University of Western Australia: From anxiety to action in the climate emergency

David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Law/Arts graduate from The University of Western Australia, will answer this question at the Contemporary Issues in PRME Annual Lecture to be held next Tuesday 19 October.

Mr Ritter, who has honorary affiliations with UWA and the University of Sydney and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, believes the window to a safer future is still open if we act now at the speed and scale required.

“We have been talking about climate change for the last century,” Mr Ritter said. “Yet, temperatures keep rising, the world keeps warming, floods keep happening and fires keep burning…while the debate about the what, why and importantly, how we respond, continues.”

Drawing on his deep experience, Mr Ritter will talk about climate change, breaking down how to move away from individualised guilt and anxiety to empowerment through systemic action.

A widely published author, Mr Ritter’s most recent book is The Coal Truth: The Fight to Stop Adani, Defeat the Big Polluters and Reclaim our Democracy. His most current long-form article is Empire of the Dead: The Fossil Fuel Order and the Clean Energy Rebellion, published in Arena Magazine.

Mr Ritter came back to Australia to take up his current role in 2012 after five years working in a senior campaigns position with Greenpeace in London.

“Living in the UK was fantastic – but the opportunity to come home and play a part in the struggle against the fossil fuel companies that are harming our beautiful country was too important to refuse,” he said.