Climate Conversations

The present events in Gaza City are driven by one man's twisted thinking, with the subsequent death and destruction, undergirded by fossil fuels, not to mention the massive rebuild needed to repair the lives of millions, is climate change writ large. Here's a story from The New Times: " Israeli Ground Forces Move Into Gaza City, Sowing Chaos "; " Coalition divisions erupt as...

Australia's news services were alive today with stories about the country's first Climate Risk Assessment Report. " Catastrophic forecast pushes case for Australia to spend big and cut hard on emissions "; " Climate Risk Assessment's 'high risk' warning for 1 million Australian homes "; " Queensland among most at-risk from sea level rises by 2050 "...

Haoning Xi (pictured), from the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle , has examined Australia's rail network in detail and sees investment now as it means of saving huge sums in the future. She has written about that on The Conversation: " Buckling rails and lines underwater: how Australia’s ageing train networks are crumbling as the climate changes ". Haoning ref...

Dr Linden Ashcroft (pictured) will explain the quickly evolving dynamics of climate change and what impacts we can expect in the Goulburn Valley when she appears as the keynote speaker at Tatura Transition Towns event - " Community to gather for a greener tomorrow at Transition Tatura event "; " AI’s Massive Energy Demands " -  Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon...

Dr David McCoy (pictured) appears on a "Saving the World" webinar, emphasising the importance of good governance when it comes to global health. In this webinar, " Power, accountability and global health governance ", Dr McCoy speaks about the principles of good global health governance, examining current and evolving power dynamics in global health and how accountability defic...

Ryan Batchelor (pictured) is the member for Melbourne's Southern Metropolitan in Victoria's Legislative Council and is the chair of the Environment and Planning Committee. Mr Batchelor and his committee spent nearly two years considering and preparing a report of more than 450 pages about the state's " Climate Resilience" . Sadly, the committee's terms of reference for th...

Late U.S. stand-up comedian, George Carlin , joked about plastic and the fate of the planet, and this human creation is on the international agenda. " The lifecycle of plastics, a modern wonder that is choking the planet "; " Deadlocked on Plastic Pollution "; " Flash floods kill more than 360 in Pakistan, India "; " Canada’s Wildfire Season Is One of Its Worst E...

Dr David Holmes (pictured) is an upbeat, friendly and co-operative fellow who is the Managing Director and founder of " Climate Communications Australia ". CCA, as it is known, can be found in the Melbourne building of the Royal Society of Victoria in the city's La Trobe Street. This episode had a less-than-positive start when a pre-arranged phone call to record the interview fell ap...

The Chair of the " Climate Resilience " report from the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee, Ryan Batchelor (pictured), said: "The impact of a changing climate on Victoria’s built environment is clear. Hotter summers leading to longer bushfire seasons, more intense rainfall events create new flooding patterns, coastal erosion continues apace, and we are experienci...

Ross Garnaut (pictured) is among those who have urged the Australian Government to use this month's roundtable discussions to boost Australia’s productivity and economy, and repair the budget as a platform to resurrect the carbon price - " Economists want a carbon price comeback – but does Australia have the political courage? "; " Great Barrier Reef suffers sharp decline in cor...

Dubbo lawyer, Claire Booth (pictured), told the July 23 Bendigo "National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo" that farmers and their counterparts were living through a time of exponential change Ms Booth was speaking at a session entitled "Large-scale energy transition - tax law, insurance, agrivoltaics and hosting transmission". With her on the panel were Billy Gree...

The Energy Program Director from the Melbourne-based Grattan Institute , Tony Wood (pictured), was the keynote speaker at the Wednesday, July 23, National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo . The conference, the best-attended yet of the several already staged, was held in Bendigo's Capital Theatre . Nearly 400 people enjoyed the theatre's facilities and, particularly, the varied...

The Chief Operating Officer, Wei-Chi Lee, (pictured) and one of the trio of founders of the Melbourne-based company, Phnxx , will be in Bendigo on Wednesday, July 23. We-Chi will be at the National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo to be held at the city's View St Capital Theatre. Phnxx has a stand-alone solar/battery, containerised array of equipment that allows a farmer, regardle...

My hometown newspaper, The Shepparton News, has undergone a remarkable change - it's now almost entirely a digital publication, switching from five print editions each week to just two. However, it will still be available to subscribers seven days a week via its digital editions. The change brings many benefits, particularly for those who follow this podcast, as all those stories the newspaper...

The U.S. Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse (pictured), has stood before the Senate 300 times, urging his fellow Senators to "wake up" to the perils of climate change. The representative for Rhode Island can be seen on YouTube spelling out the facts and the realities of climate change, and how the fossil fuel industry has played its cards to capture government processes and, at the same time, c...

The Conversation is a wonderful place to learn more about the climate crisis. " The dangers of romanticising Britain’s 1976 heatwave ": " Climate change has doubled the world’s heatwaves: how Africa is affected "; " Too hot to sleep? Nights are warming faster than days as Earth heats up "; " Why homeowners are suddenly rushing to install rooftop solar "; &qu...

Stories about this month's flash floods in central Texas have dominated the news, and a panel assembled by Climate Central has discussed the impact of climate change and a link to a recording can be found at: " Understanding the climate connection with the devastating Texas floods "; " Texas Hill Country Is Underwater, and America’s Emergency Lifeline Is Fraying "; " T...

Auckland University's Dr Timothy Welch has applied his urban design skills to help local councils better understand what they need to do to keep their towns and cities cooler in a warming world. Dr Welch recently wrote about this on The Conversation in the story: " NZ cities are getting hotter: 5 things councils can do now to keep us cooler when summer comes ". His story begins: &quo...

Climate scientist Professor Michael Mann is critical of podcaster Joe Rogan, whom he says was one hundred and eight per cent wrong in his interpretation of a story - listen to that on Truthout - " Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records "; " Spain records highs of 46C and France under alert as Europe swelters in heatwave"; " Trump’s...

David Spratt (pictured) points to Australia's commitments to other crises to illustrate his arguments on how and why we should respond to the unfolding emergency of climate change. He wrote about that in an article published recently in The Canberra Times, available now on his website, " Climate Code Red ". The article asks the question: "How bad can climate damage get?" An...

Melbourne Age reporter, Caitlin Fitzsimmons, takes us into the deniers' playbook to help us understand the motives: " How to get the best bang for your climate buck "; " Woodside’s North West Shelf gas extension is being challenged in the courts. Could it be stopped? "; " How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine "; " Global warming is changing c...

Donald Trump's order to have the U.S. military attack uranium enrichment sites in Iran refreshes our understanding of the "tyranny of the immediate". From The New York Times, we hear about " Pentagon Details Multipronged Attack on Iranian Nuclear Sites ". The military is not included in the 2019 Paris emissions targets due to pressure and agitation from the U.S., and this b...

Climate change regularly falls victim to the tyranny of the immediate, meaning it is pushed out of major media outlets by news perceived as more urgent or immediate. Beyond that, for some years, articles covering climate issues were rarely seen in national media and, in a few instances, almost prohibited. That is changing as it is now a topic frequently covered, as illustrated in recent episodes o...

Covering Climate Now takes us into the world's war zones to help us understand how the tyranny of the immediate distracts us from the hard realities of climate change. The group, an organisation set up by journalists, for journalists, most recent "press briefing' was entitled: " War and Climate Change ". The group says: "War and climate change are intertwined in ways th...

Guardian reporters, Josh Nicholas and Nick Evershed, alert readers to the frightening impact of a Western Australia gas project: " Revealed: the astonishing greenhouse gas emissions that will result from the North West Shelf project "