Animal health

Social, environmental, economic impacts.

Pressures on planet Earth, people, living creatures, economies and governments.

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Climate change affects everything. It’s already putting pressure on our planet—on people and other living things, on economies and on governments.

The gases released through burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) create a blanket around the Earth, trapping heat. This heat creates more extreme and unpredictable weather. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense. We experience longer droughts, longer and more severe fire seasons, more intense storms, less ice and snow cover, floods, rising sea levels and our oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic.

Human communities around the world are increasingly losing habitable land, houses, and sites of cultural significance. Our sources of reliable food and fresh water are dwindling. Also, our health suffers with hotter summers and as air quality gets worse during the bushfire seasons. But we’re not the only species being deeply impacted. The impacts of climate change affect all life on Earth. As the oceans warm, coral reefs bleach and die, which means many fish and other marine creatures lose their habitats. Animals and plants are also having to shift where they live to stay within comfortable living limits. Mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, plants, fungi and other species are maturing, reproducing, flowering or fruiting at different times now, to keep up with temperature changes. This means the food sources that each one relies on to feed themselves and their offspring are often not available when needed.

Climate change is damaging the Earth’s capacity to act as a life support system, for us and for Earth’s many other species.

We can slow down the damage.

Climate action groups have been outstandingly creative and powerfully outspoken for decades now, bringing voices from the Pacific to international climate policy forums. Social media has been providing increasing numbers of Pacific Islanders with wide-reaching channels for raising awareness and support for the push to switch to renewable energy and safeguard living systems. The slogan voiced by Islanders to powerful effect across social media platforms and at the UN Climate talks in Paris helped to set the optimal global target: “1.5 to Stay Alive”.

Revolutionary biotech products are making important headway, such as algae to absorb excess carbon from waste and create new, biodegradable materials such as replacements for plastic.

There is a rising groundswell of people concerned about and taking action on climate change in Australia.

There is important work on climate change underway across Australia, in universities, academies and museums, in government research organisations such as CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, and commercial research and development groups. These researchers are working to document climate change impacts in Australia, to better model and predict future changes, safeguard biodiversity and communities, and to establish more – and more efficient – ways of reducing emissions and capturing carbon.

There are many groups bringing people together to support strong solutions to the human impacts on environment. Well-established groups – Greening Australia, 350.org Australia, 1Million Women, the Climate Council, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Seed and more – are creating collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions and better care for our planet. Groups within the community are banding together to advance positive action: Doctors for the Environment Australia, Australian Parents for Climate Action, and Farmers for Climate Action are just three examples.

Many businesses, industries and organisations in Australia are seeking investment in clean energy and technology, clean operations, insuring economic benefits and environmental protection. Investment in solar and wind power and electric car infrastructure is increasing at an unprecedented rate. As engineers from the Australian National University reported at the end of 2019, Australia is the “runaway global leader” in building and installing renewable energy. “In Australia,” they report, “renewable energy is growing at a per capita rate ten times faster than the world average.”

Indigenous knowledge is recognised around the world as a powerful force to protect living things and maintain the capture of carbon: forests, grasslands, soil, waterways, and seas, all of which are needed to reduce global warming and provide people with the means to adapt to increasingly difficult living conditions.

First Nations groups are spreading awareness in Australia of the need to care for Nature so Nature can care for us. There is much that Australian society can learn about living with respect for other living things and practising custodianship of the Country we live within.

Climate change has had a major impact on all countries and ecologies across the Pacific region for many decades. From the 1980s at least, Pacific Islanders have been sounding the alarm about the impacts of global warming on their islands. These are some of the lowest emitting nations in the world, yet they bear the full brunt of the impacts of climate change. The rising temperatures caused primarily by heavy-emitting nations are causing sea level rise. This is because melting icesheets are adding water to the oceans—and water expands as it warms. This means in low-lying Pacific islands, coastlines, family lands, houses, and sacred sites are washed away by increasingly high tides and storm surges. Cyclones are more intense as warm water evaporates more readily, creating super-charged storm systems. Hotter days and nights make everyday life harder and cause health problems for many people. Longer droughts, bigger floods, salt water intrusion into freshwater lenses, bleaching reefs and more storm damage: all these things make getting enough food, fresh water and shelter and maintaining health and wellbeing an increasingly hard challenge across the Pacific.

Solutions for addressing climate change are available to us. This includes technological, natural and community solutions.

Climate action groups have been outstandingly creative and powerfully outspoken for decades now, bringing voices from the Pacific to international climate policy forums. Social media has been providing increasing numbers of Pacific Islanders with wide-reaching channels for raising awareness and support for the push to switch to renewable energy and safeguard living systems. The slogan voiced by Islanders to powerful effect across social media platforms and at the UN Climate talks in Paris helped to set the optimal global target: “1.5 to Stay Alive”.

People all around the world are quickly embracing and adopting clean energy technologies such as more efficient and affordable solar panels and batteries. There are also solar farms and arrays, wind turbines on land and off-shore, micro-wind turbines, wave and tidal-driven turbines, hydro power, pumped hydro, hydrogen power and electric cars. More than 100 cities already have renewable energy as their main source of power.

The uptake of renewable energy in Australia is very rapid, with solar panels installed on 20% of houses. These are mostly low and middle income households—those who are most keen to reduce their power bills.

The City of Sydney council now runs on 100% renewable electricity, including for street lights, swimming pools and public buildings such as Town Hall. Newcastle city council will also run on 100% renewable electricity supply by the end of 2020.

In Australia and around the world, it is now cheaper to install new wind power arrays than it is to install new coal power plants.

The Clean Energy Council reported in June 2020 that the renewable energy sector is experiencing “unprecedented activity across Australia”, with 95 projects in construction (or about to commence), delivering more than 11,000 megawatts and 13,500 jobs.

Clean transport is also making rapid advances. Electric cars, trucks, trains, shipping and even planes are cutting through the market with government support for infrastructure such as charging stations. Even though clean transport still requires electricity to work, the vehicles emit less greenhouse gases than a petrol or diesel powered transport.

The Australian government is expected to finalise a National Electric Vehicle Strategy by the end of 2020, coordinating action across governments, industry and urban and regional communities. The strategy to transition to electric vehicles could reduce emissions by up to 10 million tonnes by 2030.

Toggle Caption

Australian-designed and made Tritium RT50 electric vehicle chargers.

Image: Supplied by Tritium
© Tritium

Clean transport is making rapid advances. Hydrogen fuel cells are taking an increasing role in all modes of transport, from cars to shipping to planes. Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have zero emissions, the only waste being water. Cars, SUVs and trucks perform like a combustion engine car and can be refuelled in 3-5 minutes. Electric cars, motorbikes, trucks, busses and other vehicles are making rapid headway in places where governments are supporting charging stations. In Australia, several states are advancing electric vehicle infrastructure and uptake. The ACT Government is electrifying its fleet and a new fund is being created to give individuals and businesses a substantial portion of the cost of purchasing an electric car or motorbike. A target is being adopted of 90% new vehicle sales being electric by 2030. The NSW Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Plan recognises the “significant economic and environmental benefits” that electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles offer.

The report states:

Electric vehicles…can reduce the cost of living and are cleaner and quieter – features which are essential in our growing cities and towns. We know the transition to electric vehicles is a major transformation which brings many opportunities, including new industry development and employment growth in the transport, energy and technology sectors.