Door-knocking success with Hazelwood campaign
40 supporters of Climate Action Moreland have door-knocked and leafleted more than 2500 Brunswick homes to launch a new strategy to engage the community on climate issues in this key election year.
The door-knocking, on 17 April and 2 May, will continue at least once a month, with a focus on the campaign to replace Hazelwood power station, the dirtiest in the developed world. It was supposed to close in 2005, but the government extended its licence for another 25 years. Hazelwood is a national embarrassment, 80% foreign owned and responsible for 3% of Australia’s and almost 15% of Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate Action Moreland wants it shut down by 2012 and replaced with renewable energy. We want the government to make shutting down Hazelwood an election promise, but they’ll only do that if we can show there is real community concern on the issue. So we’re taking the issue to the streets of Brunswick… door by door! (more…)
Add comment May 11, 2010
Transitioning to a Better World
Have you heard about Transition Towns? A Transition Town – which could be a town, village, council district, university, or island – is a community-led response to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and increasingly, economic contraction. Transition Towns (sometimes known as Transition Initiatives) is a social experiment to build community connectedness, capacity and resilience.
This idea started off in the UK about 5 years ago and has since travelled across the world. Transition towns are now popping up all over Victoria, such as Banyule, Maroondah, St Kilda, Darebin, Anglesea, Torquay, Geelong, South Barwon, and Montmorency. For our second Politics in the Pub session, we welcomed our guests Kat Lavers (Transition Towns Darebin) and Mary Stringer (Transition Towns Banyule) to share their experiences with us.
Why do it?
At the heart of this initiative is the belief that:
- if we wait for the governments, it’ll be too little, too late
- if we act as individuals, it’ll be too little
- but if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time. (more…)
Add comment May 11, 2010
100% renewables campaign launch
On Sunday, 2 May, Climate Action Moreland joined with Beyond Zero Emissions in launching the 100% renewables campaign in Brunswick – calling for a switch from polluting coal power stations to 100% clean green renewable energy like wind and solar.
CAM was joined by over 60 climate action groups around the country also launching the 100% renewables campaign in their local area.
‘We want all our local candidates, Labor, Liberal and Green, to commit to supporting renewable energy. Right now we have a choice – we can continue our dependence on fossil fuels or we can make the switch to 100% renewable energy Mechanisms like a national feed in tarif are proven to be effective and will drive investment in large scale technology.’ said launch organiser Ellen Roberts.
We have the community support for the change, what we lack is the political will from the major parties. The demise of Rudd’s emissions trading scheme means we need better, more effective initiatives.’
For more information about the campaign check out http://climateactionmoreland.org/our-campaigns/
Add comment May 10, 2010
Replace Hazelwood With Renewable Energy Video
Thanks to Andrew at The Vagabond magazine for putting together this fantastic video. It shows volunteers from Climate Action Moreland, 100% Renewable Energy and the Climate Action Centre door knocking in Brunswick to demand that Hazelwood, the most polluting coal-fired power station in the developed world, be replaced with renewable energy.
2 comments May 6, 2010
Politics in the Pub
Worried about the future? Don’t panic. Pour a drink and let’s talk.
Our next Politics in the Pub is on 29 April 6.30pm at the Edinburgh Castle with the topic ‘What Would a Sustainable World Look Like?’
- Would we be living on self sufficient farms, high density urban housing, or caves?
- Will we be working less, or working from home?
- Will we have flying cars that run on our rubbish?
- And most importantly will we have to wear white jumps suits?
Our first Politics in the Pub, held on March 23 was a great success, with new and old faces discussing climate change well into the night. There was plenty of animated discussion after a short presentation on ‘Melbourne in a Warmer World’ by author David Spratt.
Download this pdf for more details CAM_PITP_V1F_1004
Please note that this event has changed dates from Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th April.
Add comment April 11, 2010
Replace Hazelwood
In 2005 WWF Australia named Hazelwood the “most polluting of all power stations operating in the world’s major industrialised countries”. At the same time the Victorian Government stated its intention to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 8.3 megatonnes a year by 2012. That’s less than two years away and it is every increasingly apparent that the state government has no intention of taking serious action on climate change. You can not have your coal cake and eat it!
Hazelwood power station and open-cut brown coal mine (Click image for more detail)
A Victorian disgrace
If being the home to Australia’s dirtiest polluter wasn’t enough encouragement for the Brumby government to take action against the brown coal dependent industrial dinosaur of a bygone era, you would have thought that Hazelwood being responsible for over 15% of Victoria’s carbon pollution (not to mention 3% of Australia’s), would hit home that the monster needs to be replaced. (more…)
Add comment April 11, 2010
Enough of the noughties, it’s time for the Transition Decade.
We are at a crucial time in human history. Societies have collapsed before because they destroyed their environments and failed to take the necessary steps before it was too late.
* The great civillisation of the ancient Maya destroyed their forests and sucked their rivers dry until their land was uninhabitable and they were forced to abandon their cities.
* The Middle East was not always a desert – it was originally a heavily forested area that was stripped bare by the ancient Sumerians, turning a once fertile area into the barren desert it is today.
* And the Easter Island people created an ecological collapse in a relatively short time period – for them, everything was a consumable resource. With nowhere else to go and nowhere to expand, their entire civillisation collapsed.
We are heading down the same road as those who have gone before us. But this time the collapse of civillisation will be a whole lot worse. This time it will be a global catastrophe like nothing we’ve seen before – the science is clear about that. Unless we make major changes, and make them fast.
Continue Reading Add comment March 28, 2010
Carlo Carli taking action on climate change?
Carlo Carli’s glossy brochure to households in Brunswick requesting that we join him to ‘take action on climate change’ is just the first we can expect as Labour tries to paint itself green in the lead up to the State election in November.
Carlo wants us to ask the Greens to vote for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, but rightly they refuse to do so because CPRS locks in decades of failure on climate change. The government’s own modelling shows that if the CPRS is passed Australia’s emissions won’t drop until 2035, and then not enough to stop runaway climate change. The Victorian government, of which Carlo is a member, is one of the most pro-coal in the country, constantly scuttling renewable energy initiatives and looking for new opportunities to expand the coal industry in Victoria.
It’s going to take more than glossy brochures to turn around Labour’s woeful record on climate action at both the State and Federal level. With my local group Climate Action Moreland I’m intending to campaign against Labour’s pro-coal, do-nothing CPRS and for policies that support not discourage the growth of renewable energy.
Ellen Robert
Climate Action Moreland
Add comment December 23, 2009
Now the CPRS is gone we need real action on climate change, says Climate Action Moreland
Moreland residents are calling for real action on climate change now that the government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has failed.
‘We’ve been campaigning all year against the CPRS because we think its too weak and won’t stop climate change. Now the Liberal party have voted against it, Labour needs to step up with a better option,’ said Climate Action Moreland spokesperson Ellen Roberts.
‘We’ve been talking to the people of Moreland and we’ve found there is strong support in here for real action on climate change.
‘The CPRS however doesn’t count as real action. One of the world’s leading climate scientists, James Hansen, has condemned Labour’s 5% emissions reduction target as resulting in ‘the destruction of planet’ if adopted globally. Labour has quietly announced that it will take the amended CPRS, with its expanded unconditional hand outs to polluters and unlimited capacity for offsetting, to the next election.’
‘As an alternative to emissions trading, Climate Action Moreland is calling for a switch to renewable energy, and more investment in public transport. These are clear and effective policy options that don’t rely on complex and unjust systems like emissions trading.’
Add comment December 2, 2009
