Australia’s climate is already becoming hotter, more extreme and uncertain, and it’s projected to become increasingly inhospitable and dangerous unless we take transformative, positive action. The 2019/20 bushfires and other climatic extremes have also exposed existing vulnerabilities and inequalities that demand attention regardless of climate change.

Co-hosted by ANU and RMIT University, Climate Update Melbourne will present an overview of how our climate is changing, how it is impacting us, and how we need to respond.

Part 1 will present a snapshot of the latest climate research, including newly released data on how our climate has changed in 2019, as well as outline some key climate change impacts, including worsened air pollution.

Part 2 will focus on wellbeing, justice and decarbonisation. Offering insights from diverse researchers and practitioners, it will discuss how climate change is compounding existing social and environmental challenges and demands simultaneous changes in the health, legal, social services, energy and land sectors, among others.

If you’re interested in climate change, this is great opportunity to get an understanding of the latest developments, challenges and societal responses.

Part 1 – State of the Climate (5.30 – 6.30pm)

Introduction: Chair – Assoc Prof Lauren Rickards, Climate Change Transformations Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT

Global Climate Overview 2019 – Prof Mark Howden, Director, ANU Climate Change Institute

Climate impacts: The far-reaching effects of air pollution – Prof Sotiris Vardouloukis, Research School of Population Health, ANU

Audience Q&A

Part 2 – Responding to climate change (6.30 – 7.30pm)

Introduction: Chair – Karyn Bosomworth to the presentations

Health and climate change: key issues and questions – Assoc Prof Kathryn Bowen, Honorary Research Fellow, ANU

Fighting fossil fuel combustion: air pollution and environmental injustice – Bronya Lipski, Environmental Justice Australia

Working against the trauma multiplier: marginalised communities and degraded eco-systems – Dr. Bronwyn Lay, Climate Change Exchange RMIT and Jesuit Social Services

Decarbonising the air, decarbonising society, recarbonising land: mutual opportunities and challenges – Assoc Prof Lauren Rickards, Climate Change Transformations Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT

Audience Q&A.

Hosted by the Climate Change Transformations Research Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT & Australian National University Climate Change Institute.

Please only register if you genuinely intend to attend. If you find out later that you will be unable to make it, please log in and cancel your booking.

Image: Bushfire smoke over Melbourne. Image credit: Dave & Lorelle, Flickr