'No Faith In Coal': Religious Leaders Urge Scott Morrison To Take Climate Action

The Guardian - Adam Morton

Open letter calls on the prime minister to block all new coal and gas projects, including Adani


More than 150 religious leaders have called on Scott Morrison to acknowledge the world faces a climate emergency and block all new coal and gas projects, including Adani’s Carmichael mine.
In an open letter headed “no faith in coal”, the leaders say the climate crisis is a profoundly moral problem and Australia’s response will be crucial in addressing it.
“Simply put, opening up new coal reserves for mining is not compatible with any global response to avoid catastrophe. We call on you to show true moral leadership,” the letter says.
Signatories to the letter include bishops, rabbis, theologians, the grand mufti of Australia and the heads of the Uniting Church, the Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, Muslims Australia and the National Council of Churches.
It asks the prime minister to make the climate emergency his number one priority and endorses the three demands of protesting school students: stopping the Adani mine in central Queensland, not allowing new coal or gas developments and moving Australia to run entirely on renewable energy by 2030.
“Despite the differences in our faith, we all regard addressing the climate emergency as our shared moral challenge. We stand together for our common home, the Earth,” the letter says.
“Will you and your government have the courage to agree to this simple threefold agenda? We pray that you will.”

Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black uses a rabbinical horn (shofar) to sound the end of the era of coal. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP 

The letter was organised by advocacy group the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change. It concedes the shift will be challenging, not least for people in communities reliant on fossil fuel industries, but says a courageous leader would come up with a jobs plan based on clean energy.
Loreto Sister Libby Rogerson said burning fossil fuels was worsening extreme weather, crop failures and sea level rise. By continuing the practice, Australia was moving further away from “loving God and God’s creation and loving our neighbour”, she said.
“We have a sacred responsibility to care for the Earth and all living beings, especially the vulnerable people on the frontlines,” she said.
The letter was published shortly after City of Sydney became the latest jurisdiction to declare a climate emergency. Councillors unanimously backed a motion by the lord mayor, Clover Moore, on Monday warning the climate crisis poses a serious risk to Sydneysiders.
Noting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased four years straight, Moore called on the Morrison government to respond urgently by reintroducing a price on carbon and establishing a body to help workers in fossil fuel industries to transition to other jobs.
“Successive federal governments have shamefully presided over a climate disaster, and now we are at a critical juncture,” she said.
Other cities to have declared a climate emergency include London, Auckland and Vancouver. At a meeting in March, Australia’s capital city mayors called for national action to adapt to the changing climate, including increasing storm severity, extreme heat, drought, floods and bushfire.
The government has rejected calls for additional policies to reduce emissions, which began to rise after the Coalition repealed a carbon price scheme in 2014.
In a speech to business leaders in Perth on Monday, which focused on reducing regulation, Morrison said: “We all agree you need to take action on climate change and we’re taking responsible and effective action.”

Links

• Australia's emissions still rising, says report withheld in defiance of Senate order
• Pope Francis Slams 'Stupid' Climate Change Deniers
• Letter to the Prime Minister: No Faith In Coal
• Sidelining God: Why Secular Climate Projects In The Pacific Islands Are Failing
• Could Making Climate Change A 'Pro-Life' Issue Bring Conservatives On Board?
• Cities urge national action to build resilience to climate change
• Climate Change Helped Destroy These Four Ancient Civilisations
• Major Oil Companies Commit To Carbon Pricing At Vatican
• Pope Francis Backs Carbon Pricing And 'Radical Energy Transition' To Act Against Global Warming
• Church Of England Votes To Withdraw Funds From Companies That Contribute To Climate Change
• Pope Francis Warns Against Turning Earth Into Vast Pile Of 'Rubble, Deserts And Refuse'

UNSW Takes On Climate Change In Our Estuaries – Where Australians Live, Work And Play

UNSW - Lachlan Gilbert

A multi-disciplinary team led by UNSW Sydney researchers is releasing the first large-scale summary of how our estuaries – and the 80 per cent of NSW residents living on them – will be impacted by climate change.

An estuary is defined as the area that rivers meet the sea. In NSW, about four fifths of the population lives on or near estuaries. Picture: UNSW

Two out of three Australians and four out of five people in NSW are likely to have significantly altered lifestyles if estuaries – tidal rivers and harbours – become impacted by climate change.
To address this risk, UNSW Sydney’s water engineering researchers (working with NSW’s Government Scientists and Macquarie University) have today launched a free online resource that enables scientists and all levels of government to assess and act on threats posed to our coastal estuaries by climate change.
Dr Valentin Heimhuber from the Water Research Laboratory of UNSW’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a lead researcher who helped develop the guide, describes estuaries as the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change.
“Estuaries are subjected to a ‘double-whammy’ of climate change impacts,” Dr Heimhuber says.  “On the land side, climate change is influencing rainfall and temperature patterns, which is critical for agricultural productivity and healthy ecosystems. On the ocean side, we have concerns with sea level rise and oceanic warming. Estuaries are where these two forces – land and ocean – collide, and it happens to be where most Australians live.”



Associate Professor Will Glamore, Chief Investigator at the Water Research Laboratory, UNSW, sees estuaries as the lifeblood of Australian society.  “Our estuaries are where 80% of people live, work and play.” he says.  “This research highlights how the 180+ estuaries in NSW may be threatened by climate change.”
Since European settlement, A/Professor Glamore says, estuaries and harbours have been impacted to the extent that ecosystems are now at risk across the state.
“Our fear is that climate change, mixed with ongoing development, may be the tipping point for these systems,” he says.
“Sydney Harbour is an iconic example but only one of the many estuaries at risk across the state. Our harbour is fighting a battle on all fronts. This includes an urbanising catchment, changing water quality, rising temperatures and rising tides.
“This research shows that rising tides won’t just threaten our beaches. With climate change, the tide will penetrate into our harbours and estuaries, potentially impacting farm productivity and the environment.”
“Cities like Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong will need to adapt to the changing water regime. This includes our planning levels, our freshwater resources and everything that lives in and around our estuaries and harbours. The potential impact to our daily life is daunting and we are just beginning to understand the extent of the problem.”
Beyond the direct impact to humans, climate change may be devastating to the environment, A/Professor Glamore says.
“Climate change threatens our mangroves, oysters, sea grasses, fish, bird-life and saltmarsh,” he says. “Research presented in this study highlights our current knowledge on how these systems will respond when we face climate change and population growth pressures at the same time.”

Launch of a Climate Change Risk Assessment Guide
To understand the implications of climate change in estuaries, researchers from UNSW, Macquarie University, the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, and the NSW’s Office of Environment and Heritage have joined forces to prepare a guide for assessing climate change in our estuaries.

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Ecosystems of estuaries are under stress from the impact of human development. Picture: UNSW

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Titled, Climate change in estuaries – state of the science and framework for assessment, the eight reports bring together the latest knowledge into an easy to understand and transparent guide. The reports are designed to empower planning authorities, local councils and businesses to make informed decisions about our harbours, ports and estuaries in a rapidly changing climate.
An important component of the project is the Eco-Thresholds database developed by marine ecologists A/Professor Melanie Bishop and Dr. Gabriel Dominguez from Macquarie University’s Department of Biological Sciences. The Eco-Thresholds database is an online tool that compiles more than 300 research publications on the effects of climate change on estuarine species in Australia and worldwide.
“Understanding how individual species respond to changes in their environment, such as increasing water temperature or salinity, is a critical factor in assessing climate change impacts in estuaries. To address this, we have collated information from every previous climate change study on flora and fauna – mangroves, salt marshes, oysters, fish - you name it,” A/Professor Melanie Bishop says.
She says anyone can use the tool to see key findings from previous research or to add new research via an easy-to-use online map.
“For example, you could use the database to search how increased salinity from sea level rise will affect the abundance and health of different fish species or how saltmarsh or oysters can withstand heatwave conditions from rising water temperature.
“This work also highlights that there are many issues left to understand. The Eco-Thresholds Database and the reports are living documents, freely available to the global community.  Researchers from all over the world can now contribute new information as it becomes available.”

Mangroves, which are part of an estuary ecosystem, could be drastically affected if tidal marks are altered by climate change. Picture: UNSW

Renewed hope
A/Professor Glamore says a sense of urgency is needed when acting to protect our estuaries. Thankfully, the NSW State Government has recently updated legislation protecting and planning for estuaries within the Coastal Management Act and the Marine Estate Management Act.
“The legislation is an acknowledgment that we need to understand and plan for the impact of climate change on our estuaries,” A/Professor Glamore says.
“Everyone hears about the threat of climate change, but few understand what it means to them locally.”
“We believe our detailed guide and online resources will ensure this information is open, transparent and available for all. This is just the beginning of an important process to better manage the waters where we live, work and play.”

Links

• Climate Change and Estuaries
• Climate change in estuaries – State of the science and framework for assessment
• Eco-Thresholds, a global database of ecological thresholds for estuarine species
• Shifting storms to bring extreme waves, damage to once placid areas
• Danger from extreme storms and high seas on the rise
• The secrets of the beach
• Leaving microbes out of climate change conversation has major consequences, experts warn
• 1 in 2 people in NSW’s coastal community don’t think sea level rise will impact them directly

‘Sadness, Disgust, Anger’: Fear For The Great Barrier Reef Made Climate Change Feel Urgent

The Conversation - Matt Curnock | Scott Heron

Tourists are experiencing ‘Reef grief’. Matt Curnock, Author provided

Media coverage of mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef may have been a major tipping point for public concerns around climate change, according to research published today.
Severe and extensive bleaching during the summers of 2016 and 2017 has been directly attributed to human-caused climate change. Much of the ensuing media coverage used emotional language, with many reports of the Reef dying.
While the physical effects of the bleaching have been well documented, we wanted to understand the social and cultural impact.
Our research, including a study published today in Nature Climate Change, has compared survey responses from thousands of Australians and international visitors, before and after the bleaching event.

Reef grief
Our research team conducted face-to-face interviews with 4,681 visitors to the Great Barrier Reef region, in 14 coastal towns from Cooktown to Bundaberg, over June to August in both 2013 and 2017. We asked more than 50 questions about their perceptions and values of the Reef, as well as their attitudes towards climate change.
We found a large proportion of respondents, including Australians and overseas visitors, expressed forms of grief in response to loss and damage to the iconic ecosystem. Negative emotions associated with words given in short statements about “what the Great Barrier Reef means to you”, included sadness, disgust, anger and fear.
Emotional appeals are widely used in media stories and in social media campaigns, and appealing to fear in particular can heighten a story’s impact and spread online.
However, a side-effect of this approach is the erosion of people’s perceived ability to take effective action. This is called a person’s “self-efficacy”. This effect is now well documented in reactions to representations of climate change, and is actually a barrier to positive community engagement and action on the issue.
In short, the more afraid someone is for the Great Barrier Reef, the less they may feel their individual efforts will help to protect it.
While our results show a decline in respondents’ self-efficacy, there was a corresponding increase in how highly they valued the Reef’s biodiversity, its scientific heritage and its status as an international icon. They were also more willing to support action to protect the Reef. This shows widespread empathy for the imperilled icon, and suggests greater support for collective actions to mitigate threats to the Reef.

Researchers surveyed thousands of visitors to the Great Barrier Ref in 2013 and 2017. Matt Curnock, Author provided.

Changing attitudes
We observed a significant increase in the proportion of people who believe that climate change is “an immediate threat requiring action”. In 2013 some 50% of Australian visitors to the Great Barrier Reef region agreed climate change is an immediate threat; in 2017 that rose to 67%. Among international visitors, this proportion was even higher (64% in 2013, rising to 78% in 2017).
This represents a remarkable change in public attitudes towards climate change over a relatively short period. Previous surveys of Australian climate change attitudes over 2010 to 2014 showed that aggregate levels of opinion remained stable over that time.
Comparing our findings with other recent research describing the extent of coverage and style of reporting associated with the 2016-2017 mass coral bleaching event, we infer that this event, and the associated media representations, contributed significantly to the shift in public attitudes towards climate change.

Moving beyond fear
As a source of national pride and with World Heritage status, the Great Barrier Reef will continue to be a high profile icon representing the broader climate change threat.
Media reports and advocacy campaigns that emphasise fear, loss and destruction can get attention from large audiences who may take the message of climate change on board.
But this does not necessarily translate into positive action. A more purposeful approach to public communication and engagement is needed to encourage collective activity that will help to mitigate climate change and reduce other serious threats facing the Reef.
Examples of efforts that are underway to reduce pressures on the Reef include improvements to water quality, control of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, and reducing poaching in protected zones. Tourism operators on the Reef are also playing an important role in restoring affected areas, and are educating visitors about threats, to improve Reef stewardship.
Clearly there remains an immediate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the Reef’s World Heritage qualities are maintained for future generations.
However, maintaining hope, and offering accessible actions towards attainable goals is critical to engaging people in collective efforts, to help build a more sustainable future in which coral reefs can survive.

Note: The authors would like to acknowledge Nadine Marshall, who co-wrote this article while employed by CSIRO. We thank our other co-authors of the Nature Climate Change paper, including Lauric Thiault (National Center for Scientific Research, PSL Université Paris), Jessica Hoey and Genevieve Williams (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), Bruce Taylor and Petina Pert (CSIRO Land and Water) and Jeremy Goldberg (CSIRO & James Cook University). The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any views or opinions expressed herein, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment, or the Queensland Government, or indicate commitment to any particular course of action.

Links

• Back-to-back bleaching has now hit two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef
• Hope and mourning in the Anthropocene: Understanding ecological grief
• US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries – shrinking this war machine is a must
• Inequality and climate change: the rich must step up
• To tackle the climate crisis we need more democracy, not less
• Cognitive dissonance: Canada declares a national climate emergency and approves a pipeline