Dangerous climate change has arrived. Declaring a climate emergency is no longer just a question of taking steps to stop the escalation of catastrophes in the future, here in Australia we are now beginning to witness the impacts of the climate emergency right at our front doors.

The Climate Emergency Summit in Melbourne on 14-15 February 2020 was a powerful and almost overwhelming collective call to action from all corners of our society, and from both right and left sides of politics. I believe every single one of the two thousand people and one hundred speakers who were there would agree with me on this. It was impressive, inspirational, and important. There was a lot to take home and digest.

On the second day of the summit, two important national networks were formed to enhance climate leadership and work on creating policy certainty: Climate Emergency Australia – for councils in Australia, where there are now 95 councils that officially have declared a climate emergency, and the Safe Climate Declaration, which is a declaration you can support by going online and signing it.

The summit was live-streamed on YouTube, and these recordings are now made available in shorter segments, together with an additional set of audio recordings of the break-out sessions. There are so many of them – so many hours of listening and viewing, that again – its overwhelming in a positive sense.

What you’ll hear in The Sustainable Hour’s audio extract here are just a few of the highlights. Clover Moore’s, Peter Garrett’s, Adam Bandt’s opening speeches, and short excerpts from the hour-long panel discussions.

→ I recommend that you spend some time on viewing many more of the video recordings – they are all lined up on the summit’s YouTube channel

“The solution will come from lots and lots of small decisions. And a sustained effort.” ~ Shane Rattenbury, ACT minister for climate change and sustainability

Darebin Councillor Trent McCarthy’s speech about Climate Emergency Australia

Several of the speakers, including Adam Bandt and Peter Garrett, called for a ‘Climate War Cabinet’ in Parliament, and for a moratorium on fossil fuel projects. A price on carbon was also often called upon.

Wake up Oz. It’s the next 10 years that counts. #ClimateEmergency. ‘Antarctic heatwave melted 20 per cent of an island's snow cover in days https://t.co/EpXQq7p2aQ via @smh— Peter Garrett (@pgarrett) February 25, 2020