I experienced what it is like to be a winner last night. As someone who has spent much of her life receiving the encouragement award during her VERY amateur sporting netball career (aka ‘you-are-a rubbish player but we love the fact that you try so hard’), it was certainly a nice change. My netball team, the St Margie Hearts, finally won a game. We won last week – but I didn’t play as I was in Canberra for the very exciting YouthDecide launch– and I must say that I was convinced (especially with the encouragement of my friends) that my lack of presence the week before was the reason that we had won. As you can therefore appreciate, I have every reason to be feeling on top of the world this morning!
The reason I have missed out on so many netball games lately is because I have been catching up with the VGen crew around Australia. STIR sessions on the Global Food Crisis have been on around the country and it has been great to share some of my experiences whilst in Africa earlier this year with VGenners across Australia. I also really enjoyed meeting with some of the VGenners I have emailed, blogged and seen photos of – meeting the campaigners behind the photos and emails is certainly a privilege – the campaigning you are doing in your communities is truly inspiring! If you missed out on any of these events, do not fear! I know the STIR radio guys in Adelaide interviewed one of the guest speakers, World Vision’s senior economist David Lansley –http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=323660474WEBSITE
Despite the fact that my netball win last night has given me permission to feel like a winner today, I have been feeling a little guilty lately. It has a lot to do with my recent interstate flying and my subsequent SHOCKING carbon footprint. Some might say that it is justified because most of my flying lately has been in relation to social justice causes – World Vision, VGen’s STIR sessions around the country, Powershift in Sydney – the odd wedding and other function – but it still does not make it right, especially as I am a strong advocate for adapting your behaviour in order to take serious action on these issues. People say that taking public transport or driving is impractical – it takes too long – but if we’re serious about reducing the impact we have on the earth and slowing down the effects of climate change, we do need to adapt our behaviour accordingly.
You can imagine my excitement when I read the Brett Godfrey’s CEO page in the Virgin Blue ‘Voyeur’ flight magazine when I was on a Virgin flight lately. Brett Godfrey wrote:
“one of my guests will book and offset their carbon emissions from a single flight on a Virgin network. This is significant because it will be the millionth flight a guest has offset since Virgin first introduced the program. The offsetting of a million flights equates to approximate $1.3 million donated to government-certified carbon abatement projects throughout Australia and New Zealand. These projects, which focus on renewable energy generation from gas captured at landfill sites would not have happened without the financial support from our offset program. This total of $1.3 million donated to our carbon abatement projects has contributed to approximately 102,000 tons of carbon emissions prevented from entering our atmosphere which equates to approximately 25,000 cars taken off the road…”
Interesting stuff! This morning, as I sipped my fair trade green tea, I was greeted with some more interesting news as I read the front page of The Age. The Australian Government and the Opposition have agreed to a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 1990 levels of 2020. Does this announcement signal a reason for climate change activists to celebrate?
While the 20 per cent reduction is welcomed, it is still not enough to avoid climate change disaster both here and in the developing world. We see its impacts in the communities where World Vision works through extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, storms and unpredictable rainfall. This in turn affects food security, access to water, livelihoods and biodiversity. Meeting 8 year old Beatrice in Kenya earlier this year highlighted this for me – her daily struggle to do life demonstrates the connection between climate change and poverty.
We have no choice but to aim high when pushing the Government to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020.
Australia must take a stronger leadership role into the global talks, offering practical solutions for developing nations including financial support for emissions reductions in developing countries and money to pursue a low carbon future. Specifically, we are also calling on developed countries to urgently commit to providing at least $150 billion a year of additional funding to help developing countries adapt, reduce their emissions, protect their forests and develop sustainably.
If there was not a strong voice campaigning for action on climate change, it would be unreasonable to expect that the Australian Government to be working towards higher reductions. But there is growing global movement of people that are campaigning for higher targets. The passion and energy of young activists in the lead up to YouthDecide in September confirms this.
I am meeting with my local member of Parliament, MP Jason Wood next week. I will be congratulating him, as a member of the Opposition for their efforts in reaching this target. But I will also be reminding him that a 20 per cent reduction is not enough if we are serious about a sustainable future. What sort of conversations have you been having with your local member of Parliament about climate change? Share your experiences with YouthDecide so far – we would love to know how the planning for your community event is shaping up!
Youth Decide ’09 – Australia’s first vote on climate change. A chance for YOU to tell the Government how they should tackle climate change. Have you registered to vote yet?
December is only months away. I am excited, many of us are – and it has little to do with the fact that we are fast approaching Christmas and more to do with the fact that we are only months away from securing a new global action plan on climate change in Copenhagen in December. Most of those eligible to vote in Youth Decide were just out of nappies when the last global deal on climate change was made in Kyoto. Since then, most of us have grown up a little – and most of us have a voice. A voice we must use to give the Australian Government permission to take serious action on climate change. This vote is particularly important because Australia has an opportunity to lead the way in December’s global negotiations to tackle climate change. In global negotiations, the voices of poor people, poor countries and future generations are hardly heard. Since climate change will hit them first and hardest, we have to make sure they get a fair hearing. Through Youth Decide we know that we can help compel the Australian Government to lead the way in securing a strong global agreement. We need a serious shift in climate change action – for us in Australia, it’s about securing a better future – for people like Beatrice in the developing world, it’s a matter of life and death.
There is much we can do to advocate for people just like Beatrice. This weekend’s action point is the 40 hour famine – what are YOU giving up? Share your stories! I’m about to say NO to mobile and internet usage for 40hours…something I haven’t done since high school!
September is YouthDecide – if you haven’t already, register at youthdecide.com.au to receive updates. Your opportunity to vote on the sort of climate change future you want to inherit is only 23 sleeps away!
Hi Alana!
It’s lovely to see your blog and to read about your passion! However, I feel sadly pessimistic that you and I are not going to see eye-to-eye about climate change.
During my 50+ years, I have seen lots of alarmist programs:
* acid rain scares in the 1980′s
* Y2K scares at the turn of the century
* icecap melting scares just a couple of years ago.
None of these threatened catastrophies actually occurred, despite “scientific” evidence that they would at the time. My personal views are that:
* the world’s climate has always changed, and we adapt to it.
* climate change resulting from human activity is highly unlikely
* the climatic system is highly complex, and to ascribe changes in climate to CO2 emissions is too simplistic
* there is evidence of fraud in the propouding of the climate change agenda (see the discussion about the “climategate” emails, for example)
* CO2 is plant food, not a pollutant, and will most likely result in better agricultural yields
* pollution is a far greater threat than climate change
* alternative energy sources are expensive, unreliable (especially wind energy) and will most likely result in further entrenching social disadvantage and, if enforced in the authoritarian manner currently being employed by green groups, a return to third-world conditions
* carbon abatement programs will have little real impact on carbon emissions at great social and financial cost
* many people espousing green ideals actually act hypocritically by continuing to enjoy high-carbon lifestyles (international flights and travel, drive cars, especially large 4WD’s, consume foods that have been imported long distances, etc)
Climate measurements have often been found to have originated in urban environments which are notorious heat islands (see, for example, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/09/22/arctic-isolated-versus-urban-stations-show-differing-trends/)
I enjoy looking at weather discussions as I am addicted to a weather-dependent activity – hang gliding. And even my motorcycling is affected by weather, even though I don’t think anyone would accuse me of being a “fair weather bikie!” Those who “know” on weather-related forums such as exist on WeatherZone will often turn out to be skeptics. These contributors will often draw on sophisicated data in their discussions. I first became a skeptic when researching the influence of the Indian Ocean Dipole on local weather on the thread related to this issue on WeatherZone. Prior to this time, I was a climate change believer – “feeling” the climate had changed much compared with my memories of summer and winter conditions of my childhood, and having experienced the recent 13-year long drought in Melbourne.
Now I’m a confirmed skeptic. It’s not easy. Believers will often be quite fanatical in their assertions, and accuse me of heresy or sin, even, in exercising my skepticism! Sally has been particularly strident in this regard!
For these reasons, I was actually glad when the Copenhagen summit “fell over” and failed to result in agreement. And I am concerned that the latest government initiatives will result in entrenched social disadvantage at an extraordinarily high cost for no real impact on CO2 emissions.
Anyway, my 2c worth. Keep an open mind would be my conclusion!
Cheers, Alana!
Max