Australia, Feb. 7, 2009 — After a decade-long state of climate change-induced drought and days of a heat wave that sweltered to a near unbearable peak of 49ºC/120ºF, 100 km/60 mph winds helped more than 400 wildfires set large swaths of countryside ablaze in what has become the worst — and deadliest — natural disaster in a century. People burned to death in futile attempts to save their homes, or in their cars as they tried to flee. Others could only watch on as entire towns were laid waste.
Along with vulnerable arctic communities, Africa, small island states (AOSIS) and immensely populated, low-lying coastal countries like Bangladesh, Australia is on the front-line of the devastating impacts posed by climate change RIGHT NOW. It is also a leading centre of grassroots mobilizations to confront them.
Much of what follows has been compiled from material forwarded to us by David Spratt, co-founder of Carbon Equity Australia and co-author of Climate Code Red: The Case For Emergency Action. His message: An emergency, science and solution-based global mobilization to somehow cool/ return the planet to 300 ppm (parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere) must be initiated if we are to avoid catastrophic climate tipping points that would render our species — and most others — unable to survive.
ARTICLES
- Full coverage: Australian wildfire horror, BBC News
- Parched: Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in, The Independent
- Australian wildfires rage: hundreds killed, entire towns destroyed, AP
- Fires the deadly inevitability of climate change, The Age
- Australia fire toll, NY Times
ESSENTIAL MATERIAL BY DAVID SPRATT, CARBON EQUITY (AUSTRALIA)
- Video — Presentation at climate change forum, part 1 of 3, David Spratt (11:00)
- Powerpoint — Presentation at Climate Action Summit, David Spratt
- Post — 350 is the wrong target: put the science first (300), David Spratt
- Article — Warming gets cold shoulder from Canberra, David Spratt
- Article — Bubbling our way to the apocalypse, David Spratt
- Speech — This is an emergency! David Spratt
- Excerpt from Climate Code Red: The perils of playing nice, David Spratt
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AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT/ PARLIAMENT HOUSE PROTEST
(Photos by Greenpeace Australia Pacific)
- Summit: Escalating climate action in 2009, Opening Address, John Hepburn Coordinator, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Change Campaign
- Post: Climate of creative disobedience, Rooted, John Hepburn
- Summit: Presentations
- Summit: Essential PowerPoint, David Spratt
- Summit: Media Summary
- Summit: Outcomes
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