Vice-President, Human Resources Nicole Gower provides advice to staff on participation in the Global Climate Strike.
A rally by school students in support of action on climate change will be held in the Domain on Friday, 20 September from 12.00 midday to 2.00pm. A similar rally was held earlier this year.
Macquarie University will support staff and students wishing to participate in this rally, by providing the same arrangements as earlier in the year. These arrangements were:
- Staff wishing to participate should discuss attendance with their manager, and apply for appropriate leave for the period of absence (this could be flexible hours, annual leave or, in part, a meal break).
- The University will seek to accommodate staff who wish to participate, provided that normal University operations should not be impacted by any such absences. Student services and experience need to be maintained during this period.
- As far as reasonably possible the University will also accommodate students who wish to attend the action.
Questions about this issue should be directed to your Human Resources contact.
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Yes, I am aware of that 97% figure which I have also looked into. It is misleading for two reasons:
1) It includes those who do not believe the influence is major or harmful, i.e. in need of drastic or even any immediate action; and
2) Numbers of Academics who have researched that figure have found the 97% to be incorrect and an exaggeration and that the real figure is 85% maximum, likely less. I suppose 3% dissent is easier to dismiss than 15% or more.
The biggest concern however is the 100% failure rate over the last fifty years of the climate catastrophe forecasts of what was going to happen by the year 2000 and even now by 2020 from climate scientists.
Climate change might be real, humans having much to do with it is dubious and no one should be rallying or striking unless they know the arguments against anthropomorphic climate change and why they are not valid. Having looked at both sides the arguments against remain, at this stage, more compelling.
Hi Mark, multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that more than 97% agree that climate warming trends are extremely likely due to human activities:
J. Cook, et al, “Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming,” Environmental Research Letters Vol. 11 No. 4, (13 April 2016); DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002
Quotation from page 6: “The level of scientific agreement on AGW is overwhelmingly high because the supporting evidence is overwhelmingly strong.”
J. Cook, et al, “Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature,” Environmental Research Letters Vol. 8 No. 2, (15 May 2013); DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024
Quotation from page 3: “Among abstracts that expressed a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the scientific consensus. Among scientists who expressed a position on AGW in their abstract, 98.4% endorsed the consensus.”
W. R. L. Anderegg, “Expert Credibility in Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 107 No. 27, 12107-12109 (21 June 2010); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003187107.
P. T. Doran & M. K. Zimmerman, “Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union Vol. 90 Issue 3 (2009), 22; DOI: 10.1029/2009EO030002.
N. Oreskes, “Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” Science Vol. 306 no. 5702, p. 1686 (3 December 2004); DOI: 10.1126/science.1103618.
I think we all agree that the processes of climate change are complex and intertwined which makes it easy to sow doubt, and cite arguments for or against – whatever suits our personal world view and interests best. And yes, to date it is still difficult to ascribe climate events definitely to human or naturally based causes. But, the fact is that human population is rising and resource scarceness will cause more inequality, inequality will cause more susceptibility of disadvantaged societies to any climate event, and this again will cause more inequality. Further, it is a matter of fact that resources (fossil fuels) eventually will run out, global health will decline due to pollution of oceans, air and soil and unstable ecosystems (posing huge financial burden on our health system). So whether or not climate change is anthropomorphic or not, the status quo to which particularly ‘we from rich societies’ hold on so tightly, will fade. Our economies and living styles are simply not sustainable. So the question is, why do we still ponder about whether climate change is real and anthropomorphic, instead of starting to work effectively and collectively towards a sustainable world. And not to forget, convenient solutions/technologies that allow us to pursue a high quality lifestyle already exist. But as long as we keep pondering this same question, there will be no action to implement those solutions.