In 2008 the climate crisis has reached a critical point and we currently have less than 10 years to solve global warming otherwise we will lose our way of life and our children will lose their future.

Below is a brief summary of the current situation. Please read it before going to the resources page where you will find some fantastic links and some ways to help make a difference.

What is the problem?

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation
Our almost total reliance on the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) for energy has caused a build up in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) traps heat from the sun resulting in a rise of global temperature (global warming) that disrupts the climate. Deforestation (especially of rain forests) prevents the Earth from absorbing a lot of this excess carbon dioxide thus making the situation worse.

Dr James Hansen (from NASA's Goddard Institute), one of the World's leading experts on global warming says we need to get atmospheric carbon dioxide levels back below 350 parts per million in less than 10 years. That's what they were in the 1970s! Otherwise we are likely to experience catastrophic climate change.
Read his recent address here.

Worringly, if we don't succeed within 10 years, we are likely to lose the ability to ever recover. This is because we will have passed several global tipping points (like the loss of the arctic icecap in summer by as early as 2013). These tipping points will put a series of positive feedback loops into action that will cause global warming to spiral out of our control.

Peak Oil
In addition, our rapidly increasing global demand for oil and coal is outsripping supply and destabilising the World's economies.

What is the solution?

To end our reliance on carbon-based fossil fuels!

Within 10 years we need to cut emissions of carbon dioxide to nearly zero. By then we need to be getting nearly all of our energy needs from alternative non-polluting sources like solar, wind, wave and geothermal energy. These sources are free forever and will never increase in price unlike oil or coal.

To help absorb the excess carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere we need to replant forests. We also need to look at farming techniques that allow sequestration of carbon in the soil (trapping carbon dioxide in the soil as charcoal - Biochar).

Nuclear energy is not an option because the amount of water and energy (fossil fuels) needed to extract it from the ground and purify will soon make it as pollutioning as if you were burning natural gas. That's in addition to the obvious risks from radiation leaks and long term storage of radioactive waste.

And although very few people want to talk about it we need to address the consequences of our ever expanding population. If there were 6 million people in the world we wouldn't have a problem (yet). 6 billion people have stretched the world's climate and resources to breaking point. What will the estimated 9 billion by the end of the century do?

How do we achieve it?

Australia is well placed to get all of it's needs from solar, wind and geothermal energy. We need to put a huge effort into producing all our electricity needs from these sources (See Al Gore's challenge to repower America). We can convert many of our cars to electricity or use hydrogen cell technology (hydrogen can be generated using clean energy) and help our car industry and reduce pollution in our cities. In addition, if all our electricity needs were met by non-polluting alternative energy sources then fossil fuel use to power water desalinisation plants or aluminium smelters suddenly become a non issue.

Yes, there is a cost to doing this, but no more than we currently propose to spend on drilling for new oil deposits, building new powerstations and research into, so called, 'clean coal' and importing oil from overseas. Does anyone seriously think that the price of oil or coal will not continue to rise as countries like India and China continue their rapid development. Remember, electricity generated by solar and wind energy is free and will last forever.

We should not waste time or money looking for more oil or building more coal fired power stations as this will only make the problem worse and solve nothing. So called 'clean coal' is also not the answer. At present there is no such thing as clean coal and tests to produce clean burning coal are nowhere near where they need to be.

So any politician that advocates looking for new oil deposits or building new coal fire powerstations instead of investing in alternative energy does not understand the problem facing us at all or is only interested in short term political gain. Worse still they are putting the economy and our children's future at risk.

Currently, government policy in Australia (and worldwide) falls well short of achieving what is necessary.

Within 10 years Australia could have one of the strongest economies in the world but at present this seems unlikely without a major policy shift.

What will happen if we do nothing or very little (business as usual)?

It means vunerabilty to rising oil and coal prices as demand continues to outstrip an ever dwindling supply (peak oil). Our economy and businesses will struggle or collapse. As the climate disintegrates we open ourselves up to worsing drought, loss of fresh drinking water, worsening storm damage and poltical unrest from hundreds of millions of climate refuges as water levels rise (5-6 m sea level rises are now predicted this century if we do nothing).

And failure to solve this in less than 10 years means that we may no longer be able to do anything to halt the progression of climate change.

This means that everything we are presently working towards: our way of life, our families future are under a very real and imminent threat.

The solution is shining over our heads and blowing in our faces and we need to get our politicians to act immediately.

Now please go to the resources page for links and important things you can do to make a difference.