Gunnedah student organises Strike 4 Change

A Gunnedah teenager is calling on students, teachers and community to join him in a march to raise awareness of climate change.

Year 10 student Hugh Hunter is
leading the charge in Gunnedah.

Year 10 student Hugh Hunter has joined the School Strike 4 Climate movement, which will see students across Australia strike on Friday. The movement is calling for no more coal or gas, no Adani coal mine, and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Read the Namoi Valley Independent story by Vanessa Höhnke - “Gunnedah student organises Strike 4 Change.”

Make climate crisis top editorial priority, XR campaign urges BBC

Climate campaigners are calling on the BBC to declare a climate emergency and make the issue its top editorial priority.

 Extinction Rebellion came to prominence last month when its
members occupied and closed five central London bridges.

In a letter published in the Guardian, the new civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion (XR) says the BBC, “as a respected media voice in the UK, needs to play a key role in enabling the transformative change needed”.

The group came to prominence last month when it organised the largest civil disobedience protest seen in the UK for decades, culminating in the occupation and closure of five bridges in central London. Since then it has grown rapidly and XR branches have sprung up in more than 35 countries.

In the letter, a version of which will be delivered to the BBC on Monday, campaigners request a meeting with the director general, Tony Hall, to “discuss how the corporation can tell the full truth on the climate and ecological emergency”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Matthew Taylor - “Make climate crisis top editorial priority, XR campaign urges BBC.”

Australia among world's wildest places, needs immediate protection scientists say

A group of Australian scientists is calling on the United Nations to protect 100 per cent of the Earth's remaining wilderness areas, ahead of an international conference on biodiversity later this month.

More than 70 per cent of land on Earth has been modified.

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have compiled the first comprehensive map detailing what is left of the world's pristine marine and terrestrial wilderness.

According to their results, which are published today in Nature, most of Earth's surface has been modified by human activities, and we are running out of time to save what is left.

Read the ABC News story by Nick Kilvert - “Australia among world's wildest places, needs immediate protection scientists say.”

Coalition backs Hanson motion for new coal-fired power stations

The Coalition has voted with One Nation in the Senate, backing a motion calling on the government “to facilitate the building of new coal-fired power stations and the retrofitting of existing base-load power stations”.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson in the Senate on
Wednesday. Her motion ‘to facilitate the building 
of new coal-fired power stations’ was defeated 34-42.

The Hanson motion was defeated 34-32, but the Coalition backed it in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon – a move reflecting a push within the Turnbull government to ensure that coal is given assistance as the government moves to implement its proposed national energy guarantee.

While proponents are framing ongoing support for coal as the price of internal peace, Labor has warned the government that new subsidies for coal as part of any Coalition settlement on the Neg will scuttle the chances of ending 10 years of partisan warring over climate and energy policy.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Coalition backs Hanson motion for new coal-fired power stations.”