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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Copenhagen analysis

YCAN brings you the best analysis and reactions of the dismal Copenhagen summit failure.


Press conference with Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein



AYCC Video

Friday, December 18, 2009

Australia bullies Pacific Islands in Copenhagen

Australia has shamefully won the Fossil of the Day Award on day ten of the Copenhagen negotiations for pressuring our neighbours in the Pacific islands, in particular Tuvalu, to water down their demands and accept a 2 degrees and 450 parts per million CO2 agreement, which would all but guarantee that their islands and way of life are completely destroyed and would also result in the deaths of millions of people world-wide!

According to the Prime Minister of Tuvalu,:

“There are some countries like Australia who have been trying to arrange a meeting with us to probably water down our position on 1.5 degrees celsius. We did not attend that meeting, but I heard from other small islands that Australia was trying to tell them if they agree to the 2 degrees limit, money would be on the table for adaptation process. That’s their choice to accept the money and back down. But Tuvalu will not. As I said in my speech, 1.5 degrees celsius is our bottom line…

“I as a human being feel that the leaders that are pushing their countries to adopt this 2 degrees they should know from science that that will be killing a lot of people around the world, that should change their position. I will not sign anything less than 1.5.”

When challenged, Prime Minister Rudd did not deny that Australia had tried to get Pacific Islands to effectively sign a suicide pact, but said it was all part of the conference process.

Greens Senator Bob Brown criticised Mr Rudd for his actions, “Our Prime Minister's office has undertaken a concerted campaign to bully island nations, in particular the outspoken Tuvalu, into dropping their demand that the world limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.

“The proposals championed by Mr Rudd will lead to global warming of almost 4 degrees, breaching the 2 degree limit that he claims they are aimed at.

“This is essentially a nasty political exercise on behalf of the coal industry and other big polluters who are devoid of any consideration for these small island states."

Rudd says one thing on climate change, but his actions tell a very different story. Australian negotiators have been furiously working behind the scenes to sabotage any meaningful deal. Rudd’s actions in the Copenhagen summit are the same as when Howard was in power – do whatever it takes to avoid any meaningful action on climate change to keep your rich mates in the fossil fuel industries happy.

Kevin Rudd has called climate change "the greatest moral challenge of our generation". His deeply immoral actions show that he is failing this challenge.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Millions march for strong climate action

Photo: The Age

Millions of people in around 50 countries have marched this weekend to demand a strong, fair and binding deal at the Copenhagen climate talks.

Around 100,000 protested in Copenhagen itself, while Melbourne had the biggest rally in Australia with police estimates putting the crowd at a massive 40,000 people. The Walk Against Warming, which took place in every Australian capital and many regional centres, showed once again that many Australians are deeply worried about what the climate crisis means for them and their children, and that they are prepared to take to the streets to express this.

Meanwhile the Copenhagen negotiations continue to stall, as the rich countries refuse to accept deep emissions cuts (without being able to buy dodgy offsets to buy their way out of it), and the economically poor countries continue to hold out by refusing to take on binding emissions reduction targets.

Photo: Takver
The talks will continue until Friday.

For ABC news coverage of the Walk click here.

For more photos click here and/or here.

Kevin Rudd takes a bath in "clean coal" Photo: Peter Campbell

See the video below of Leah, Tuvalu-born Australian speaking at the Walk:


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Fourteen days to seal history's judgment on this generation

The following editorial was published simultaneously by 56 newspapers from all points on the political spectrum, across 45 countries, in 20 languages, in an unprecedented show of unity in the face of the climate crisis and the Copenhagen negotiations:

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year's inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has been feeble and half-hearted.

Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.

The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rises to 2C, an aim that will require global emissions to peak and begin falling within the next 5-10 years. A bigger rise of 3-4C — the smallest increase we can prudently expect to follow inaction — would parch continents, turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct, untold millions of people would be displaced, whole nations drowned by the sea. The controversy over emails by British researchers that suggest they tried to suppress inconvenient data has muddied the waters but failed to dent the mass of evidence on which these predictions are based.

Few believe that Copenhagen can any longer produce a fully polished treaty; real progress towards one could only begin with the arrival of President Obama in the White House and the reversal of years of US obstructionism. Even now the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics, for the president cannot fully commit to the action required until the US Congress has done so.

But the politicians in Copenhagen can and must agree the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and, crucially, a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty. Next June's UN climate meeting in Bonn should be their deadline. As one negotiator put it: "We can go into extra time but we can't afford a replay."

At the deal's heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world covering how the burden of fighting climate change will be divided — and how we will share a newly precious resource: the trillion or so tonnes of carbon that we can emit before the mercury rises to dangerous levels.

Rich nations like to point to the arithmetic truth that there can be no solution until developing giants such as China take more radical steps than they have so far. But the rich world is responsible for most of the accumulated carbon in the atmosphere – three-quarters of all carbon dioxide emitted since 1850. It must now take a lead, and every developed country must commit to deep cuts which will reduce their emissions within a decade to very substantially less than their 1990 level.

Developing countries can point out they did not cause the bulk of the problem, and also that the poorest regions of the world will be hardest hit. But they will increasingly contribute to warming, and must thus pledge meaningful and quantifiable action of their own. Though both fell short of what some had hoped for, the recent commitments to emissions targets by the world's biggest polluters, the United States and China, were important steps in the right direction.

Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must also be pinned down – with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests, and the credible assessment of "exported emissions" so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them. And fairness requires that the burden placed on individual developed countries should take into account their ability to bear it; for instance newer EU members, often much poorer than "old Europe", must not suffer more than their richer partners.

The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance — and far less costly than the consequences of doing nothing.

Many of us, particularly in the developed world, will have to change our lifestyles. The era of flights that cost less than the taxi ride to the airport is drawing to a close. We will have to shop, eat and travel more intelligently. We will have to pay more for our energy, and use less of it.

But the shift to a low-carbon society holds out the prospect of more opportunity than sacrifice. Already some countries have recognized that embracing the transformation can bring growth, jobs and better quality lives. The flow of capital tells its own story: last year for the first time more was invested in renewable forms of energy than producing electricity from fossil fuels.

Kicking our carbon habit within a few short decades will require a feat of engineering and innovation to match anything in our history. But whereas putting a man on the moon or splitting the atom were born of conflict and competition, the coming carbon race must be driven by a collaborative effort to achieve collective salvation.

Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness, of what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature".

It is in that spirit that 56 newspapers from around the world have united behind this editorial. If we, with such different national and political perspectives, can agree on what must be done then surely our leaders can too.

The politicians in Copenhagen have the power to shape history's judgment on this generation: one that saw a challenge and rose to it, or one so stupid that we saw calamity coming but did nothing to avert it. We implore them to make the right choice.

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Story of Cap and Trade

Excellent short video that explores the flaws with the current cap and trade model for climate policy pursued by most governments, including the Australian one via the inaccurately named Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.



And for an interesting critique of the video click here.

Vote in the Angry Mermaid Award!



Have you voted yet?

The Angry Mermaid Award has been set up to recognise the perverse role of corporate lobbyists, and highlight those business groups and companies that have made the greatest effort to sabotage the climate talks, and other climate measures, while promoting, often profitable, false solutions.

Named after the iconic Copenhagen mermaid who is angry about the destruction being caused by climate change, the Angry Mermaid Award winner will be decided by a public poll.

The eight nominees:

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE)
Nominated for being embroiled in a fake lobbying scandal against the US Climate Bill and for trying to hide the extent of its lobbying activities

American Petroleum Institute (API)
Nominated for organising an “astroturf” campaign against the US Climate Bills. In August 2009, a leaked memo from the API revealed it had invited its membership to attend a series of rallies in 20 key states, in order to give the impression of a groundswell of grassroots opposition to the climate legislation.

European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)
Nominated for successfully lobbying for free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and for pushing to weaken EU and international climate policies.

International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Nominated for leading lobbying efforts by the major airlines against climate legislation and for issuing misleading and “meaningless” pledges on reducing emissions.

International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)
Nominated for promoting a global market for greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of offsetting through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), even though this currently cannot guarantee emission reductions.

Monsanto and the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
Nominated for lobbying for RoundupReady (RR) soy to be considered a “climate-friendly” crop that is eligible for carbon credits and subsidies under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); and for pushing for meaningless ‘responsible’ label for RoundupReady soy, which could be used to certify ‘sustainable’ agrofuels.

Royal Dutch Shell
Nominated for actively investing in the energy-intensive tar sands, at the same time as pushing unproven Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS) technology as a solution to climate change, whilst undermining initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions.

Sasol
Nominated for its national and international lobbying campaign to promote Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a clean solution to the dirty business of producing liquid fuels from coal and gas.

Click here to vote and for more information. Voting closes 13 December.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Upcoming local events

Some fun and interesting climate change events happening in the next couple of weeks in our local area - all free and all welcome:

1. Renewable is Do-able public meeting - Thursday 3 December
2. Ride Planet Earth bike ride - Sunday 6 December
3. Walk Against Warming - Saturday 12 December

Details below:





The Walk Against Warming is Australia’s biggest day of community action on climate change. Similar Walks will be happening across the country, and across the globe as communities everywhere come together to tell their leaders they want action for a safe climate.

If you’ve ever replaced an old light globe with an energy efficient one, taken public transport instead of driving, switched to Green Power, or worried about the kind of world you’re going to leave to your kids, then the 2009 Walk Against Warming is for you!

12pm, 12 December, Victorian State Library (cnr Latrobe and Swanston Sts, City)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Australia to get an emissions trading scheme (probably...)

STOP PRESS: Update 2 December - The CPRS has been voted down in the Senate - However the Rudd Government will try to get it through again next year - so these criticisms stand.

What else is there to say?

About one year since Kevin Rudd announced his 5% target, it seems enough Liberals will vote for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in the coming days for it to become law.

A lot has been written by scientists, economists, journalists, environmentalists, health professionals, religious leaders, development workers, politicians and ourselves, as to why the CPRS is inadequate and deeply unjust, however, the only people that Kevin Rudd, Penny Wong and the Liberal Party listened to were the fossil fuel lobby.

Let's not mince words here, the CPRS is an abomination. It will not reduce Australia's emissions due to the unlimited import of dodgy permits and offsets from overseas. Even if it did, it would reduce emissions to such inadequate levels that if they were adopted by all the developed countries we would almost guarantee catastrophic, runaway climate change.

Worst of all it makes rich the very people who should be feeling the pinch of a carbon price. Billions of taxpayer dollars will be handed over to coal miners and coal burners - those that pollute the most get the most money.

With the deal that the Labor and Liberal Parties made, compensation for the big polluters will go up even more, while $910 million will be taken away from household compensation, that is, money for poor households to cope with rising prices caused by the scheme, to be given to the shareholders of companies like TRUenergy and International Power Hazelwood.

We will see prices for many of our goods and services increase under this scheme, with no subsequent emissions reductions (modelling by the Australian Treasury showed that under the scheme as it stood before the negotiations made it even worse, Australia's emissions wouldn't drop below 1990 levels until 2035, and that was after it was assumed that clean coal was invented in 2033).

What has happened is a complete corporate takeover of our two major political parties. The hypocrisy of the Labor Party, which talks about the importance of acting on climate change, while putting forward a scheme that does nothing, is extremely saddening and frustrating. They have put the interests of large foreign fossil fuel corporations before the interests of every existing and future man, woman and child on this Earth. They have broken their election promise to take climate change seriously.

The only amusing sideshow in this whole saga has been the extent to which the Liberal Party has torn itself apart, with the climate change hypocrites and the climate change deniers fighting over their support for a scheme that locks in business as usual anyway.

Every single politician that has been involved in the development of this CPRS should forever be condemned. They do not deserve to represent us in parliament. We hope the Australian public is not fooled by Rudd's spin and punishes the Labor and Liberal Parties for this betrayal, and the scheme is repealed in the future, to be replaced by policies that will take action to the extent the climate science demands.

To read the speech of the only politician that's making any sense in all this, click here.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Take your CPRS and shove it

An absolutely classic rant by Crikey's Bernard Keane.

Welcome back to Parliament for the final time this year. Two more weeks of this stuff and then we’re finished for a summer that already feels like it’s been going a month. That’s assuming Anthony Albanese doesn’t keep his colleagues confined here at the end of next week, or even brings them back for another spell in December.

Wouldn’t want all those end-of-year “let’s all be best mates” speeches to get in the way of proper legislative business eh?

The job of a political journalist  — not of course that I would know, since according to the national broadsheet I’m not a “real journalist”, and strangely proud of it  — is somewhere between theatre critic and sports commentator. The main tasks of sports commentators are to tell you who’s winning and pretend something exciting is happening when it isn’t. That’s where it is closest to political journalism. Media coverage of politics is always about who’s winning and who’s losing, naturally, but the trivial and meaningless are routinely built up into events of monumental importance simply for the sake of pretending something significant is happening.

But you also need to appraise the performances of the principal actors (not to mention the ambitious walk-on players), assessing the conviction or otherwise with which they utter their lines, paying close attention to the effect not on professional observers such as oneself, who to use the immortal phrase “don’t know jack”, but the hoi polloi in the cheap seats at the back, from which vantage point scenery-chewing hammery or mindless repetition may look like the stuff of the Great Tragedians.

Once in a while, we’re reminded that this isn’t a show or a game that we’re watching. This morning the Prime Minister made an apology to the “Forgotten Generation” in the Great Hall in Parliament House. He was followed by Malcolm Turnbull. Both made heart-felt and emotional speeches, without political polish, the sort of speeches we can point to when people lament the lack of Australian political oratory. The tears and smiles and applause of those present who as children were abused in institutional care show how significant the actions of government can be, even in simply acknowledging those whose pain was ignored for so long.

This fortnight also sees some sort of climax in the emissions trading debate, another issue of more-than-usual gravity.

I don’t know about you (no, really, I don’t) but I’m utterly over the CPRS debate. It’s been a long road since early last year, when Penny Wong blithely called the Garnaut Review “one input” into the Government’s consideration, in effect spilling the beans, or giving the game away, or belling the cat, or whatever cliché takes your fancy. I’m now sick of emissions trading. Sick of Wong’s tedious droning, of Kevin Rudd’s sanctimony, of the Coalition climate denialists who make a virtue out of their own intellectual and emotional disabilities.

I’m sick of Barnaby Joyce and the National Party, so plum-stupid that they can’t even understand when the National Farmers’ Federation tells them it’d be a good idea to back the scheme. I’m sick of the rentseekers, the whingers, the sooks and Hookes, who preach the virtues of the market when it suits them but whose natural posture is of a hand stuck out, demanding assistance, and assistance in ever greater quantities, like blackmailers who just keep coming back for more.

to continue reading click here.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Climate Justice Fast! Day 10

I arrive early in the morning and help them set up their marquee on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra. They are not in their usual position today because the lawn will be used to host a barbecue for the former wards of the state after their official apology from the Federal Government and the last thing they want is to be able to smell the food.

All three of the people I’m visiting, Paul, Marcella and Michael are in good spirits even though they have eaten nothing and have drunk only water for the last nine days. As we settle down under their marquee, I get the official business out of the way by letting them know that I am here not only representing myself, but my local climate action group, Yarra Climate Action Now, and that they have our admiration, respect and gratitude.

These three people on hunger strike outside Parliament House are one component of Climate Justice Fast – an international hunger strike for climate justice and for urgent and science-based actions to prevent catastrophic global warming. There are around 100 people around the world taking part in fasts of varying length as part of this action, with numbers growing day by day. Eight of these people, including Paul and Michael here in Canberra are doing the “full” fast, which is indefinite and will probably go until after the Copenhagen negotiations finish – a total of six weeks without food!

The key messages of the fast are that in line with the most robust and up to date climate science, world leaders need to agree to cut emissions and draw-down carbon from the atmosphere in order to get below 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (currently at around 387ppm and the Rudd Government target is a suicidal 450ppm), and that the rich world must pay the poor world US$160 billion per year to help them cut emissions and adapt to the impacts already being felt.

Paul, 29, from Melbourne and the main organiser of the huger strike said, “We feel that it is our duty to do everything possible to prevent the world’s poorest people and our very own children from suffering at the hands of a problem which they did not create.”

Marcella, 31 and also from Melbourne adds, “we may be suffering by not eating. However, our suffering is voluntary. The victims of the Victorian bushfires and heatwaves last summer died because of the terrible conditions caused in part by our climate changing. Climate change is already causing immense suffering and we can’t stand by and let it get worse.”

We lie under the marquee, it is a 36 degree day and it’s getting hot. Every now and then someone drops in to say hello and have a chat, most are very supportive and Marcella invites them to write in their guest book. At times the conversation is so normal that I forget the immense effort and sacrifice these three people are making. When I remember that they haven’t eaten for almost ten days it feels a little surreal.

I chat to Michael, from Sydney and 61 years old, about renewable energy and carbon sequestration. We eventually get onto the topic of his fast. He tells me that the doctors who examine them regularly say he will most likely end up in hospital. He doesn’t seem too worried about this. For him, the fast is a way to show the Australian public how urgent and serious the climate crisis is. It is also about morality. “We are using our own bodies to expose the moral bankruptcy of our leaders”, he says.

The day ends on an exciting note. The Run for a Safe Climate is passing through Canberra today. They are about half-way through their run from Cooktown to Melbourne via Adelaide, and the 25 runners have run around 20km in the searing heat. I watch as the fasters and the runners, made up of police officers, fire fighters, SES workers and paramedics, chat – the parallels between their actions become obvious as they talk about their experiences.

There are several politicians there to welcome the runners. After the official welcome Paul and Marcella have a chat with Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne. There is mutual admiration amongst all concerned and I take great pleasure in being able to get some video footage of the chat before a policeman informs me I am not allowed to film because I’m not authorised. As soon as he leaves I pull out the camera again until stopped by another policeman.

Marcella tries to approach Senator Penny Wong, but she makes a run for it as soon as she sees her “Climate Justice Fast!” t-shirt. I wonder out loud why she even bothers to turn up at climate change events considering how woefully her government is dealing with the crisis. Does she have no shame?

Late in the evening we say our goodbyes. As I have my first morsel of food for over 24 hours and get on the bus back to Melbourne the next morning, I think about them once again setting up on the Parliament House lawn and settling in for another day without food. I think about the humble manner by which they are going about their extraordinary action and I hope they are able to get the coverage for the cause that they are aiming for. I also hope they don’t feel alone and isolated in a world that can sometimes seem impervious to acts of sanity like this one.

As the bus leaves Canberra behind my mind settles on one of the entries in their guestbook, written by a year seven student who dropped in to the marquee with his mother. It said, “You are doing a good thing. I wish there were more of you”.





More videos available here.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

It’s official! Labor to lose votes due to coal support

GetUp’s ReEnergise Australia campaign has been knocking on doors in Kensington and Richmond in the federal electorate of Melbourne, talking to people about the potential for renewable energy to power Australia and create thousands of clean energy jobs. Over 1600 of the 1700 people that GetUp spoke to signed their petition, asking Lindsay Tanner, the Labor member for Melbourne to become a clean energy champion in the Federal Parliament. This is quite far from the current Rudd Government position, which includes wholehearted support for the coal industry and billions of taxpayer dollars for the big coal corporations while Australian technology and know-how, such as Solar Systems is allowed to go belly-up.

The key result from the door-knocking was this – 85% of those people who identified as Labor voters said they would consider changing their vote if the Government doesn’t act.

GetUp will be handing over their petition tomorrow (Friday) at 5.30pm at Lindsay Tanner’s office – 280 King St, Melbourne. All are invited to come along.

The people of Melbourne have sent a clear message, we want the Government to support renewable energy, not fossil fuels, or else we will vote for someone who will.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Rudd unmasked by Africans

The climate change talks in Barcelona have just wound up. These are the last round of talks before the Copenhagen summit starts in four weeks.

The refusal of the developed countries like Australia to commit to the necessary reductions in global warming pollution resulted in a walk-out by the African delegation, with Kevin Rudd and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown specifically targetted for their hypocrisy. The African delegation accused Kevin Rudd of promising a lot on climate but not delivering real action.

"Tell me of any politician who delivered on his political manifesto. Was it Gordon Brown? Was it Kevin Rudd?", key African negotiator Lumumba Di-Aping said.

The Africans want the rich world to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2020 on 1990 levels, while Kevin Rudd is offering 5-25% - which would be a death sentence for millions of Africans if adopted globally.

Ironically it now seems that China, India, Brazil and Mexico are on track to reduce their emissions by 25% by 2020 on 1990 levels, according to new reasearch, which puts them well ahead of countries like Australia, the USA and Europe.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Run for a Safe Climate

The Run for a Safe Climate starts today! 25 runners from Australia's emergency services, including police officers, firefighters, paramedics and nurses are running from Cooktown in the wet tropics down to Melbourne, via the east coast, the Murray Darling Basin and Adelaide.

The run aims to create public awareness of the climate emergency and the iconic ecosystems which are under extreme threat. It is also raising funds for Safe Climate Australia, an organisation that is putting together a transition plan for achieving a safe climate future.

Watch the inspiring video below, and join the runners on the final day of the run, 29 November as they run along the Port Phillip Bay shore to St Kilda.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The fight for Solar Systems continues...

Reminder:

SAVE SOLAR SYSTEMS RALLY – 5:30 FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The building of the first large-scale solar power plant in Australia is in doubt.

The Solar Systems power plant will create 1,000 renewable energy jobs, power 45,000 homes and uses home grown, Australian designed and built, world leading technology.

As the administrators look at whether funding for Solar Systems can be found, now is our chance to build momentum for clean energy and demand that state and Federal Governments live up to their rhetoric of supporting renewables.

Join us at the Save Solar Systems Rally, tomorrow, Friday 30th October at 5:30 PM at Parliament House.

Your voice counts. Tell the Government that we want solar not coal.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The climate crisis and human health

What is the greatest global health threat of this century?
Is it heart disease? Malaria? Cancer? Nup... you guessed it: the cumulative impacts of climate change will threaten human health more than any of these. And don’t just take our word for it. Perhaps the most highly respected medical journal in the world The Lancet introduced its comprehensive assessment of the management of human health impacts of climate change with this very statement.

You know things are serious when one of the most notoriously conservative medical journals in the world argues strongly for a new global public advocacy movement. We’ll take that as the top doctors and health academics in the world giving the big tick to joining the climate movement and calling on governments to stop stuffing around and get serious about the ultimate in preventative medicine for the planet and all of us – avoiding runaway climate change.

See this Australian Medical Students Association’s youtube clip for the key messages on climate and health impacts:



Look up The Lancet and University College London’s report for the full diagnosis.

Monday, October 26, 2009

350 day goes off

Over 100 people had their photo taken on Saturday outside Melbourne's iconic Flinders Street Station, sending a message to Kevin Rudd that we want science based climate change policies, not trade-offs to the big polluters and vested interests, which is an accurate description of his current climate change policy proposals.

This was part of the world's biggest day of climate action ever (so far!) for 350.org day. In Melbourne around 60 actions took place, including a mass bike ride and several concerts and gigs.

A great time was had by all!!!

Attached is a taste of the photos we took. More are available via our flickr site. Down the bottom of this post is a great video that summarises the day.







Photo above by Rodney Dekker - www.rodneydekker.com


Sunday, October 18, 2009

A parallel universe?

Are our leaders criminally insane? Or maybe they live in a parallel universe?
These questions may seem harsh (and probably weird), but they need to be asked urgently in the face of developments in the past week.

First we'll set some context. The climate science keeps getting worse. Climate change is happening faster and faster, with the impacts become greater. We are facing an emergency the likes of which humanity has never seen. Europe's leading climate scientist, Prof Schellnhuber, has warned that on current trends, the Earth's carrying capacity for humans will be below one billion by the year 2100. He also released a report recently, which showed that to give ourselves a two out of three chance of avoiding more than 2 degrees of warming (already unsafe), the USA and Australia needed to cut their emissions to zero by 2020, China by 2035, with the whole world reaching zero by 2050.

In this context, the inaction of our governments on climate change is indeed striking, and the lengths they will go to to protect the profits of the coal industry very disturbing.

Last week, the Rudd Government rejected a UK Government proposal that Australia sign up to their policy of only approving new coal-fired power stations if they have clean coal (carbon capture and storage) technology in place. This sensible policy was rejected, probably because the Rudd Government is aware this would mean no more coal-fired power stations would be built, as carbon capture and storage will never be viable. But why are they planning to build any more anyway? How about some wind and solar thermal power?

At the state level, The Age revealed that the Minister for Maximising Coal Industry Profits, Peter Batchelor, is planning to open up Victoria's brown coal resources for export to India. This would mean that we export the world's most greenhouse gas intensive fuel to India for it to burn in its power stations. Why aren't we investing in manufacturing renewable energy technology and exporting that?

Our climate scientists are very worried, but they insist we still have a chance to avoid runaway climate change. However, this won't happen unless we stop burning coal, and stop it fast.

We need to let our leaders know that we don't live in a parallel universe, we live in reality, a reality threatened by the climate crisis.

A snap rally has been called to encourage Brumby to block the coal export proposal:
START: 12.30, Thursday 22nd October
WHERE: Steps of Parliament House, Spring St
FINISH: 1.10 – plenty of time for lunch and getting back to work!
RSVP: Let us know you’re coming by sending a quick email to exportingcoalisdumb -at- yahoo.com.au

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

iCoal 2.0

The Australian Coal Association has launched a campaign in regional marginal seats, telling voters that acting on climate change (in the form of the Rudd Government's Carbon Polluters Rewards Scheme - CPRS) will cost jobs. There are a couple of factual errors here:

1. Acting on the climate crisis will create many more jobs than it will cost. Renewable energy is more labour intensive than coal power and the government investment needed will greatly boost the economy.

2. The CPRS isn't really going to do anything to reduce Australia's emissions, it is designed to give the appearance of action without actually shifting us from business as usual. The coal industry couldn't have hoped for a better deal.

And of course, it goes without saying that the Australian Coal Association couldn't care less about "jobs", what they mean of course is "profits". The coal industry has been responsible for thousands of jobs losses over the last 15 years in the Latrobe Valley here in Victoria.

So we need to fight back! Help get this add on TV to counter the lies from the coal lobby.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Yep, it’s an emergency folks!

The last few weeks have seen an avalanche of climate science reports and it isn’t pretty. On current trends we are heading towards catastrophe within our own lifetimes.

On Sunday a French scientist warned that 10% of the Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic by 2018, 50% by 2050 and 100% by 2100. This will cause the collapse of the ocean food chain, destroying oceanic ecosystems and human livelihoods.

On the same day the UN warned that drought could affect 70% of the planet’s surface by 2025, up from 41% now (currently a rise of 15-25% from 1990).


Last week a UK Met Office report, prepared for the Department of Energy and Climate Change says that temperature rises of 4 degrees on pre-industrial levels are possible by 2060 on current emissions trends. This would mean water shortages for most of the world, hundreds of millions of climate refugees on the move causing wars, and it would be impossible to grow food in most of Australia.

What else does four degrees mean? By 2060 there’ll be no Amazon rainforest, no Great Barrier Reef and no Asian monsoon, and 50% of the world’s species will be extinct. The “once in a lifetime” floods that India and The Philippines are experiencing right now will be regular events, as will mega bushfires in Victoria.

What’s that you say? What about the actions that governments are taking to steer us away from business as usual? Well, depressingly, according to another study for the United Nations Environment Program discovered that even if governments enact their most ambitious climate policy pledges, the world will still warm by 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.29 Farenheit) by 2100.

Yet another catastrophic scenario.

Despite this doom and gloom, all the scientists in these studies say there is still time to avoid these catastrophic impacts. But what governments are proposing to do is nowhere near enough!

We need atmospheric carbon levels brought well below 350 parts per million (Rudd advocates 450ppm at the moment, current levels are 389ppm). We need to urgently start replacing coal-fired electricity with renewable energy (not delay action while money is wasted on researching clean coal), and we need deep and fast emissions cuts, starting yesterday.

Our governments won’t act until you do, and it will soon be too late. There's no point denying reality, the bad news now being published in mainstream science journals isn't going away. Check out this blog for current campaigns or contact us at YarraCAN -at- gmail.com

Friday, October 2, 2009

Yarra's Bicycle Strategy Open for Submissions

The City of Yarra’s Draft Bicycle Strategy is open for public review and comment until 22 October.

The document includes actions that will aim to increase the mode share of cycling for trips in Yarra, with a long-term vision of making cycling the first transport choice for all short to medium distance trips.

It details actions and timelines for improvements to the on and off road bicycle network and other infrastructure (including bike parking facilities) to maximise bicycle use in Yarra.

The draft strategy sets a clear goal for Council to increase the rate of Yarra residents cycling to work from 6.4% to 15% by 2015 as well as reducing bicycle collisions and injuries. It also aims to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to take up cycling as a mode of transport.

Increasing cycling is a major part of the necessary transition to zero emissions transport systems. If Yarra Council carries out the actions in this plan, they will most certainly help in increasing cycling and should be commended. It would be great to see other municipalities and the State/Fed Governments make similar commitments backed by tangible actions. Send submissions through to Mark Kulyk at mark.kulyk –at– yarracity.vic.gov.au or PO Box 168, Richmond, VIC, 3121.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Help us save clean energy jobs and solar power

The Save Solar Systems campaign is asking for your support. The company Solar Systems has gone into administration making 100 workers redundant. This has put the construction of the first large scale solar power plant in Australia in doubt. It was to have been a $420 million project, that would have created 1000 jobs in construction and powered 45,000 homes.

State and federal governments had already promised $125 million to the project, but so far released less than $3 million of that money. We are asking that the federal government immediately intervenes to guarantee (i) that the Solar Systems factory in Abbotsford remains open, (ii) that the redundant workers are reinstated and, (iii) that a large scale solar power plant is built in Mildura.

We are asking you or your organisation to:
1 Sign the petition
2. Write or call Lindsay Tanner MP, Member for Melbourne asking for the three points listed above. Email him at lindsay.tanner.mp@aph.gov.au or call on 9602 2911
3 Endorse the Save Solar Systems rally, 2pm Sunday 11 October, 45 Grosvenor Street, Abbotsford (off Victoria Street, 109 tram from the city)
4 Publicise the rally, by emailing the details and information to your networks
5 Come to the rally
6 Let us know if you can provide photocopying or other resources for the campaign.
7 Come to organising meetings, every Sunday 1pm, at the Terminus Hotel, 605 Victoria St Abbotsford.

Contact via savesolarsystems -at- gmail.com - if you want further information. If you wish to be added to the email list, send a request with "please add me to you email list" to the same email address.

Below is an interview with one of the sacked Solar Systems workers (wind noise dies down after about 30 seconds), and another rally speaker from the first rally on 18 September:





For more information see the Solar Systems website, and media coverage (1, 2, 3, 4)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Youth Decide

The results of the Youth Decide poll, run by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition over the week 14-21 September are in. Kevin Rudd's not going to like it.

Over 37,000 people between the ages of 12 and 29 took part in a vote that asked them what sort of emissions cuts they wanted for Australia and the developed world, when provided with the scientific evidence of the consequences of these cuts.

The three options were (cuts by 2020 on 1990 levels):

40%+ (the amount scientists recently said was necessary to avoid catastrophic runaway climate change) - chosen by 91.5% of respondents
25-40% (the amount the media claims scientists say is necessary, which is now badly outdated) - 5.9% of respondents
4-24% (the amount the Rudd Government has proposed in its CPRS) - 2.5% of respondents

Let's hope most of them are old enough to vote at the next election...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Hazelwood Video

"This is where the black balloons really come from."


I eavesdropped as the father explained to his very young daughter that the black balloons really came from this place, not the washing machine. Looming over us was the Hazelwood coal power station, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Around us were 500 other people, some of who had travelled long distances, as well as many locals, to help send the message that for our own survival, we need to urgently transition away from coal and towards renewable energy and energy efficiency, and that this means switching off Hazelwood and finding alternative jobs for the workers inside.

Scientists have made it clear that getting out of coal should be our number one priority for reducing emissions and avoiding runaway climate change.

We had spent the night before camping with 230 people, discussing tactics for the day and more general climate change topics, as well as sharing a meal and listening to some fantastic live music. On the day, despite early rain, the atmosphere was positive and friendly. We were welcomed to country by Robbie Thorpe, a local Gunai elder and heard from fantastic speakers.


We marched to Hazelwood and were met with a heavy police presence. Twenty-two people managed to get over the Hazelwood fence and deliver a community decommission order. They were charged with trespass. There were many more willing to commit civil disobedience, but were not nimble enough to get over the fence without the police stopping them.

We received blanket media coverage that night on TV and in the papers the next day. A great time was had by all and the importance of peaceful civil disobedience made clear. It was an historic day for all of us fighting for a safe climate future against the insanity of our governments and fossil fuel industries.

It's time - switch off coal and switch on renewables!

See you at the next protest!


Click here for more photos.

www.switchoffhazelwood.org - for a summary of the media coverage

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

In Brumby's Victoria: coal thrives, solar dies

While climate scientists all over the world call for a rapid transition away from coal, the Brumby and Rudd governments continue to support this dangerous industry while allowing crucial renewable energy projects to fall over.

Over the weekend the State Government announced it was looking into exporting brown coal, the world's most greenhouse gas intensive fuel, to India. A week earlier, the company Solar Systems went into voluntary administration putting 150 jobs at risk. The company was not able to raise enough money from private investors to build what was going to be Australia's biggest solar energy plant (so far) in the north-west of Victoria.

Considering the scale of the climate crisis, the Brumby Government cannot allow this project, which is technically sound, and the valuable employment that it will create, to go belly up. If they really believe the things they say about the seriousness of climate change and the importance of clean energy jobs, then this project must not be allowed to fail. If private money will not invest in this project due to the global financial crisis, as John Brumby has said, then government must step in. It's time the government took responsibility for the transition away from coal to renewable energy.

Help us demand the Solar Systems project goes ahead:
Rally to save the solar plant
This Friday, 18 September, 12.30pm
Solar Systems Office, 45 Grosvenor St, Abbotsford

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

We love Ontario!

In a world first, the Canadian province of Ontario has put in place a plan to reduce its coal usage by 40% by next year (on 2003 levels) and is hoping to phase out coal burning altogether by 2014.

Wind power is booming in this province of over 13 million people, which is also an electricity exporter to the USA.

Some turbines will be closed down, while others will have their coal fuel replaced with natural gas and renewable biomass. While this isn't a transition to 100% renewable energy, it is certainly a step in the right direction and will be the single biggest reduction in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in its history.

If Ontario can do it, then Victoria, with our plentiful sun, wind and educated workforce can do it too.

Are you listening John Brumby? These are the kind of short term targets and action that we desperately need to avoid runaway climate change.

For more information click here.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Climate Camp UK - "it's time for a world without coal"

The fourth climate camp in the UK has wound up! What an inspiring week! This year it was held in London, at a location kept secret until the first day and communicated to thousands of attendees by SMS.

This event, which went from 27 August to 2 September resulted in protests and civil disobedience all over London, as well as the usual workshops held at the campsite.

Actions were held at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank, for financing fossil fuel projects, the PR firm Edelman PR, for their work helping the energy company E.ON promote their plans for a new coal fired power station, the offices of Shell and BP (for obvious reasons), the UK treasury (ditto), London City airport and the carbon trading exchange.

To see more, visit the camp for climate action UK website, or the Guardian's coverage online.

The climate casino at the carbon exchange opens for business

And for your entertainment, just before the camp, the organisers responded to police requests for information on where the camp was going to be with this cheeky video:

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Scientists prove Victoria's drought is climate change

A three-year study carried out by the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO has found that Victoria's 13 year drought is actually a permanent climate shift linked to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Strengthening high pressure systems are pushing rain bands further south, over the ocean rather than land, due to the warming of the planet.

To view the research visit the South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative website, and see coverage of the study in The Age.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Exposing Victoria's Dirtiest Secret - 13 September

"Switch off Hazelwood. Switch off Coal. Switch on Renewables” is a day of fun, creative and inspiring peaceful community action at Victoria's dirtiest secret, Hazelwood coal power station. This march and protest at the gates of the Hazelwood Power Station, is organised by community members who care about climate change.

We need you all there!

The Hazelwood protest is the community climate movement's big protest action in the lead up to the Copenhagen negotiations. It's timed to coincide with the peak arctic ice melt, and it's far enough ahead to have a bearing on the Copenhagen negotiations, which are happening now!

The day is building to be a big success.

It is billed as a protest and peaceful mass civil disobedience and we need every one concerned about climate change to be involved! Here's what it means:

There are two distinct arms to the event:

You can protest outside the station with banners, clowns, some great creative and positive props, music and speakers - hopefully to include Senator Christine Milne, one of the few politicians advocating a reasonable science based approach to climate change.

At some point in the day, the second arm of the protest will attempt to walk on to the station to serve "Community Decommission Orders" to Hazelwood Power Station. This completely peaceful act of protest may result in those people being liable for charges of trespass: a decision that people have been willing to take because of the scale of the threat to our well-being posed by the climate crisis.

Participants in both groups are equally important!

Some further information:

Background

Coal burning power stations are one of the main contributors to climate change, which poses an enormous threat to the world and it's inhabitants. Hazelwood is one of the dirtiest coal power stations in the industrialised world. It releases an average of 17 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year and represents around 5% of Australia's emissions. It was scheduled to be shut down this year, however it was given a lifeline by the ALP state government in 2005 allowing it to continue operation until 2031. We need support renewable energy instead and extend the lifeline to our planet!

We are advocating an urgent transition to 100% renewable energy and away from coal. This is already technically possible. We are also demanding that the government support the Latrobe Valley community in a transition away from fossil fuels towards a clean energy manufacturing hub - protecting jobs and giving us all a future. Replacing dinosaurs like Hazelwood with renewable energy is the first step in this transition.

Our State and Federal Governments are failing on climate change. Their policies are nowhere near what scientists are saying is needed to avoid catastrophe.


Details of the Event

On 11am on Sunday September 13, 2009 we will meet on the corner of Broadribb & Nadenboushs Rd (South of Morwell) and march to the front gates of the Hazelwood, rallying to 'Switch on Renewables and Switch off Coal' and slap a Community Decommission Order on Hazelwood Power Station. The event will be well organized with speakers, media link ups, first aid and medical help available but you'll need to bring your own food and drink.

Skills Workshop

There is a weekend skills workshop coming up this weekend, 29/30 August: to build skills for future climate protest organizing as well as skilling up for the day . Look on the website for details!

And Of Course...

Climate change is a threat of unprecedented proportions to our world and all it's inhabitants. People who have never been involved in protest before are getting involved in protests over limate change. The science says we already have too much carbon in the atmosphere to avoid run away climate change. We need to motivate our politicians to act fast enough - that means stopping burning coal, building renewable energy ASAP and sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere. We need to speak strongly, loudly and persistently until it happens!

If possible, RSVP on the website to help with planning for the day. Any questions and for further details of the protest and how to get there go to the website: www.switchoffhazelwood.org

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Renewable Energy Target compromised by corporate greed

It seems no climate change policy can be passed by this parliament without it being watered down and made practically ineffective...

From Crikey:

The capacity of the Australian Parliament to bastardise good policy and turn it into a feeding trough for rentseekers and other parasites is truly remarkable.

You can’t move in this place or open a paper without the bottom-feeding filth of the political economy springing out, hands extended, threatening disaster unless they can fasten tightly onto the public teat. And it’s getting worse, as more and more sectors heed the example of lowlifes like the Minerals Council of Australia and come in for their chop.

The Coalition and the Government managed a deal yesterday on the Renewable Energy Target, or what’s left of it. Just in the nick of time before a Question Time in which the Government would assuredly have contrasted its success in facilitating the Gorgon deal with the inability of the Coalition to even agree amongst themselves on a bill they had committed to support.

...to continue reading, click here.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Climate Change Documentary from 1958

Check out this excerpt from a 1958 documentary about climate change. Seems it's old news.


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme [sic] in the Senate


The Rudd Government's Carbon Polluters Rewards Scheme (CPRS) is going to be voted on in the Senate this week. It is most likely to fail, as all other parties apart from the Labor Party will be voting against it (the Greens for good reasons, everyone else for bad reasons).

Yarra Climate Action Now (YCAN) has gone on the record in this blog and in other forums numerous times since the CPRS was announced in December last year. To see our past entries on this issue click on these numbers - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

As this issue is all over the news this week, we would like to reiterate that together with the 150 grassroots climate action groups that met in Canberra in February, and most environment groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, we oppose the CPRS and hope it does not become law.

The reasons can be summarised as follows:

1. It will not reduce Australia's emissions (most reductions will come from buying dodgy overseas offsets)
2. The targets are nowhere near what scientists say is necessary to give us a chance of avoiding runaway climate change.
3. It will result in a massive transfer of wealth from the Australian taxpayer to the big polluting corporations.
4. It will render voluntary action to reduce emissions practically meaningless.
5. It will sabotage international negotiations by showing the world that Australia isn't serious about fighting the climate crisis.

If the Rudd Government was serious about fighting climate change, rather than just saying it is, it would create a scheme that addresses the above concerns.

For further information to back up the five points above, please see our past entries on this issue.

PS - it goes without saying that the proposal that Malcolm Turnbull released yesterday is even worse!