2024 is now officially the hottest year ever recorded on our planet, easily beating the previous record year of 2023 as we collectively travel up the exponential curve towards catastrophe.
Australia got off relatively lightly, but the fires that just destroyed large parts of Los Angeles are an echo of what happened here in the Black Summer of 2019-20, and a warning of what is to come.
This country is particularly vulnerable to climate change, which hasn’t stopped our political leaders being spectacularly useless on the issue. On Saturday, a group of young climate activists led by Anjali Sharma wrote to the federal government demanding that they legislate a duty of care bill for those who will be impacted most by the climate crisis.
Together with seven other young students and a nun, Ms Sharma was previously the lead litigant in a class action in the Australian Federal Court, Sharma v Minister for the Environment, seeking a ruling that the government consider its duty of care towards young Australians, with regard to climate change impacts, when approving expansions of coal mines.
This case was successful, creating an internationally significant legal precedent, only to be overturned on appeal in March 2022.
How many more records?
Ms Sharma’s public letter says, ‘A child turning ten years old this year has lived through the ten hottest years on record. How many more records will be broken in this child’s lifetime?
‘We are waking up every day to news headlines of climate-related emergencies such as shattered temperature records, bushfires, floods and heat waves impacting new corners of the Earth.
‘Climate catastrophe is no longer an abstract concept or a far-off possibility – we are watching it take hold of the world we love, the world we will soon be required to create our lives within, the world we must soon lead,’ she writes.
‘We know that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on current and future generations… and yet there is no Australian domestic legislation that mandates the protection of the health and wellbeing of young people in the face of climate change.
‘The responsibility to legislate this duty lies squarely with the federal parliament.’
Alarming data
Ms Sharma’s open letter was sent to coincide with the release of the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which informs the members of the European Union.
For anyone still paying attention in a world fatigued by constant crisis, the latest data shows 2024 was 1.6 degrees warmer than pre-industrial times, leading to extreme flooding, hurricane and fire events, fuelled by rapidly warming oceans, exactly as many models have predicted for decades.
Some of the 2024 extremes happened within countries, such as flooding in the south of Brazil simultaneously with a severe drought in the north. Southern California experienced flash flooding less than a year ago and is burning now.
Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Atlantic basin Category-5 hurricane on record. Massive fires forced mass evacuations in Canada. The Phillippines was hit by a record-breaking six typhoons in less than a month. Unprecedented heatwaves killed people in Saudi Arabia, India, and Greece, and there were disastrous floods from Mali to Spain, and from Hungary to Texas.
In Australia, the Labor government opened more coal mines and gas fields, while the Coalition promised they would be the greatest friend the mining lobby has ever had in Canberra. If elected in 2025, they’ll have quite a bit of competition for this dubious title with their predecessors.
Anjali Sharma’s open letter demanding a climate duty of care bill was published with the public support of a roll-call of eminent Australians from across the political spectrum including Craig Foster, John Hewson, Helen Haines, Tim Winton, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe, Kate Chaney, Bridget Archer, Zali Steggall, Tim Flannery, Lucy Turnbull, Peter Doherty, Fiona Stanley and Grace Tame, along with a coalition of leaders from across the Pacific.
Will their voices be heard over the deafening roar of the fossil lobbyists?
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
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