a 2013 forum in Shepparton how a warmer atmosphere can hold much more water and the evidence of that is all around the world. "Thousands missing and feared dead after floods submerge eastern Libya"; "‘Catastrophe’ in Libya’s Derna as deadly floods engulf city"; Jane Fonda talks about her life as an activist on "Climate One"; "Why your perception of climate change threats might depend on where you live – new research"; "The heat is on"; "Their names appeared on letters urging fracking Ohio’s state parks. They don’t know how."; "How back-to-back disasters strain community resources"; "How Fires, Floods and Hurricanes Create Deadly Pockets of Information Isolation"; "Faster disaster: climate change fuels ‘flash droughts’, intense downpours and storms"; "Heat Waves May Be Slow, but They Are Just as Destructive as Faster Disasters"; "Five cars destroyed at Sydney airport after luxury electric vehicle’s battery ignites"; "‘Disastrous beyond comprehension’: 10,000 missing after Libya floods"; "Half the World’s Population Faced Extreme Heat for at Least 30 Days This Summer"; "$85 for a cheap piece of plastic? Push to overhaul green government scheme"; "Antarctic sea ice levels entering 'new low state', climate researchers say, with action urged on emissions"; "‘Transform Australia’: Critical minerals key in calls for $100 billion green plan"; "To efficiently harvest water from air, consider the humble spider web"; "1.5°C: where the target came from – and why we’re losing sight of its importance"; "Update needed for 1872 mining law to boost clean energy, report says"; "Climate breakdown: even if we miss the 1.5°C target we must still fight to prevent every single increment of warming"; "Libya, Greece, Brazil: Climate-driven storms cause catastrophic flooding around the world"; "US behind more than a third of global oil and gas expansion plans, report finds"; "Guess What? More Plastic Trash."; "The Fire This Time: Facing the Reality of Climate Change"; "You call this living? Dutch ‘cycling professor’ has some tough advice for Melbourne"; "Europe's climate activists face 'repressive tide,' rights watchdogs warn"; "Flood-hit homes uninsurable or unaffordable as climate change hikes premiums"; "Labor won't release climate report on national security threat"; "U.S. Sets Record for Billion-Dollar Disasters in a Single Year, With Almost Four Months to Go"; "“Complete habitat destruction” – scientists rally against NSW Forestry Corporation clear felling"; "It's Official: International Agency Marks 'Beginning of The End' of The Fossil Fuel Era"; "More Than 5,000 Dead in Libya as Collapsed Dams Worsen Flood Disaster"; "How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled"; "Renowned conductor allows climate activists to address crowd at Swiss music festival"; "Working in Extreme Heat Is Dangerous. We Must Make It Safer"; "U.S. has seen a record number of weather disasters this year. It’s only September."; "Lethal Heat Is Spreading across the Planet"; "Murray measured the indoor temperature at home. The results were shocking"; "In Libya, 10,000 missing following devastating floods"; "We just blew past 1.5 degrees. Game over on climate? Not yet"; "Overwhelming Heat This Summer Could Kill Twice as Many People as Usual"; "How rising water vapour in the atmosphere is amplifying warming and making extreme weather worse"; "What El Niño means for the world’s perilous climate tipping points"; "The engineering brain drain facing Australia's renewable energy sector"; "We urgently need $100bn for renewable energy. But call it statecraft, not ‘industry policy’"; "Is Climate Change Causing More Record-Breaking Hail?"; "How Green is Burning Man?" "Climate Science Is under Attack in Classrooms"; "Large Herbivores Can Help Prevent Massive Wildfires"; "Our unsung farm dams provide vital habitat to threatened species of frogs"; "Sand Dredging Is Unsustainable and Wiping Out Mari
Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr (pictured) claims his government is a national and world leader in taking the jurisdiction to a serious reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Minister Barr was the first speaker on the opening day of the Better Futures Australia Forum held in Canberra on September 6 and 7. He saw the forum as both critical in that it would solidify ideas and processes for achieving net zero and important that it brought together people and ideas that could help achieve the ambitious target. Enjoy "Music for a Warming World".
The then deputy mayor of the City of Greater Shepparton, Cr Seema Abdullah (pictured) used her casting vote in 2020 to see the municipality endorse and embrace a climate emergency. "How drought and rising temperatures drove millions of Somalis from their homes"; "‘Carbon mega bomb’: climate experts urge Biden to block gas export hub"; "The huge climate problem of cement, steel and chemicals, visualized"; "Where malaria is spreading"; "One of Europe's most polluted cities wants to ban cars from its centre"; "West Antarctic ice sheet faces ‘unavoidable’ melting, a warning for sea level rise"; "Utilities Have Been Lying to Us About Gas Stoves Since the 1970s"; "Rapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable, research shows"; "EV ruling could jolt Australia’s financial foundations"; "The dams are full for now – but Sydney will need new water supplies as rainfall becomes less reliable"; "Tesla Value Tops $1 Trillion After Hertz Orders 100,000 Cars"; "Antarctica has lost 7.5tn tonnes of ice since 1997, scientists find"; "The Crisis in the Middle East is a Crisis of Growth"; "Suicide rates increased after extreme drought in the Murray-Darling Basin – we have to do better as climate change intensifies"; "Here’s what winter weather the U.S. can expect"; "Migrant workers toil in perilous heat to prepare for Cop28 climate talks in UAE"; "Prepare for a turbulent El Niño winter — with a major wild card"; "Fossil-fuel industry embrace raises alarm bells over direct air capture"; "A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030"; "Low-cost solution to the grid reliability problem with 100% penetration of intermittent wind, water, and solar for all purposes"; "End of coal-fired power stations to crush decent incomes, report reveals"; "Children at ‘existential risk’ from climate crisis, UK’s top paediatrician says"; "Here’s what happens to workers when coal-fired power plants close. It isn’t good"; "Storm Babet kills at least three people in UK as floods strike northern Europe"; "Alabama Wood Pellet Mill Seeks Millions in Climate Funds, but Critics Say It Won’t Cut CO2"; "Small islands struggle to get help from UN’s flagship climate fund"; "The climate impact of plastic pollution is negligible – the production of new plastics is the real problem"; "In Florida, Gen Z Activists Step Into the Fight Against Sugarcane Burning"; "How to beat ‘rollout rage’: the environment-versus-climate battle dividing regional Australia"; "Research by Public Health Experts Shows ‘Damning’ Evidence on the Harms of Fracking".
John Bell (pictured) has written a script for a television advertisement that begins: "I am planet Earth". The artistic director of the Bell Shakespeare Company was one of several speakers at the May 9 Smart Energy Conference and Exhibition in Sydney, which was in fact, the 60th conference organized by the Smart Energy Council, a fact proudly pointed out by the council's Chief Executive, John Grimes. Among the speakers was the founder and chief scientist of "Otherlab", Saul Griffith, who talked about "Rewiring Australia". Enjoy "Music for a Warming World".
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) airs grid controversies on the 7:30 Report: "The fight between farmers and the Victorian government is spilling onto the paddock";"Australia’s sales of big cars are out of control";"Helping producers navigate sustainability opportunities";"Blackout risk: Grid ‘not ready’ for coal plant closures, solar surge";"‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills";"Many Fighting Climate Change Worry They Are Losing the Information War";"Who are the Australians trying to shut down the world’s biggest coal port?";"Australia could miss clean energy target as solar and wind investment slumps, investors warn";"Petrol Vehicles Are 5-20 Times More Likely to Catch Fire than EVs: Peak Body".
Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, signed a sweeping agreement on Thursday laying the groundwork for a new oil pipeline to expand Alberta’s oil sands, exempting the province’s energy industry from several environmental laws.Carney is pictured here with Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith."Canada Lifts Climate Laws for Alberta Oil Sands, Planning Pipeline";"More than 1,000 Amazon workers warn rapid AI rollout threatens jobs and climate";"Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown";"Michael Mann To Bill Gates: What World Are You Living In?";"The Supreme Court’s Ethics Code Is a Joke. Big Oil Knows That. ";"Renewable energy zone win";"Preparing for a hotter, drier basin";"Funding for sustainable water solutions";"Water planning over morning tea".
Ben Pederick (pictured recording an interview post The Adaptation Game - TAG) is a big man with a big smile, a big heart and some equally big ideas about how we step up to the challenges we confront arising from the seriously different weather events being brought to us courtesy of a worsening climate.The City of Greater Shepparton has bought several sets of The Adaptation Game, and locals have been trained as facilitators to oversee and orchestrate the games, which will be available through local libraries.You can learn more about TAG by watching: "The Adaptation Game: a Community Climate Resilience Drill built on Stories"
Australia's Climate and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen (pictured), is attending climate talks in Belem, Brazil, at COP30. However, the talks have gone a little awry for Australia, as it has ceded COP31 to Turkey."Australia can win big international bids when it wants. This was an omnishambles";"Anger, questions over Albanese’s call to concede COP to Turkey";"‘Avoidable failures’: Government defies watchdog on compensation for flood victims";"The Accidental Activist, Madeleine Serle";"Australia beaten by the Turks. Don’t mention the war";"Victoria’s EV battle: Should non-drivers pay for roadside chargers?";"World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds".
California Governor Gavin Newsom (picture) steals the spotlight at COP30 in Brasil - "Newsom in the Spotlight at the Climate Conference That Trump Decided to Skip";"This widely used chart makes the clean energy switch seem much harder than it actually is";"Indigenous People, Long Sidelined at Climate Talks, Take the Stage in Brazil";"‘I didn’t agree to that’: The proposal that triggered uproar in the Coalition party room";"A Flood of Green Tech From China Is Upending Global Climate Politics";"Earth Nowhere Near Where It Needs to Be to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change";"COP30 Forges Ahead as World’s Biggest Emitter, the United States, Stays Absent";"How Monash Uni took a $43m moral stand and gave Building 94 its name back";"The comforting but dangerous fantasy of ‘normal’ climatic and political aberrations".
Liberal Party leader, Sussan Ley (pictured), is at the centre of discussions that mean little to what it is that Australians need to hear about addressing climate change."These numbers say net zero is doomed – and so is Sussan Ley";"Where the sky keeps bursting";"Greenwashing in the Evergreen State";"Ley’s job on the line as Liberals reject net zero";"Birrell advocates for coal, gas, and eventually nuclear";"The Liberal party’s betrayal of younger voters on net zero isn’t just a moral failure – it’s electoral stupidity";"The spectacular nonsense of the Coalition’s internal brawl over the 2050 net zero emissions target".
Marian Wilkinson has sliced through the fossil fuel companies, particularly Woodside, and our politicians, in her latest Quarterly Essay," Woodside vs The Planet: how a company captured a country".The Australian investigative journalist is interviewed here by the co-convenor from Climate 200, Kate Hook.It's long — more than an hour — but well worth your time.
Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary, Danae Bosler (pictured), told those at the Saturday, November 8, launch of the Climate Safety Plan, that it was the workers who bore the brunt of the world's changing climate.She argued that they knew best what the problems were and how they should be confronted and resolved.Nurse practitioner and union member, Sigrid Pitkin, explained to those at the Millennium Building launch at Seddon, in Melbourne's west, how a thunderstorm asthma event impacted Melbourne's health services. Sigrid predicted that a warming climate would bring more similar and even worse events.The Climate Safety Plan will propose policies spanning eight key areas: built environment; health; insurance; emergency management; community resilience; food and agriculture; workers' rights; and income support.Speakers at the launch included:Kate Thwaites MP, Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.Madeleine Serle, Maribyrnong Community Recovery Association.Danae Bosler, Assistant Secretary, Victorian Trades Hall Council Sigrid Pitkin, Nurse Practioner and union memberAngela Ashleigh-Chiew, Environment Victoria.Shweta Dakin, GenWest and;Emma Bacon, Sweltering Cities.
The new book, "Human Nature" by climate scientist Kate Marvel is, in a sense, a whole new genre, for in it Marvel explores the feelings of a climate scientist, and from it we learn that they are just like us with emotions ranging across the entire arc of human feelings.Marvel talks about her new book with Columbia University's Andre Revkin, who is one of America’s most honoured and experienced environmental journalists and the founding director of the new Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at Columbia University's Earth Institute. At Columbia, he is building programs, courses, tools and collaborations bridging communication gaps between science and society to cut climate risk and boost social and environmental resilience.Kate can also be found on TEDx talking about "Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change?".Her book, to give it the full title is "Human Nature: nine ways to feel about our changing planet".
Melbourne's recent All Energy Conference was fascinating for many reasons, but left me flummoxed, as it was, at its essence, about limiting climate change, even though it seemed to be about growth. The exhibits were impressive, almost like social events with free coffee, lots of meetings, and the exchange of ideas (pictured)."The $4.1 million question: How did the BOM get its new website so wrong?";"‘If you ignore emissions, we did great’: Germany’s challenging fight to go green";"Backbench heat over Labor plans to ‘gut’ environment safeguards";"People trust podcasts more than social media. But is the trust warranted?";"‘We’re not going to streak ahead’: Nationals officially dump net zero climate target";"Hastie rebukes Liberals ‘living in Howard era’ as opposition weighs net zero rebrand";"View from The Hill: Nationals dump net zero – say Australia shouldn’t cut emissions faster than comparable countries";"Bill Gates Says Climate Change ‘Will Not Lead to Humanity’s Demise’";"Money to Help Nations Cope With Climate Disasters Is Declining, U.N. Says";"Deadly rivers in the sky".
Robin Bell (pictured), a Marie Tharp Lamont Research Professor with the Marine and Polar Geophysics department at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was one of three speakers at a webinar organised by The Columbia Climate School and chaired by the Professor and Senior Vice Dean, Columbia Climate School; Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Jeffrey Shaman.Experts from the Columbia Climate School and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory gathered for a candid conversation about what real climate responsibility looked like at the personal, local, and systemic levels. The panellists discussed the connection between individual actions and large-scale societal efforts, all within the context of the planet’s rapidly changing climate and the evolution of climate awareness and action. They explored the steps we could each take to expand our impact.
Geelong's Mik Aidt (pictured) has found a new connection through the Geelong Connection Cafe that meets for the first time this Friday at 3:00 pm.Mik, who has been deeply involved with climate activities in the city for about 15 years, mainly through "The Sustainable Hour", has worked with others from the city's former Climate Cafe to create this new body to reinvigorate connections in the southern Victorian city.Directly from the Geelong Connection Cafe website page, we hear:"At our September gathering, a small group of locals in Geelong made an important decision: our long-running Climate Café will now be known as the Geelong Connection Café.Why the change? Because words matter. While climate is central to our concerns, the word often carries a weight of crisis and disagreements. We wanted a name that points to what helps us move forward: togetherness, resilience, and the energy of being connected.Mel, who suggested the word, summed it up beautifully:“I think ‘connection’ is a good word because we have a global loneliness problem at the same time as having a climate crisis, and I think the thing that will move us through the climate crisis and make us more resilient is connection – the only thing that will actually get us through. If we are prepared to connect before that happens, then it means that we’re more likely to do better in the future. It also puts a more positive tint on things, because climate can feel a bit doom and gloom, but everyone wants connection – it’s intrinsic to us.”Anthony added that the word opens up many directions at once:“There are so many things we can connect with – connect with each other, talk about what’s important in life, connect with nature, connect with other people. That same connection can apply to all of those things. And that’s actually what’s missing in society as a whole.”For Adam, co-founder of the Geelong Climate Café, the new name also ties back to the history of The House, where our monthly café is hosted:“For the founding members of The House, it was actually that lack of community that drove us to put together The House. So it definitely fits with the theme of this place as well.”The move also reflects a broader shift. Around the world, people are experimenting with new language for community gatherings on climate and sustainability. Joseph Gelfer, who talks about replacing “climate” with concepts rooted in service to life, points out that words shape our expectations and our energy. By naming our café around connection, we are choosing to emphasise possibility, relationship, and resilience, rather than crisis alone.What to expect at the Connection CaféThe Geelong Connection Café will continue to meet monthly at The House. It will remain an open, informal space for:• Conversations about how we live well in times of change• Sharing personal experiences and practical ideas• Building supportive networks in Geelong and beyond• Exploring ways to strengthen community resilience and connectionMost of all, it will be a place to practise what the name promises: connection.
A Treaty with Victoria's indigenous people brings benefits to all, and our environment."Here comes the sun! The solar energy revolution – podcast";"Extreme weather costs Australia more than any other rich country, bar one";"Gondwana Link - connecting people, connecting nature";"Man arrested, accused of starting deadly Palisades Fire in California";"‘Vanish in a puff of smoke’: Monash plans to close climate crisis institute";"Extreme weather now costs Australians $4.5b a year. Better insurance options and loans would help us adapt".
Richard Denniss (pictured) was one of a trio of speakers at an event at Melbourne's Royal Society of Victoria to consider: "What is Australia Risking? Future Impacts of Climate Change".The event was convened by Climate Communications Australia and hosted by The Royal Society of Victoria, and offered a unique chance to discuss the report with Risk Assessment experts. The event focused on how climate change would affect Australia, and the scenarios for the 'cascading, compounding and concurrent disasters' that are emerging across the country. The social and developmental implications of these impacts for future generations were discussed, along with what policies were needed to adapt to and mitigate the risks.The speakers were:Dr Andrew Watkins is a climate scientist in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University. He was previously at the Australian Climate Service, where he was a Lead Author of the National Climate Risk Assessment. For more than 10 years, he was the Head of Climate Prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology. Andrew is a Research Fellow at Climate Communications Australia. Dr Richard Denniss is the Executive Director of The Australia Institute and is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks.He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books,a including Econobabble, Curing Affluenza and Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next? Professor Lucas Walsh is the director of the Monash Centre for Youth Policy & Education Practice (CYPEP) within the Faculty of Education at Monash University and was a member of the National Climate Risk Assessment Expert Advisory Committee.
Bill McKibben (pictured), a climate activist, author, and occasional newspaper columnist, has encouraged people to be less individualistic and join groups.He was among those on a panel organised by The New York Times as a part of its annual "Climate Forward" conference assembled to discuss "The future of climate activism in the Trump era"Mik Aidt has a special guest on his "The Climate Revolution" show - British sustainability strategist Joseph Gelfer calls time on weak incrementalism. He argues that the urgency of planetary collapse, combined with rising public frustration and disillusionment, will soon push even moderate citizens to demand bold, transformative change. When that moment comes, we must be ready. A peaceful political revolution for a pollution-free society is possible – but only if we dare to think big and act boldly on a planetary scale.And from The Guardian we read "Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, £12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.The story is: "Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable".