Veronika Wild

  -Image by Alfred Derks from Pixabay   Countering climate denialism requires taking on right-wing populism. Here’s how Richard Calland , University of Cape Town History may in due course record 2019 as the year in which the penny finally dropped about the climate emergency humanity faces. A sense of urgency was triggered last year by both Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg’s courage in challenging world leaders to take the crisis seriously , and the apocalyptic fires that engulfed large parts of Australia recently. Increasingly, there is an understanding that the climate emergency is not an environmental problem. It has grave ecological implications, but it’s a human development issue above all. And, it has profound implications for technology and infrastructure, for the world of investment and finance, and for global security. To make sense of these challenges and work towards solutions, it is necessary to understand these links, tensions a...

 [Reprinted with kind permission from The Conversation] Plastic warms the planet twice as much as aviation – here’s how to make it  climate-friendly Gorlov-KV/Shutterstock Laurie Wright , Solent University We’re all too aware of the consequences of plastics in the oceans and on land . However, beyond the visible pollution of our once pristine habitats, plastics are having a grave impact on the climate too. Newly published research calculates that across their lifecycle, plastics account for 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s almost double the emissions of the aviation sector. If it were a country, the “Plastic Kingdom” would be the fifth-highest emitter in the world. Demand is set to rise, too. At 380m tonnes a year, we produce 190 times more plastic than we did in 1950. If the demand for plastic continues to grow at its current rate of 4% a year, emissions from plastic production will reach 15% of global e...

Here is the lovely cartoon by First Dog on the Moon which was published in June last year by Crikey , our very own and very witty independent news outlet. First Dog who very kindly let me use this, is approaching the UN to have the 21st of June, declared International Hug a Climate Scientist Day. Petition your Government NOW! Later... Just had a weird thought. I wonder if there are now a lot bewildered scientists getting hugs from strangers. Hope it doesn't lead to any harrassment suits! An  Australian friend who lives overseas emailed last night saying he wasn't too sure about signing a petition for Canada. Well my answer is that neither the climate, nor the air, nor the oceans recognise national boundaries, so if people are messing things up in one place, sooner or later others will be affected too. Rubbish ends up in Antarctica, chokes fish that are caught off our shores or migrate up or down the East Australian current or the Gulfstream. Chemicals wash into groun...

More Crazy Weather! I wonder where the climate change deniers have been living? Today we had a very humid 34oC earlier in the day, followed by a hail storm which did little to relieve the heat. Just now though at 1 a.m. we have had what amounts to a tropical thunderstorm.  Here’s what we are supposed to be having at this time of year. It comes from a website entitled    “The facts about Tasmania’s weather. " The data, extracted from the web pages of the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology , is based on Hobart. The Tasmanian East Coast is milder, the West Coast wetter and the NW Coast windier. Yearly Mean Rainfall (mm) Highest total first Mean Daily Minimum Temperature °C Month of July Coldest city first Mean Daily Maximum Temperature °C Month of January Warmest city first Cairns 2,007 Canberra 0.0 Alice Springs 35.5 Darwin 1,666 Katoomba 2.5 Darwin ...