Hot enough for ya?

Unless we act on climate change now you better get used to it!

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

The heatwave has caused transport chaos by buckling rail lines and leaving more than 140,000 homes without power, is a sign of climate change, the government said Photo: ADELAIDE ADVERTISER / CALUM ROBERTSON

South-eastern Australia is sweltering through one of the worst heatwaves in living memory. Climate scientists say we will experience many more – and more severe – heatwaves if we let climate change continue unchecked.

At the same time, North Queensland is experiencing severe flooding and the CSIRO predict Tropical cyclones may become more intense. Wind speeds may increase by 5-10% and precipitation rates may increase by 25-30%. More intense tropical cyclones would have serious implications for storm surge heights, wind damage, flooding and landslides.

There is projected to be a strong increase in the frequency of hot days and warm nights. The current projected number of days per year above 35°C for 2030, 2070, and 2100 in all capital cities is displayed below:

Read more about what we can expect via CSIRO’s reports on Climate Change impacts.

The ACF says that despite a lot of talk about climate change and carbon emissions, Australia’s level of greenhouse pollution continues to increase every year. This summer’s heatwave resulted in much suffering and hardship for millions of Australians and yet we don’t seem to be treating this massive problem with the urgency it deserves.

The time for vague concern about climate change happening ‘in the future’ is over – it’s happening now! We need you to engage in more activism in order to bring about change!

So what is The Body Shop doing about this right now? Glad you asked.

Meet Jen Orange a Monash University student doing a Masters in Environment and Sustainability. Jen is currently doing a ‘Green Steps’ placement here at The Body Shop. Her final report will help us calculate our carbon footprint; suggest ways of reducing and offsetting even more carbon. Thanks Jen! We are committed to start a more rigorous recording and reporting of our total annual greenhouse gas emissions. This is the first important step in becoming a totally carbon managed company. As you know we already offset all our electricity and cars, but we are eager to learn and do more! If you have ideas on how we can reduce our footprint – let us know by posting a comment below!

A quick golf clap to Nadeem Khan from our techy team who participated in the ACF Save our Icons BBQ online event on the Australia Day Long Weekend. The task was to take a photo of our Australia Day party with a message to Kevin Rudd stating which great Australian icon we don't want to lose to climate change. Take a squiz at the rest of the photos.

That's as good a segue as any:

WHY IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO CUT CARBON POLLUTION BY JUST 5% TARGET A FAILURE?

1. A weak target of 5–15 per cent by 2020 will not position Australia to save the Great Barrier Reef, or the Australian Alps.
2. To set credible science based targets, we need 25 - 40% cuts by 2020.
3. If other countries took similar targets to Australia it would spell catastrophe for the environment.
4. The targets from the Government’s White Paper are way too low and the payouts to big polluters are way too high.
5. Australians have not given permission for our Government to give up on our much loved and important natural icons.

Courtesy of The Australian Conservation Foundation www.acfonline.com.au