We’re facing heatwaves, drought and mega fires. Fire season started early right along the eastern seaboard and while the mountains have largely been spared so far, its going to be a long summer.

The updated Australian Seasonal Bushfire Outlook which has just been released shows that extended area of Gippsland and the mountains of North East Victoria are forecast to experience above-normal bushfire potential over the summer.

Global leaders (including our own federal government) have comprehensively failed to agree on how to tackle climate change during the recent UN negotiations in Spain. Horse numbers are sky rocketing in the Snowy Mountains because the NSW government is in thrall to political forces who refuse to accept the ecological costs of having large feral horse populations in alpine and sub alpine environments.

The list could easily go on. When you look at the state of the world, it’s hard not to get depressed. So here is some outdoors related ‘end of year’ good news for you.

Wherever you are and whatever you do, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing, and fire free, summer.

How the Australian outdoor community and industry supported the climate strike. Report back available here. And lots of photos available here of individual and community actions in support of the strike.

Patagonia share’s its best activism stories from 2019 here.

mt hotham3
Climate strike supporters at Mt Hotham, 2019.

This summer’s bushfires threaten tropical and sub tropical rainforests, ecosystems that ‘aren’t meant to burn’. The same thing has happened in recent years in Tasmania. I love this story of local communities getting together to protect their homes and also their rainforests.

The Australian chapter of Protect Our Winters is now up and running!

A ski resort that runs on 100% renewable energy (in the New England region of the USA).

And lots of outdoor brands and organisations are doing good things. Here’s a couple of examples:

USA based brewer Sierra Nevada has pledged US$1 million towards repairing the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada Range in California (which is suffering as a result of cut backs by the federal administration of Donald Trump).

Sierra Nevada have also joined with Protect Our Winters to fight climate change – ‘from funding renewable energy projects to meeting with members of parliament. They say that with climate change is running out and ‘it’s time to look beyond brewing beer’ and act.

Patagonia’s ‘Your Winter’ campaign is mobilising the winter snow sports community. The website allows you to find environmental and climate action groups near you.

Meanwhile, the Aspen Snowmass resort in Colorado continues its ‘Give a Flake’ campaign. They say ‘No one charges harder against climate change than Aspen Snowmass. We’ve spent more time in Washington lobbying for climate than any other ski resort because being a snowsports enthusiast now means being part of the fight against climate change.’

You can find out more about the campaign here.

Mega outdoor retailer REI Co-op continues it’s #OptOutside campaign.

They say: ‘we started something with a nationwide cleanup for #OptOutside. Keep the action going with the Opt to Act Plan:  52 weeks of simple challenges to reduce your impact, get active, and leave the world better than you found it.’

In the USA, Protect Our Winters has launched a program that allows you to offset the carbon footprint of your adventures with their brand new Cost of Carbontool. The tool helps you visualize the carbon impacts from your adventures and then suggests way to offset.

Take action! And, as always, remember that the Cure for Depression is Action.

Have a great summer!