Intrepid Science Blog

Sydney declares a climate emergency – what does that mean in practice? Chris Turney , UNSW Late on Monday night, the City of Sydney became the second state capital in Australia (after Hobart a week earlier ) to officially declare a climate emergency . With climate change considered a threat to human life, Sydney councillors unanimously supported a motion put forward by Lord Mayor Clover Moore to mobilise city resources to reduce carbon emissions and minimise the impact of future change. The decision sees Sydney join a variety of local and national governments around the world, in a movement that is increasingly gaining momentum . In total, some 658 local governments around the world have made the same declaration, with the UK and Canada committing their national governments to the global movement in just the past two months . An official declaration of climate emergency puts a government on a “wartime mobilisation” that places climate change at the centre of policy and plannin...

UK becomes first country to declare a 'climate emergency' Days of protest by Extinction Rebellion have brought parts of London to a standstill. Shutterstock Chris Turney , UNSW On Wednesday night a bipartisan UK Parliament passed an extraordinary measure: a national declaration of an Environment and Climate Emergency. The UK is the first national government to declare such an emergency. The decision marks a renewed sense of urgency in tackling climate change, following a visit to Parliament by teenage activist Greta Thunberg , the broadcast of David Attenborough’s documentary Climate Change: The Facts and 11 days of protest by environmental group Extinction Rebellion that paralysed parts of London . Read more: Extinction Rebellion: disruption and arrests can bring social change There are now some 49 million people living under national, city and local declarations of a climate emergency aro...

Australia’s epic story: a tale of amazing people, amazing creatures and rising seas We have so much more to learn about Australia. Shutterstock/Lev Savitskiy Michael Bird , James Cook University ; Alan Cooper , University of Adelaide ; Chris Turney , UNSW ; Darren Curnoe , UNSW ; Lynette Russell , Monash University , and Sean Ulm , James Cook University The Australian continent has a remarkable history — a story of isolation, desiccation and resilience on an ark at the edge of the world. It is a story of survival, ingenuity, and awe-inspiring achievements over many years. Shortly after the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, Australia was torn from the supercontinent of Gondwana by immense tectonic forces and began its long, lonely, journey north towards the equator . The lush temperate forests of Gondwana slowly disappeared as the Australian landmass pushed north, preserving a snapshot of faunal life from a much earlier evoluti...