Climate and Peace Forum

This website (climateandpeace.com.au), an initiative of the Rotary Club of Sydney Cove, features talks by experts about the Climate Emergency.  The Rotary Club is not normally regarded as an extremist or radical organisation, and so this could be a good site to suggest to global warming sceptics.

The most recent webinar given on 15 February, on “Climate Risks – making choices. Impending Tipping Points”, featured Professor Will Steffen of ANU pointing out some of the recent effects of global warming, such as the Black Summer bushfires that affected 21% of Australia’s eastern forests, and temperatures close to 50 degrees in Canada last year.  He then spoke of potential tipping points at which global heating would become unstoppable, including melting icecaps and permafrost, and drought in the Amazon caused by deforestation and shifting rain patterns.

The second speaker was Admiral (retired) Chris Barrie, also from ANU, who spoke of the security threats arising from global warming.  He claimed that by 2050 population could increase by 25% and food production decrease by 50%, unless substantial action is taken immediately. He pointed out that a sea level rise of 1.5 metres would flood large areas of Bangladesh, leaving 70 million people hungry and homeless.

The third speaker was Zara Bending from the Centre for Environmental Law at Macquarie University  who spoke of mass extinctions caused by climate change.  She pointed out that as animals become rarer they become more expensive and are subject to black market trading, further decreasing the number of animals in the wild.

All agreed that we needed to reduce out carbon emissions by 75% by the end of the decade.

Videos of the previous webinars are on the site, and include a range of speakers and topics including: “Driving to the Future” with Alexandra Kelly of the Australian Electric Vehicle Council (16 November 2021); “Climate Reparations” with Professor Maxine Burkett, Senior Advisor with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (16 February 2021); and “Security Risks in the Climate Crisis” with Professor Lachlan Blackhall of ANU and Cheryl Durrant Fellow of Institute for Integrated Economic Research Australia who led the climate risk scenario development for the Australian Interdepartmental Secretaries’ Group  on Climate Risk (10 August 2021).