• A new book challenging us to upend Australia’s approach to climate change is being launched at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 5 June
• Living Hot co-authors say we cannot change the global climate, but we can and must begin the huge task of making Australia resilient against intensifying climate extremes
• Leaving behind both wishful thinking and fatalistic ‘doomism’, the authors call for an all-embracing program of investment and social change to protect future generations from the ravages of a changing climate

A new book by a leading Charles Sturt University researcher and a colleague offers an assessment of the challenges we face on our heating planet and provides a farsighted road map for what we must do next if we want to survive and thrive.

The book Living Hot – Surviving and Thriving on a Heating Planet, launched at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 5 June, is by Vice-Chancellor’s Chair of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra Professor Clive Hamilton (pictured, inset) and highly-respected energy expert Dr George Wilkenfeld.

They tell the truth about our current climate change predicament and urge that it is time to act expeditiously to prepare Australia for intensifying climate extremes.

“If we prepare well, we can give ourselves a fighting chance to preserve some of the best of what we have, build stronger and fairer communities, find a path through the escalating pressures of a warming world – and even find new ways to flourish,” Professor Hamilton said.

“To get there, we must leave behind both the ‘doomism’ and the wishful thinking currently holding us back.”

In Living Hot, the authors shift the emphasis away from reducing carbon emissions and on to making Australia resilient, outlining a vision for an all-embracing and ongoing program of investment and social change to protect ourselves from the ravages of a changing climate.

“I have been pushing for deep emission cuts for close to three decades,” Professor Hamilton said.

“But cutting Australia’s emissions will not do much to prepare us for the difficult and dangerous times ahead.

“One way or another, Australians born today will have to find ways to cope in a world with a several-fold increase in extreme heatwaves, floods, droughts and bushfires. Some experts are even talking about social and ecological collapse.

“Yet we are doing almost nothing to prepare the nation for this future. We are acting as if none of this is going to happen, despite all the scientific evidence telling us it will. Most climate scientists are despairing at our unwillingness to see what is coming down the highway at us.”

Professor Hamilton notes that while billions of dollars are being poured into trying to turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower, none of it will appreciably change the climate Australians will experience in 2050 and 2100.

“We should cut our emissions, but a higher priority should be pouring billions into building our resilience for the tough times ahead of us,” he said.

“If we don’t prepare, the poor and vulnerable will be left to suffer while the rich look after themselves.”

Living Hot – Surviving and Thriving on a Heating Planet is published by Hardie Grant.