Community campaigner Alex Marshall explains why she is excited about her Council’s decision – and what she believes it will mean for children, youth and adult residents in the Surf Coast municipality.

Currently 975 jurisdictions in 18 countries have declared a climate emergency. Populations covered by jurisdictions that have declared a climate emergency amount to 212 million citizens, with 47 million of these living in the United Kingdom. This means in Britain now roughly 70 per cent of the population lives in areas that have declared a climate emergency. In New Zealand, the percentage is even higher: 73 per cent of the population. It’s 24 per cent in Switzerland and Spain.

In Australia, where the climate emergency declaration mobilisation and petition was launched in May 2016, 43 jurisdictions representing roughly 4 million people and 15 per cent of the population have declared a climate emergency, including the government of the Australian Capital Territory, based in the capital Canberra.

→ More figures on www.climateemergencydeclaration.org

→ More news on www.climatesafety.info/thesustainablehour – and in social media on www.facebook.com/thesustainablehour and www.facebook.com/ClimateEmergencyMobilisation

WEAR RED and support the Surf Coast Climate Emergency Declaration – on Tuesday 23 July 2019 from 17:30 to 18:30 at the Surf Coast Shire Council.

There have been two online petitions and a physical petition, all submitted before/on Friday the 12th of July.

They are on the agenda to be acknowledged at the Surf Coast Shire council meeting on Tuesday the 23rd of July and we are asking people to attend because we want to that the community supports climate emergency declaration.

The decision will then be announced Tuesday 27th of August, and we would love for people to attend that meeting too, because that is where discussion will be had.

We are trying to get as many people to attend as possible, to show that the community support is there.

If you would like to come, please wear red and be there at 5:30pm.

For updates,
→ follow the Facebook event page:
www.facebook.com/events/383310792317137/

→ follow Alex on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/alexmarrshall/

Signatures have been collected via four different petitions, two on change.org one on this website, and one on paper.

Status for the online petitions on 22 July was:

• ‘Surf Coast Shire Council: Declare a climate emergency’ – SCEG’s petition which is now closed as the goal of 1,000 signatures was reached in just two weeks

• ‘Surf Coast Shire Council: Declare a climate emergency’ on change.org has been signed by 132 people

• ‘Climate emergency declaration petition to Surf Coast Shire Councillors’ – petition signed by 131 people, most of whom also wrote a message to the councillors

→ Read the messages to the Surf Coast councillors on
surfcoast.climateemergencydeclaration.org/petition

Surfcoast Shire can be a leader and exemplar in the strong climate crisis action that is urgently needed.
Adam Fox
22 JUNE 2019 AT 8:26 AM
_____________________________________________________

There is a climate emergency, you need too implement a climate emergency plan now
Karen Gloury
22 JUNE 2019 AT 12:02 PM
_____________________________________________________

Dear Councillors
The Surf Coast Shire Council has shown environmental leadership on many issues including waste reduction and fracking. This declaration of a climate emergency is more crucial to our common survival than anything else.
Regards
Vicki Perrett, Geelong Sustainability

Vicki Perrett
23 JUNE 2019 AT 8:11 PM
_____________________________________________________

Every Government that declares a climate emergency brings us a step closer to solving this existential crisis for humanity
Lachlan Gordon
24 JUNE 2019 AT 9:11 AM
_____________________________________________________

Respect the science
Brad Homewood
24 JUNE 2019 AT 10:56 AM
_____________________________________________________

It’s time to declare a climate emergency
Ariel Liddicut
24 JUNE 2019 AT 11:05 AM
_____________________________________________________

Please declare a climate emergency and act now to ensure a safe future for our children and a healthy economy
Belinda Baggs
24 JUNE 2019 AT 11:19 AM
_____________________________________________________

Please declare a Climate Emergency and send a message to Parliament that there are people who are gravely concerned and wish to act on the behalf of our Climate and Environment. It is time to act and take initiatives towards a carbon neutral world.
Penny Andrews
24 JUNE 2019 AT 7:44 PM
_____________________________________________________

I ask that councillors declare a climate emergency. The cost of inaction is already building. We must act now to sustain life on this planet for our children.
Jono Brener
24 JUNE 2019 AT 7:47 PM
_____________________________________________________

We need to make change now or our future generations will suffer the consequences of your mistakes!
Grace Styman
24 JUNE 2019 AT 7:59 PM
_____________________________________________________

Dear person voted to represent our future ….nature is where we came from,.. nature is where we return. Please respect and protect the source of our existence…..Humans need to control themselves. We need to join the rest of Europe in declaring a halt to rampant fossil fuel usage for our healthy world. This is absolutely necessary.
Michael Cooper
25 JUNE 2019 AT 8:43 AM
_____________________________________________________

As more and more councils, towns, cities, states and countries around the world are making the declaration an area like the Surf Coast that has so much to lose from sea rises must follow suit.
Australia is a country that stands to be severely impacted by the present and worsening climate catastrophe; please, for your constituents and the greater good declare a Climate Emergency and follow this by enacting as much to ameliorate the emergency as possible.
Ron Fletcher
25 JUNE 2019 AT 12:16 PM
_____________________________________________________

It’s time to listen to the community and make our environment a priority. Please help safeguard our environment for the future and make the necessary changes to reduce our impact
Rachael Parker
25 JUNE 2019 AT 12:26 PM
_____________________________________________________

The time is up. We must act now!

The effects from decades of humans fossil fuel consumption, excess consumption of meat and reliance on single use plastics is destroying our environment and the climate.

We have a federal government with it’s head up it’s own arse and a major party who are negligent to the needs of this country and the environment and so it’s time that we ask you the Councillors of the Surf Coast to step up and protect our community.

It’s time the Surf Coast Shire Council declares a climate emergency and bring the voice of the people that are screaming out for systematic change to our federal government to ensure a safe future for all future generations.

Regards,

Jeremy

Jeremy Richardson
25 JUNE 2019 AT 1:21 PM
_____________________________________________________

Please declare a climate emergency to send a powerful message to State, Federal and other local governments that this is urgent and a true emergency. We need war-time scale action to fix this.
Suzie Brown
25 JUNE 2019 AT 1:38 PM
_____________________________________________________

I implore the council to implement the four actions described above.
Thank you in anticipation of a positive response to this petition.
Anne Mason
25 JUNE 2019 AT 1:47 PM
_____________________________________________________

Follow the councils and countries of the world by declaring a climate emergency and beginning the task of climate and social restoration.
Dylan Mayson
25 JUNE 2019 AT 3:13 PM
_____________________________________________________

Please listen and act now. Please do something, you have the power to change. I’m studying marine biology and strive to protect and support oceans starting with my home. Why is Australia so behind? Listen to the scientists and please act now. Lead the way of the future, the whole community will be behind you.
Nikita
25 JUNE 2019 AT 5:56 PM
_____________________________________________________

I care about the world we live in, looking after it for future generations is our job! Every living thing is dependant on the decisions you make from now on. Our future is in your hands!
Chris Fox
25 JUNE 2019 AT 7:34 PM
_____________________________________________________

Please declare a climate change emergency. There is no time to waste. Let’s be a leader on this dilemma.
Graeme Biggins
25 JUNE 2019 AT 8:30 PM
_____________________________________________________

I’m highly concerned about the lack of action at a government level to address climate change as an issue. It will be great to see the grass roots representatives leading by example and not waiting for our so called “leaders” to lead.
Matthew Martin
25 JUNE 2019 AT 9:57 PM
_____________________________________________________

the World is dying and you have to act now to give our children a chance to survive this emergency
Steven
25 JUNE 2019 AT 10:41 PM
_____________________________________________________

I love this planet. Everything we have been given is amazing and I hate seeing it slowly slip away. I don’t want oil spills in the bight, I don’t want the oceans levels to rise and the polar bears to die. I want my kids to surf the breaks I surf today and be able to travel to the places I have been and see that none of it has changed! So please I am 16 and I want to see a change now it’s an emergency!
Griffin Brown
25 JUNE 2019 AT 11:24 PM
_____________________________________________________

Climate change is real. It’s having an impact globally. Declare an emergency now before it’s too late. Doing something now will potentially ease the burden later, doing nothing is not an option.
Sue Hopkins
26 JUNE 2019 AT 4:59 AM
_____________________________________________________

Let’s show Australia that we are not sheep- we do not follow a backwards, indulgently, selfishly ignorant government. We can think for our selves and we know that there is a climate emergency. Be at the forefront of this. You can make a difference.
Katie Griffin
26 JUNE 2019 AT 7:09 AM
_____________________________________________________

Everybody should be onboard with this, I’m petrified to think how this will affect our future if it’s left to late.
Chloe Gould
26 JUNE 2019 AT 7:18 AM
_____________________________________________________

This call for climate emergency is more than a hyper-reactive response to rapid industrialisation of our beautiful coastal towns – it’s a response to fears for our future generations and the lives they are due to live. We need to act now so that we don’t spend our retirement caring for our kids while wearing face shields.
Kirsten Davis
26 JUNE 2019 AT 7:23 AM
_____________________________________________________

I would appreciate not dying to global warming.
Finn Levelt
26 JUNE 2019 AT 9:49 AM
_____________________________________________________

Please do something about climate change
Josh
26 JUNE 2019 AT 9:50 AM
_____________________________________________________

if we don’t wanna make changes for the better we gonna be forced to make changes for the worst. we won’t have the things we take for granted and if we only realise this when the damage is done we will be slapping ourselves regretting the fact that we didn’t act. it’s disgusting that people actually think they can just sit on their bum and that money matters more than their actual quality of life. we’re blind to the fact that everything we value is in danger. including money. if we destroy the earth we will have nothing
Olympia Keon-Cohen
26 JUNE 2019 AT 9:59 AM
_____________________________________________________

don’t ruin our world. we are the ones who have to undo the damage you have done, don’t be selfish.
Isabelle Boland
26 JUNE 2019 AT 10:09 AM
_____________________________________________________

I’m a high school student and I want to see action
Elena Nicholls
26 JUNE 2019 AT 10:11 AM
_____________________________________________________

I’m a year 12 student and i don’t know whether i should be planning for a future i may not have. Thank you for creating change and awareness on climate change as without people like you there’s no point in me planning for a future that wont exist.
skye
26 JUNE 2019 AT 10:14 AM
_____________________________________________________

Please, act to protect our beautiful home for our children and their children.
Peter Miller
26 JUNE 2019 AT 12:54 PM
_____________________________________________________

Act before it is to late to do so.
Michael Hickmott
26 JUNE 2019 AT 10:54 PM
_____________________________________________________

Please implement a municipality-wide climate emergency response
Maree Kelly
29 JUNE 2019 AT 11:44 AM
_____________________________________________________

→ Read many more messages to the Surf Coast councillors here:
surfcoast.climateemergencydeclaration.org/petition

[INSPIRATIONAL]   Yes, a school can do it too.

“The Chase School is a school of excellence – and that should apply to all areas.”

The Chase School in Malvern, UK, wrote in its newsletter:

“The IPCC delivered a stark warning that we have just two years to keep temperatures from warming above 1.5 C. We’ll be living with the consequences of climate change for generations to come, and our children need to know about the future they face, especially as they will experience its impact first hand.

We want to raise awareness of climate change, acknowledge the crisis, and lead the way in action.

In declaring an emergency, we strive to reduce our carbon footprint, and keep the “reduce, reuse, repair & recycle” motto in our minds at all times.

Key Actions:
1. Increase knowledge and understanding of climate change across the school community

2. Reduce volume of printing and offset the school’s annual printing consumption by planting trees on the school site or by pledges made by others

3. Increase overall recycling and seek a reduction in energy consumption through improved recycling facilities and improved behaviour across students and staff

4. Improve drinking water facilities around the school in order to reduce single use plastic water bottles

5. Increase number of pupils and staff cycling and walking to school to create more sustainable transport

In addition to the above goals, we have compiled a short list of questions to encourage staff and students to act in accordance with a crisis, that can be displayed around the school.

Students:
* Can I walk or bike to school? Can I take the bus or train? Can I car-share?
* Do I need to buy single use plastic? Do I have a re-usable water bottle?
* Do I strive to look after my pens, books and other belongings in order to avoid unnecessary waste?

Staff:
* Resources – do I need to print it? Can I reduce it to use less paper? Can I reuse it at a later date?
* Do I recycle, and encourage the pupils to recycle?
* Do I positively promote the “reduce, reuse, repair, & recycle” motto? Do I positively promote the required shift in mind-set?

We want to improve the school’s awareness of climate change, and empower students and staff to help make a difference.”

→ www.chase.worcs.sch.uk

Melbourne-based Breakthrough has released an excellent eight-page guide – ‘Understanding climate emergency and local government’ – which explains the scientific evidence of the emergency, the crucial initiating role of local government, and what an ’emergency response’ is.

The purpose of climate emergency declaration campaigning is to accelerate sustained and meaningful action by all levels of government, and for people globally to engage with the challenge of avoiding catastrophic climate change and restoring a safe climate.

The use of the term “emergency” is a way of signalling the need to go beyond reform-as-usual.

The strategy is to start with local governments because it is easier to find innovative local governments to be early movers than it is to get state and national governments to take on the climate emergency response approach. Local councils and communities have an indispensable role in helping to build a national and global response.

→ Download the guide

→ More guides and papers from Breakthrough can be found on www.breakthroughonline.org.au/guides

→ Share the news about this on Facebook

“Tackling the climate emergency: tools for cities”

Climate Action Co-benefits Toolkit

In the United Kingdom, Ashden have launched a Climate Action Co-benefits Toolkit to help local and combined authorities to radically cut carbon emissions while delivering wider benefits.

Ashden launched this at an event together with the Grantham Institute who have published a briefing paper on the co-benefits of climate action.

→ Download the briefing paper: ‘Co-benefits of climate change mitigation in the UK: What issues are the UK public concerned about and how can action on climate change help to address them?’ (PDF)

Surf Coast Shire Council: declaring a climate emergency is also to declare that Surf Coast Council will be a catalyst for responsible and conscious change in our community.

Considering the circumstances, it is criminal that the federal government allows carbon emissions to keep rising, and is continuing to investing in climate-wrecking coal and gas instead of in clean energy at a time when we see irreversible tipping points reached – now with Greenland’s ice sheet melting “unusually fast”, and dangerous methane bubbling up from the vast, melting permafrost areas.

Your leadership matters and it will make a difference, because you are not alone in doing so. Together with now 24 other Councils in Australia, and the ACT government, you are influencing even more councils to follow your step.

Soon there will be hundreds of Australian councils declaring that they are going to get this job done of responding adequately to the climate emergency – and eventually neither state or federal governments will be able to ignore your collective efforts and proper leadership.

Don’t fail on this one. This is about understanding good governance and having a good strategy for the residents of Surf Coast Shire.

Over a thousand people have signed the petitions calling Surf Coast Shire Council to declare a climate emergency.

#ClimateEmergency #ClimateEmergencyDeclaration

→ The Economist – 17 June 2019:
The Greenland ice sheet is melting unusually fast
“It is losing so much water that it may raise global sea levels by a millimetre this year”

Ask your Councillors to declare a climate emergency
Tuesday 25 june 2019 at 6pm

→ Share on Facebook

→ More information about location, question time, agenda, etc, on: www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au

→ Petitions – still open:
https://surfcoast.climateemergencydeclaration.org/petition/
https://www.change.org/p/petitioning-mayor-and-councillors-of-surf-coast-shire-council

→ SCEG’s petition with 1,001 signatures – now closed:
https://www.change.org/p/surf-coast-shire-surf-coast-shire-council-declare-a-climate-emergency

→ More information about the climate emergency declaration mobilisation on
www.climateemergencydeclaration.org
www.caceonline.org
www.fb.com/climateemergencymobilisation

#ClimateEmergencySurfCoast – #ClimateEmergencyDeclaration

“We are in a climate emergency”

“Patricia Espinosa, head of the United Nations climate change secretariat, said existing country pledges to cut planet-warming emissions would heat the planet by 3 degrees Celsius (5.4F) from pre-industrial times.

“That is just not possible,” she said, adding it would leave people sicker and result in battles over resources such as water and land, with coastal residents losing homes to rising seas. “We are literally in a climate emergency, and… we are increasingly hearing that this is the fight of our lives,” she said.”

→ Thomson Reuters Foundation – 17 June 2019:
UN climate chief says 3C hotter world ‘just not possible’
“Climate change is an “existential issue”, and stepping up efforts to keep warming to agreed limits is urgent, the U.N. climate chief says.”

→ Green Report – 14 June 2019:
António Guterres: The climate emergency threatens the security and stability of the world (article in Italian language)
“More and more wars in the world of sovereignties and the risk of a global nuclear conflict reappears.”

House of Commons declares a climate emergency

“The House has voted to “declare that Canada is in a national climate emergency which requires, as a response, that Canada commit to meeting its national emissions target under the Paris Agreement and to making deeper reductions in line with the Agreement’s objective of holding global warming below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.” Forcing a vote on the motion meant all MPs had to stand up and be counted, whether or not they support Canada meeting the Paris targets.”

→ CTV News – 17 June 2019:
Canada’s House of Commons has declared a national climate emergency
“The House of Commons has passed a motion declaring a national climate emergency, and supporting Canada’s commitment to meet the Paris Agreement emissions targets. Conservative MPs voted against the motion, but it still passed 186-63 with the support of the Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Quebecois and Green MPs.”

→ Global News – 17 June 2019:
National climate emergency declared by House of Commons
“The motion was put forward by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, with the vote passing 186-63.”

→ The Link – 8 June 2019:
Climate Activists Hold Town Hall for Green New DeaL
“A Green New Deal would be a dramatic transformation of the economy tackling the climate crisis and the injustices related to it”

AUSTRALIA:

First Australian state capital declares climate emergency

City of Hobart tonight declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency joining over 600 other jurisdiction around the world #climateemergency #biodiversityemergency

— Bill Harvey (@BillHarvey6) June 17, 2019

“Hobart has become the first capital city in Australia to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency and demand urgent action. The motion passed last night eight votes to three, with Aldermen Tanya Denison, Simon Behrakis and Marti Zucco voting against it.
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds says the declaration of an emergency reflects the concerns of the community. “Acknowledging that you have a really strategic problem for the future is more than symbolic, it’s about recognising that this issue is going to effect our operations and our community is incredibly concerned about the impact of climate change on the future of our city,” she said.
But Alderman Behrakis has described the council’s to declare as emergency as “hypocritical”. He says several of the councillors and aldermen who supported the declaration, also voted against an amendment showing support for a zero-emission power generation program.”

→ ABC News – 18 June 2019:
Hobart City Council declares climate emergency

National General Assembly of Local Government 2019:

Call on the Australian government to declare a climate emergency

Darebin City councillor Trent McCarthy wrote on Facebook on 17 June 2019:
“We just got the National General Assembly of Local Government 2019 to call on the Australian Government to declare a #ClimateEmergency and set up a $10B fund to enable councils to build the resilience of climate change vulnerable communities. Thanks to Moreland Council, Yarra Council and Blue Mountains Shire for co-sponsoring Darebin’s motion and to the 134 delegates who voted for it.”

→ The Guardian – 3 June 2019:
We must mobilise for the climate emergency like we do in wartime. Where is the climate minister?
“A realistic assessment of climate-related impacts and threats depends on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of climate science projections. Unfortunately, much scientific knowledge produced for climate policymaking is conservative and reticent.” By Ian Dunlop and David Spratt

→ Sydney Morning Herald – 3 June 2019:
Time to flick climate emergency switch: a plea to our new Parliament
“A year ago, there was little discussion of climate change as an existential threat, or the corresponding need for emergency action. Today, in the face of rapidly accelerating climate impacts, “existential threat” and “climate emergency” are common currency globally, existential meaning the potential to destroy humanity as we know it.” By Ian Dunlop

→ The Guardian – 15 June 2019:
Australia’s oldest things: how mind-boggling timelines meet the climate emergency
““As the world becomes more unstable in the grip of vast and all-pervasive change,” Falconer writes, “it’s difficult to discern exact chronologies, relationships and meaning.” More than anything, I think, climate change politicises time.”

Story change

Al Jazeera asks: “Has the media narrative changed around climate change?”

Lawyer Farhana Yamin:

“We have three choices: to die, to survive or to thrive”

“At this point in human history we have three choices: to die, to survive or to thrive. From the wildfires in the U.S., coral die-back in the tropics and the deadly hurricanes battering small islands, the signs are crystal clear: climate devastation is already here. The world’s poorest people and indigenous communities are on the front line. They are also bearing the brunt of the sixth mass extinction, which is under way due to conversion of their forests, wetlands and other wild landscapes into concrete cities, dam reservoirs and fields growing soya.”
~ An excerpt from This is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook, published by Penguin Books. By Farhana Yamin, an international environmental lawyer and activist with the Extinction Rebellion movement.

→ Time – 14 June 2019:
This Is the Only Way to Tackle the Climate Emergency

→ The Guardian – 15 June 2019:
We must transform our lives and values to save this burning planet
“The case for action to tackle the climate emergency, on a scale far beyond anything that has yet been attempted, is increasingly widely understood.”

→ CommonDreams – 12 June 2019:
Adding to Planetary Alarm Bells, Top US Finance Official Warns Climate Crisis a Recipe for Global Economic Collapse
“It’s abundantly clear that climate change poses financial risk to the stability of the financial system.”

→ Inequality – 15 June 2019:
Global Inequality in a Time of Climate Emergency
“Our world’s richest have a great deal of money. They also have the power to decide whether our civilization sinks or swims. So what can we do?”

FAITH

Leader of 1.3 billion Catholics declares a climate emergency

On social media

In the news

NEW ZEALAND
→ TVNZ – 13 June 2019:
It’s time for NZ to declare a climate emergency, majority of Kiwis say in new poll
“Of those who were polled, 53 per cent answered yes, 39 per cent said no, and eight per cent did not know. Those who were more likely to agree that the Government should declare a climate change emergency were Green Party supporters, Pacific peoples, people aged 18-34, Labour Party supporters and Māori.”

→ Insurance Business NZ – 15 June 2019:
Climate emergency declared in Auckland
“Auckland City Council has become the latest to declare a climate emergency, joining Canterbury, Nelson, and Kāpiti Coast councils and other cities around the world that have formally recognised the urgency for climate change action.”

UNITED KINGDOM

Today on BBC News – why Heathrow's greed should not come before the health of Londoners and our planet: #climateemergency pic.twitter.com/YwrHkD2hQX

— Sian Berry (@sianberry) June 18, 2019

GREECE
→ Greek Travel Pages – 5 June 2019:
Greek Green Groups Calling on Parties to Declare ‘Climate Emergency’
“Dozens of local environmental groups are calling on the Greek government and political parties to take immediate action and move swiftly ahead with the implementation of measures against global warming and are demanding a “climate emergency” be declared.”

Existential climate-related security risk

Media coverage generated by the release of the Breakthrough policy paper on climate, security and risk by Ian Dunlop and David Spratt:

→ CNN:
Climate change could pose ‘existential threat’ by 2050: report says

→ ABC News: (US)
Climate change could pose ‘existential threat’ to humanity by 2050, advocates say

→ Al Jazeera:
‘Reaching end game’: New paper on climate change raises alarm

→ New Scientist:
Is it true climate change will cause the end of civilisation by 2050?

→ The Independent:
‘High likelihood of human civilisation coming to end’ by 2050, report finds

→ CBS News:
Climate change report: Human civilization at risk by 2050, according to new Australian climate change analysis

→ Adelaide Advertiser:
Civilisation will be under threat by 2050 if we don’t tackle climate change, report warns

→ Mirror: (UK)
Human civilisation ‘will collapse by 2050’ if we don’t tackle climate change

→ NZ Herald:
Climate change doomsday report predicts end of human civilisation

→ Live Science:
Human Civilization Will Crumble by 2050 If We Don’t Stop Climate Change Now, New Paper Claims

→ Science Alert:
Climate Change Could End Human Civilisation as We Know It by 2050, Analysis Finds

→ Pro Bono Australia:
Climate change: ‘A near-to-mid-term existential threat to human civilisation’

→ People:
The End of Civilization May Begin in Just 30 Years, According to a New Harrowing Report

→ Climate News Network:
Thirty years to climate meltdown – or not?

→ Alternet:
‘Existential’ risk of climate crisis could lead to civilizational collapse by 2050: report

→ Medium:
Climate Change Alarmists Have a Point

→ Heute:
Researcher: Humanity is at its end in 30 years (article in German language)

→ Bild:
Shock forecast for the climate catastrophe (article in German language)

→ Klimareporter:
Is humanity dying? (article in German language)
Translation on www.climatecodered.org

Guest in The Sustainable Hour on 94.7 The Pulse on 20 March 2019 was 19-year-old Alex Marshall from CACE Surf Coast & Geelong who’s calling for proper council action on the climate emergency, and leading the charge on the Surf Coast to follow the lead of over 400 other councils around the world that have declared a climate emergency – five of those in Victoria, 15 in Australia.

The Sustainable Hour team also talks over the phone with the officer at Darebin City Council whose job it is to get the practical stuff of a climate emergency sorted and making the Council’s decisions work for the community and the officers: Samantha Green from the municipality’s Environmental Education & Promotions Office.

They visit Maribyrnong Councillor Simon Crawford in the fifth Victorian council to declare a climate emergency. And we visit Darebin Councillor Trent McCarthy who has been a strong supporter of Darebins climate emergency initiatives since his climate emergency motion – the first of its kind in the world – was carried in 2016.

“There is support for declaring a climate emergency, taking action. It is seen as serious and urgent by a majority of people.”
~ Common Cause Australia, network agency

Listen to The Sustainable Hour no. 259 on 94.7 The Pulse:

» To open or download this programme in mp3-format, right-click here (Mac: CTRL + click)

 #CLIMATEEMERGENCY: 

TRENT MCCARTHY

RenewEconomy – 8 March 2019:
Poll finds strong majority support for declaring a climate emergency

Sign petition

Support the campaign and sign the petition on
www.surfcoast.climateemergencydeclaration.org

www.geelong.climateemergencydeclaration.org

“The world is facing a climate emergency. Our country is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Government action and policy matters. Labor is not just ready to take action here; we are impatient to take action. We know that this is in the national interest, that this is in our children’s interest, and that this is in our grandchildren’s interest.”
~ Mark Butler, in a speech on 4 December 2018

LOCAL FIRST

Feature forum at the National Sustainable Living Fesival in Melbourne in February 2019 with some of the remarkable councillors who are at the forefront of the world’s first climate emergency mobilisation effort, acting locally and spreading globally.

“City governments around the world are on the move. In the space of just 12 months, a growing number of city councils are showing extraordinary leadership as the climate crisis escalates. Now spreading into an international movement that started in Australia, city councils are stepping forward as the first level of government to declare a climate emergency. In this extraordinary development, government officials are facing up to the true level of climate risk and are stridently developing climate emergency mobilisation plans and advocating to protect their citizens.”

FEATURED CITIES
Cheryl Davila – Berkeley (USA)
Eduardo Martinez – Richmond (USA)
Chris Krohn – Santa Cruz (USA)
Doina Cornell – Stroud (UK)
Carla Denyer – Bristol (UK)
Kim Le Cerf – Darebin (AUS)
Natalie Abboud – Moreland (AUS)
Belinda Coates – Ballarat (AUS)
Hosted by: Gay Alcorn, Melbourne Editor Guardian Australia

Impassioned request made City of Powell River declare a climate emergency

“We are the leaders of this community and everybody is looking at us to make a difference. I just can’t sit by anymore and do these piddly things that we’re doing. We know it’s going to be expensive; we know it’s going to take staff time to build these into our financial plans but we have to start putting money into reserves. We have to make plans so at the very least if we can do this we’re taking a step forward and we’re telling the community that this is an urgent matter and we are getting in front of it as best we can at this late date.”

~ Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, City of Powell River

City of Powell River councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said she is losing sleep over climate change. At one point during her impassioned argument on the subject at the regular council meeting on 21 February 2019, she broke into tears over her desperation.

She requested that within 90 days, city staff prepare a report outlining the greatest threats to the city, both corporate and community, with respect to climate change impacts.

It includes: estimated sea level rise, wildfire threats, increased flooding events, potential contamination of the watershed and other immediate perceived threats; beginning discussions between the city, regional district and Tla’amin Nation for establishing an advisory committee for disaster and emergency response planning with the regional manager of emergency services taking the lead; establishing “Climate Action Plan 2020 and Beyond” for a carbon-neutral City of Powell River; beginning to track financial implications of climate change impacts not only in city asset management plans but in all city departments; and becoming carbon neutral in the city’s corporate operations from 2019 and beyond.

» Powell River Peak – 6 March 2019:
City of Powell River councillor makes impassioned call to address climate change
“Council decides on its definition for ‘emergency’ plan”

In other news

Wave of councils declare a climate emergency

Two years ago there was one: Darebin City Council. Then there were eight. Then forty… Today, Council climate emergency declarations are being replicated around the world: Close to 300 councils have taken it on board on behalf of their 20 million residents.

Read more on www.climateemergencydeclaration.org

“Many argue we need a Churchill to lead us, that only a strong leader can take charge in a crisis and show us the way forward. Or maybe we need a climate “Pearl Harbour” – a major single event. This is not how systems usually change, but especially not in a globalised and connected world. Yes, we need leadership and across all sections of society. But the “Churchills” emerge from a context and the context shift we need is to accept we have a crisis. Critically, this acceptance is a distributed social phenomenon, not a technical question of science or evidence. This brings me back to Darebin in Melbourne…”
~ Paul Gilding, 11 September 2018