This week on City Limits, we listen to an interview from Radio EcoShock, where Alex Smith interviews Professor of Urban Ecology Timon McPhearson about the effects of climate change on cities, and the recent IPCC report Climate Change 2022 : Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
Later Kevin and Zeb have a conversation with Anna Langford with Act on Climate (Friends of the Earth), who reflects on the interview and also discusses the work of Friends of the Earth around this topic. Their discussion includes:
- the Victorian Government's Climate Change Act (2017) which requires the government to not only set emmissions reduction targets every five years until 2050, but also to write a climate strategy for the state every five years, focusing on continued emission reduction and structural adaptations as a statewide response to climate impacts,
- the Victorian Government's public consultations for their Gas Substitution Roadmap for pathways out of industrial and individual gas usage, FOE's previous work demanding a permanent end to fracking and new gas extraction projects and FOE's continued fight against gas extraction - they'll soon be launching a grassroots project to write up a community-led version of the gas substitution roadmap to present to the Victorian Government... watch this space!
- the Federal Government's announcement of $50M handouts to fossil fuel companies, as a reactive and regressive response to projected gas shortages stemming from war in Ukraine, and how this kind of answer locks us into a dangerous fossil fuel dependence in the long-term,
- FOE's Climate Impacts at Work Survey in conjunction with various unions, about how workers are experiencing the impacts of climate change in various workplace settings and what do they want to do about it.
- The establishment of Earthworker Cooperative in the Latrobe Valley, and the importance of working with unions in the fight for sustainable jobs for the community and the environment.
You can go to the Friends of the Earth (Melbourne) website to learn more about their various campaign meetings and upcoming actions.
Kevin Healy, Zeb Peake & Karina Aedo-Aguilera