It's early March, and we've have another round of severe weather warnings for the Far South Coast. This past week - March 14 - the news has been full of devastating images and stories of record-smashing floods in New South Wales and Queensland. For many of us, this has made us recall the chaos, isolation and fear we felt during the devastating Black Summer bushfires.
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It's hard to feel safe these days, with climate change turbocharging extreme weather events. On what should have been a regular work day, the weather warnings made me contemplate whether it was safe to take my daughter into Moruya Preschool. A large tree - just 50 metres from the preschool - had fallen and taken down the power lines. Thanks to the community-run Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA), the preschool is now a climate haven, with battery-powered back-up electricity to help provide a safe shelter in times of heatwaves, bushfires or, like today, severe storms.
Over the past few turbulent years SHASA volunteers have rolled up their sleeves and got on with building a more resilient Eurobodalla. They've been on the ground promoting use of active and electric transport and encouraging re-use and repair through the Moruya Repair Café. And they've secured significant grant funding to retrofit six community facilities into heatwave and bushfire havens.
SHASA played a prominent role in the Climate and Jobs Forum held in Moruya on March 10. Hosted by Gilmore MP Fiona Phillips and attended by Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, it brought community members together to talk climate, resilience and local jobs. SHASA president Kathryn Maxwell and Batemans Bay oyster farmer Claire McCash spoke on a panel, as did I - representing Doctors for the Environment Australia.
The Labor representatives spoke about the economic benefits of tackling climate action and outlined the party's Powering Australia Plan, which includes provisions for 400 community batteries, including one at Maloney's Beach, Batemans Bay. The batteries, critical to a healthy grid and energy resilience, will be welcome in Eurobodalla, as local power outages during the Black Summer bushfires lasted for weeks.
Kathryn Maxwell told the gathering that Eurobodalla Shire still produced 438,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
"With strategic federal government assistance, we could significantly increase our adoption of low emissions technology - community batteries, solar farms, EVs and microgrids," Ms Maxwell said. "Local businesses will install and maintain this technology - meaning local jobs.
"We need a federal government that will partner with the community to transition to the new economy and tap into the amazing opportunities, especially in renewables. SHASA calls on the federal government to fund a network of community power hubs to provide technical and project support to leverage community energy projects."
Local Oyster Farmer Claire McCash shared her experience of the climate impacts on oyster farms.
"Oysters need healthy clean river water and these significant floods bring in contaminants resulting in extended shutdowns on oyster harvesting," Ms McCash said. "Governments need to do more to protect catchments from inappropriate development to protect the oyster industry."
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As a family doctor, I spoke about the unfolding reality of the climate crisis and its health impacts. Alongside increasingly extreme weather events, one of the biggest consequence for our health is rising temperatures and heatwaves. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, we are heading towards catastrophic heating of over 2 degrees (against pre-industrial temperatures) by the time my children are adults. At this point, unless we drastically cut emissions this decade, it will be extremely dangerous to play or work outside for weeks at a time in summer, food shortages will become common and tropical mosquito-borne diseases will extend into our regions. Not surprisingly, climate change is contributing to distress, anxiety and depression. I see it in my own patients, particularly parents and young people.
As I told the forum audience, there is still hope for a cure: real, ambitious, job-rich action on climate. Not far-off pledges or false technology, but science-backed solutions coupled with transformational action - the benefits of which will make us healthier, smarter and liver longer.
I have hope that we can change the climate narrative - from gloom and doom to a jobs boom. Let's emerge from the unprecedented fires and floods united and make 2022 the year of unprecedented climate action. And let's use our vote this federal election, to vote for urgent, ambitious climate action for the safety of us all.
Dr Michelle Hamrosi is a family doctor working in Broulee and a member of SHASA.
