Hard questions about climate action

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has confirmed we are going to pass 1.5C of global warming and called for “redoubled efforts” to stay within 1.8C.

This term our group is looking at some of the 'hard questions' around climate action: do we need ‘degrowth’ (reducing production and consumption)? In particular, should we reduce climate damaging activities, like flying and eating meat?

We are grateful to the facilitator of the Merri-bek U3A Social Issues Learning Circle (SILC) for starting this discussion and sharing his ideas with us. We are now working on a paper that will look at some of these questions and we hope to discuss them in more detail in one of our later meetings this term.

When the paper is finished we should be able to publish it here and share with others, including the SILC and other Merri-bek U3A members. It should be a fascinating and challenging ongoing discussion.

Cool new stuff

Cool roofs

Heatwaves and ‘urban heat islands’ are major concerns, especially for older people. Airconditioning can help, but moves heat to surrounding areas. 'Cool roofs' that could make surroundings as well as buildings cooler are therefore of great interest.

One of our members found an article of interest in The Economist (unfortunately paywalled but can be accessed by subscribers). The Guardian also has a free to access article .

The cool roofs use heat reflecting paints, which not only prevent heat from entering the house, but also help to keep the surroundings cooler. It is estimated they may reduce temperatures in urban areas by up to 2C.

In Melbourne, there are still issues to consider, as our peak energy demand is now in winter. Therefore reflecting heat may not be such a priority from the point of view of savings to an individual householder. However, as global warming continues and our cities get denser and more prone to urban heat island effects, it will be increasingly important not just for individual savings but for community health and wellbeing.

The City of Melbourne has an interesting project about use of roof space, including support for cool roofs and green roofs (note this information appears to date from 2024-25 so may not include the latest developments in cool roofs).

Solar building materials and balcony solar

The idea that everyday building materials could be adapted to produce solar energy is an emerging topic of interest. 

In this respect it was interesting to see some of the new research at the Melbourne Energy Institute Symposium recently, including the poster below, which discusses how a coating could be applied to windows to collect light that could be used to generate solar power.

As the poster says, it could be particularly relevant for high-rise buildings, which have limited roof space but a lot of windows.

Picture of poster displayed at Melbourne Energy Institute Symposium, explaining how coating applied to windows could collect light for generating solar energy.

Another development of interest is 'balcony solar' - solar panels that can be clipped on to balconies, which again would be particularly relevant in high-rise buildings. They would also be of interest for renters, since they could own the panels and could take them with them if they need to move.

Balcony solar is now used in Europe and UK, and is being currently considered for use in Australia. We would need new regulations and standards for its use, but there appears to be no reason this could not be done. Watch this space (and for a similar topic, 'plug-in batteries', which we will try to look at later).

Data centres and AI - Need to Know

With increasing use of AI (artificial intelligence) huge growth in data centres is predicted. Data centres are major users of energy and water, as well as producing noise and light. Many people are objecting and calling for a moratorium on new data centres and extensions of existing ones.

Our U3A group will hold a forum on this topic on Monday 16th November, led by Dr Sarah Webber from Melbourne University.

Other members of Merri-bek U3A are welcome to come, as it is an emerging issue we need to know about, especially with an election coming up soon.

If you would like to come you can can enrol in the group via the Merri-bek U3A website. We have vacancies and it is OK to enrol just for this meeting if you wish. You can also contact me (Val, tutor) or other members of the group about coming as a visitor.

Search engines push us to use AI -
but what are the costs?

Some background information about data centres is available here from the Climate Council.

There has also been widespread publicity about residents successfully objecting to the extension of a data centre in Footscray.

As well the climate and energy implications outlined by the Climate Council, there are also social and environmental implications. Data centres are often large industrial buildings, which emit constant ambient noise and light, including at night. There are also concerns about dust, air pollution and loss of home value.

We are now in the election period in Victoria and we may wish to ask what our state government is proposing to do about data centres, as well as about federal government proposals.

With the increasing use of AI, data centres are predicted to grow enormously. The two topics are connected and it is important to think critically about AI as well. AI is being heavily promoted but we need to recognise not only the risks from AI use, but also that a lot of money has been invested in its development, and there are huge vested interests trying to promote it to us.

All these topics will be open for discussion on Monday and this post will be updated with further information following the forum.

Events in Spring 2026 - updates and reactions

The All Energy Conference was on between 28-29 October, which is the major Renewable Energy Conference of the year, with many speakers. We may get a report on that later.

On 28th October, the Melbourne Energy Institute held a day long free Symposium 26 at Melbourne Uni, where researchers presented on their projects. 

There was also an environmental film festival on 25-28 October at Queen Victoria Women’s Centre in Melbourne.

I visited the poster display at Symposium 26 - a few photos of posters that I found of interest are below

The first two are relevant to proposed off shore wind, one is about recreating some of the sea floor conditions (particularly habitat for fish species), the second is about the stability of turbines

As I have recently been reading Thea Roifrancos Extraction, which looks at the processes of obtaining resources for the "green capitalism" that is producing much of our renewable energy, I was interested in the following poster about recovering metals from lithium-ion batteries

Producing enough energy from renewables to meet Melbourne's demand in winter is a challenge. The following poster looked at the most reliable areas for wind energy on land in winter nights (it is generally suggested that offshore wind will be the most reliable - ultimately I don't know how much we will rely on onshore wind, but it will be a while before offshore wind is producing)

We hear a lot about solar building materials in the future - the poster below looks at coatings for windows to concentrate solar. I didn't discuss this one and haven't read it in detail yet, so I'm not sure if these windows will all be red and how that will work!

Finally here is one on loadshifting - some interesting observations on who does or does not shift their energy load to take advantage of solar in the daytime and under what conditions. So far, this is pre the 'three hours of free power' but it will be relevant to that when it begins.

There were many more of course, this is just a sample of ones that I found interesting and relevant to some of our discussions.

Climate Change and Sustainable Living - some resources

The U3A (University of the Third Age) group that I’ve been facilitating since 2023, now called ‘Climate Change - Living Well and Sustainably’ has been looking for ways to develop and store resources.

We are trying to find systems aren’t owned by the ‘billionaire tech’ class. It’s pretty challenging, so I’ve decided to go back to using this blog for the time being, to keep some of the resources that members are finding and sharing, as well as ones we develop ourselves. 

• We have talked about sustainable end of life.

This article from the Guardian may be of interest

Woman laid to rest in coffin made from mushrooms in Australian first

• UN report acknowledges global warming will exceed 1.5C, calls for immediate deep cuts to emissions

The United Environment Programme report 'Limiting Overshoot' is out now 

It accepts that global warming is going to exceed 1.5C in the next few years and calls for immediate and deep emissions cuts, including to short lived pollutants such as methane.

It also calls for adaptation measures especially for the poorest and most vulnerable.

For more information see the report below

Limiting Overshoot: Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways towards return

• Here’s some information on bushfires, insurance and rebuilding:

Resilient Building Council 

- includes a recently launched app for rating your home’s bushfire resilience

Green ReBuild Toolkit

- published by Renew: “resources to help … people rebuild their homes and increase resistance to future climate disasters”

• Flying

Here’s an interesting article on the vexed issue of flying (not really a vexed issue in my view, we need to cut down dramatically, but we’ve discussed in the group that there’s a lot of resistance to this)

Pilot who quit flying due to climate change now living life as a baker

• Broadcast on protecting biodiversity and a beloved bird species

Changing Australia: Michael Mulvaney and protecting Red Hill and the Gang-Gang Cockatoo 

• Investing in renewables and sustainability in the home is a good financial decision for seniors. 

In this article they are talking about larger amounts of money than many of us could spend, but the argument still seems sound - financial planners should be advising people about this.

Sustainability as a good financial decision for seniors

• New research highlights the dangers to seniors from increasing heat.

Here is more evidence why climate change and sustainability are important to seniors. Many of us are particularly concerned about the future for grandchildren and future generations, but this shows the present dangers to us. It's also another reason to make our homes sustainable - so they can cope better in extreme heat.

Extreme heat more dangerous for people 60 and over than previously thought

• Armed conflict and climate change 

A new report from the Global Climate and Health Alliance looks at the relationship between armed conflict and climate change, and their impact on health. Both are increasing, and they are interacting with each other to worsen the impact on health and environment. 

It’s grim reading but a wake-up call. One recommendation is that the climate impact of armed conflict (estimated to be greater than 5% of global emissions) be acknowledged in greenhouse gas reporting, which it currently is not

Climate change, armed conflict and global public health: a reinforcing cycle of harm

• Make Big Polluters Pay - Community Climate Compensation fund

There is a campaign in the climate movement to make big fossil fuels companies pay for the damage they are causing through climate change. Currently these companies are making big profits, much of which goes overseas, while paying very little tax. 

Part of the campaign is a specific campaign for local compensation because communities and local governments are actually bearing most of the costs of extreme climate events. Merri-Bek Council has started the process of supporting this campaign but is waiting on a report to decide whether to fully support it. 

Merri-Bek for Climate Compensation is working to get full council support

Reducing textile waste

Textile waste is a huge problem in our society, encouraged by fast fashion and synthetic textiles that don’t biodegrade. This article is about one woman’s experiment in the opposite of fast fashion

‘I wanted to find the slowest fashion imaginable’: the woman growing her own dress