There are countless ways that anyone can have many positive impacts on protecting our environment.

For example:

* Have conversation with your friends and family about the news & issues that you care about. [Here is a 4 minute video with some tips](https://ourclimateourfuture.org/video/secret-talking-climate-change/) and [here is an article](https://medium.com/s/story/how-to-have-a-useful-conversation-about-climate-change-in-11-steps-d4bbd4135e35).

* Write postal letters to your politicians

* Support public demonstrations such as the Global Climate Strikes

* Change your bank & superannuation to the most ethical investment option

* Get involved in political parties to support those that treat climate change as a serious priority or to push those that don't to improve their policies

* Support NGOs that are taking action to protect us from climate change

* Work on climate action as part of your career - [80,000 Hours has some advice](https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/climate-change/)

* Follow, like and share useful & persuasive content on social media

* Buy less products with a high environmental impact

* Eat less meat and support foods that have a lower environmental impact

* Buy electricity from a reputable retailer that offers a "100% Renewables" option

* Where feasible reduce electricity, car and airplane use

What can I do to support more action on climate change?

There is an overwhelming consensus amongst the world's [climate scientists](https://theconversation.com/groupthink-is-it-a-valid-argument-against-climate-science-123050) and reputable scientific organisations like NASA, the CSIRO and the Royal Society, that humanity is contributing to significant changes in the Earth's climate. Humans have increased CO2 to a level that is unprecendented in the last 800,000 years and the current speed of warming is more than ten times more rapid than the fastest natural increases (at the ends of previous ice ages).\[1\]

![chart](https://i.ibb.co/wWqBSdy/fig3-large.jpg)

There are two kinds of problems:

## 1. Direct harms from Climate Change

For example, Australia's CSIRO [reports that effects are expected to include:](https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/OandA/Areas/Assessing-our-climate/State-of-the-Climate-2018/Future-climate)

* More high fire weather danger days and a longer fire season for southern and eastern Australia.

* More drought across many regions of southern Australia.

* More short-duration extreme rainfall events.

* Increasing sea level rise threatening coastal communities.

* Further warming and acidification of the oceans around Australia, leading to more severe bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and potentially the loss of many types of coral.

* Fewer tropical cyclones, but a greater proportion of high-intensity storms, with ongoing large variations from year to year.

In 2019 Australia is already seeing more extreme [bushfires](https://theconversation.com/its-only-october-so-whats-with-all-these-bushfires-new-research-explains-it-124091), a very severe drought, plus extremely damaging flooding events like that in Queensland.

Countries with poorer people, who have done the least to cause global warming, stand to suffer the most.

There will always be some uncertainty in very complex climate change predictions. However that does not mean we shouldn't take vigorous action to protect future generations from the risk of climate-related disaster, which may include a mass-extinction.

## 2. Catastrophic/Existential Risks

Past natural, and slower, climate changes have had major effects on the Earth, leading to the extinction of many species, massive rises in sea levels, the formation of deserts and more. Furthermore, modern human civilisation relies on many complex interacting systems - such as the distribution of food, and the peaceful coexistance of sovereign states. If these systems are severely undermined, human civilisation may collapse beyond repair. Climate Change is one of the factors that is contributing to this risk. For example, crop failures from drought, water shortages, and sea level rise could lead to conflict that spirals into nuclear war. Current conflicts like the Civil War in Syria are directly linked to drought.

While there is much more uncertainty about these types of risk compared to the direct harms, their severity means they should arguably still be taken very seriously.

#### References

* \[1\]: [The Royal Society: Climate is always changing. Why is climate change of concern now? ](https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-6/)

* [Future of Life Institute Podcast: The Climate Crisis as an Existential Threat with Simon Beard and Haydn Belfield](https://futureoflife.org/2019/08/01/the-climate-crisis-as-an-existential-threat-with-simon-beard-and-haydn-belfield/)

* [NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming](https://climate.nasa.gov/)

* [CSIRO - State of the Climate 2018](https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/OandA/Areas/Assessing-our-climate/State-of-the-Climate-2018/Future-climate)

Why is climate change an important issue?

Frequently asked questions from an Australian perspective

Climate Change

Power prices have gone up for many reasons:

* Price gouging by the electricity companies, as enabled by privatisation. Even the Morrison Coalition government is indirectly admitting this by publicly pressuring companies to reduce prices & even considered price controls - because they can.

* Lack of new generation & storage due to the private sector being unwilling to make investments given the unstable politics around energy policy.

* A huge increase in gas prices after new LNG facilities enabled Australian gas to be exported to Asia where the market price is much higher than what Australia had before.

* Renewable energy incentives have played a role but it should be remembered that this is an investment in our energy future and reduces the far greater costs of fossil-fuels (worser bushfires, drought, storm damage, sea-level rise & other damage from climate change, air pollution). Australia’s contribution is critical in creating momentum for larger countries to take action too.

## References

[ The stunning wind, solar and battery costs the Coalition refuses to accept - Renew Economy](https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-stunning-wind-solar-and-battery-costs-the-coalition-refuses-to-accept-31985/)\
Unsubsidised wind and solar are now substantially cheaper than coal, even with the added cost of storage that makes these “intermittent” sources fully “dispatchable”.

[The inconvenient truths about South Australia’s renewable success - Renew Economy](https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-inconvenient-truths-about-south-australias-renewable-success-86561/)\
Over the last decade average wholesale prices have declined in South Australia, the state with the most renewables, but have gone up in the states with the least. South Australia has always had high prices, which is why the state generator started considering wind energy almost 50 years ago.

[Expert’s advice to aluminium giant: Wind and solar power beat coal on price - Energy Matters](https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/wind-solar-energy-beats-coal-says-expert/)\
Wind and solar energy beat coal-fired plants on efficiency and price, even for heavy industry like steel

Why have power prices gone up? Is renewable energy to blame?

It is often said that wind and solar are unable to do the job because they don't work when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining. That is a half-truth as electricity can be stored using emerging technologies like pumped hydro, batteries and hydrogen. Australia's CSIRO has found that there is no technical impediment to 100% renewable electricity and another CSIRO report has found that wind and solar are the cheapest way to build more generation even with 6 hours of storage.

#### References

* [CSIRO says Australia can get to 100 per cent renewable energy](https://reneweconomy.com.au/csiro-says-australia-can-get-100-per-cent-renewable-energy-86624/)

* [AEMO and CSIRO find renewables cheapest](https://arena.gov.au/blog/gencost2018/)

Can renewable energy meet our electricity needs?

No - it is blatantly false. Our Paris commitment is to reduce emissions by 26% on 2005 levels by 2030 **across our whole economy** and according to the Federal Department of Environment and Energy we are woefully missing this target as our emissions are projected to be just 5% below, not 26% below (see figure 4 on page 12 of [the Department of Environment and Energy's report](http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/128ae060-ac07-4874-857e-dced2ca22347/files/australias-emissions-projections-2018.pdf)).

When in 2018, Angus Taylor, the federal energy minister, claimed that we are on track for the 26% reduction, his office then clarified that he was only "referring to the electricity sector" (where such emissions reductions will already happen with little additional effort since renewables are already cheaper than new fossil fuel generation). By presenting figures for the electricity sector as our Paris commitments (which are actually for the whole economy) Mr Taylor is seriously misleading the public. More details here: https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/09/18/energy-ministers-claim-carbon-emissions-false/

Another strategy has also emerged - that Australia claims an "overachievement" of its Kyoto targets towards the amount of emissions it needs to cut for Paris. This "overachievement" is very large since Australia committed to very weak & easy targets for Kyoto. It is also not in the spirit of the Paris agreement. Countries like Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain have ruled out this strategy. More details in this article: [Australia is counting on cooking the books to meet its climate targets (The Conversation, January 2019)](https://theconversation.com/australia-is-counting-on-cooking-the-books-to-meet-its-climate-targets-110768)

The Morrison Government says Australia is on track to meet its Paris commitments - is that true?

Vigorous action is not cheap or easy but spending the necessary resources is eminently feasible if we have the political will. For example, during WW1 and WW2 we recognised that losing was not an option and vast resources were spent on the wars. Our countries did not go bankrupt and there was actually a significant economic boom after WW2, even despite the enormous death, injury and destruction of the war. Action on climate change is nowhere near as difficult or costly as a major war.

[Australia's Treasury has reported that](https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2011-sglp-overview/costs-of-inaction/) it is not investing in countering climate change that will very likely cost more in the long-term than taking action. The costs include at the very least more severe natural disasters, more severe droughts, and loss of ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef which supports 60,000 tourism jobs.

COVID-19 also showed that with political will large-scale expensive programs like JobKeeper can be funded fairly easily. There are also many ways to raise revenue by for example eliminating special arrangements that, for example, [enable billions in profits from our offshore gas resources to be extracted with no royalties and very little in income tax](http://theconversation.com/senate-inquiry-told-zero-tax-or-royalties-paid-on-australias-biggest-new-gas-projects-77479).

Can we afford action on climate change?

Yes - in addition to avoiding the huge costs & risks of inaction, most action on climate change will actually deliver economic benefits, especially jobs. Wind turbines don't grow by themselves like trees do.

This would not only be in renewable energy, but also in other industries as they modernise to reduce their environmental impacts.

Are there economic benefits from taking action on climate change?

Renewable energy policy is sometimes criticised as a "Big Government" over-reach. However it should be noted that renewables give us the potential to create a much more decentralised energy system. Currently electricity is generated mainly by large corporations operating large expensive heavily-regulated power stations. Technologies like wind and solar are enabling smaller-scale players to enter the market.

It is already possible to operate independently of the government-regulated national energy grid and rely, for example, on one's own solar panels and batteries.

Does renewable energy contribute to Big Government?

You could look through these websites:

* [Future of Life Institute - Op-ed: Climate Change Is the Most Urgent Existential Risk](https://futureoflife.org/2016/07/22/climate-change-is-the-most-urgent-existential-risk/)

* [NASA](https://climate.nasa.gov/)

* [The Royal Society](https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/)

* [The American Chemical Society](https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience.html)

* [The Australian Academy of Science](https://www.science.org.au/education/immunisation-climate-change-genetic-modification/science-climate-change)

* [IPCC Reports](https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/)

* [List of Resources from the Effective Altruism community](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QoAdW2la3fKM9WbzST4Vrm5WgV9P9dhe6bXKw-J1Vqw/edit)

Videos and films include:

* "Climate Change: The Facts" with Sir David Attenborough. Available for viewing [via ABC iView in Australia](https://iview.abc.net.au/show/climate-change-the-facts), [via the BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p076w7g5), and likely other sources.

* ["It’s time to act on climate change" from the OECD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkr501nu3NA)

* ["Causes and Effects of Climate Change | National Geographic"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H1N_yXBiA)

US organisations:

* [Giving Green](https://www.givinggreen.earth/recommendations) - recommendations on where to donate in order to most effectively counter climate change

Australian organisations:

* [Beyond Zero Emissions](https://bze.org.au/) - conducts & publicises research on accelerating the transition to a renewables-based economy