“Code red for humanity”

The latest IPCC report isn’t a death sentence, but it might be our final warning.

The world’s leading climate science organisation has just delivered a massive wake-up call they’re calling “code red for humanity”. This latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that the climate crisis is hitting even harder and faster than we previously thought.

It’s hard to read these kinds of reports, especially as a young person. I can feel the adrenaline hit me as I read about how Gulf Stream is showing signs of collapsing. I sense my body go into a fight-or-flight response as I see that we could pass 1.5°C heating in less than a decade — a dangerous threshold that governments previously agreed we needed to stay below to avoid the most serious fires, droughts, floods and cyclones. The climate crisis is here. I feel the fear and the anger in my bones.

But this report isn’t a death sentence, it’s a warning. It’s a warning against complacency and inaction. The only way to prevent climate breakdown is with a rapid and drastic reduction in emissions this decade. That means we need to start right now.

There is a huge gap between what the major parties are offering, and what the science is telling us needs to be done to solve the climate crisis. This is because they are captured by fossil fuel executives who use their money and their influence to block solutions and to enrich themselves. Politicians are hoping they can take the pressure off themselves with empty promises about zero emissions by 2050, but this report shows us that action can’t wait.

Our politicians don’t have a plan to solve the climate crisis, but we do. It’s the Climate Jobs Guarantee – and we won’t rest until we win it.

We’re fighting for a Climate Jobs Guarantee because that’s just what it will take to solve the climate crisis. Solving the climate crisis means cutting emissions as quickly as possible to stop the devastating impacts we can still stop. But it also means reducing the harm caused by the climate disasters this report makes clear we can no longer avoid.

There is so much work that needs to be done. We need to plant trees in our cities to keep them cool from the summer heat and we need community centres where we can shelter from bushfires. We need builders, planners and engineers to do the work of transforming our energy grid and making sure everyone has a house that is energy efficient and keeps them safe from the elements.

As the world looks towards the global climate conference (COP 26) in November and Australia prepares for a federal election soon – we need to push the Climate Jobs Guarantee to the top of the political agenda.

We’re going to make our voices heard with a series of escalating actions that will demonstrate the stakes of this crisis. Our movement will speak our truth and make sure we can’t be ignored.

Get started by signing up to our Online Speakout training on Saturday September 11th.

RSVP now to learn how to seize this moment, join with other young people in your area and hold our political leaders to account.

This is the fight of our lives. We are clear eyed about what it will take to rebuild an economy and a society that is grounded in justice. That’s why we fight until we will win real solutions to this crisis.

Rise with us.