CAN News

Sorry CAN supporters

I forgot to say that the workshop on Sunday runs from 10 am to 2 pm. If you can't be there for the whole time, please come when you can.

Alison

Climate Action Newcastle

Dear CAN supporters

When: Sunday, February 14

Where: Hamilton Public School Teachers' Staffroom

Child Minding: Yes!

Food: Yes!

Please come along to our workshop on Sunday to talk about where we want CAN to be heading in the future. We will have child minding available and food, tea, coffee, etc will be provided.

We will be meeting in the teachers' staffroom at Hamilton Public School. The staffroom is located on the ground floor of the two storey building that faces Tudor Street - NOT in the same two storey building we usually meet. If you're lost, follow the signs to the "office".

If you are still lost, a working bee by parents will be taking place at the school until 11am, so ask one of the parents where the office is.

If you haven't emailed us your suggestions for strategic directions, it's not too late.

We're looking forward to seeing you at the workshop!

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

Dear Can Supporters, Newcastle City Council is inviting people to share their vision for the future with the council and with each other. Please read the information they've sent to us below and consider going along to express your opinions on what Newcastle should look like in the future.

Newcastle 2030 is an exciting initiative inspiring us all in determining and working towards our preferred future for Newcastle. Share with us your vision, aspirations and priorities for Newcastle and help shape our future by attending the following events:

INSPIRING COMMUNITIES PUBLIC LECTURE

Monday 8 February 2010, 6pm to 7.30pm

Inspiring conversation about the community’s vision for the future of Newcastle.

NEWCASTLE 2030 COMMUNITY FORUM

Friday 12 February 2010, 9am to 5pm

Actively participate in shaping and planning Newcastle’s future by creating a vision based on your values and expectations. Discussions will include global and local forces of change, current issues and trends, how we can best build on Newcastle’s strengths, and respond to challenges now and in the future.

The Public Lecture and Community Forum will be lead by Peter Kenyon, a social capitalist and community enthusiast. Joining Peter at the Public Lecture to highlight specific future challenges and opportunities for Newcastle will be Brian Gilligan, The Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment and Dr W.E.J. Paradice, Hunter Valley Research Foundation. To register for these events contact Jenny Graham ; (02) jengraham@ncc.nsw.gov.au, 4974 2878 or visit http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/in_council/newcastle_2030/2030_events.

Newcastle 2030 is an opportunity for the whole community to participate in creating a shared vision for Newcastle. Please feel free to pass this invitation on.

Information provided by Susan Denholm, A/Place Making Coordinator, Strategic Planning Services, Newcastle City Council.

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

Dear CAN supporters

Attached are some documents from previous strategic planning sessions that may help you to focus your thoughts.

Please read them when you can and email us your ideas on CAN's future directions as soon as possible.

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

Dear CAN supporters

As we start a new year, it's time to consider CAN's strategic directions for the coming year and we want your input.

Please think about what you think we should be doing this year and what things you would like to get involved in, then send us an email with your ideas as soon as possible.

We will be holding a workshop to discuss our future directions in early February and we hope you will join us. Details of when and were the workshop will be held will be sent out soon.

Consider the future and send us your thoughts!

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

Speakers:

Bring: your friends, family, banners, instruments and your voices!

If you’re interested in joining the radical cheerleaders’ squad, contact Nikki Brown nikvanbike@hotmail.com

Thousands of demonstrations are happening globally this weekend as world leaders talk what to do about the single biggest threat human civilisation has faced. Come along to the Newcastle WAW and be heard on the other side of the world.

 

7^th-18^th December: Climate Vigils at Tighes Hill

The Tighes Hill Catholic Church welcomes everyone to Climate Change Prayer Vigils every evening from Monday 7^th December to Friday 18^th December from 5.30 - 6 pm. Each day has a different vigil theme relating to climate justice. Where: Corner Tighes Terrace and Union Street, Tighes Hill.

Contact: John Hayes 49613130 / 0400 171 602 jlhayes@bigpond.com
or Lawrie Hallinan 0419 974 954

CAN Strategy meeting January 2010

As the goalposts shift, groups like CAN need to evolve to meet our objectives in the fight for a safe climate. If you have any campaign ideas or would like to get more involved, please email can@climateaction.org.au with ‘strategy’ in the subject line by Friday 15^th January 2010.  Ideas will; be briefly reviewed at the CAN meeting on Wednesday 20^th January, to set the agenda for the all day strategic workshop proposed for Sunday 31^st January. The workshop will be facilitated by a professional, independent facilitator, and all are welcome.

In the News

130 Arrested at Parliament House 23 November

250 ordinary people sat down at the main entrance of Parliament house at around 11am on Monday, 23^rd November, as the CPRS bill was being debated in the Senate for a second time. The protest was completely peaceful. The group was visited by Liberal Bill Heffernan, Independent Steve Fielding and Greens senators Christine Milne and Bob Brown, who thanked the group for taking a stand for the planets future. At 1pm Australian Federal Police gave the protesters notice that if they failed to leave the parliamentary precinct in 15 minutes that they would be arrested and removed from the area. 130 protesters remained; many of them from Newcastle. The eldest arrestee was 87 years of age.

The Rudd government did not publicly acknowledge the protests, nor send a politician to address the group. But the message was sent; more and more Australians are sick of being ignored on climate change, and are willing to risk arrest to be heard. This hasn’t been seen in Australia for years, since the Jabiluka protests of the 90s and the Franklin River campaign of the 80s.

The event drew broad media coverage – see the links provided below.

Channel 9 news: http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/climate-change-protest-outside-parliament/3475892965

 Fairfax video: http://media.smh.com.au/national/national-news/climate-protest-blocks-parliament-879345.html

 ABC news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH3RAySHZn8

 7:30 Report: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/23/2751077.htm?site=news

ABC online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/23/2751077.htm?site=news

Canberra Times: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/100-climate-protesters-detained/1685742.aspx (front page story on Tues 24th)

 AAP story: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/climate-protesters-blockade-parliament-20091123-ityn.html 

Herald Sun: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/computer-hackers-break-into-britains-leading-climate-science-research-centre-making-thousands-of-private-emails-public/story-e6frf7jo-1225802021667

 China: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/computer-hackers-break-into-britains-leading-climate-science-research-centre-making-thousands-of-private-emails-public/story-e6frf7jo-1225802021667

Photos: Duncan Jinks

Copenhagen

Rather than attempt to digest the complexity that is the 15^th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) happening in Copenhagen right now, we instead provide a link to ECO; the international daily newsletter produced at every COP. ECO is very influential at the COP15, with 5000 copies printed daily and read by all negotiating parties. It provides a good synopsis of daily events, as well as what civil society is thinking. ECO newsletters are produced overnight by volunteers of CAN International, with a different editorial board each night. www.climatenetwork.org/eco/copenhagen-2009

What may not have made the news here is Climaforum, the peoples’ climate talks, happening alongside the COP15 in Copenhagen. www.klimaforum09.org

Debunking some myths

Climate sceptics are enjoying a revival, as demonstrated by the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the federal Liberal Party; the hacking of the University of East Anglia’s computer servers to pull out and misrepresent a handful of emails out of thousands; and the launch some months ago of the Climate Sceptics party.

You may be familiar with the three key claims made by sceptics (the majority of whom have no background in climate science whatsoever): A) it’s not happening, B) humans didn’t do it, and C) Australia contributes only 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases, so why should we do anything about it?

More than thirty years of extensive, peer reviewed research by climate scientists, geologists, oceanographers, glaciologists and scientists from other disciplines has categorically shown A) and B) to be blatantly false. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC www.ipcc.ch) reports are collated from the research of more than three thousand scientists worldwide, from national academies, universities and research agencies. The National Science Academies of the G8+5 countries (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, Canada and Japan; plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) have consensus that "climate change is happening even faster than previously estimated; global CO₂ emissions since 2000 have been higher than even the highest predictions, Arctic sea ice has been melting at rates much faster than predicted, and the rise in the sea level has become more rapid." (see reference here). Also check out www.realclimate.org, a website run by climate scientists, and www.climatecodered.org, an excellent Australian synopsis of the recent science.

As for C) – only China, India and the US have emissions that total more than 5% of the world’s total; most other countries contribute less than our 1.5%. In fact, Bayswater power station, in the Hunter Valley, produces more CO₂ than each of the 120 least-emitting countries.

To hear these and more myths busted by one of the most highly respected and longest serving climate scientists, check out the Lateline interview with Dr James Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute) at

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2764523.htm

(if this link ceases to work just search for James Hansen on the website).

 

2010 is going to be a big year in the battle for a safe climate. The planet needs your help!

Dear friends

International Fairtrade Week will be launched at 10am on Saturday 9 May 2009 in Newcastle with free organic fair trade coffee and chocolate cake at Hunter Organic Foods in Merewether.

Fair Trade started with trade in coffee in the fifties with the specific aim of helping marginalised producers and workers move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency.

In 2007, the Fairtrade system benefited 7.5 million people including pproximately 1.5 million workers and farmers in 58 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The Hunter Organic Food event will showcase numerous Fairtrade products including:
* East Timor hand woven cloth, produced by a women's co-operative in Hato Builico

* East Timorese coffee, roasted by a Hunter-based company River Roast crafted coffee

* Cocolo chocolate, made in Switzerland from the finest Organic and Fairtrade ingredients sourced around the world

* Bang bags, sustainable fair trade eco bags made in Bangladesh using renewable resources

* Etiko sports balls, hand sewn in Pakistan from natural rubber

“Hunter Organic Food has been stocking Fairtrade products since it began more than 10 years ago”, said Mr Phil Maher, manager of Hunter Organic Foods.

“Buying Fairtrade products is a practical and effective way to
support local communities in developing countries to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Unlike direct charity, buying Fairtrade products helps create jobs and income for disadvantaged families.

“To kick off the local soccer, netball and football seasons, we will be launching Fairtrade sports ball range that, unlike most sports balls in the market, does not involve child labour and worker exploitation in their manufacture,” Mr Maher said.

Mr Maher will be donating 10% of all sales on Saturday to the Hato Builico women's co-operative that is producing the East Timor hand-woven cloth.

For more information or comment, contact Mr Phil Maher on 0425 374 774.

 

See you all there!

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

Dear Friends

Some of you will have heard about the Transitions Town movement.

It's has just taken off in Newcastle, with the Transition Towns Newcastle launch on Earth Hour day.

Transition towns is a community-driven approach to improving our resilience in the face of Peak Oil and Climate Change challenges.

We're on the move and you have the choice to join us in a few different ways. If you don't get excited about meetings then our Ideas Cafe or our film night will probably do the trick. If you really want to get your teeth into the notion of transitioning, then our open space meeting will give you the chance.

Alternately, if you don't want to leave home, have your say on the website. The choice is yours.

Transition Cafe will be on at Andre's (Hamilton, down the arcade beside the Euro Bar) at 2:30 Saturday afternoons on May 2nd, 16th and 30th, to meet, connect, share and inspire (and enjoy the coffee). It is about building relationships, encouraging purposeful conversation and a space to learn, to share ideas and to initiate things. It is meant to be flexible and go with people's interests (and to be child friendly). Call it the Ideas Café.

1.. Our first showing of the American film "The End of Suburbia -Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream" will be on Friday, 15th of May at 7:30pm and we are again fortunate to be able to use the Baptist Church in Lindsay Street Hamilton (it is a lovely and accessible venue). This is a powerful documentary film concerning peak oil, its history and its implications for our society and future and there will be an opportunity for discussion following the film, and to explore the Transition response.

2.. Open Space meeting at Hamilton Public School (entrance off Steel Street) on Sunday, 24th May from 1-4pm . Open Space Technology is an extraordinary tool - described as "a simple way to run productive meetings and a powerful way to lead any kind of organisation in everyday practice and change". This will be a facilitated opportunity to develop our ideas and actions in the spirit of transitioning, and we invite everyone who is interested in the ideas of transitioning to join us for a joyful afternoon and help us make it worthwhile. We will organise some activities for children if needed.

3.. Our website is now open for contributions in your area of interest www.transitionnewcastle.org.au as we begin to network and support groups that share our values and reason for being.

We look forward to seeing all of you at some of these events (and some of you at all of them).

Alison Cleary

Climate Action Newcastle

and Transition Towns Newcastle

1. National Day of Action on Climate Change Friday 27^th March

The CPRS in it’s current form (5-15% targets, free permits and compensation to big polluters, a ‘floor’ that prevents further cuts, etc) cannot be permitted to become law, it will help lock in more than 550 ppm C02 and send the earth beyond climate tipping points of no return.

see http://stepitupaustralia.wordpress.com/ (& the countless other excellent websites out there) for some excellent commentaries of the major failings of the proposed CPRS as well as ideas for Fridays actions.

The time is now for peaceful, direct action to show our leaders that Australians demand real action on climate change in the lead up to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen. The day of action is happening at MPs’ and Senators’ offices all over the country, and it relies on people like you turning up to make it happen!

This Friday, you have two options in our local area (& it’s the Newcastle Show holiday so no school!):

1) Greg Combet, Federal Labor MP for Charlton and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, march and rally from 8.15 am in Cardiff, or

2) Sharon Grierson, Federal Labor MP for Newcastle, rally from 10am in Newcastle

1) Greg Combet

March down on footpath from Cardiff station at 8.15am (Express Newcastle train arrives 8.12am, stops Newcastle, Hamilton, Broadmeadow & Cardiff only) along Main Road to Greg’s office at 342 Main Road Cardiff, near rail bridge.

The rally will be held outside the building from approximately 8.30am, with maximum visual exposure to passing peak hour traffic and passenger trains – bring your banners and climate emergency themed gear!!

2) Sharon Grierson

Rally at her office at 427 Hunter Street, Newcastle from 10am. Contact Simon Cunich (simon.cunich at gmail.com) for more information.

Please spread the word about these rallies, and we hope to see you there! See attached the pollution permits to be delivered to each of these MPs – print them out, get your family, friends and colleagues to fill them out and bring them along to deliver to the MP in question.

 

2. Transition Town Newcastle Official Launch Saturday 28^th March, 5pm

- From William Vorobioff, Transition Towns Newcastle. Newsletter Attached –

Hello Everyone,

We have chosen Earth Hour on March 28th to launch Transition Town Newcastle and we're hoping you can come.

The Transition Initiative is a world-wide Movement responding to the twin pressures of Global Warming and Peak Oil in an inclusive and integrated way.

For our children and for our planet, it makes sense to create a world that uses less oil-based energy.

We can’t wait for governments to legislate the change. We need to start now, breathing life into our own communities – building resilient, sustainable ways of living together.

Transition Towns are springing up all over the world, connecting people and integrating ideas. While the initiative recognises the crisis the world is facing, it relies on a creative, inspiring vision to bring about powerful change.

All it needs is people to make it happen: all kinds of people with all kinds of ideas and skills. It’s working magically in other towns and communities just like ours.

We’re passionate to bring it to Newcastle so come along and join us for the journey.

The evening will commence at Hamilton Baptist Church in Lindsay Street at 5pm with a presentation and interactive discussion. We'll be presenting information about Transition Town Newcastle and the need to move to a less oil dependent lifestyle, but more importantly we'd like to hear from you. What's happening in your community and what are the possibilities? How can we all work together to create a more connected and resilient community?

While the adults are busy sharing ideas, the children will be learning to be Earth Ticklers in a drama workshop about caring for the planet. (Places are limited so please regster for a place). At around 7 o'clock we'll all move across the road to Gregson Park for a BYO picnic, after which the Earth Ticklers will perform along with a puppet show and a lantern parade led by a pied piper. During Earth Hour we'll see our world in a whole new light as a vision of a future sustainable Newcastle unfolds and a band of wandering minstrels sings us through the dark.

This is a great opportunity to meet with like-minded souls to find out what else is happening in our communities, to chill out and enjoy some music in a relaxed space.

In the meantime, we are attaching our newsletter which will tell you what we've been up to and what we're planning as well as some flyers that you can hopefully share with friends. We'd be grateful if you could circulate this invitation to anyone you feel would be interested. Our fledgling website www.transitionnewcastle.org.au is up and running - and ready for your comments and input - particularly on the different "flower petals" or areas of action.

We're looking forward to seeing you on March 28th.

From all of us at Transition Town Newcastle

 

Sincerely,

Climate Action Newcastle

 

 

Dear CAN supporters,

Some news for you: 

1. CAN's Annual Lecture is on soon! Hugh Mackay, Australia's foremost social commentator is coming to Newcastle on Monday 16th March, 6:30pm for 7pm at Newcastle City Hall. See the flyer here. Hugh will talk on the topic: "Climate change: what we say and what we do". Forward widely to your networks as this is guaranteed to be a fantastic talk.

2. Federal Government moves to secretly drop the requirements for Australia's biggest carbon polluters to release figures on energy production to the public. You can voice your opinion with Getup's campaign here.

3. Newcastle's Going Solar: Rebates are ending soon! If you are still thinking about going solar and haven't done anything yet- we have some news. You now have two options for Going Solar: Round 2 with Aussie Solar or Round 3 with Sydney Energy Cooperative. To read more, click here. 

4. Harbour Flotilla: Rising Tide is again organising the "People's Blockage of the World's Biggest Coal Port". This family-friendly fun protest is on 21st March at Horseshoe Beach. Read more about the flotilla at Rising Tide's website.

5. Here's one for all CAN kids: Captain Planet episodes are screening on the net here!

6. Join the national day of action against the CPRS (in its current pathetic form): On 27th March 2009 people concerned about climate change around the country will be taking action at the office of their local federal Labor politician to tell them we need to reduce greenhouse emissions, not pay polluters. Watch this space. For more info click here.

7. And finally some news snippets for you: some good news and some not-so-good news. 

 

See you at the CAN annual lecture!

Kind Regards,

The volunteers at Climate Action Newcastle