Power over power

It’s hot. Last week, Sydney was the hottest place on earth. This week, it was simply hell.

Despite it being front of mind unless you’re in front of a fan, discomfort is the least of our worries. 

Researchers from James Cook University recently called for ‘heat literacy’ to help prepare for longer, hotter and more dangerous heatwaves. This is not a future problem, with analysis showing the intense heatwave in early January was made five times more likely by human-caused climate change.

It’s not justAustralia. Pacific nations are preparing to demonstrate their existential battle with climate change during pre-COP meetings. The Winter Olympics are set to become more difficult to host. France has urged people to limit their meat consumption. If they extend that advice to butter, the nation might starve.

We could write a piece like this, with new examples, pretty much every week. But two things happened this week that made it particularly relevant.

In the US, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a major lawsuit in which the oil industry is claiming it shouldn’t be sued in state courts over its role in global warming. In Australia, a debate is starting to gain traction around the fuel tax credits scheme, which transfers $20,500 a minute from taxpayers to the pockets of companies to make it cheaper to use diesel and petrol.

In the context of approvals for major new fossil fuel projects, or global agreements on policy, these may appear somewhat minor. But the decisions around both will be indicative of the ability of citizens and governments to stand in the way of the world’s worst polluters.

If the public money tap is turned off in one country, and the ability of communities to take legal action is upheld in another, the perpetrators of climate change may be made to sweat. Just like the rest of us.