Dr. Joëlle Gergis is an award-winning climate scientist and writer at the Australian National University. She served as a lead author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and is the author of Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia. Joëlle has also contributed chapters to The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg, and Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua.

“I guess removing the social license for the continued destruction of our planet has to shift. And this is where these social movements become really inspiring to think about it because it always just takes a small group of really committed people to shift a social norm. And I quote some research in the book, which basically says you only need about 25% of a population to shift a norm, and then the rest of the population goes with those progressive elements. So right now we're in this moment where we're basically saying No More Fossil Fuels. We are cooking the planet. This is what the world's scientific community - that's what we are saying. We're cooking the planet. We must stop. And I guess the challenge here is to get enough people from all over the world, from all different parts of society, not just the scientific community, because we're only just a very, very small fraction people that make up our communities, but we need to mobilize people in a huge way to vote for our politicians at every level. From the local to the federal level who are going to reflect our values around shifting to a sustainable future, and choosing to leave a legacy, which is more one of care and repair rather than just complete destruction.

And we owe it to the young people. There's a chapter in my book where I talk about intergenerational damage. I don't think it's fair to leave this burden on the shoulders of young people. We have to take that responsibility here and now for all of us in positions where we do have political power or economic power through the way we consume. We have to do what we can. It's really up to decision-makers and the people in power because they're really doing that to put pressure on our decision-makers. And I guess that's really where the rest of the community can play a role in that. And that's where I think it's quite exciting because that's how all social movements happen. That's how you get political."

http://joellegergis.com
https://climatehistory.com.au
www.blackincbooks.com.au/authors/jo-lle-gergis

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