Australian Wooden Toy Maker Welcomes in the New Year with a plea for Action on Climate Change

Hi Everyone

Welcome to the New Year - 2020 sounds soooo futuristic!!

I hate starting the New Year on a sombre note but 2020 needs to be a year which changes history - we need real action to tackle the climate change emergency now upon Us.

Like all parents I'm concerned for our Kids future given the undeniable science around climate change and ever increasing rates of carbon dioxide and other green house gases in the atmosphere.

A glimpse of the future is now playing out here in Australia with many areas experiencing the earliest and worst bushfire season in history with climate change undoubtedly significantly contributing to this disaster. Our thoughts go out to all those communities and individuals who have lost love ones, cherished pets, animals, property and lively hoods. Our sincere condolences!

We send a big shout out and pat on the back to all the unpaid fire fighting volunteers and charity groups of the front line dealing with the fires and other climate emergency impacts. You guys and girls are real hero's!

I get the feeling these fires are a wake up call and most Australian's now recognise the lack of real action by Governments, Business, and to an extent ourselves as individuals, to significantly reduce greenhouse gases over the last 10 years has now caught up with Us.

This lack of action and Aussie "she'll be right" attitude  has not served Us well and is now having direct negative impacts on our every day lives, the natural environment and our economy. I think we can all agree a "business as usual approach" is now not an option!

Science has been telling Us for over 20 years the warming of the climate is almost certainly from human activities but unfortunately we have been slow to react and make change. This statement on the Scientific Consensus from NASA sums it up nicely -

"Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organisations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position" (https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/).

In anyone's language that's by far the majority so they win the vote with the obvious outcome being we all need to take urgent action to reduce our impacts on the natural environment and transition to more sustainable lifestyles.

To ensure we limit, as much as possible, any further changes to the climate to give our Kids a fighting chance of having a liveable environment we need to seriously commit to the following in order of priority:

• Reduce Consumption - buy less, buy smart, drive smaller cars, build smaller houses etc.;
• Re-use/ Re-purpose materials - look for alternative uses for unused items, buy better quality, longer lasting products; and
• Recycle - finally recycle as much as currently possible and request your local council increase the types of materials recycled.

In addition to the above big picture stuff; here's some great, easy idea's from Groups we support to get you started on your Climate Action journey today:

• Who Gives a Crap - 20 overlooked (but super impactful) ways to fight climate change
• Plastic Free July - What you can do - getting started
• Corena - Getting off Gas
• EverEarth - Plant a Tree for Every Toy Purchased

I hope this read has helped your motivation to join Us :) Let's all take action in our own lives to tackle this climate emergency to ensure our children's inherit the best possible natural environemnt we can give them.

Your's in Action for the Climate and our Kids Natural Environment.

Cheers

Greg Spedding

greengrub Toys Founder and Wooden Toy Maker