Aslan Shand
It is the week before the Federal election and the Climate Council of Australia has released a report on the extraordinary lengths the Liberal National (LNP) coalition government have gone to to keep Australians in the dark over climate change. This is hot on the heals of the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report that shocked the world with its stark determination that nature is in dangerous decline and the species extinction rates are accelerating. Both these reports reinforce the call by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made in 2018, that we only have 12 years (now 11.5) to make the changes needed to keep global warming at a maximum of 1.50c.
‘The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide,’ said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson.
But there is hope and the report states that, ‘it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global’.
The choice is yours, it depends on each Australian and the action they decide to take with this information from taking direct action to who they put in government.
Local action
Responding to the ever growing cries for action Gasfield Free Northern Rivers (GFNR), the team that lead the fight to protect the region from fracking and CSG, are calling for action this Saturday, May 10. They are calling a rally at 10am at Lismore Peace Park on the corner of Keen Street and Ballina Road. They have invited local candidates from the major parties to explain their policies on climate action as well as representatives from the School Strike 4 Climate to speak.
‘One of the main aims of the rally is to inspire people to act. We would like to create a powerful social movement encompassing all residents similar to that which drove CSG out of this Region,’ said Ian Gaillard, spokesperson for GFNR.
‘Australia and the rest of the world are in the midst of a human caused climate emergency. For anyone who cares to look they will see, record heatwaves and other extreme weather events, unprecedented fish kills, massive forest fires and the death of many coral reefs from high water temperatures and acidity, all related to climate change.
‘Australia has the dubious distinction of having more mammals go extinct than any other developed country. The IPBES is predicting that 1 million species are under threat of extinction. These extinctions are being “rocket powered” by the impact of runaway global heating.
‘When very conservative bodies like the World Bank state categorically state that governments must stop subsidising fossil fuel production and the IPCC states that we cannot open any new fossil fuel basins we know that Australian governments are failing us. When governments fail us the community has a responsibility to act to protect itself and the environment,’ said Mr Gaillard.
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