Bushfires and climate change: Australian Prime Minister denies the evidence

With highest per capita emissions, Australia needs to reduce emissions faster for reducing extreme event risk including Bushfires. Source: The Australia Institute

The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says no evidence links Australia's carbon emissions to bushfires, yet he has been strongly contradicted on link between emissions and bushfires.

The scientific evidence is clear that Climate change is driving catastrophic mega fires.

Australia is not prepared - fire authorities and scientists have been warning governments for years and they haven't acted to reduce bushfire risk by implementing a strong climate and energy policy.

Governments have failed to properly equip and resource our firefighters to deal with a longer fire weather period, much hotter and more intense bushfires.

As part of it's duty of protection of public safety, the Federal Government should be honest with the community about their role.

Australian bushfires so intense smoke crosses the Pacific to South America

The extent of Australia's November Bushfires are massive, and the smoke cloud has gone global.

NASA have tracked the smoke cloud lofted 12-13 kilometres into the atmosphere from the hundreds of fires along the east coast of Australia. This smoke has drifted across the Pacific and South America, and even been detected over the southern Atlantic.

The fires are all the more concerning given this is in Spring season in November, long before the major bushfire season expected during January-February. This is very far from normal.

Serrano Glacier retreating. This is global warming, a climate emergency

A visit to Serrano Glacier in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park in Chile. The Glacier is retreating 10-20 metres per year, according to a Park Ranger when I asked about the current rate of glacial retreat. The Grey Glacier that discharges ice from the south Patagonian ice field is retreating at 5-10 metres per year.

Chile marches for Dignity and social justice in this time of climate crisis and social crisis

Mass gathering calling for social justice in Plaza Italia, re-christened Plaza De la Dignidad, in Santiago

My friday activity was joining the hundreds of thousands of Chileans demanding dignity, after 3 weeks of protest and social upheaval.

There can be no climate justice without social justice.

East Coast of Australia literally on fire, #bushfires driven by global heating

The east coast of Australia is literally on fire, in early November, with bushfires spread up and down the east coast of Australia, particularly New South Wales. This is not normal for early November.

Fire conditions are exacerbated by the rising temperatures of global heating and change in rainfall patterns, and higher evaporation rates.

Professor David Bowman, a bushfire expert, commented "As a society we are running out of time to adapt to climate change driven bushfires, and policy failure will lead to escalating disasters that have the capacity to eclipse the worst disasters we have experienced."

Santiago walking tour and why just transition important for addressing social crisis and ecological crisis

November 7: Today I did a 3 hour walking tour of Santiago with Marcela from Tour4Tips. They are only running walking tours in the morning due to the social protests.

Many of the museums are closed due to workers being on strike as part of the protest demanding a new constitution and the government address the social crisis with meaningful progress.

Marcela knows her city, and also it’s travails, it’s problems. She is part of the movement for change, but she told people these were her views, to ask other Chilean people. Yes it was a little bit of social and political history combined with culture and food.

New Zealand zero carbon Bill shows bipartisan leadership

Historic moment for New Zealand as the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern calls near unanimous support for a Zero Carbon bill as acting on the biggest challenge of our time.

"I continue to stand by the statement that #ClimateChange is the biggest challenge of our time and for us here in Aotearoa New Zealand that means for this generation, this is our nuclear [free] moment."

Reflections on memory, human rights, the Chile Coup, and implication for climate action

So today I went along to Todas las Mujeres Contra todas las Violencia (All women against all violence) Hosted by Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of memory and human rights) in Santiago, Chile. It made me reflect on the human rights of all the people that will obliterated by accelerating climate change, unless we all act, and act fast.

COP25 to be hosted in Madrid, Spain under presidency of Chile

It seems the merry-go-round with the UN climate conference COP25 continues.

It appears the Spanish government has offered Madrid as the venue for the next COP 25 climate change summit. This was announced on Thursday by the president of Chile , Sebastián Piñera. The conference would retain the same dates of December 2 to 13.

"Yesterday I spoke with the president of Spain , Pedro Sánchez , who made a generous offer to organize the COP 25 summit in Madrid, Spain, on the same days it was scheduled to take place in Chile; that is, between on December 2 and 13, " Piñera said in a statement at La Moneda presidential palace.

Update 1 November: It is confirmed that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Bureau has met and decided to hold COP25 in Madrid, Spain between December 2 to December 13.

Chile civil society NGOs reject reasons for Piñera decision to cancel hosting APEC summit and COP25 climate summit following social unrest

In a brief statement the UNFCCC announced that COP25 would not be held in Chile as advised by the Chilean President, Sebastián Piñera.

Chilean civil Society climate organisation rejected the decision of the President not to carry out COP 25 in Chile, highlighting that the climate change summit was a great opportunity to relieve the social and environmental problems that affect Chilean people and ecosystems, and to lift some of the leadership lost internationally.

President Piñera indicated that Chile will continue to hold the COP presidency, responsible for shepherding leadership in the UN climate negotiation process for the next year.

Cancellation of the COP has thrown the organisation of the annual UNFCCC climate conference in disarray. With only a month to organise the conference, very few locations would have the ability to stage the event in it's current timetable. Bonn, Germany, where the UNFCCC is headquartered, is a possibility. The conference could very well be delayed, pushed into 2020.