We’re living in a time where the stakes couldn’t be clearer, and yet the world’s biggest polluters couldn’t be more comfortable. Our planet killers are coordinated, cashed up, and hiding behind layers of spin. Fossil fuel money doesn’t just buy influence; it buys silence, confusion, and delay. With climate deniers and political allies still spinning old narratives, it’s no wonder the planet feels like it’s losing oxygen while they count their profits.
Meanwhile, governments roll out climate targets, pledges, and talking points, usually too late, too weak, or too dependent on “market forces” to solve what they themselves have broken. Australia’s own 2035 targets are a case in point: lofty in ambition, hollow in substance. And while leaders dither and defer, the true costs are falling on us, in the form of wrecked homes, collapsing ecosystems, and shattered economies.
But every movement starts small. Fix My Planet was born out of that stubborn optimism, the belief that action still matters even when the system feels rigged. Because it is rigged. But that doesn’t mean we stop. It means we organise, persist, and act anyway. Each offset, quiz result, or conversation you start is a refusal to give up. The fossil lobby might have the money, but we have the momentum.
$4.5 Billion in Weather Damage Each Year And Rising
A new report from the Insurance Council of Australia warns that extreme weather events are now costing Australians an average of $4.5 billion annually, triple what they did in the 1990s. That’s not a rounding error, it’s the price tag of inaction. Floods, bushfires, and cyclones are escalating in both frequency and ferocity, and insurers are struggling to keep up.
Entire communities are becoming uninsurable. Families are watching their premiums spike, and many are simply opting out of coverage altogether. The result? When disaster hits, they’re on their own. It’s the free market at its cruelest, protecting profits, not people.
Pacific Co-Hosting COP31: Hope, or PR?
Australia’s bid to co-host COP31 with Pacific nations has been framed as a moment of regional unity, a partnership to elevate island voices that have long been sidelined in climate diplomacy. Pacific leaders are clear: they want global commitments that match their lived reality. Rising seas are already swallowing homes, history, and culture.
Yet, this co-host arrangement also raises the question: will it be symbolic or substantial? The Pacific doesn’t need more press conferences or empty gestures. It needs the world to treat its survival as non-negotiable. If COP31 is to mean anything, it must amplify Pacific leadership — not just borrow it for optics.
Trees That Speak: Listening to Nature Through AI
In an inspiring twist, scientists have developed an AI system capable of decoding stress signals from trees, effectively giving forests a voice. By interpreting changes in electrical impulses, this technology can detect drought stress or damage long before it’s visible.
It’s a fascinating convergence of ecology and technology, a reminder that the natural world has been talking all along. We’re only just learning how to listen.
Earth’s Carbon Sink Is Faltering
According to the New Scientist, one of Earth’s greatest allies, the land carbon sink, is beginning to lose its strength. Forests, grasslands, and soil ecosystems have long absorbed roughly a third of human CO₂ emissions each year, but the buffer is failing. Extreme heat, fires, deforestation, and permafrost melt are all eroding the planet’s natural capacity to store carbon Without that sink, climate change accelerates faster than any model predicts, and every delay in cutting emissions becomes even more dangerous.
There’s still hope. Protecting existing ecosystems, restoring damaged ones, and curbing industrial agriculture could slow the decline. But that window is closing fast.
Why It Matters
We’re being told to “adapt” while the system enabling destruction remains untouched. But adaptation without accountability is surrender. Governments will keep staging conferences, companies will keep running green ads, and the planet will keep warming unless we keep fighting.
That’s why FMP exists: to turn frustration into action. To prove that people-powered change can still matter. Your choices small, consistent, and deliberate are a counterweight to the apathy and greed that got us here.
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about refusing to be quiet. 🌍