The year is 2029, COVID-19 is a distant memory but it remains as a milepost when, at every level of government, and across every sector of industry and community, Australia embraced science to address the challenges of climate change to realise the future it wanted.

The Aboriginal Carbon Foundation has expanded its work from Northern Australia throughout the country, and devastating bushfires like those in 2019-2020 are no longer a summer staple, as local Aboriginal burning practices return to the land, reducing fuel loads and locking up carbon in the landscape.

Australia is becoming a global renewable energy powerhouse, as hydrogen and other renewable energy sources become our biggest export industries, quickly outstripping the dwindling coal and gas industries.

And all of this happened because the events of 2020 changed our attitude to what was possible: what we can do if we trust and engage with science; what monumental things we can achieve in a short time with the right motivation; and what happens when we recognise the value of global and local community action.

In this first episode of Climate Conversations, we explore how 2020 could be the spark that ignites a positive future for us and for the climate.

Climate Conversations is a series of webinars from the University of Melbourne that will take place across 2020 and 2021. Each conversation will address the challenges and opportunities of climate change that we, as individuals or communities, have the capacity to address.

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