Interview: Ryan Batchelor chaired a Victorian State Government committee considering climate resilience - near two years of work resulted in a report of more than 450 pages

Australia's news services were alive today with stories about the country's first Climate Risk Assessment Report."Catastrophic forecast pushes case for Australia to spend big and cut hard on emissions";"Climate Risk Assessment's 'high risk' warning for 1 million Australian homes";"Queensland among most at-risk from sea level rises by 2050";"‘Alarmist’ or ‘terrifying’? New climate report divides parliament";"‘Like a Mad Max movie’: How hot it will really get in ‘unliveable Australia’";"Horrifying report paints grim picture of Australia’s future".

Haoning Xi (pictured), from the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle, has examined Australia's rail network in detail and sees investment now as it means of saving huge sums in the future. She has written about that on The Conversation: "Buckling rails and lines underwater: how Australia’s ageing train networks are crumbling as the climate changes".Haoning refers to the "Australasian Rail Network" as one source of information for her research.An advanced and sophisticiated rail newwork will play a significant role in helping Australia navigate the climate crisis.

Dr Linden Ashcroft (pictured) will explain the quickly evolving dynamics of climate change and what impacts we can expect in the Goulburn Valley when she appears as the keynote speaker at Tatura Transition Towns event - "Community to gather for a greener tomorrow at Transition Tatura event";"AI’s Massive Energy Demands" -  Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and clean energy reporter Dan Gearino as they discuss the mounting demand for electricity to power AI."Former UN climate chief urges Australia to set ‘prosperity’ target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2035".

Dr David McCoy (pictured) appears on a "Saving the World" webinar, emphasising the importance of good governance when it comes to global health.In this webinar, "Power, accountability and global health governance", Dr McCoy speaks about the principles of good global health governance, examining current and evolving power dynamics in global health and how accountability deficits need to be plugged to improve the quality and effectiveness of global health governance. In doing so, he highlights the role and accountability of powerful private actors in global health governance. He describes some of the work being done by the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH).

Ryan Batchelor (pictured) is the member for Melbourne's Southern Metropolitan in Victoria's Legislative Council and is the chair of the Environment and Planning Committee.Mr Batchelor and his committee spent nearly two years considering and preparing a report of more than 450 pages about the state's "Climate Resilience".Sadly, the committee's terms of reference for the study didn't allow it to consider mitigation, but rather adaptation in reference to the state's built environment.

Late U.S. stand-up comedian, George Carlin, joked about plastic and the fate of the planet, and this human creation is on the international agenda."The lifecycle of plastics, a modern wonder that is choking the planet";"Deadlocked on Plastic Pollution";"Flash floods kill more than 360 in Pakistan, India";"Canada’s Wildfire Season Is One of Its Worst Ever, and It’s Not Over Yet";"Cost of state’s renewable energy transmission plan predicted to double";"Intense rainfall, chilly nights and possible flooding on the way for Australia's east coast";"Soft plastics recycling looks set to return to supermarkets. Cutting back on plastic would be even better";"How could we clean up the algal bloom?";"Spain deploys hundreds of extra troops as it steps up efforts to bring wildfires under control";"A perfect firestorm";"El Paso’s Heat Is Killing in Record Numbers. It May Only Get Worse";"As the Great Salt Lake dries up, clouds of dangerous dust blow into boomtowns";"After a Drought Last Year, Ohio Farmers Wished for Rain. Now Downpours Are Destroying Their Crops";"Global Warming in Vogue, Deal With It!".

Dr David Holmes (pictured) is an upbeat, friendly and co-operative fellow who is the Managing Director and founder of "Climate Communications Australia".CCA, as it is known, can be found in the Melbourne building of the Royal Society of Victoria in the city's La Trobe Street.This episode had a less-than-positive start when a pre-arranged phone call to record the interview fell apart because of unusable audio.We arranged to meet in Melbourne and we quickly ran into trouble again when a busy Dr Holmes had forgotten the keys to his office and so we moved to a nearby coffee shop, which was a little noisy, but okay.More troubles - my inadequate knowledge of audio resulted in the gain in Dr Holmes' microphone being too low, and my microphone wasn't working at all.The resultant episode is a workaround, and while far from ideal, it still helps us better understand something about the important, and critical work of Climate Communications Australia

The Chair of the "Climate Resilience" report from the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee, Ryan Batchelor (pictured), said: "The impact of a changing climate on Victoria’s built environment is clear. Hotter summers leading to longer bushfire seasons, more intense rainfall events create new flooding patterns, coastal erosion continues apace, and we are experiencing more frequent high-intensity wind and storms.""56 million years ago, Earth underwent rapid global warming. Here’s what it did to pollinators";"Cricket under threat as Hit for Six climate change report highlights risks of extreme weather events";"Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas";"They Can’t Get Answers From the Oil Industry. North Dakota’s Oversight Program Hasn’t Helped.";"Stronger Target, Safer Future Webinar";"Why Complex Societies Collapse | Joseph Tainter";"Sweltering Heat Wave Hits Southern Europe";"If You Fly Economy, You’re Paying for Someone Else to Fly Private";"Fires burn throughout Europe";"How Short-Term Thinking Is Destroying America";"China’s EVs are dirt cheap. Its policymakers are concerned".

Ross Garnaut (pictured) is among those who have urged the Australian Government to use this month&#39;s roundtable discussions to boost Australia’s productivity and economy, and repair the budget as a platform to resurrect the carbon price - &quot;Economists want a carbon price comeback – but does Australia have the political courage?&quot;;&quot;Great Barrier Reef suffers sharp decline in coral coverage after &#39;unheard of&#39; heat events&quot;;&quot;Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching&quot;;&quot;Renewable Energy Fit for a Superpower&quot;;&quot;How to answer the argument that Australia’s emissions are too small to make a difference&quot;;&quot;The agency asked five climate skeptics to write a report criticizing the consensus on global warming. Scientists are pointing out its errors.&quot;;&quot;Candidate Trump Promised Oil Executives a Windfall. Now, They’re Getting It.&quot;;&quot;Changes in Nature’s Symphony Can Reflect Climate Impacts&quot;:&quot;Australian researchers discover two invasive weeds have the potential to be burned as biofuel&quot;;&quot;Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching&quot;;&quot;World’s biggest coral survey confirms sharp decline in Great Barrier Reef after heatwave&quot;;&quot;These students cut air pollution near their schools – by taking aim at their parents’ idling cars&quot;;&quot;What would a climate model made from music sound like? This team of artists and scientists has created one&quot;;&quot;TSI&#39;s Submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable&quot;;&quot;August to bring more rain and snow, but for farmers it’s ‘storm Lotto’&quot;;&quot;These kids want climate action. Here are the cutting questions they’re asking CEOs&quot;;&quot;Ten Victorian towns to lose piped gas as operator says network is too expensive&quot;;&quot;UN plastic pollution talks must result in ambitious treaty, leading expert says&quot;;&quot;‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain&quot;;&quot;Heat, work, and worry: How is outdoor employment linked to concern about extreme heat?&quot;;&quot;Walkable Cities, Neighborhoods = Happy Communities&quot;;&quot;Energy Dept. Attacks Climate Science in Contentious Report&quot;;&quot;Australia&#39;s Bid for COP31: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care &quot;;&quot;New National Climate Risk Assessment – more omission than commission?&quot;;&quot;Clean energy subsidies should be replaced with ‘market-based incentives’ from 2030, Australia’s Productivity Commission says&quot;;&quot;Threat of Nuclear War Is Rising, But Scientists Say the Public Can Change That&quot;;&quot;&#39;A bellwether of change’: speed of glacier shrinking on remote Heard Island sounds alarm&quot;;&quot;5 ingenious things trees do that human designers can learn from&quot;;&quot;Romania to access EU funds to help areas affected by devastating floods, PM says&quot;;&quot;Offshore wind leasing is officially dead under Trump&quot;;&quot;Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation&quot;;&quot;Woman swept away in flood waters in Hunter region as emergency services respond to more than 1,450 calls&quot;;&quot;Going to waste: two years after REDcycle’s collapse, Australia’s soft plastics are hitting the environment hard&quot;;&quot;Troubling Scenes From an Arctic in Full-Tilt Crisis&quot;;&quot;Greening of Antarctica Is Another Sign of Significant Climate Shift on the Frozen Continent&quot;;&quot;Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave&quot;;&quot;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/unusually-high-number-of-jellyfish-arrive-in-uk-seas?utm_term=688efe67acc6fc4ebbef3ca6ec20264c&utm_campai

Dubbo lawyer, Claire Booth (pictured), told the July 23 Bendigo &quot;National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo&quot; that farmers and their counterparts were living through a time of exponential changeMs Booth was speaking at a session entitled &quot;Large-scale energy transition - tax law, insurance, agrivoltaics and hosting transmission&quot;.With her on the panel were Billy Greenham from &quot;Coagency&quot;, Andrew Bomm from &quot;Progressive Agriculture&quot;, Yvette Lloyd from &quot;EnergyCo&quot; and a cropping farmer who was hosting transmission lines and wind turbines, Simon Tickner.