As I completed the first draft of this issue, the Liberal and Nation Parties announced Dutton’s plan to nuke Australia’s renewable energy transition. This is overwhelmingly seen as a ploy to prolong the fossil fuel industry, and further delay taking real action to address climate change.
We don’t need nuclear; we need clean energy and climate action. But while our politicians continue to delay, it’s you and I paying the price.
So what is the dollar cost of doing nothing?
In today’s Climate Club Qld we count the cost of inaction to inspire action today.
Counting the cost of climate change
Our supermarket costs
Have you noticed your supermarket bill? Fruit, vegetables and meat prices are all on the rise. And why wouldn’t they be, with climate related disasters hitting our farmers?
Just before Christmas last year, most of Northern Qld was devastated by flooding from Ex-cyclone Jasper; and a freak storm hit the Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim. These two events alone caused the cost of fruit, vegetables and meat to rise, right in our festive season.
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Our insurance costs
Food prices fluctuate, but insurance doesn’t: it goes up, and stays up. The cost of insuring your car or property is rocketing ahead of the consumer price index.
Back in March 2022, I made it through Gympie minutes before all access to that town was cut by flooding. That rainfall and flooding event which devastated 23 local government areas in south east Qld is estimated to have cost $7.7 billion!!
In a November 2022 news release, the Insurance Council of Australia reported the insurance bill for storms and floods since January 2020 topped $12.3 billion from 788,000 claims - meaning that in just three years one in 25 adult Australians has made an insurance claim because of wild and wet weather.
No wonder your premiums are going up!!
The Insurance Council said we need to “invest in community-level mitigation, home retrofits, home buybacks in the most extreme cases, and better early warning systems. We also need to stop building homes in harms’ way and make new homes stronger.”.
Wouldn’t it have been easier, and cheaper, if we’d taken action against climate change 20 years ago?
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Our electricity costs
Despite the rising cost of electricity, we are forced to use our air-conditioners more often (I hope you have one!). Last summer was the hottest yet. Higher electricity prices plus more need to use electricity hurts the hip pocket. 🔥🔥
Natural disaster costs
Last year our planet was besieged by weather disasters costing $301 billion, said insurance broker Gallagher Re in its recent “Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report: 2023”. Cyclone Gabrielle alone cost New Zealand $3.8 billion, a staggering figure, being 2% of New Zealand’s GDP!
The Guardian summarised a paper from the very prestigious “Nature”, Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather will cause US$38 trillion of destruction each year by 2050; whereas mitigation, such as phasing out fossils and replacing them with renewable energy, would only cost US$6 trillion dollars.
Closer to home, a report by Australia’s Actuaries Institute estimates that for every dollar spent on disaster preparation and prevention, there is a $9.60 return on investment.
Natural disasters in Australia over recent years have cost our Government $7.3 billion in recovery payments.
It’s abundantly clear: climate change is costing heaps, and we would have been so much better off if we had taken action years ago.
So what can we do about it?
As this flood of data shows, the cost of doing nothing is enormous. 👎👎👎
So now more than ever, we need to take action today. Everything we do today will make a difference for tomorrow.
🌍🌍 And there’s no shortage of groups ready to help you choose which action to take! Check out our inspiring list below! 🌍🌍
What can you do today?
🐝 If you have 5 minutes:
Join your voice to the chorus of opposition to the insane LNP nuclear thought bubble.
Action: Send an email to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien to ask them to invest in solar, not nuclear. The email is nicely tailored to suit your possible voting intentions.
Action: In less than one week more than 21,000 folk have already signed the Petition opposing nuclear. Add your name.
This week Parliament debates reforms to our environment laws. With 30 coal and gas projects sitting on Tanya Plibersek’s desk right now waiting for approval, we urgently need Parliament to add a climate trigger to the Nature Positive Bill. (See our explainer in Issue 44)
Action: Join a roster for phoning the environment minister’s parliamentary and electoral offices. The roster is aiming for two calls per hour every hour for an entire month. Already more than 220 slots have been booked!!
Two of the world’s major banks recently pulled out of Santos’ Barossa gas project, which will exploit a massive fossil gas field located in the Timor Sea north of Darwin and the Tiwi Islands. We have seen in the past that once one bank folds, others start to follow.
Action: Send an email to major Australian, Japanese, and international banks telling them to cut ties with Santos.
Some electricity network operators will soon bill rooftop solar owners when they export more than a certain amount of electricity into the grid during peak solar generation times. These companies are trying to smooth out peak generation by encouraging households to soak up that electricity in some other way, such as battery storage. Solar Citizens has called on Federal Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen to provide a Federal rebate for batteries, similar to the rooftop solar rebate that has been so successful in driving the uptake of solar in Aussie homes.
Action: Send an email to Federal Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen asking him to introduce a new household battery rebate.
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more:
Wild At Art is Australia’s wildlife art competition for children aged 5-12. Your kids / grandkids / neighbour’s kids have until Mon 12 August to create an original artwork of one of Australia's many threatened native animals or plants, along with a short written component on their chosen threatened species.
Action: Entries are now open. Get your creativity going!
The keen amongst you may have noticed I have authored the last two editions of our Climate Club News. Malcolm is having a small break, catching up with his Aunt in Scotland; and Robyn is working her way through the end of financial year rush. I like to balance my busy-ness with some cycling and sailing.
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action.
See you in two weeks, Ron
plus Malcolm, Robyn and Jan - The Climate Club Qld team
To help us keep these newsletters helpful, you can always reach us by email climateclubqld@gmail.com or check out the simple info on our About page.
We live, work and play on the lands of the Yuggara and Turrbal people in and around Meanjin - Brisbane. We pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded - always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Thank you for the share! The cycling and sailing look sparklingly beautiful!