Page 3398 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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populations in areas that become unlivable. The effects of climate change are already here, but they are not evenly distributed. There are people in our community who experience greater health risks during heatwaves and bushfires, including children under five, people over 65 years, and people with underlying health conditions or disability.
There are also people in our community who are disproportionately affected by the economic disruption that comes with climate change or have less financial resilience to recover from disaster or mitigate risks in advance. This includes many women, older people, unpaid carers, people with disability, and people in low income households.
There are greater concentrations of low income households, older people and children under 5 in parts of Canberra that experience heat island effects. When you are paying higher rent or mortgage costs and have insecure work because of zero hour contracts in low paid industries like retail and hospitality, and when you are experiencing greater levels of domestic and family violence, it is really hard to invest in home energy efficiency or a zero-emissions vehicle.
This is why we are working so hard to increase canopy cover, with a focus on areas that most need more trees, providing support for low income households to make their homes more energy efficient, and investing in an active travel and public transport network throughout our city.
We are making the changes needed to reduce carbon emissions, and we are doing so while also supporting the people who need to transition to new careers and new ways of living.
Climate change and social justice are interconnected issues. We cannot possibly address the climate crisis and the work needed to reduce our carbon emissions and water use in the ACT without also considering how we support and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, low income households, older people, young people and people with disability to be part of the solution.
Research shows that children, older people, people with disability and women want to be involved in preparing for and reducing the risk of natural disasters such as bushfire. Older people often have a lifetime of experience in dealing with all kinds of adverse conditions, from which we can all learn. Children who are actively involved in disaster preparation have more resilience and better mental health in recovery afterwards. We have seen Canberrans of all ages demanding climate change action at school strikes and protests across our city.
We know that people with disability want to be involved in reducing carbon emissions. The lived experience of disability means that many people with disability have skills in adaptability and resilience that add a different perspective and fresh ideas to conversations about how we can implement change.
We are facing an existential crisis. As harsh as the reality of our situation is, we cannot turn away from it. The only way we will get though this is together. That
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