* "climate change" is a euphemism introduced by opponents of government and corporate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to make the situation sound less threatening than "global warming" or the more accurate "global heating". See the links below for the tactics of lobby groups who have a vested interest in maintaining unsustainable consumption of fossil fuels.

Bushfires, coastal storms & floods are "climate disasters" - calling them "natural disasters" underplays the human contribution to the events!
This letter  published in New Scientist ($) explains the situation:
Weather calamities are climate disasters, Published 21 February 2024
From Michael Paine, Sydney, Australia
Your view on whether the world has already warmed by 1.5°C refers to extreme weather events. The resulting human tragedies are often referred to as “natural disasters” by politicians and the media. But the causes are becoming less and less natural. Let’s start calling them what they are – “climate disasters” (Leader, 10 February).

Contents

Political Alerts from 2007 (latest at top) .

See also The Conversation: Five climate change science misconceptions – debunked
Quotes

Mikhail Gorbachev - "We cannot go on like this!" - MANIFESTO FOR THE EARTH (2006)

David Suzuki - "I believe that future generations will look back on the inactivity, the unwillingness to do anything, as a crime against future generations. It's outrageous that we are not taking advantage of foresight, our predictive capacity to see where the dangers lie, seize the opportunities and make our way into a more liveable future" + I don't ever want my grandchild to look at me and say: "Grandpa, you could have done more." + We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit. (2006)

Carl Sagan - "The principal energy sources of our present industrial civilization are the so-called fossil fuels. We burn wood and oil, coal and natural gas, and, in the process, release waste gases, principally CO2 into the air. Consequently, the carbon dioxide content of the Earth's atmosphere is increasing dramatically. The possiblity of a runaway greenhouse effect suggests that we have to be careful; Even a one- or two-degree rise in the global temperature can have catastrophic consequences...Do we value short-term advantages above the welfare of the Earth? Or will we think on longer time scales with concern for our children and our grandchildren, to understand and protect the complex life-support systems of our planet? The Earth is a tiny and fragile world. It needs to be cherished" (written in 1980!). 24 Dec 06 Planetary Society: Where Would We Be With Carl? by Ann Druyan

John Lennon - "Living is easy with eyes closed, Misunderstanding all you see..." (Strawberry Fields Forever, 1967)

Jane Goodall - One of the most eminent conservationists in the world has condemned Australia for its lack of response to climate change and said the country ''needs a wake-up call''. Dame Jane Goodall, regarded as the first lady of conservation and a UN Messenger of Peace who has made a lifetime study of chimpanzees, accused politicians of having more concern for their immediate political careers than for future generations. (2014)

Gadfly - "Doing something about an unpredictable future is more pressing than blind faith in a flawed ideology" (2019)

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer: "Still, a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest"

Issac Asimov - Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." (1980)
12 Jan 04 SMH: Greenhouse gas scheme gets the axe - The Australian Greenhouse Office is no more! See its last major publication Climate change - An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts.
Update: 26 Jul 05 - AGO still seems to be in operation.
Opinion 2005: I am getting a little tired of renewable energy sceptics saying no renewal energy sources provide "baseload" power. Geothermal sources provide continuous power that could prove more reliable than fossil-fuel or nuclear options. The irony is that escalating oil prices are making the cost of drilling geothermal pilot plants more expensive. In any case, domestic/village solar systems have been developed in Norway that store the heat underground until it is needed. Update 4 Dec 10 ABC: Busting the baseload power myth

Some regions get colder?

Puzzled by reports of the US and other countries having the coldest winter for decades? See this article from EurekaAlert: The eastern U.S. keeps its cool while the world warms (updated URL) (also here) - warming oceans produce more cloud over the US (+ Higher ocean temperatures linked to cooling in Midwest) . Livescience.com: How Global Warming Can Chill the Planet. Some of the think tank organisations are misleadingly using this effect to question global warming.

Jul 22 The Conversatrion: 4 ways to understand why Australia is so cold right now despite global warming +

Fossil fuel subsidies by Australian government...

18 Oct 08 Opinion: Would these same organisation claim that the current stock market turmoil is cyclic and that there is no reason for government intervention?