Well done council on climate call

The Greater Shepparton City Council must be congratulated on the declaration of a climate emergency. All councillors present at the March meeting were united in the view that our council must continue with strong and decisive action on reducing emissions to address climate change.

However, several councillors struggled with the words ‘climate emergency’ and drew a distinction between the COVID-19 ‘emergency’ and the ‘climate emergency’. However, there are similarities between COVID-19 and climate change and how we need to respond.

It is clear to all that the COVID-19 pandemic is an emergency. The science is complicated but the advice is clear. Unless we take decisive early action there will be a doubling in disease contraction every week and our health systems will be overwhelmed.

Governments have heeded this advice and taken decisive action. This early action has placed Australia in a far better position than many other nations around the globe.

The climate change emergency is no different. The science is complicated but the advice is clear. Carbon emissions are irreversibly warming our planet. Many climate-related events we are witnessing are not normal.

We are seeing unprecedented droughts, bushfires, coral bleaching and cyclones with just the 1°C increase in global temperature measured to date.

It is inevitable we will see a further increase in global temperature to between 1.5-2°C even if Paris carbon reduction targets are met.

A further doubling of the temperature increase to 4°C by the end of the century is possible if there is no action to reduce carbon emissions. A 2°C temperature increase will present many challenges. A 4°C increase in temperature may be more than we can adapt to.

The Paris agreement is about flattening the curve so we can limit temperature increase to no more than 2°C.

Climate change is an emergency. Our council serves us well by adding its voice in joining the 84 councils around Australia and 1482 jurisdictions across the world that have now declared a climate emergency.

All levels of government need to heed the science and take urgent early action to limit global emissions of carbon in the same way we have responded to COVID-19.

A letter to The Shepparton News Editor from Derek Poulton on behalf of Slap Tomorrow.

Shift in attitude - Sarah Barker

Minter Ellison special counsel Sarah Barker will be speaking at Shepparton’s La Trobe University about climate change thanks to Slap Tomorrow.

Special speaker: Minter Ellison special counsel
 Sarah Barker will talk about climate change at
 Shepparton’s La Trobe University today.

Ms Barker has two decades of experience advising Australian and multi-national clients on governance, compliance, misleading disclosure and competition law issues.

Her expertise in the environmental, social, governance field in financial services and investment, and its relationship to fiduciary duties, is internationally recognised by organisations, such as the Bank of England and European Union.

As a lawyer at Minter Ellison, one of the largest practices in the Asia Pacific, Ms Barker is aware of the shifts corporations and large investors have experienced in the financial market’s attitude towards climate change.

‘‘Markets now see climate change as a financial risk rather than environmental,’’ she said.

Ms Barker said markets had seen people’s attitudes to climate change shift, so they had shifted their views and were looking at what they could do to combat climate change.

‘‘We really, really need to understand the shifts that have occurred internationally, so we are not left behind,’’ she said.

‘‘If internationally financial markets believe it, then business has to respond.’’

Ms Barker said countries in the European Union stopped debating climate change 20 years ago, but in some ways Australia had remained on the fence.

Ms Barker said coming to Shepparton would help her learn more about what businesses were thinking about climate change and her talk would discuss how businesses could become involved in the changing world of business.

‘‘The impact on each individual business is always going to be unique to each business,’’ she said. ● Sarah Barker will speak at La Trobe University, North St, Shepparton tonight at 6 pm. This event is free to attend there will be a light supper. For more information, phone 0400 502 199.

Story by Sionnie Kelly in today’s Shepparton News - “Shift in attitude.”

Slap Tomorrow set the pace with its 'wake-up' forum in 2013

Shepparton’s Slap Tomorrow attracted 650 people to a 2013 forum entitled “Climate change - A wake-up Call” and now today the new head of the Australian Energy Market Operators (AEMO) is saying the same thing.

Audrey Zibelman says the notion that major energy industry players can hold on to their old business models is “insane”, and has described last year’s state-wide blackout in South Australia as a “wake-up” call for all in the industry.

Head of the Australian Energy Market
Operators, Audrey Zibelman.

In a speech to the Australian Solar Council conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, and in earlier in-depth interview with RenewEconomy, Zibelman said the pace of change in the energy industry would be rapid, would focus on consumers and their use of rooftop solar and battery storage, and on demand management.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson on RenewEconomy - “AMEO chief says clinging to old energy model is ‘insane’.”

Biofuel discovery: start-up company breathes new life into old tyres

Add caption

The idea that old tyres could be successfully recycled and used as a fuel was discussion in Shepparton in 2013 by Professor Veena Sahajwalla.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) professor was one of three speakers at the first of a series of forums staged by the Shepparton-based group, Slap Tomorrow.

More than 600 people were at the city’s Eastbank auditorium to hear the Director of Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology  at the university (SMaRT@UNSW) talk about her research on Sustainable Materials Processing, which involved old tyres.

Professor Sahajwalla has received many international and Australian awards with the most recent being the 2008 New South Wales Scientist of the Year Award in the category of Engineering Sciences for her research on recycling waste plastics in steelmaking, a process which she invented.

And now a green start-up technology company has surprised scientists by producing a biofuel from old rubber tyres that can run turbo-charged diesel engines while reducing emissions by 30 per cent.

Green Distillation Technologies (GDT) can produce 3,000 litres of bio-oil from one giant seven-tonne mining truck tyre.

Read the ABC story - "Biofuel discovery: start-up company breathes new life into old tyres.”

Steel from old tyres and ceramics from nutshells – how industry can use our rubbish

Veena Sahajwalla - researching how we
best use of society's waste products.

Veena Sahajwalla was one of three speakers at first forum staged in Shepparton by Slap Tomorrow.

Others speakers with the University of New South Wales professor at the 2013 forum (Climate change: a wake-up call) were the former leader of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose, and Victorian climate change activist and former weather announcer on Channel 7, Rob Gell.

The UNSW professor talked then of combatting climate change by using old tyres and through a process she was researching and documenting, using them to produce energy.

More than 600 people attended the Shepparton event.

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Professor and Director of the Centre for SustainableMaterials Research and Technology (SMaRT) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Veena Sahajwalla, and a Senior Research Associate at the UNSW, Farshid Pahlevani -  “Steel from old tyres and ceramics from nutshells – how industry can use our rubbish.”

Great environmental flow - 'nature explodes into life'

Slap Tomorrow president and Bunbartha resident, John Pettigrew (right) recently commented in the Shepparton-based Country News   - “Great environmental flow.”

Read John’s observations about the latest flush of environmental water which he notes has seen "nature explode into life".

Fiona Armstrong among Australia's 100 most influential women

Fiona Armstrong - she has visited and
spoken in both Shepparton and Tatura.

Fiona Armstrong has spoken in Shepparton at a Slap Tomorrow event and at an Environmental Film Festival organized by Tatura Transition Towns.

And now the tireless chief executive of the Melbourne-based Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) has been named as one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence.

She was one of 10 named in the “Social enterprise and not-for-profit” section of the awards.

In a message to her supporters, Fiona said: “Also amused to find myself in the company of Gina Rinehart! Hopefully we are all helping to address the harm she causes - and for that I’m grateful to you all for the work you do in the climate movement and the support, guidance and encouragement provided to both myself and CAHA as part of that effort.

“I hope it will be a boost for the issue of climate action and especially around health - I felt even getting my nomination in front of the selection panel (which included the Prime Minister's wife, Lucy Turnbull) would help raise awareness about this issue - and for that alone it was possibly worth doing!” she said.

Read the Financial Review story - “100 Women of Influence awards reveal hidden talent.”

Understanding social issues; understanding how we should respond to climate change

Most everything in life is resolved and dealt with through a social response and so the better we understand our social implications and complications, the move prepared we are for whatever dilemma confronts us.

And the king of all dilemmas, the most wicked problem facing humanity, and so communities at all levels is climate change; something that is both vastly misunderstood and underestimated, and for many people a dilemma not even on their personal radar.

Shepparton will soon have the chance to hear a fellow who is Australia’s pre-eminent social researcher, Hugh Mackay.

Beyond being a social researcher, Hugh has written extensively about his  findings in many books, including his latest, “Beyond Belief”, and he will discuss that, along with his earlier works on Friday, August 12.

He is being brought to Shepparton by Slap Tomorrow and the Shepparton event will support the Goulburn Valley Community Fund.

Tickets for the 7:00pm event, at the Go TAFE Harder Auditorium, are $10 each and will include a light supper and can be secured from The Community Fund at  (03) 5832 8221 or from Collins Booksellers in Maude St, Shepparton, at 5822 2679.

Climate change advocates need to listen to Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay’s knowledge and understanding about what communities do and how they operate is legendary.

And so it is important for those who care about and understand the implications of climate change to listen closely to what this Australian social researcher has to say.

Hugh’s latest book is about religion (“Beyond Belief”), while his previous book, “The Art of Belonging” explored more about how communities work.

The Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow, working with the GV Community Fund will host a visit by Hugh to Shepparton on Friday, August 12, when he will speak at the Harder Auditorium at 7:00pm.

Admission of $10, including a light supper, will raise funds for The Community Fund.

Tickets can be secured from Cheryl Hammer atThe Community Fund on 58328 221; Helen and Joe Sofra at Collins Booksellers in Maude St, Shepparton, 5822 2679; and Slap Tomorrow members Rober McLean at 0400 502 199 or John Pettigrew at 5826 9567.

Intimate understanding of men, farming and climate change

Ian Coldwell has an intimate understanding of men and farming, both from academic and practical points of view.

Ian, having been closely associated with the Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow that aims to help people better understand and respond to climate change, has seen first hand how the rigours of a disrupted climate system can impact on farmers.

Writing a piece for Academia, Ian said: ”No water was the final straw as markets were deregulated at the same time that all else was tied up in red tape and hefty levies and no can doos”

Read Ian Coldwell’s “Where are the ‘shit-kickers’ now?”

February global temperatures should be a 'wake-up call'

Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow used
the phrase "a wake-up call" some three
years ago, but still people sleep on, it seems.

Global temperatures for February showed a disturbing and unprecedented upward spike. It was 1.35℃ warmer than the average February during the usual baseline period of 1951-1980, according to NASA data.

This is the largest warm anomaly of any month since records began in 1880. It far exceeds the records set in 2014 and again in 2015 (the first year when the 1℃ mark was breached).

In the same month, Arctic sea ice cover reached its lowest February value ever recorded. And last year carbon dioxide concentration in our atmosphere increased by more than 3 parts per million, another record.

What is going on? Are we facing a climate emergency?

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Director and ARC Laureate Fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre from the UNSW Australia, Steve Sherwood, and the Professor of Physics of the Oceans from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Stefan Rahmstorf - “February’s global temperature spike is a wake-up call.”

(The Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow’s first public forum in 2013 was sub-titled “A Wake-Up Call” and yet here we are some three years later still, apparently deep asleep – Robert McLean.)

Man of action turns to the pen to press his ideas

Tatura’s Terry Court prefers action to words, but today employed the latter to urge readers of The Shepparton News and its associated publication, Country News, to act on climate change.

In a letter to both newspapers the Beneath the Wisteria supporter and active committee member of the Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow said:

Average global temperatures in 2015 were the hottest on record.

In Victoria, March is shaping up to be the hottest on record, with maximum temperatures currently approximately nine degrees above average. Weather forecasts to the 14^th March indicate very hot conditions which will see maximum temperatures across the state soar to 10 degrees above average. Unless there is unprecedented cooler conditions for the remainder of the month, March 2016 will, most probably, be the hottest March on record.

Over the next week we will all experience the prolonged hot spell. Some of us will keep the air conditioner on longer, others cannot do that.

Hopefully, we will reflect on what we and the nation can do to mitigate the enormous negative impact of global warming will have on us unless we act now.

Taxation changes that penalise big polluters would be a great start.

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.)

Lover of garbage familiar face to those at Slap Tomorrow forum

Vena Shajwalla - she loves garbage, she's
 inspiring and she's invented "green steel".

Veena Shajwalla was among the speakers at Shepparton’s first Slap Tomorrow forum in 2013.

And now, on The Guardian, she has been described as “The woman who loves garbage: Veena Sahajwalla on making the best of waste.”

It has been said the inventor of green steel, is working on a way to recycle smart phones, she is supporting developing countries and inspiring young women – “All at the same time”.

The call is still about us waking from our slumber

Three years ago the Shepparton-based Slap Tomorrow organized and staged a forum entitled “A wake-up call” and still today people continue to encourage us to wake from our slumber.

Jenny Goldie, from Michelago in New South Wales, wrote about that need for us to “wake up” in the Melbourne Age on December 19 under the heading: “Heed wake-up calls before it's too late.”

She wrote:

Ian Dunlop's superb article ("Rational climate and energy policy", 13/12) is a wake-up call. If we are to have several metres of sea-level rise this century, then we have to vacate the major cities of the world (New York, London, Shanghai). No amount of adaptation will be possible. The Australian government has to do its bit to minimise global warming. It has to increase its emission reduction targets to at least 65 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030; ban all new coal mines; immediately close down power stations based on brown coal, such as Hazelwood, and phase out the rest; increase climate funding to $1.6billion a year from new money, not the existing aid budget; phase out all fossil fuel subsidies (while compensating food producers who would lose the diesel fuel rebate); promise to keep the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency; and significantly increase subsidies to the renewable energy sector. There is no hope unless we make a complete shift away from fossil fuels before mid-century.

Meanwhile, Jenny Henty, of Canterbury, in arguing for us to consider how we talk about climate change wrote today in the Age under the heading: “Seasonal change”:

I agree with Terry Hastings that the term "bushfire season" is problematic (Letters, 3/1) but for different reasons. In the new reality, spring, summer and autumn are all potentially bushfire seasons. With the advent of global warming our language has to admit to the changed climate: only then we mobilise our wills and determine a course to a clean renewable energy future.

And again today, arguing that “Farmers do their bit”, John Marriott, of Point Lonsdale, wrote:

While it is a fact that livestock are emitters of greenhouse gases (Letters 3/1), many livestock producers also carry out farming practices and revegetation programs that sequester carbon – in fact some are net sequesterers, unlike the transport industry. Don't cancel the weekly visit to the butcher too soon.

GV groups among the 60 000 marchers in Melbourne

A small group from the Goulburn Valley representing Slap Tomorrow and Beneath the Wisteria were among the 60 000 people who joined the recent People’s Climate March in Melbourne.

Organizers said that across the globe, 785,000 people in 175 countries hit the streets at more than 2,300 People’s Climate March events. That’s three quarters of a million people!

“And in Australia, we came together in record breaking numbers in more than 50 towns and cities right across the country to show the world just how much we care.

“Thank you for marching,  letterboxing, re-tweeting, speaking, letterboxing, painting and volunteering. You’re the voice!

“We showed our world leaders gathering in Paris, we want a world our children can thrive in,” they said.

Watch a two-minute video report on the marches.

(Considering that the People’s Climate March was about preserving and protecting the “Goldilocks’-like conditions” that have allowed humanity to thrive, the near one million people from the world-community of seven billion, was a paltry number, but hopefully watching and taking note were some of the world’s influential decision makers and their response will reflect the dedication and enthusiasm of those who marched.)

Goulburn Valley groups stand proud among 60 000 climate marchers

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he Goulburn Valley was well represented among the 60 000 marchers who joined Melbourne’s “People’s Climate March” on Friday evening.

A quick decision at the October meeting of Beneath the Wisteria brought on the organization of a bus to travel from Shepparton to the rally.

Slap Tomorrow committee member, Carole Trotter, quickly organized a 48-seater bus, but bookings for the trip were insufficient and so eight people travelled to Seymour by car and then train to Melbourne,

Beneath the Wisteria supporter, Bill Brown, engaged friend, Geoff Wilson, to make a sign for each group and off we went.

The march was a sea of signs calling for action on climate change, with each sign reflecting the passions, goals and aspirations of the group it represented.

The Beneath the Wisteria and Slap Tomorrow signs generated considerable interest, and many questions, raising both the profile to the two groups and enabled both to be a part of what was an impressive community drive to encourage the world’s governments to pay increased attention to our treatment of the climate.

The Beneath the Wisteria sign is being carried by Robert McLean (left), Slap Tomorrow president and Beneath the Wisteria supporter, John Pettigrew, and Carole Trotter. Also in the picture are Tatura’s Chris Court (stripped top), “Val” from Tocumwal who travelled down with the Shepparton group, Robyn Pettigrew (green top) and behind her in the black and grey top, Shepparton’s Greg Barnes.

Almost lost in the huge crowd as they hold the Slap Tomorrow banner aloft are Tatura’s Terry Court (hat), both a member Slap Tomorrow and a Beneath the Wisteria supporter, and Shepparton’s Bill Brown (blue shirt).

Taking the bus to bond with thousands at the People's Climate March

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eneath the Wisteria and its fellow Shepparton-based group, Slap Tomorrow, are organizing a bus-trip to this month’s People’s Climate March in Melbourne.

The 48-seater bus will leave the Fords Buses Telford St, Shepparton, depot at 2:00pm on Friday, November 27, and return to the depot about 11 o’clock that night.

Once in Melbourne, the Shepparton group will join with other marches at the State Library, bond with thousands of like-mined people and impress our politicians, State and Federal, that we, the people, do care about climate change and how they, our governments, need to respond urgently to what is happening.

This maybe your greatest-ever personal effort in responding to climate change and to be a part of this wonderful example of people-power will cost you just $25 for the bus trip. Any costs beyond that must be covered by the individual.

Those keen to be a part of this “game-changing” moment can book and pay for their bus ticket at Top Gun Multimedia.

Both Beneath the Wisteria  and Slap Tomorrow are non-profit groups and so a minimum of 42 people are needed to make the trip financially possible, so visit Top Gun and book your ticket.

Slap Tomorrow wants to hear students' Big Idea

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hepparton-based Slap Tomorrow is eager to engage students from the district’s secondary schools in creating their Big Idea.

The group has drawn up an outline for the Big Idea 2016 and this week will talk with two school principals and the executive officer of the Shepparton Lighthouse Project, Lisa McKenzie, about the idea.

Efforts to counter climate change need hitherto unseen innovation and already it has been seen that the youth of the world appear best equipped to generate these urgently needed fresh ideas.

Evidence of that was seen in the 2015 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge when a teenager from Boca Raton, Florida, won top honours and received a $25,000 cheque for her creation, an ocean energy harvesting device for the developing world.

Read the Treehugger story - “15-year old scientist wins $25K for her ocean energy device.”

Slap Tomorrow brings Naomi Klein's movie to Shepparton

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See this movie in Shepparton
- buy your ticket at Tugg.

aomi Klein has played a key role in helping people understand the implications of climate change.

The Canadian author has long been aware of the damage caused to the world by its prevailing economic system and has written about that in her latest book, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate”.

The movie “This Changes Everything”, which is based on the best-selling book, will be screened in Shepparton on Monday, October 26, at the Shepparton Village Cinemas.

Shepparton’s Slap Tomorrow has arranged to have the movie, which has only limited release in capital cities, shown in Shepparton, enabling Goulburn Valley people the chance to see this important movie without the cost and inconvenience of travelling to Melbourne.

Secure bookings for the once only screening can be made through the Tugg website.

The Shepparton-based group is eager to help people in the Goulburn Valley better grasp the implications of climate change and sees Klein’s work as an author, and of course the movie as enhancing that understanding.

Tickets for the 6:30pm screening are $20 each and only available through the website of the group with which Slap Tomorrow is working, Tugg

Urging people to see this limited release movie, Slap Tomorrow member, Robert McLean quoted Naomi Klein who said, “What if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we'll ever get to build a better world”.

Questions about the screening or the movie can be directed to Robert at 0400 502 199 or via email.