By Ray Johnson

Welcome to this special state by-election edition of Adventures in Climate Change.

The candidates are known and it’s now up to the community to decide.

There are important inter-generational equity issues in play, particularly for coastal communities where estuaries and beaches are under threat from accelerating sea-level rise.

Yes, our collective effort - apart from national fossil fuel exports - is small in comparison to the global trajectory.

But the NSW Parliament is an important decision-making and agenda-setting forum and, given the current minority government, there may be opportunities for a single member to have the occasional significant impact.

Better strategies and planning now could materially reduce the local dollar and environmental costs of future adaptation.

If you are concerned about the type of world we’re shaping for the youth of today and future generations here are some questions you could ask the candidates.

1. Are you aware that the main drivers of climate change are economic growth and population growth? (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for over three decades)

2. Are you aware that the main drivers of the declining natural environment are economic growth and population growth? (Australian and NSW State of the Environment Reports)

3. Are you aware that the latest NSW State of the Environment Report (June 2025) aligns its indicators with the nine planetary system boundaries but that the alignment is incomplete due to significant data gaps? (Six of nine ‘transgressed’ already)

4. Are you aware that the NSW Government is pursuing significant growth strategies without assessing the climate change and environmental impact of those strategies? (e.g. “377,000 new well-located homes across the state by 2029”)

5. If elected, what policies (if any) would you advocate for NSW to address the causes of climate change and the decline of the natural environment?