Tim Flannery, Adriana Vergés, Rebecca Huntley & Emma Johnston: We Still Need to Talk About Climate Change
In January we watched helplessly as Australia burned. Over 18 million hectares were destroyed, and more than a billion animals were killed. It was clear to those on both sides of politics that Australia needed immediate climate action. Flash forward and the all-encompassing nature of COVID-19 has made it almost impossible to talk about anything else, but the imperatives of climate change have not gone away. So how do we restart the conversation on climate?
In Australia, despite the work of our world-leading scientists, climate change is a vexed political topic, rather than a question of science and policy. As we grapple with the new normal of bushfires and water shortages, on top of pandemic recovery, how can we take the politics out of these important issues? How can we bring communities together to think about change? Join climate scientist and author of The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery, marine ecologist Adriana Vergés, social researcher, author of How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference, Rebecca Huntley and marine biologist and Dean of Science at UNSW Sydney, Emma Johnston to find out how we might turn these pressing climate conversations into climate solutions.
We cannot have climate deniers in the parliament because it is an absolute dereliction of their duty to the community to not believe in climate science and say they represent the interest of the Australian community and the future.
Yes we’ve made a great mess of the planet. We’ve caused this problem, but if we caused it we can fix it.
Over the years the two things which I think have worked most effectively for addressing climate change are: focusing on solutions and engaging with emotions.
Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and supported by UNSW Science. This event is part of the UNSW x National Science Week program and is part of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Thriving in the Anthropocene.