Mar 24, 2023 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Land gap, Land use, Safeguard Mechanism
What’s wrong with land-based offsets? The important Land Gap Report gives a definitive, quantitative ‘no’ to reliance on land-based offsets given that offsets: take up too much land – Cumulative land-based solutions would add up to 1,200 million hectares...
Mar 6, 2023 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets, Indigenous, Land gap
Image source and acknowledgement: The Land Gap report The pressure on land in carbon dioxide removal In response to climate change, governments are increasingly relying on land for carbon dioxide removal. This is particularly true in Australia, notorious for its use...
Nov 12, 2022 | Electric vehicle, Electrification, Forests, Gas, State election
Democracy in action The two recent candidate forums organised by Lighter Footprints in the Victorian electorates of Hawthorn and Kew were fine demonstrations of democracy in action. Voter appreciation was evident in the near-capacity attendance. Candidates had their...
Oct 3, 2022 | Forests, Gas
Two major environmental concerns leading up to the November state election for friends and members of Lighter Footprints are stopping logging in Victoria’s forests and getting off gas. On Wednesday 28 September, Lighter Footprints welcomed Chris Schuringa, the...
Aug 5, 2022 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets
Photo credit: Jaccob McKay/Unsplash The following is a summary of the Lighter Footprints event “CARBON CREDITS: Dodgy offsets or the real deal?” held on Wednesday 27 July 2022. The recording is available here. Moderator Tim Baxter, Senior Researcher for...
Jun 20, 2022 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets
As countries move to decarbonise their economies, companies are trying to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits. You can think of carbon credits as a “permission slip” to emit up to a certain set amount of CO2e that year. Most of today’s interim solutions to...
May 1, 2022 | Climate change, Climate Policy, Federal election, Lighter Footprints Forum
On Wednesday 27 April, a packed hall of around 500 people (plus 200 more on Facebook Live) heard from candidates Dr Peter Lynch (Labor), Mr Piers Mitchem (Greens) and Dr Monique Ryan (Independent) how they would represent the voters of Kooyong with a particular focus...
Apr 21, 2022 | fossil fuel subsidies
Expanding gas production in Australia mostly now means unconventional gas, from fracking or horizontal drilling. This photo shows coal seam gas wells in Queensland, where producers talk about eventually drilling 40,000 such wells, with detrimental effects on water and...
Apr 19, 2022 | Electrification
Introduction In his book, “The Big Switch- Australia’s electric future”, Saul Griffith tells us that he wrote this book because the world has a climate emergency and he, as an innovative engineer, wants passionately to help solve it. Benefits here would...
Apr 17, 2022 | Climate change, Overview
I hope that this op-ed will help readers understand the basics of climate change on planet Earth; the solutions for mitigating it; and inspire their passion for doing so. Background- our wonderful luck and responsibility in being part of Earth’s evolution of life Our...
Apr 16, 2022 | Climate change, Climate change and health, Health
Source: Lens, Monash University, “Bushfire smoke, air quality and the risk to your health” Health impacts of climate change are happening everywhere. It is happening now and is getting worse. The World Health Organisation has declared climate change to be...
Mar 24, 2022 | Climate change, National security
The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG) is a non-partisan network of Australian security and policy professionals that is working to reframe the climate debate and make climate an immediate security priority in Australia. The Australian Security...
Mar 23, 2022 | Climate change, Extreme weather, Floods
A woman trapped on the roof of her car awaits rescue during the 2010-11 Toowoomba flash flood. Attribution: Kingbob86 (Timothy) Unprecedented but not unexpected We have all been struck by the devastating flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. Stories of lives and...
Mar 23, 2022 | Climate change, Food security, Security
A farmer prepares his field for the planting season near Nathenje on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi. Australia is using its expertise and experience to help improve food security in African countries. Attribution: Stephen Morrison/AusAID Food production is a...
Mar 1, 2022 | Electric vehicle, EV
Touring Tassie in ‘Tezzie’ the Tesla As Australia’s EV uptake begins to gather speed, my family feel privileged to be among thousands who purchased a Tesla Model 3 last year. It was the first brand new car we have ever owned. The lure of going electric and optimising...
Feb 16, 2022 | Carbon, Climate change, Climate Policy, Economy, Vote Climate
HERE ARE FOUR A strong economy needs a healthy climate Climate change is a serious health issue Climate change is a security issue Life on Earth depends upon a healthy climate CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ECONOMY Good management of the economy requires good management of...
Aug 28, 2021 | Biodiversity, Bushfire, Carbon, Climate Damage, Forests, Indigenous
The Great Forest National Park, worth fighting for with Dr Chris Taylor and Sarah Rees You can also download Dr Chris Taylor’s slides here, Sarah Rees slides here, watch the event again on Youtube or Facebook Live, read more about our presenters here, and check...
Jun 26, 2021 | Climate change and health, Climate Damage, Climate Policy, Climate psychology, Communicating climate change, Gas
Woodside’s intent to develop its Scarborough gas reservoir is deeply at odds with its commitment to net-zero by 2050 and the company’s stated imperative to act on climate change. Contrary to comments made by Woodside’s acting chief executive Meg O’Neill recently on...
May 30, 2021 | Climate Damage, Gas, Greenhouse gas, Methane, Video/Audio link included
Natural gas is not a clean option The 29 May episode of the Science Show on Radio National features Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University. “Natural gas has been touted as a clean transition fuel as we move away from coal towards...
Apr 25, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Damage, Communicating climate change
Did you know the first #EarthDay was held in 1970? Sustainability expert and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Peter Newman reflects on what’s changed and what still needs to be done to address climate change by 2050. Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability...
Jan 7, 2021 | Biodiversity, Bushfire, Climate Damage
This blog relates the story of bushfires in Australia, revisits Australia’s disastrous 2019-2020 bushfires, and makes connections with the numerous reports and resources that have followed. The Royal Commissions Federal and NSW) The report of the Royal...
Nov 17, 2020 | Boroondara Council, Climate Emergency, Lighter Footprints Working Groups, Local government, Whitehorse Council
A challenging time to hold elections Now that we know what our local councils are going to look like after the recent local government elections, it is time to start considering how we work with them on the matters that are important to us. But first, let’s...
Nov 15, 2020 | Communicating climate change, Letters, Taking Action
Why write letters to newspapers? Letters to the editor are very popular with readers. A well written letter has the potential to change the view of thousands. Politicians take notice of letters and assign daily reading as a task to staff. Some letters like this one...
Nov 10, 2020 | Carbon, Climate Damage, Communicating climate change, Paris commitment
Not on track. Not “in a canter”. In November 2016, the Australian Government officially ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. But in the lead-up to the last Federal election in 2019, the Morrison Government began a misleading campaign that Australia is...
Nov 9, 2020 | Climate Emergency, Climate psychology, Denial, Positive message
This is an excellent four-part series presented by Radio National’s Richard Aedy on Climate Change Each heading below is a link to the RN episode page. Highly recommended. Another excellent RN climate change series is the talk by Swedish climate scientist Johan...
