Over fifty community members from the City of Port Phillip and surrounds gathered in St Kilda on Sunday April 22, to celebrate Earth Day, break the radio silence on climate change, and call for politicians to act. 

The event--organised by community environment group Friends of the Earth and supported by the Port Phillip Ecocentre--drew a strong crowd of locals who spent the day developing an Earth Day Statement calling on Victorian politicians to act on climate change.

Climate change will significantly alter the life and culture of human societies. Australia is no exception.

When we consider climate change on the global level we begin to see overall trends, but it is easy to lose sight of the local detail. For example, we know that, globally, 2016 was the hottest year on record but we must ask what this means for local communities and landscapes.

It is clear that these global changes will play out locally.

In central and northern Victoria, it is important that we understand how climate change will impact on our future, so we can plan for it. As a trend, annual rainfall has significantly decreased in the region and the average temperature since 1950 has already increased by between 1 and 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Based on projections provided by the State of Victoria, it is clear that the Loddon and Mallee regions will be a hotter and drier place than they have already become. These changes will involve significant challenges for people living in the north of the state.

Climate change is the challenge of our times. If global efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C are unsuccessful then we'll see intensifying impacts in Australia and abroad. 

Here in Victoria, the state’s electricity sector is transitioning away from polluting coal and gas towards clean renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and storage. Not only is the shift an essential first step towards reining in greenhouse emissions that cause climate change, but it's one that will create thousands of jobs, attract investment to our state, and help develop a new industry.

"When the winds of change blow, some build walls while others build windmills." - Chinese proverb

Unfortunately, some politicians are using this period of change for point scoring. Some Members of Parliament and their surrogates will take any opportunity to slow the transition no matter how spurious their arguments. Electricity supply and the distribution network is (intentionally?) conflated in public commentary, while renewable energy is blamed for any problem that occurs.

Despite all the noise generated by the #SpringSt debate, we must remember that #ClimateImpactsVic. Here's a brief introduction to the issue...