– but never mentioned the words ‘climate’, ‘carbon emissions’ or ‘fossil fuels’
– so why is media treating them as if they are?
2025 was a bruising year for climate science and environmental progress. We are heading in the wrong direction. It is time to take stock and get our act together. Yet our public broadcasters, ABC and SBS, are fundamentally failing to support the public understanding required for this shift to occur.
What is happening in the United States alone is enough to make it feel as though history is moving backwards, not forwards. In 2025, we saw fossil fuel interests getting louder, better funded, and more entrenched than ever. As states built on fossil economies increasingly drop the pretence, climate policy is under pressure everywhere. The transition away from fossil fuels has become a battleground in its own right – locally, nationally, and globally.
As a result, the United Nations’ international climate negotiations have become increasingly detached from the science they were supposed to reflect. It is not climate change that keeps politicians up at night. It is geopolitical instability, violence and economic concerns.
Meanwhile, the emissions already in our atmosphere are doing exactly what scientists have warned about for decades: heating the planet, acidifying the oceans, and intensifying heatwaves, fires, floods, droughts and storms. In some places, devastation is followed by the slow and painful work of recovery. In others, especially in fragile ecosystems, the damage is permanent.
Tropical coral reefs are among the clearest examples. They are the canaries in the coal mine of the climate crisis. Even in the most optimistic scenario – where we act decisively from this moment onwards – we may still lose them. That is not a distant future problem. It is unfolding now, and as climate scientist Johan Rockström wrote recently, today’s global coral bleaching events are the worst kind of warning, because they signal that critical systems are already crossing thresholds from which there may be no return.
Record temperatures – again – in Australia
Australia does not need abstract examples to understand this reality. The southern part of the country has entered 2026 in an inferno of fires, burning 289 homes to the ground, while up towards 65,000 cattle have drowned in record floods in the northern part of the country.
In the past week alone, fire danger across Victoria reached its worst levels since Black Summer in 2019–20. ‘Catastrophic’ and ‘Extreme’ fire conditions blanketed large parts of the state – circumstances in which your life may depend on the decisions you make in a matter of minutes.
At the same time, many locations recorded their hottest January temperatures ever. Renmark reached 47.3°C. Loxton hit 46.2°C. Hopetoun in Victoria’s Mallee reached 46.3°C.
The Victorian Government responded by declaring a “state of disaster”. But the more honest phrase is that we are living in a state of climate disaster. One that political and business leaders have knowingly imposed on society.
Media silence and its consequences
What struck me during that week was not just the severity of the conditions, but the silence surrounding their cause. I followed the media closely. I spoke with neighbours, friends and people in the community. Not once did I hear a newsreader or reporter say the obvious: unless we change our energy system and end our dependence on fossil fuels, these fires will become worse, year after year, decade after decade.
I keep wondering why making that connection – between disaster and policy – is treated as optional, or even inappropriate, at precisely the moment when public attention is most focused. This is when clarity matters most. This is when education matters most. When that connection is not made, the public is left with fear, but without context, agency or direction.
The ABC and SBS, our public broadcasters issue warnings about weather, fires, and floods, but they ignore their civic duty to inform about the cause of these climate impacts, and about climate solutions and the urgency for change. In Denmark, public broadcasters DR and TV2 routinely link extreme weather to climate causes and policy choices. So why shouldn’t this be possible in Australia?
Instead, the failure to explain allows a confrontational culture of denial and delay to flourish. With renewed momentum from the United States under Trump, fossil fuel expansion is again being framed as strength, realism, even patriotism. It is winning influence. And votes.
According to a Demos AU poll, Pauline Hanson’s anti-renewables climate-denying One Nation party has around 23 per cent of first-preference support nationally – roughly at level with the Coalition, and behind only Labor.
Decades of deferred responsibility
Politicians cannot claim they did not see the climate havoc coming. They have known what they need to do for a very long time. As far back as 1988, scientists gathered in Australia and explained in detail to the politicians and the public what would happen if we continued burning fossil fuels and destroying forests. The CSIRO warned that over the following decades, rising greenhouse gas concentrations would disrupt rainfall patterns, intensify storms, and reshape the climate itself.
Initially, politicians at the time acknowledged the science. In 1990, Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced a target to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2005. Had that commitment been honoured, Australia’s emissions from energy, transport and industry – excluding land use and forestry – would have fallen steadily through the 1990s to around 390 million tonnes by 2005. Instead, they rose sharply, reaching roughly 560 million tonnes. Australia did not merely miss its own early climate target, it moved decisively in the opposite direction, allowing emissions to continue to rise for the next two decades.
The climate disasters we are now living through are not the result of bad luck or unforeseen events – they are the delayed consequences of political choices made in full knowledge of the risks.
Had that path been followed – in Australia and globally – we would not be facing today’s disastrous level of fires, floods and storms. But the courage failed. The lobby voice from the fossil fuel industry grew louder, and misinformation started to be produced and distributed.
As a result, successive governments chose delay. Responsibility was deferred. The can was kicked down the road from one election cycle to the next, while long-term goals were announced and then quietly abandoned.
Political and business leaders bear direct responsibility for this failure. But responsibility does not end there. Voters who repeatedly elected leaders committed to delay also carry part of the burden. Climate breakdown is not something that is “happening to us”. It is something that people with names and faces decided to allow.
Responsibility across generations
That is why questions like “Where will this end? Will society collapse?” or “Will we even survive this escalating climate disaster?” are the wrong ones to ask. Many of us have already brought children into this world. Responsibility begins with acknowledging that reality – and then acting accordingly. Accepting that responsibility and accountability is the minimum we owe those who come after us.
This is about values and morals. Historian Rutger Bregman calls for a moral revolution in his 2025 BBC Reith Lectures: a strategic alliance of decent people committed to concrete, achievable reforms that restore humanity to our institutions, our businesses and our politics. He points out that again and again that history shows that even small groups of committed people can change the course of societies.
The fires and floods are the consequences of what has already been decided decades ago. The remaining question is whether we are willing to meet this moment with honesty and a deeper shift in how we understand ourselves as part of a shared, living world.
A collective mindset shift
If we are serious about an energy system shift that matches the scale of the crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear that technology alone will not get us there. What is required is a collective mindset shift – and that means engaging with culture, values, and possibly even the deeper layers of meaning that shape how societies understand their place in the world.
In a recent speech, climate scientist and spiritual thinker Lisa Graumlich offered a powerful articulation of what genuinely transformational change demands. Her message moves far beyond technical fixes or incremental reforms. It asks us to rethink how we see ourselves in relation to the Earth – to shift from extraction and individualism towards belonging, interdependence and shared responsibility.
At its core is the recognition that the climate crisis is not just a technical problem with technical solutions. It is a crisis of values and perception. A failure to see Earth as a living system to which we belong, rather than an object to be managed or exploited.
This kind of change requires us to mentally rise to a new level of awareness and connection. Individual actions matter, but they are insufficient without cultural transformation. Meaningful change emerges from shared understanding, solidarity and collective engagement – not from isolated guilt or narrow consumer choices.
Climate safety a shared responsibility
From there, the path leads inevitably to politics. Inner transformation must translate into collective decisions and public policy. Not just policy tweaks, but political systems that genuinely reflect a commitment to the common good, ecological justice, and a future in which communities can flourish together. That ultimately means changing governments, because values without power remain aspirations.
Those of us working for climate action need to recognise need to realise that climate safety does not start with political reform and policy-making. It starts with a large number of us acknowledging our shared responsibility. This demands nothing less than a transformation of values, culture – and political power. That shift, however, is unlikely to occur unless our public broadcasters recognise and fulfil their responsibility as civic educators in a time of crisis.
“Mother Nature’s fury has unleashed again.”
That was all 7NEWS’ reporter could figure out to tell their viewers about the “freak deluge” which hit Lorne in Victoria… “Mother Nature’s future has unleashed again.”
“This is what summer has become – and it is not an accident.”
~ ABC radio interviewee
These ABC Melbourne radio clips highlight how two of their interviewees would like to talk with the radio host about climate change, but are being ignored by the hosts. The online editor who posts the report on Instagram also chooses to silence the climate aspect of this discussion.
→ Wired – 29 December 2025:
The Earth Is Nearing an Environmental Tipping Point
“Today’s global coral bleaching events are the worst kind of climate warning.”
→ Centre for Climate Safety – 15 April 2025:
Unlocking the green transition in Australia
“Learning from Denmark: To drive climate action and solutions, we need a unifying, positive language.”
→ The New Daily – 9 january 2026:
One Nation hits historic high in bombshell opinion poll
“Right-wing minor party One Nation’ s popularity has skyrocketed with Australian voters to tie it with the coalition for the first time.”
→ Centre for Climate Safety – 6 July 2018:
Climate policy procrastination’s 30 year anniversary
“Climate policy procrastination can now celebrate its 30 year anniversary in Australia and the United States. Consequently is should be no surprise that we are now beginning to see statements such as these from the scientific community: “At this point, we are into damage control”.”
→ Centre for Climate Safety – 18 October 2019:
‘Time for citizens to act’ – climate history
“This blogpost documents who through more than half a century, we – humanity, but in particular: our elected leaders and business leaders – have knowingly chosen to ignore the warnings from the scientists about global warming and its catastrophic impact on the planet’s climate.”
→ BBC World Service – 16 December 2025:
Are we living through the fall of civilisation? | The Reith Lectures 2025
“In the first of four 2025 BBC Reith Lectures titled ‘A Time of Monsters’, the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman asks what can be done to counter the moral decay of today’s un-serious elites.”
→ Lisa Graumlich on Substack – 22 December 2025:
Thin places: Climate change and seeing Earth whole
“This talk is my effort to convene that kind of gathering – bringing together Earth system science and multiple wisdom traditions, prophetic witness and the long view, the clarity of data and the poetry of cycles. It’s about eco-conversion: moving from ego to eco, from extraction to belonging, from individual action to collective transformation. Published on the winter solstice, 2025 – a thin time for reflection and turning.”
Better late than never
UPDATE: On 14 January 2026, three days later, ABC News finally did publish an interview that placed the disastrous bushfires in an appropiate perspective:
The growing toll of ‘unnatural’ disasters on Australia’s economy
“Scientists have warned of the disastrous consequences of climate change on the environment, but experts say the economic impacts are also a major concern. Climate Councillor and economist Nicki Hutley says insurance losses caused by frequent ‘unnatural’ disasters have cost Australians billions of dollars, and warns climate inaction would be more costly than funding net zero initiatives.”
“Nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
“The actual story of climate change is one about coordinated power, deliberate deception, and a bought-off government that repeatedly acts to promote an industry that is poisoning humans and the environment for profit.”
~ Emily Atkin, Heated newsletter editor
→ ABC – 14 January 2026:
Our changing climate in 2025 in pictures and graphs as Australia kicks off year with extreme heat, fires
“Extreme heat, droughts, storms and deadly floods challenged resilience not only in Australia, but across the globe.”
Better climate education in schools
“Schools are on the frontline of a changing world. Climate disruption is already reshaping the lives of young people, fuelling distress, apathy and uncertainty about the future. Yet the education system is still built on assumptions of stability it can no longer deliver.”
Climate Courage Schools is a UK-based national initiative that calls for a more honest, emotionally grounded and empowering approach to climate education in schools.
The initiative has emerged in response to a growing gap between the realities young people are facing as the climate crisis accelerates and the way climate change is currently taught in most education systems.
The initiative is led by Climate Courage Schools and sits within the wider work of the Climate Majority Project. Its central argument is that schools are still largely preparing students for a stable and predictable future, despite mounting evidence that today’s young people will instead live through profound environmental, social and economic disruption. Climate Courage Schools argues that education must catch up with this reality.
Rather than focusing only on climate science or abstract targets, the initiative emphasises emotional literacy, psychological support and practical engagement. It encourages schools to create space for students to talk openly about fear, grief and anxiety related to climate change, while also helping them build resilience, connection and a sense of agency. The aim is not to overwhelm students, but to equip them to meet difficult truths without despair.
In 2025, following six months of consultation with teachers, unions, mental-health professionals, academics and climate-education organisations, the campaign formally launched alongside a mini report. The process revealed strong support for a more emotionally attuned approach, but also highlighted a key barrier: teachers themselves are under-resourced. Many are expected to teach climate change without adequate training, guidance or time, and often while managing their own emotional responses to the crisis.
As a result, the campaign has sharpened its focus on teacher training and systemic support as the gateway to wider change. Climate Courage Schools argues that curriculum reform and adaptation projects will not succeed unless educators are properly supported to deliver climate education that is honest, empowering and emotionally safe.
The initiative has gained endorsements from a growing number of organisations across climate science, education and mental health, including Imperial College London Climate Cares Centre and professional education bodies. It has also partnered with a UK production company to create a campaign film that centres the emotional pressures faced by teachers, alongside a series of case studies showcasing schools already integrating climate learning with wellbeing, nature connection and community resilience.
While Climate Courage Schools is rooted in the UK context, its relevance is global. In Australia, as elsewhere, educators are grappling with how to teach climate change truthfully without increasing distress, and how to support students who are already experiencing climate impacts firsthand.
The Climate Courage approach offers one possible model: an education system that treats climate change not only as a scientific issue, but as a lived reality that requires emotional skills, collective meaning-making and pathways for constructive action.
As debates continue about curriculum reform and youth mental health, Climate Courage Schools contributes to a wider international conversation about what it truly means to prepare young people to adapt and thrive in a rapidly destabilising world.