Wake Up, Freak Out – then Get A Grip. It’s much, much later than you think… This really isn’t about polar bears any more. At this very moment, the fate of civilisation itself hangs in the balance. It turns out that the way we have been calculating the future impacts of climate change up to now has been missing a really important piece of the picture. It seems we are now dangerously close to the tipping point in the world’s climate system; this is the point of no return, after which truly catastrophic changes become inevitable.
Wake Up, Freak Out – then Get a Grip, is a short animated film about climate change by Leo Murray. View it or read the script, with extensive references and additional links at: wakeupfreakout.org
Join our campaign
Climate Action Bunbury has formed for the Bunbury region to link up with the national campaign being run by the Climate Action Network of Australia (CANA) – http://www.cana.net.au/, and has joined with the Climate Movement – http://www.climatemovement.org.au/ , that is Australia wide. You can help our Climate Change campaigning by joining SWEC at this page: Join Us – Contact Us. Climate Action Bunbury supports the campaign by the Australian climate movement to push for a complete transition of Australia’s electricity supply from being predominantly based on dirty coal-fired power to 100% Renewable Energy as soon as possible. CAB believes that this is possible by 2020-2030. Click on the 100% renewable energy logo below to go the relevant webpage:
Take Action
The current focus of action at this time is to put a stop to the financing of Climate Change by the big four banks in Australia, particularly the ANZ Bank – the dirtiest bank in Australia. Leading NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen has stated; ‘Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them’. ANZ Bank claims that it ‘lives in your world’, when in reality it is financing the pollution of your world. ANZ is the biggest financier of dirty coal-fired electricity in Australia. ANZ is clearly Australia’s dirtiest bank, but this doesn’t let the other big banks off the hook. ANZ, Commonwealth, National and Westpac together have provided more than $5 billion over the past five years to finance Australia’s coal industry. These banks spend huge amounts of money and time trying to sell themselves as socially responsible and environmentally sustainable companies. But if they continue heavily investing in polluting power, it doesn’t matter how many trees they plant, envelopes they recycle or green light-bulbs they install – the damage caused by their coal investments is already too great.Whilst it is true that the big banks are investing in renewables, they are also investing heavily in new coal-fired power stations and other fossil fuel based power generation such as gas. Whilst gas is being sold to the Australian public as a ‘clean’ source of energy, this is a lie. New and independent research is showing that gas is only marginally cleaner than coal when full life-cycle accounting is considered – exploration, extraction, transport and storage, generating power, leaks from exhausted deposits. Yet gas companies and supporting politicians are making a concerted push to have coal replaced by gas-fired power by using the lie of gas as a ‘clean’ fuel.
The burning of coal is historically the single biggest contributor to global warming. It continues to affect us all by polluting the air we breathe, the water we drink and permanently scars and damages the land. It’s damaging our health and our economy. If our governments and the business community are really serious about dealing effectively with Climate Change, there must be no more building of coal-fired power stations – NO NEW COAL – and a rapid phase out of existing coal with a corresponding transition to 100% renewables. By investing so heavily in polluting power, the banks are forgoing the opportunity to invest in a future built on clean, reliable, renewable energy. This is not just a lost investment opportunity; it is also a lost opportunity to create jobs, cleaner air and a safer climate. This campaign originated with Greenpeace Australia Pacific. You can access more information on the campaign including a booklet that explains how Australia’s big four banks are financing Climate Change. You can also take action on their Climate campaign page.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific – Climate
To see an entertaining video by Greenpeace that is a spoof of a typical ANZ Bank television ad, see this video – ANZ’s Dirty Secret , at SWEC’s Video Gallery.Find out more about the health effects of coal, click on this link – Hidden Cost of Coal – The true cost of coal leaves Aussie kids breathless
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Plan B: An agenda for immediate climate action! Due to the lack of real and effective action by the federal government on Climate Change, environment organisations across Australia united in 2009 to produce a plan for implementing immediate solutions that will reduce emissions and create jobs. It is absolutely necessary to implement this plan in addition to and in concert with the current carbon tax, to deal with Climate Change effectively. Greenpeace and other environment groups, including the Climate Action Network of Australia (CANA) and Conservation Council of WA (CCWA), launched a policy document called “Plan B: An agenda for immediate climate action”, in 2009. The 5 part plan still stands.
Climate Action Bunbury supports Plan B. A CCWA media release regarding Plan B can be downloaded here. Plan B can be downloaded here (1.1 Mb pdf file) – Plan B: An agenda for Immeditate Climate Change Action. The document suggests a plan of action including:
1. A national energy savings plan – broad-ranging energy efficiency programs.
The Low Carbon Growth Plan by ClimateWorks Australia, identifies 54 separate opportunities – across all sectors – that together can achieve a reduction in emissions of 249 MtCO2e (million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or 25% below 2000 levels. This target is achievable using technologies available today. A report by Engineers Australia has found that we can achieve around 56% energy savings with newer developing technologies, over our current energy use.
2. Fast-track the switch to a renewable energy economy.
NO NEW COAL, phase out existing coal and transition to 100% Renewable Energy as rapidly as possible. Beyond Zero Emissions has put together a plan to transition all of Australia’s stationary energy generation to 100% Renewalbe Energy by 2020 – Zero Carbon Australia 2020
3. Drive the shift to low emissions vehicles, sustainable public transport and sustainable cities.
This needs government policies for setting targets for fuel efficiency, development of sustainable transport infrastructure and incentives for development of electric vehicles.
See ACF’s webpages on Sustainable Cities
4. Protect our forests and woodlands as carbon stores and make agriculture a part of the solution.
It is estimated that Australia could gain a 15-20% cut in our total greenhouse gas emissions if we end land clearing and end native forest logging.
See ANU’s Green Carbon Report on the carbon storage potential of Australia’s native forests.
5. A National Green Jobs and Industries plan.
Up to 80,000 green collar jobs are possible in Australia by 2030 if incentives through government policy are provided, such as through the development of the renewable energy sector, sustainable agriculture and tourism.
Support and retrain workers in high-polluting industries that are being cut back or phased out, into jobs in the new green job economy.
See ACF’s media release and link to Green Gold Rush
Climate Action Bunbury supports the newly established carbon tax of $23 per tonne of carbon but it should be starting in the range of $40 to $50 per tonne. Anything less than $30 per tonne of carbon will be ineffective in bringing about a phase out of dirty coal-fired power. Also, the Federal government’s current carbon emissions reduction commitment of 5% by 2020 is absurd when the current science on accelerating Climate Change demands a 40-50% reduction target by 2020.nWe do not support the intention by the Federal government to changeover from the current carbon tax into an Emissions Trading Scheme in 2014. ET Schemes are very questionable as far as results in actually reducing emissions. There is considerable doubt as to the effectiveness of schemes that currently exist in the world today. To find out what the problems are with ETS or Cap & Trade mechanisms for dealing with Climate Change, go to this video – The Story of Cap & Trade – at the SWEC video gallery. A direct carbon tax is a simpler, fairer and more effective means of cutting carbon emissions and it should be retained permanently and should increase incrementally each year to provide a real incentive to high-polluting industries to cut emissions and help bring about the necessary action to deal with Climate Change effectively.
See the bigger picture on Global Warming
Global warming will affect everyone, but it will affect poor people in developing countries first and most dramatically. Make Poverty History campaigns for the achievement of the globally agreed plan to halve poverty by 2015 known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Climate change is a serious challenge to efforts to tackle global poverty. Some of the likely impacts of climate change on developing countries include:
– Food and water supplies and livelihoods at risk: crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to fall by 20 per cent. This means great droughts, famines and many deaths resulting.
– Greater risk of illness and disease: five million serious illnesses and 150,000 deaths already occur every year as a result of climate change.
– People forced to leave their homes: 200 million environmental refugees by 2050 and eventually one billion people could be displaced by droughts, famines, wars and sea-level rise – already some Pacific Islanders are leaving their islands due to sea level rise.
We’re all in this together
Yet it’s the rich developed world that has produced the vast majority of carbon emissions to date that have caused climate change. While the US has been the world’s biggest producer of carbon emissions, Australia’s performance has also been extremely damaging to the environment, with Australia now the world’s biggest carbon emitter per person. Justice and equity requires that the developed nations of the world, such as Australia, accept responsibility for their actions and play a leading and constructive role in finding a just solution to climate change.
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The Age of Stupid! The Age of Stupid is a four-year epic from McLibel director Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? It was released in UK cinemas on 20 March 2009 and was shown around the world. It is now available for purchase on DVD. www.ageofstupid.net
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Further Information
– Go to our links to other websites on Climate Change
– Go to our Video Gallery and the Channel on Climate Change
– Go to our links to other websites on Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
– Go to our Video Gallery and the Channel on Renewable Energy
– Go to our links to websites on Climate Change Denial
– Go to our Video Gallery and the Channel Climate Deniers Corner.