Coral, coal and climate change focus at June forum

Coral, coal and climate change will be the focus of a Federal Election Candidates Forum next month in Box Hill.

Lighter Footprints and Eastern Climate Action Melbourne have combined to stage the Thursday, June 16, forum.

Speakers will included Labor’s Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Mark Butler; the Greens Senator for Victoria, Janet Rice; and the Minister for Energy and Resources, Josh Frydenburg.

With them will be an expert in climate politics and policy from the University of Melbourne, Peter Christoff; and the Boroondara Young Citizen of the Year, Katleen Hansen.

The questions they will be asked to consider are: is it really coal vs the reef? Or the climate vs jobs? Or the environment vs the economy?

Overseeing the forum as Master of Ceremonies will be comedian and member of the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne, Rod Quantock.

More information is available from Carolyn Ingvarson 0n 0411 115 186 or Daryl Maunder at 0409 179 817 and those eager to attend should RSVP here.

Entry is by donation.

Shepparton groups join others throughout the state to demand government action on climate change

A submission to the Victorian State Government calling for action on climate change has won the support of two Shepparton-based groups.

Climate change activist, Melbourne's
Carol Ride from Psychology for
a Safe Climate.

Beneath the Wisteria and Slap Tomorrow have joined eight other groups to back an eight-page submission that responds to a Victorian Government call for comment about creating a “Climate Change Framework and vision for a climate-ready Victoria”.

Convenor of Melbourne’s Psychology for a Safe Climate, Carol Ride, and a member of the Victorian Climate Action Network, Jane Morton, who are also both members of Darebin Climate Action Now, wrote the submission.

Groups from throughout Melbourne, including CLIMARTE and Lighter Footprints along with the Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) body have also supported the submission.

The document explains that the world has zero budget left; zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 is inadequate; the earth is already too hot and agreements reached in Paris in December to hold global warming at two degrees or less above pre-industrial levels is not safe; and accepted carbon budgets underestimate the risks.

A target of zero emissions within 10 years is called for and in explaining that the truth about climate change is “so difficult to tell”, the submission calls for bold political leadership and an informed stance that will alert policy makers and the public about the need for emergency action.

In conclusion the submission says: “We ask you to have courage and spell out in clear and evocative language both the unspeakable risks we face and the inspiring opportunities that arise from transition to a zero emissions society.

“We ask you to immediately begin on the path of the bold and transformative action we need.

“We ask you to provide the kind of leadership required at this pivotal point in history,” the submission says.

It concludes by quoting the author of 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review, Ross Garnaut, who said: “Failure to act now will haunt us until the end of time”.

(Apology: At the time this was written, I was unaware that one of Melbourne’s leading climate activists and co-author of “Climate Code Red”, David Spratt, had made a significant contribution to this submission. Knowing that, it’s obvious as his fingerprints are all over it – Robert McLean.)

We are not alone Beneath the Wisteria

Those who gather Beneath the Wisteria in Shepparton’s Maude Street Mall may seem alone, but they are not.

Others, equally concerned about the disruption by humans to the world’s climate, meet regularly to talk about their response to a dynamic that appears to have escaped the attention of the decision makers.

That, however, is correct for the “responsible men” are certainly aware of the conversation and their response is one of a few things – one, they don’t believe humans are having any impact on our climate and any changes we are seeing are simply natural and cyclic; two, they have some sympathy with the idea of human-induced climate change, but are so enmeshed in the existing socio-economic system that they are unable to perceive any way ahead; or/and the computations associated with climate change are so complex and the outcomes so distant, that the whole idea is intellectually pushed aside and so forgotten about.

Some, despite any of that, are actively discussing the complications of climate change and campaigning for change and among them is the Lighter Footprints, a Melbourne based group that declares in its vision that: “Lighter Footprints is a local Climate Action Group which aims to be a leader in stimulating action to ensure a safe climate future, influencing a paradigm shift in the attitudes and opinions of the community and all levels of government”.

Describing itself the group says: “We are a small but growing group of concerned residents from Boroondara and Whitehorse who came together in 2006 to see what we could do about climate change.”

Another small group is Yarra Climate Action Now, which is made up of people who want to see much stronger action on climate change which is an independent community group based in the inner Melbourne suburbs of the City of Yarra.

Describing itself in a “nutshell” the group said: “Yarra Climate Action Now (YCAN) is a young, growing, dynamic and award-winning community group made up of people concerned about climate change.

"We’ve gotten together because we realized that this is the best way to make a difference in our local communities and also get real action from our governments.

"We are ordinary people who are busy with families, friends and work, but we put energy into YCAN because we know how important it is to push for collective responses to climate change,” the group says.