With 2020 looking likely to be the warmest year on record and the not so distant memories of unprecedented fires that impacted much of Australia last summer, it's important to know about all the solutions we have in the face of the climate crisis.
Achieving net zero emissions is going to require renewable energy, and the best way to speed up this transition from fossil fuels is financial incentive. How can we help? Well many financial institutions such as our banks and super unfortunately choose to invest our savings into fossil fuel projects. We can change this by changing to banks and super funds that don’t. Have a look at the links below to see if your financial institutions invest in fossil fuels.
https://www.marketforces.org.au/superfunds/ https://www.marketforces.org.au/info/compare-bank-table/
This next solution is a hard one to swallow; to achieve our emissions targets, the world is going to have reduce our meat intake. The good news though is that it is just a type of meat, red meat, particularly beef! We don’t need to completely reduce our intake, but with beef’s disproportionally high emissions, land use and being the global leading cause of deforestation, cutting down on beef is arguably the biggest behavioural change one can make, it's good for your long-term health too!
Without carbon capture storage technologies, we’re likely to fall far short of our climate targets, luckily, we have the most fantastic solution that has been around since life on Earth begun 3.5 billion years ago, biodiversity and the wilderness’ natural ability to sequester Co2. Rewilding and reforestation (tree planting) projects are going to be key in reducing the severity of climate change. So how can we help? Two modes, volunteering with a conservation/environmental group or donating to one. This doesn’t make you a ‘greenie’ or a ‘lefty’, a world with a functioning climate and environment should receive bi-partisan support regardless of any political ideology.
As multiple reports have now stated, Australia is one of, if not the worst developed nation in the world for climate action. Why? There are two reasons, Murdoch Media and the federal LNP. Climate denial is rife within the Murdoch press and in turn help the LNP get elected whose vested interests in fossil fuels are astounding. So, this goes against the last point about political ideology, but there will never be good enough policy under the government which chose a Nev Power, a fossil fuel CEO, to lead Australia’s Covid recovery. Good policy is imperative as the solutions listed above are great, but aren't enough without government support to the many other exciting solutions we now have.
This isn’t to place blame on shoulders or take away the fact that the big polluters should be held accountable for their responsibility in this, I just know that these empowering actions help me feel more hopeful about what’s to come.
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