Posts filed under ‘350.org’
5 Principles for a Just Covid Response and a #JustRecovery
Climate Action Moreland has joined a global call on response to addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, and also called on the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers for no evictions.
We ask that all governments, and the MPs and Councillors that represent our community, use these principles as the basis for decisions they make in coming months as the crisis unfolds.
The Choices we make today will shape our society, economy, health and climate for decades to come. Climate justice also requires socisl justice and health justice.
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Hey Melbourne – Time to Rise for Climate on September 7
Climate Emergency
On September 7 and 8, thousands of rallies will be held in cities and towns around the world to demand our local leaders commit to building a fossil free world that works for all of us.
Join us as we hold our local leaders to account and demand that they walk the talk on climate action.
One of those events will be at the State Library in Melbourne at 6pm on Friday September 7. Join members of Climate Action Moreland and other climate activists in global solidarity calling for strong climate action.
In Australia events are being co-ordinated by 350 Australia.
Rather than hold a small event in Moreland we are throwing our support behind the City of Melbourne event at the State LIbrary.
Where: State Library, Melbourne
When: 6pm Friday, September 7, 2018
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/242220166496545/
Other events in Victoria:
- Sat 8 September 10am-5pm – Rise for Climate #PacificPawa in Laverton
- Sat 8 September 10am-12.15pm – Rise for Climate Bulleen-Doncaster
- Sat 8 September 2pm-3.30pm – Rise for Climate Frankston
- Sat 8 September 10.30am-12noon – Rise for Climate Maroondah Hwy
- Sat 8 September 10.30am at Traralgon Rise for Climate Latrobe City
In Moreland we are asking our Federal MP to help #stopAdani
What every Federal MP needs: concerned citizens lobbying them on climate
A little friendly protest will take place outside the electorate office for Wills MP, Peter Khalil
When: Friday 17 March at 1.30pm at 3 Munro St, Coburg.
Join us for a while if you are in the local area.
We think all our Federal MPs and Senators should be working to stop the Adani Carmichael coal mine from going ahead.
Peter Khalil has already signed the Climate Emergency declaration and is making climate change one of his 6 focus areas.
The Carmichaeol coal mine is a huge carbon bomb. Once built it will lead to coal extraction, transport to the coast, across the Great Barrier Reef, to coal plants across Asia adding to greenhouses gases and climate change. If it goes ahead it would effectively counter any emissions reduction we make with renewables or energy efficiency or waste reduction.
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Wills MP Kelvin Thomson signs Pollution Free Politics Pledge
Kelvin Thomson
Our current Federal MP for Wills, Kelvin Thomson, has signed the Pollution Free Politics pledge.
We applaud this leadership By Kelvin Thomson. But as Kelvin is retiring at the 2016 Federal election we call upon all candidates in Wills to make this pledge. Current declared candidates are Peter Kahlil for the Labor Party and Samantha Ratnam for the Greens.
THE PLEDGE
I personally support, and call on all politicians and parties to support:
• a ban on donations from fossil fuel companies, and
• a ban on subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
Raise The Heat At Coburg CommBank to #savethereef
Our friends at 350.org are engaged in a divestment campaign to move money out of the big banks that are financing fossil fuel industry. The Commonwealth Bank is preparing to finance and provide loan guarantees to the Indian company Adani to develop the Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin. This requires a train line to be built to the coast and a major upgrade to the Abbot Point port facilities.
Upgrading Abbot Point port facilities endangers the Great Barrier Reef through the dredging required, and the huge increase in shipping that will occurr once the infrastructure is in place.
Adani Power Ltd already has a net debt reaching US$7.4 billion in April and the Carmichael mine and associated infrastructure risks being stranded assets and a poor investment. Energy and Finance analyst Tim Buckley said on May 13 “At the end of the day, risking another $10 billion to try to make good on a poorly timed initial $1 billion investment is looking increasingly unlikely in the face of the halving of thermal seaborne since 2010.”
City of Moreland an Australian climate leader in decision to divest
Tonight the City of Moreland has become the first council in Victoria to rule out direct investments in fossil fuels and the first council in Australia to start developing a strategy to move investments away from financial institutions that fund fossil fuel developments.
Moreland joins around 30 cities internationally which have made similar commitments, including Seattle, Dunedin, and Oxford.
It follows recent announcements from Industry superannuation funds HESTA and Local Government Super, statements from ANU and Sydney universities restricting coal investments, and decision by the Uniting Church in Australia and the Perth Anglican diocese to divest from high carbon fossil fuel and mining investments.
Local residents from Climate Action Moreland and 350.org were thrilled with the result at the council meeting, that Moreland Council is an Australian leader in climate action. This follows the launch of Moreland’s Zero Carbon Evolution program last Saturday to reduce community emissions by 22 per cent by 2020.
Over 1000 residents had signed a petition for the City of Moreland to make this decision to divest. The campaign also entailed a public meeting that attracted over 100 people on a cold and wet winter night, and outreach to residents and all councillors for this result to occurr.
Council motion on Fossil Fuel Divestment
Councillor Item – Proposed by Crs Samantha Ratnam, Lenka Thompson and Sue Bolton
In moving the motion Cr Thompson outlined the following, according to the minutes of the meeting:
Cr L Thompson advised Council that as part of its work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reflect its values in all areas it works in, the City of Moreland will seek to ensure that it is not investing money in ways that may directly or indirectly contribute to climate change. The City of Moreland commits to divest itself from the Fossil Fuel industry.
As well as avoiding direct investment in the fossil fuel industry, Moreland also recognises the role of many banks in financing new Fossil-fuel projects in Australia. For this reason the City of Moreland will work to change its banking practices to both minimise indirect investment in fossil fuels, and (where consistent with prudent financial management), direct other banking activities to institutions that do not fund fossil fuel investments.
Background: As part of its work to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions and reflect its values in all areas it works in, the City of Moreland will seek to ensure that it is not investing money in ways that may directly or indirectly contribute to Climate change. The City of Moreland commits to divest itself from the Fossil Fuel industry. As well as avoiding direct investment in the fossil fuel industry, Moreland also recognises the role of many banks in financing new Fossil-fuel projects in Australia. For this reason the City of Moreland will work to change its banking practices to both minimise indirect investment in fossil fuels, and (where consistent with prudent financial management) direct other banking activities to institutions that do not fund fossil fuel investments.
Resolution:
It is resolved that the City of Moreland:
1) Commits to not directly invest in any company for whom the extraction, production, refining, or distribution of fossil fuels forms a core part of their business strategy, nor in any company whose principal business involves providing infrastructure or services to companies previously mentioned.
2) Affirms its decision to limit the current financial services contract to three years and deny any automatic renewals to the present provider (the Commonwealth Bank) if it has not divested from Fossil Fuels at the expiry of the initial three year term.
3) That council receives a report by 28 February 2015 on:
a) fossil fuel divestment options
b) analysis on fossil fuel free investments available to council
c) Options and implications of divestment from fossil fuel
4) That the information generated in the report in point 3 (and pending consideration of the options and implications report by Councillors) be used to develop a fossil fuel divestment strategy by June 2015 that will include the following:
a) A summary of Council’s investments, financial services arrangements and loans
b) Strategies, actions and timelines of the best options to move council’s investments to financial institutions that do not finance fossil fuel projects
c) A framework to maintain ongoing reporting and review of council’s banking to minimise indirect financing of fossil fuel projects and maintain public confidence that council is keeping its commitments.
The motion was Carried 6/3
A Division was called and this is how our Councillors voted:
Councillors For:
Cr Lenka Thompson
Cr Lita Gillies
Cr Sam Ratnam
Cr Helen Davidson
Cr Oscar Yildiz
Cr Sue Bolton
Councillors Against:
Cr John Kavanagh
Cr Rob Thompson
Deputy Mayor Meghan Hopper
Absent for vote:
Mayor Lambros Tapinos
Cr Michael Teti
Cr Sue Bolton explained the decision on Facebook the next day:
Last night’s council meeting took another step towards divesting from fossil fuel. There will be another two votes by council (February and June) before we can say that Moreland council has really divested from fossil fuel. Last night’s vote took us another step towards this goal. Six councillors voted in favour (myself, Lenka Thompson, Sam Ratnam, Lita Gillies, Helen Davidson and Oscar Yildiz). Three councillors voted against divestment (Meghan Hopper, John Kavanagh, Rob Thompson).
Progress on Moreland Council Divestment
We are very excited to share the news that a draft divestment motion is presently being circulated amongst the councillors. It’s critical at this point in time that they know there is community support for the initiative. We have three councillors who have publicly declared support for divestment (L Thompson, S Bolton & S Ratnam). We need six votes to pass – but we want all the councillors to embrace and back the motion.
Our petition is nearing 1000 signatures but showing there’s even greater enthusiasm is important – we need your help to get this historic motion over the line! For those in Moreland, if you could take the time to contact your Councillors to let them know you support divestment, it could be the difference. For those outside Moreland please write to the councillors as well – most of you signed this petition when you were in Moreland to shop, party or visit friends/family, so you are part of our community. You can inform the councillors of your support in a variety of ways.
Use the sample text provided below or your own inspiration to write them an email.
Call/text the councillors directly
Post on the Councillor’s public facebook pages (for those that have them – see below)
Send them a tweet supporting divestment (for those on twitter – see below)
In our discussions with councillors so far, none have ruled out supporting a divestment motion – it’s important we keep all our comments positive and give councillors the encouragement they need.
Here are the contact details of the Councillors – please let them know you support divestment and they should – you can also let the three who have publicly supported divestment know that they have your support.
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Empowering Moreland – Community Climate Action Forum 7 August
Local communities are leading the way in showing government how to take meaningful steps to address climate change. We see that in over 1.2 million households across Australia that have installed solar PV, and the many more who have installed solar hot water systems, or who have found ways to implement energy efficiency. Help to continue to drive the changes we need from a grassroots level:
When: 7pm Thursday 7 August 2014
Where: Coburg Concert Hall at the Coburg Town Hall, 90 Bell St, Coburg
RSVP: Join our event page on Facebook to give us some idea of numbers attending
Resources: Empowering Moreland
Master of Ceremonies for the night will be Rod Quantock. Speakers from Climate Action Moreland and 350.org Further details still to be confirmed.
Bring your own ideas, bring your enthusiasm and bring a friend!
Here in Moreland we are actually pretty effective with climate education events and in forums to discuss climate policies such as the forum prior to the Federal Election September 2013.
On the Federal level Carbon pricing has now been abolished. Much of the supportive framework for addressing climate mitigation such as funding clean energy and the Renewable Energy Target is under sustained attack by an ideologically driven Federal government that pays the faintest acknowledgement of climate science while running a wrecking ball through scientific research programs and climate science education. The evening is a chance to discuss climate change policy in the context of the upcoming State election on November 14.
Climate Action Moreland and 350.org have also been working together on a divestment campaign this year. The meeting will be an opportunity to officially launch the campaign for the City of Moreland to move ratepayer money away from banks which lend to fossil fuel projects – something all Moreland residents can get behind.
Moreland Council has also just approved funding for LED lighting upgrade and closed circuit TV security system for Brunswick taking this money out of footpaths, then transferred $100,000 from the $525,000 Carbon Management Strategy budget to maintain the footpath maintenance budget. We think this is a retrograde step that demeans and degrades the importance of Council’s long term policies and funding for carbon neutrality and climate mitigation.
Resources to download and print:
Leaflet for printing: 20140807-CAM-leaflets
An event presented by Climate Action Moreland and 350.org Melbourne
Helping the City of Moreland divest from Fossil Fuels
Climate Action Moreland Volunteer SallyRose on the right with 350 and Climate Action Moreland volunteers presenting latest round of signatures to Moreland Council
What you’ve helped achieve so far
- Moreland Council received 498 signatures at the April Council Meeting asking for divestment of Moreland’s finances from Fossil Fuels
- At the May Council Meeting Moreland councilors approved a motion to audit council investments (term deposits mostly) to help give visibility to how ratepayer’s money is financing dirty energy projects
- At their June meeting the council modified the awarding of their financial services contract to state that if the Commonwealth bank had not divested from Fossil Fuels by the end of their initial three year term, they would not be eligible for any extensions the contract offers. The contract would be automatically re-tendered to allow banks who don’t invest in fossil fuels a shot. To our knowledge, this is the first time an Australian local council has put a bank on notice that their fossil fuel financing is putting their continuing business relationship on the line.
- Tonight at the July Council meeting we presented another 332 signatures to council to let them know that while we welcome their engagement on the issue there’s still a way to go.
Volunteers getting out there, chatting to residents and gathering petition signatures at Glenroy
What we’ve got planned ahead
- The big event we have planned for August is a Community Climate Action Forum – where Climate Action Moreland and 350.org will be talking about ways that people can get involved in the grassroots efforts going on everywhere to help do things to combat climate change now. One topic you can be assured will be covered is the effort to get council to divest from fossil fuels. Details are below.
- We’ll keep engaging with council to figure out the logistics of cleaning up their finances – we want to help council build a plan that lets them move all their money out of dirty energy investments.
- We’ll keep getting out and engaging the community to get more people to sign up to cleaning up Moreland’s finances
Community Climate Action Forum
Where: Coburg Concert Hall, 90 Bell St, Coburg
350.org Moreland Campaign Volunteer
July 10, 2014 at 1:56 am morelandclimategroup Leave a comment
Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change 