Tropical Cyclone Winston was one of the most terrifying experiences I have ever been through. I live on the western side of Viti Levu, in Nadi. On Saturday night, by the time the sun went down, the wind had began howling and it was bucketing down. The electricity went off. Within a few hours, the concrete walls of our apartment were shaking. The light and fan fittings in our ceiling came loose and water started gushing through them. We couldn't go outside, because trees and signs and bits of people's roofs were flying around.
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hearing a lot of bad news recently, so let's start there. Here's a random sampling of some of the big bad stories of 2016 so far (well, actually, the last week).
If lying about the nitrogen oxide emissions of 11 million of its cars were not bad enough, German carmaker Volkswagen shocked us again when it revealed it had understated the CO2 emissions of its cars in Europe as well.
If you had a policy that delivered billions worth of investment in Australian industry, created tens of thousands of jobs, cut living costs for Australians and worked to build the infrastructure of the future all while fighting climate change - what would you do?
Climate change is not a faraway nightmare. It’s real, it’s here, and it’s changing the way humans live. We’re seeing the effects all around us - polar ice melting, sea level rising and extreme weather events.
Since Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu and the Pacific in March, 75,000 people have been left in dire need of emergency shelter and other goods to restore their lives and homes.
