(AU) Australia Singled Out For Climate 'Denial' At Doomsday Clock Event

Sydney Morning Herald - Matthew Knott

Washington: Former California governor Jerry Brown has blasted the Australian government's "utter and absolute" denial of the threat of climate change at an event warning the world is closer than ever before to a man-made apocalypse.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Thursday (Friday AEDT) announced it was moving its famous Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than at any point in its 73-year history because of the growing risk of climate change, nuclear war and disinformation.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 100 Seconds to Midnight. Credit:The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Several speakers at the announcement in Washington DC held up the Australian bushfire crisis as an example of the extreme and deadly weather events that will become more common unless the world dramatically reduces its carbon emissions.
Brown, who oversaw the response to California's most destructive wildfire crisis in 2018, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he had no hope the Morrison government would become a global leader on tackling climate change.
"The Australian government is in utter and complete denial," he said.
"Under its current leadership, Australia is fostering denial in an incredibly mendacious way.
"Until Australians throw out their current leaders they will continue this way ... It's time to wake up."
Brown is the longest serving governor in the history of California, which has almost 40 million residents - more than any other US state. He served two terms beginning in 1975 before returning to office again in 2010.

Jerry Brown, right, visiting wildfire-damaged regions in California with US President Donald Trump in 2018. Credit:AP

Brown made climate change his signature issue, suing the Trump administration over its environmental policies and mandating 100 per cent carbon-free electricity in the state by 2045.
He is now executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which moved its Doomsday Clock forward to 100 seconds to midnight. This is the first time it has passed the two-minute mark since it was launched in 1947.
Rachel Bronson, chief executive of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: "We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds, not hours or even minutes.
"We now face a true emergency - an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay."


The RBA is warning climate change could lead to the next global financial break down.

Sivan Kartha, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said: "To test the limits of earth's habitable temperature is madness. It's a madness akin to the nuclear madness that is again threatening the world."
He said extreme weather events over the past year were a portent of what was to come unless the world takes drastic action on climate change.
"Wildfires raged from the Arctic to Australia," Kartha said.
"They now persist with an unprecedented intensity, extent and duration that makes them harder to contain ... The very idea of a limited fire season is becoming a thing of the past."
Former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said: 'From the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, to deadlock at nuclear disarmament talks and paralysis at the UN security council, our mechanisms for collaboration are being undermined when we need them most."
Speaking from the World Economic Forum's annual meting in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann defended Australia's record on climate change.
"We have a very ambitious climate change policy, we are absolutely committed to effective action on climate change," Cormann told CNBC.
"We are a large continent with a small population, so considering the emissions reduction targets we’ve committed to on a per capita basis we will be more than halving emissions and indeed we will be reducing the emissions intensity in our economy by two-thirds.
"That is more ambitious than the UK, than Canada, than New Zealand, than many other countries around the world."

Links

• Doomsday Clock: 100 seconds to midnight
• Doomsday Clock nears apocalypse over climate and nuclear fears
• Australia singled out for climate denial as “Doomsday Clock” ticks closer to midnight
• The climate crisis explained, in 7 numbers
• Australia: show the world what climate action looks like
• Warning: Climate change will bring major new health risks for kids
• Davos: Trump decries climate 'prophets of doom' with Thunberg in audience