How do we cope with our new reality?

Like everyone else that went back to work last week, I was only half here.

My carefully curated list of “January tasks” has been hijacked by constant refreshing of Vic Emergency - ABC News - Facebook etc, as I try to get my head around what is going on. It feels unreal that we, here in Australia, are watching our country burn for months on end; hazardous air choking our towns and cities, whole ecosystems of plants and animals destroyed, and no real solutions in sight.

If I was watching TV I’d be looking for the remote to turn off this absurd doomsday flick.

During the Climate Strike in back in September I shared a post from Neighbourlytics quoting Greta Thunberg - “Our house is burning, Let’s act like it”.

At the time this quote struck me as the right way to express the necessary sense of urgency, to snap people into action. At the time the impacts were abstract and change seemed possible [internal flinch].

And I felt like we were making change – everyone was talking about action. Cycling and car sharing have become cool, green buildings and ‘resilience’ are now staples in our urban strategies, and even Queensland banned plastic bags, clearly we were getting somewhere right? 

But my hard working filter bubble had me fooled. Here we are, three months on from my newsfeed full of “progress”, and what is screaming in my face is how hollow our conversations and impotent our actions have been. 

It’s too late. We lost the race that we never really started. The race I were taught since primary school in the 90s: turn off the lights, use unleaded fuel, choose public transport, eat less beef. If we do all the things, then we can turn it around. 

As an urban planner I have spent nearly 20 years in an industry trusted to make decisions that shape people’s lives. The economic, physical and social contexts that enables society to flourish are governed by our urban planning policies. And for decades urban planning practitioners have been advocating for the sensitive urban growth patterns, building design, transport investment, and natural environment management necessary to minimise the climate impacts we are seeing today. But for whatever [*cough* political] reasons our warnings and advice have fallen on deaf ears.

I’ve spent 20 years feel disillusioned and frustrated, and now I’m just furious.

The time has come for us to stop pretending our forests are still pristine and our reef isn’t dead. As I sit here in 2020, our house is now actually on fire, it’s time for us to start running. 

So rather than stare out the window at the haze-wrapped city, I’m adding my two-cents to the ‘what next’ conversation. From where I sit, these are the top three ways for us to shift the dial, and minimised the damage of climate change:

1.    Focus on strong communities to create resilience.

Physical rebuild in the wake of disaster is essential, but community-led planning can also have hugely positive impacts in long term disaster recovery and community health. If we prioritise community strength - perhaps even ahead of hard infrastructure - in our urban and regional planning decision, we can build resilience in our most vulnerable communities, ensuring they have the best chance of surviving the acute shocks of our future.

2.    Take a holistic view on environmental management approaches.

Not bicker about whether we should or shouldn’t sweep the forest floor, but make urgent changes to the way we manage and deplete our natural resources. Cutting down trees contributes to 20% of Greenhouse Gas emissions globally (2007 figures) and urban sprawl is a major contributor to land clearing and factor in per capita carbon footprints. We can make immediate changes to the way we manage these assets that can create real impact in the short term.

3.    Support businesses that take action.

We don’t have to wait for our politicians to set the plan. As business leaders, employees and consumers we can all influence how our economy functions with respect to climate change. Businesses already know that their consumers - particularly millennials - increasingly favour organisations that are socially and environmentally responsible, and many leading Australian corporations are taking big stances on environmental policies. As public response to these bushfires continues, I'll be watching for - and supporting - businesses that go beyond a monetary wildlife pledge, and step up in making real change in their organisations.

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I continue to will the fires to end, the rains to come and the temperature to drop. But if the next few weeks and months of Australian summer continue as predicted, what action are you going to take?