We have lived through Australia’s worst climate-led bushfires, so what does the IPCC’s Code Red Report mean for our NSW South Coast? What actions can we take ?
Code Red – it’s scary – but there’s still hope and room to act, if we act fast!
Looking out to Gulaga, Yuin Country, photo – Tim Burke
Local climate action group, 350 Eurobodalla explains what the latest Code Red Report from the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change means for our community. Allan Rees & Jack Egan give us the low down.
This is the most comprehensive report ever prepared on Climate Change.
Locally, what does the Code Red Report – the Sixth Asessment Report – tell us?
The IPCC Report shows that South East Australia faces more droughts with occasional floods. As we have experienced we now have more extreme fire weather days and a longer fire season. On our coastline the ocean is heating up faster than elsewhere.
Photo – Tim Burke 
Narooma’s hot spot of ocean warming is more than three times the global average – MAR 2021 https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/narooma%E2%80%99s-hot-spot-ocean-warming-more-three-times-global-average 
So vast and quick moving, mapping of the Currowan fire is sectioned off and the southern end becomes the Clyde Mountain fire. 
Eurobodalla’s Boxing Day 2020 storm super cell 
George Bass drives bitumen seal lifted, on Boxing Day 2020 as hail and storm damage swept the shire
Wildfires in Canada, USA, Siberia, Greece and Turkey make it obvious that the whole world is suffering from the climate crisis. Unprecedented floods, fires, droughts and storms are all signs that we need to act on climate.
So action that keeps the rise in global temperature below 1.5 degree is what’s really crucial, right?
Yes! Serious damage is happening at only 1.1 degrees of global warming and 1.4 degrees across Australia’s land areas. Stopping global temperature rise at or below 1.5 degrees is essential for our present and future safety.
Coral bleaching is slowly killing the Great Barrier Reef, with three events in five years. The Morrison government cannot pretend the Reef is not in danger.
What must our Government do with emissions?
We need action, not more excuses.
The Morrison government has only a weak target of 26 – 28% when a 45% reduction by 2030 is the minimum recommended by the government’s scientific advisers.
Australia’s emissions are only falling due to a reduction in the rate of land clearing since 2005, otherwise emissions rose by 6% from all other sources between 2005 and the start of Covid restrictions.
Public subsidies for new gas power and for gas exploration will increase Australia’s emissions and make our problems worse. As with the pandemic, prime Minister Morrison is failing in his duty to keep Australia safe
We can get all of our electricity and deliver it reliably from existing wind, solar, batteries and hydro technology. We need a rapid, fair transition to renewables and new forests to draw carbon from the atmosphere in order to return to a safe climate.
To check out the Regional fact sheet – for Australasia – of the International Panel on Climate Change sixth assessment report, click below
Regional fact sheet for Australasia https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#Regional
WOOEE 2022
