Futures Thinking and Sustainable Development

It’s hard to predict which of Australia’s climate policies will survive, or perhaps even thrive, in the current parliament. But our research suggests that if the Abbott government wants to cut long-term…

36% renewable energy in the global energy mix is possible, affordable and helps mitigate climate change

The world faces an important energy choice, according to a new reportlaunched by the International Renewable Energy Agency in New York today. “REmap 2030” says that scaling-up renewable energy to 36% of the world’s total final energy consumption by 2030 is possible, affordable and will keep the world on a trajectory consistent with a CO2 level of 450 ppm, the widely accepted threshold to limit global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

The report demonstrates that the investment cost for this global expansion of renewable energy is offset by savings of up to $740 billion per year on costs associated with pollution from fossil fuels.

A daily record of atmospheric carbon dioxide from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego

The Australian Student Environment Network is the network of student environment groups from around Australia committed to building grassroots movements for change. We actively work for environmental and social justice through transformational and empowering collective action on a range of critical ecological and social issues. We recognise that Aboriginal sovereignty was never ceded, and work in solidarity with Aboriginal struggles.

The Heartland Institute, a prominent, Chicago-based organization opposing climate science, has teamed up with the creationist Discovery Institute to launch a smear campaign against a group promoting the nationwide adoption of updated science education guidelines.

Lord Deben says conservative governments around the world are taking action on climate change and Australia's repeal of carbon tax is a 'deeply retrograde step'

How are we to decarbonise a warming planet? Meet Dinny Laurence a local climate reality activist who recently attended Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project conference in Melbourne.

To find out what climate action looks like when mainstreamed, we speak to Isaac Valero-Ladron EU spokesperson for Climate Action , about practical EU targets and plans; and Richard Willis, from the European Investment Bank about how that public bank is mainstreaming climate action in its investment priorities.

In fact, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and NASA, which both maintain temperature records that use slightly different methods but show close agreement, have publicly documented the peer-reviewed adjustments they make to raw data. NCDC states that the "most important bias in the U.S. temperature record occurred with the systematic change in observing times from the afternoon, when it is warm, to morning, when it is cooler," and so it must correct this cool bias as well as other biases that, for example, result from moving temperature stations.

NASA's data shows that the nation has not been "cooling" since the 1930s, with several years, including 2012, ranking hotter than 1934 in the continental United States, along with a long-term warming trend. And while The Sean Hannity Show claimed that this shows the "Earth has been cooling," the continental United States makes up less than 2 percent of the Earth's surface -- global surface temperatures have increased significantly.

Which suburbs are winning the Australian solar race? Where does your suburb rank?

On the weekend of September 8-10, 2006, 45 organizations from across Canada came together to form the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition – to stand united for a sensible climate future.

OurClimate.ca – the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition is a united front of youth from across Canada tackling the biggest challenge of our generation, how to protect our planet and our climate from dangerous warming. Across Canada – on campuses, in schools and in our communities we combine our forces to educate, empower and mobilize youth to take action.

Recently, we left charitable status behind and have re-ignited as OurClimate.ca to bring youth together for climate justice. Together we are striving to build a fair and sustainable world. This is our future, it’s too important to leave up to anyone else.

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Le Coalition canadienne des jeunes pour le climat est un front uni de la jeunesse de partout au Canada qui lutte contre le plus grand défi de notre génération, la crise climatique. Agir au niveau local, provincial, fédéral et international, nous combinons nos forces pour enseigner et donner le pouvoir aux jeunes. Nous organisons des campagnes et des actions pour créer le changement nous avons besoin de voir dans le monde.

Nous travaillons dans les écoles et les communautés à travers le pays pour demandons et la construire d’une transition juste et plus prospère pour le nouveau Canada nous avons besoin de voir. Il est notre avenir, et il est trop importante pour la laisser à quelqu’un d’autre.

By Jeremy Hsu, InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer: Wild geoengineering schemes may aim to reverse global warming by reflecting sunlight into space or storing excess carbon dioxide, but they won't spare humanity from living through climate change in the next several decades.

Each global encounter begins in a safe, interactive and content-rich TakingITGlobal virtual classroom, where participating students join international peers and graduate student mentors to learn about the issues and topics of the upcoming video conference. This online learning and engagement period is key to students' active and informed participation in the live event, as it allows them to become better acquainted with relevant information and each other.

The experience then culminates in an international video conference that connects participating students to hear from engaging keynote speakers and share questions, ideas, and reflections in real time.

After all is said and done, students come away with a deeper understanding for the global issue at hand, a community of peers from around the world, and an appreciation of their potential as agents of change in their local and global communities.

Shout is a multiyear global education initiative offering webinars and projects for both educators and students

To provide an overview of the shared structural causes of obesity and climate change, and analyse policies that could be implemented in Australia to both equitably reduce obesity rates and contribute to mitigating climate change.

Policies with potential co-benefits fit within three broad categories: those to replace car use with low-emissions, active modes of transport; those to improve diets and reduce emissions from the food system; and macro-level economic policies to reduce the over-consumption of food and fossil fuel energy.

Given the complex causes of both problems, it is argued that a full spectrum of complementary strategies across different sectors should be utilised.