SOME THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER AS 2023 ARRIVES!        AND A CHALLENGE!

For more than 2000 years we humans have been using, abusing and destroying our Earth, maybe without knowing. But now we know! It is time now to change and help our Earth to heal herself by loving not abusing: Our mission now is to heal our world with love!

The Reasons & Evidence!

  • Significant changes in climates around the world, some possibly irreversible, have been occurring from the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.
  • These have been the result of human action, particularly the increasing burning of fossil fuels [wood, coal, oil, gas].
  • These actions have both liberated carbon that was stored in oceans, forests and other vegetation as well as increasing exponentially carbon dioxide into the atmosphere resulting in the increasing warmer of our atmosphere and Earth. [For more information see our forthcoming website page on ‘Causes of Climate Change’]
  • Earth scientists have calculated that the never-to-be-replaced carbon we are burning in 2022/23 was laid down at the rate of 1 teaspoon/second. Today we are burning that never-to-be-replaced carbon at the rate of 5000 tonnes per second!
  • The latest scientific evidence [e.g., The 6th Report from the International Panel on Climate Change; Gergis. J. [2022] ‘Humanity’s Moment’ ] unambiguously tells us that the natural systems of Earth that once balanced the movement of heat and energy between oceans, land and atmosphere, and kept our climates stable, are desperately trying to readjust to take account of the impacts of human activity from the burning of fossil fuels:
  • Gergis provides evidence that the future of the Earth, as we know it, is literally, in OUR HANDS!
  • The science also tells us that if we are going to be able to keep temperature rise below 1.5 degrees then we have maybe 20 years to stop burning any fossil fuels and convert to renewable energy forms [solar, wind, hydro, ocean currents]
  • Announced recently – the increase in global temperature since the Industrial Revolution is already 1.1 degrees centigrade!  Maybe we don’t have 20 years!
  • More important, the longer we wait to make the change to renewable energy the more expensive, the more difficult it will be and the more damage to our natural environments – AND OURSELVES & FUTURE GENERATIONS!
  • Already the cost, now recognised by governments and insurance companies, of the damage from the recent multiple floods, bushfires and droughts in Australia, are in the billions and billions of dollars!
  • However, we don’t have to necessarily believe what the scientists are telling us! The evidence across the world is there for us to see in the extremes of weather that we are constantly now experiencing:

        + in the devastating floods in Australia and other countries, some in places never flooded in human history;

        +in the freezing conditions and blizzards that are occurring in Canada, the United States and countries in Europe- and            Australia- while at the same time permafrost is melting in the Arctic;

        +in the extensive droughts that many countries have experienced;

        + in the tornadoes, tsunamis & cyclones, now more regular occurrences;

        + in the increased severity of storms and lightning strikes responsible for devastating bushfires releasing massive amounts of carbon into the air, and reducing the capacity of the Earth’s forests, some thousands of years old, to store carbon in the forests and bush that are destroyed.

  • These extremes of weather are now happening more frequently and consistently. Phrases such as ‘a 1 in a 100 years event’ is now meaningless: the ‘one in a 100 years event’ is now occurring, in some places four times in one or two years!
  • It is these now regularly and consistently occurring weather events, events that have previously not occurred in these places, that are the clear evidence of significant changes in climate across the globe. [For more  see [‘Weather & Climate’ page]
  • The impacts of these weather events are extremely costly. They are massively increasing costs to our economy: –

            +to national, state, regional and local governments for repairs to essential infrastructure [railways e.g., the recent floods resulted in no trains from Sydney to Broken Hill], roads (estimates by some central NSW Councils=10 years to be able to repair the recent flood road damage in their regions), bridges, airports, etc]

            +for reparations and subsidies to home owners to move whole towns/ communities to new locations away from areas that have been flooded/wave eroded and businesses that have closed never to reopen with their services;      

             +increasing payouts by insurance companies for damage to coastal and inland property and homes, even towns where property is now either uninsurable or costs prohibitive because the threat of the impact of increasing extreme weather events poses too higher risk: raising questions whether the current concept of insurance is even viable any longer!

  • These rapidly increasing costs of climate change are costs TO EVERY ONE OF US -not only to those towns and communities directly -but to ALL of us:
  • Costs for rates, for emergency services, for insurance, for health, for food increase for all of us as well.
  •  The much greater costs to the mental health and wellbeing of those individuals/ families/communities particularly directly impacted again and again cannot be measured – the costs of providing services to support them however, certainly can!

The Task!

  • By 2040- and probably well before!-to have stopped mining and burning fossil fuels!
  • To stop providing massive subsidies to fossil fuel companies to keep mining- as governments are still doing!
  • To move as quickly as possible to an Australia where every household, every business, every industry, every form of transport is powered by renewable energy -solar, wind, hydro.
  • The change to renewable energy is a massive challenge for everyone living on the Earth. It is a change similar in scale to the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, to the ‘Computer Revolution’ from the 1950s onwards.
  • The change to renewable energy will impact every aspect of our political, economic, legal, industrial, corporate, financial, transportation, travel, social, cultural, family, religious & community lives – our daily pattern of life and activity will be significantly different from that experienced now! It will never be the same as it is now!
  • HOWEVER, that does not mean those changes will make things worse in our lives! If managed correctly, justly, equitably they will enhance our lives.

The Solutions!

  • While new solutions to the challenges of climate change will increasingly gradually emerge, many are available right now!
  • Only support and give your vote to political parties and politicians who have policies and are taking actions to reduce the impacts of climate change
  • One of the most important solutions is the solar energy provided in abundance in Australia by the Sun. [See Saul Griffiths (2022) ‘The Big Switch’, Black Inc.]
  • Solar generated energy on site [i.e., on the roof of homes and businesses], used on site [to power homes/buildings/businesses by day],stored in batteries [for use at night or in lower sun periods] is the cheapest, most effective and efficient energy source we have.
  • Electric vehicles have been used for many years [golf buggies, milk trucks in European countries, wheelchairs, huge trucks in mining etc]. Electric vehicles capable of recharging their own batteries while driving are the cheapest, most efficient , least expensive to service forms of transport currently available – AND prices of such will decrease significantly as supply and demand increase and technologies improve.
  • Most major car producing companies will not be producing petrol/diesel -combustion cars by 2030: many countries will have banned new purchases of these by 2030.

The Challenge to YOU!

  • Because the Earth’s future is NOW IN OUR HANDS, actions to lessen the impacts of climate change are OUR responsibility – YOU and ME! – not just governments and political leaders.

Statistics suggest that Australian homes tend to replace home appliances and motor vehicles every 10 years. So

WILL YOU/YOUR FAMILY/OFFICE COLLEAGUES MAKE A PLEDGE [we suggest write it down and put it in a prominent place in your house/business/office where you see it every day!] THAT BY 2040 [Hey! That’s a lot more than ten years!] YOU WILL:

  • Not be banking with any bank, investing with any company or having any of your superannuation funds in any company that is supporting fossil fuel exploration, mining, exporting or burning. [You can do these things right now - & make sure you let the managers/bosses know that you are doing it and why!]  [See ZENS website for how]
  • Only be supporting/buying [if necessary] your power from a company that is producing ONLY energy from renewable sources 24/7? [For more information on current ‘Green’ electricity companies go to Zero Sydney North [ZENS] website; Choice magazine website]
  • If at all possible, be only using energy from solar power [roof or solar farm], or wind power [windfarms]stored in batteries [household/community].
  • Change every gas/oil driven appliance to renewably electrically powered appliances [gas stove to induction hot plate; heaters/coolers to energy from a heat pump[e.g., reverse cycle air conditioner; gas heated hot water to electric] [See Saul Griffiths on inefficiency and potential health risks of gas cooking: see ZENS and your local Council Net Zero website & NSW Government websites for information regarding current subsidies available for changeovers];
  • Replace all petrol-combustion vehicles you still own [that is if they haven’t been banned already!!] with electric vehicles; [Want a quality second-hand electric vehicle now for $20,000.00? Contact Anton at ‘The Good Car Company’ website].
  • Take every opportunity to talk to your friends and neighbours about the need to act against climate change, what things they can do AND what YOU are doing!
  • Let’s together heal our world with love!       [David Smith for ‘Electrifying Bradfield’]

 

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