Geelong Councillor Anthony Aitken wrote on Facebook: “The City of Greater Geelong has been asked to join the International Movement to develop a Climate Emergency Plan. What do you think Geelong ? #OurFuture”
He cc:ed Cr Jim Mason, Cr Ron Nelson, Cr Peter Murrihy and Cr Kylie Grzybek, as well as Geelong Advertiser, Geelong Indy, Bay 93.9, and K Rock.
1) Councillor Kylie Grzybek asks on her Facebook page:
“I’m keen to hear your views – the city will be debating whether to declare a climate emergency- I’m educating myself on the topic but I would love to hear your views. And if you have any links or info on this important topic I would appreciate it.”
Let her know!
2) And then you can go to Councillor Anthony Aitken’s post
…and answer him as well.
3) Thirdly, please go to Geelong councillor Stephanie Asher’s post where she asks:
“OK, I am keen to hear from Bellarine residents and ratepayers about their views on declaring a climate emergency. The Geelong council group is receiving a lot of letters and emails urging us to follow the lead of a number of other local councils and make a declaration on behalf of the City of Greater Geelong. I want to get a sense of the breadth and depth of people’s feelings on this. Go…”
On 26 August, there were 113 comments on Aitken’s post, 90 likes, and only ONE ‘sour-face’
Mik Aidt wrote:
“I say a very BIG YES. Declaring a climate emergency in our municipality is the first step to take the issue more seriously. It sends a signal to all of us in this city that we need to wake up and start working together – businesses, organisations, individuals – on solving the dangerous issues with the climate and ecologicial breakdown. So please, show some leadership – that’s what sitting in a Council ought to be all about – and then let’s roll our sleeves up and help each other, as we would in any other emergency situation.”
On 19 August 2019, an alliance of community groups handed in the petition to City of Greater Geelong councillors: 1,589 local residents calling for Council to declare a climate emergency.
The signatures were collected by a number of different community groups, including Greenpeace’s Break Free Geelong, CACE Campaigners Geelong and Surrounds, Centre for Climate Safety, Thrive For Future, Persistent Presence, The Sustainable Hour, and more.
Will Geelong’s councillors make a decision on this on their fortnightly meeting next Tuesday? We’ll know on Friday, when the agenda for the meeting is published. Stay tuned!
As the first business in Geelong that we have heard of, Carol Burns, owner of AccentDVD in Moorabool Street, has decided to make a difference and speak up in support of our petition to Geelong Council:
“This is my call to the City of Greater Geelong Council:
I dream of being as sustainable as possible at home and at my business, although at the moment costs are still prohibitive.
I believe we all need to work together. We need to find new and better ways to live. We all deserve to live in a clean and healthy environment, especially for our future generations.
Please consider moving forward and declare a climate emergency.”
~ Carol Burns, owner of AccentDVD
“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.”
The Melbourne-based centre 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.
“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.
“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.”
BREAKING: The House of Commons has just passed a motion declaring that Canada is experiencing a climate change emergency. It passed with support from the Liberals, NDP, Greens, and Bloc. Conservatives and Bernier voted against. #cdnpoli
“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.”
Yesterday, the Conservatives voted against declaring a climate emergency. Canadians expect leaders to take climate change seriously — but it's clearer than ever before that the Conservatives just aren't ready to join Canadians in this fight. https://t.co/pfJNkmeT0m
→ 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
“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.”
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.
→ 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?”
"While we’re sat up here on a giant oil rig, let’s clear up a few things… We don’t need more oil. What we need is a planet we can live on." @BP_plc needs to clean up its act. Fast.
“Everyone knows that our responses to climate change must be speeded up. While personal change is admirable, it is slow. The situation now demands very rapid, mostly technological, top-down changes,” writes Peter Harper #ClimateEmergencyhttps://t.co/UvQeKYgZwT
— TimesHigherEducation (@timeshighered) June 15, 2019
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.”
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.”
Populations covered by local governments that have declared a climate emergency: 65 million citizens in 13 countries, with 29 million of these living in the United Kingdom, meaning more than 40 per cent of the UK population…
→ Read more
Climate emergency speeches by Councillors – Canada: Legislative Assembly of Ontario Ian Arthur delivers a passionate and emotional speech advocating for the declaration of a climate emergency. 5 minutes. 15 May 2019 – Canada: Cowichan Valley Council: Sonia Furstenau, Member of the Legislative Assembly…
→ Read more
Discussion in Hobart Council → ABC News – 21 May 2019: Hobart Council row erupts as members stage a meeting walkout against climate change motion “A row has erupted inside the walls of Hobart City Council over a motion to recognise climate change as a global emergency.” …
→ Read more
On 16 May 2019, two regional councils in New Zealand made history by declaring a climate emergency as the first councils in the country, vowing to put climate change at the forefront of decision making. “At 11:49am on Thursday, Environment Canterbury councillors voted and made history, …
→ Read more
“As the first Australian state or territory to declare a climate emergency, we’re setting the standard for climate action across Australia, and the world,” tweeted Shane Rattenbury, ACT Greens Leader and Minister for Climate Change in the Australian Capital Territory. On 16 May 2019 he moved a motion…
→ Read more
On 14 May 2019, Greenpeace supporters climbed the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia, to demand that Prime Minister Scott Morrison declares a climate emergency. The action was streamed live on Facebook and Youtube just like a full news tv coverage with cameras on location, prerecorded interviews and commentators in the studio…
→ Read more
Clippings from the climate emergency news and social media streams in May 2019 – Greta Thunberg tweeted: “Over 500 regional councils around the world have declared climate emergency. As well as 2 nations. Who’s next? #ClimateBreakdown #EcologicalBreakdown” …
→ Read more
In Switzerland, politicians and media commentators are discussing whether the climate emergency declarations and resolutions that have been declared in eight of the country’s cities and municipalities will lead to action at an entirely new level or eventually be overlooked as fluffy, non-binding policy statements …
→ Read more
“Its official. Ireland becomes 2nd country in the world to declare a #ClimateEmergency & Dáil also agreed to endorse all the recommendations of the Oireachtas Climate Action Report .Definitely one of the highlights for me as a @greenparty_ie TD. My children are thrilled.” By making an amendment…
→ Read more
Media coverage in May 2019
Examples of news stories and articles
→ Al Jazeera – 25 May 2019: School students strike worldwide, demand action on climate change
“Thunberg – who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize – is urging governments to declare a climate emergency as has happened in Britain, Scotland and Ireland, a call echoed by many on European strikes.”
CANADA
→ CBC – 21 May 2019: Old Crow, Yukon, declares climate change state of emergency
“Officials in the Yukon’s most northern community have declared a state of emergency, saying the traditional way of life in Old Crow is under threat from climate change.”
ITALY
→ Sky TG24 – 20 May 2019: Environment climate emergency motion approved in Milan (article in Italian language)
“The Milan City Council approved the motion on the “climate and environmental emergency declaration” in the city. The document was presented by the councillor of the Democratic Party Carlo Monguzzi, and was approved with 31 votes in favour.”
SCOTLAND
→ The Herald – 17 May 2019: Glasgow City Council declares climate emergency
“Glasgow City Council has become the third council in Scotland to declare a climate emergency. Councillors debated the work done by young Scottish campaigners and highlighted the need for the Climate Challenge Fund before declaring the emergency on Thursday.”
TAIWAN
→ Focus Taiwan News Channel – 22 May 2019: Civic groups to ask government to declare ‘climate emergency’
“Over 30 civic groups will take to the streets of Taipei on Friday calling on the government to declare a “climate emergency” in response to increasingly serious climate change.”
AUSTRALIA
→ Government News – 27 May 2019: Cities at the forefront of ‘climate emergency’
“Local governments across Australia are taking a stand against what they say is federal climate inaction on the back of worldwide initiatives like Morocco’s famous ‘blue city’.”
→ The Age – 25 May 2019: The environment: Establish a bipartisan ‘war cabinet’ on climate change
“With a climate emergency declared in the United Kingdom and the extinction of species, including pollinating insects which are essential to our food supply, occurring at a faster rate than ever before, it is time to look at emergency measures.”
→ Newcastle Herald – 16 May 2019: Shorten vows to tackle climate ’emergency’
“Labor leader Bill Shorten has toughened his stance on climate change, labelling it an emergency he vows he will prioritise if he becomes prime minister on Saturday.”
“Surely what is required by the Earth that feeds us and so many other amazing creatures is a war-type, non-affiliated “cabinet”. It would include representatives from all sides of politics and be directed by non-politically aligned experts. (Any pecuniary interests would need to be declared.)
Structurally this could include an environmental wing of our armed forces (for example, the navy helping to clear plastics from our oceans and sewerage and chemical run-off which is destroying our Great Barrier Reef). It could provide school leavers with an interesting, voluntary, “national service” gap year of employment, and perhaps work and skills development for the unemployed.
Through the United Nations, we could suggest a co-operative approach between nations that could enhance eco-tourism and a sharing of innovative solutions.”
~ Steven Sommer, Highton
“This isn’t something we can wait for someone else to fix. We all need to act now. We can be leaders for change. Think globally, act locally.”
~ Ben Andrews – in a Facebook comment
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)
“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.
Council climate emergency declarations are being replicated around the world: 40 councils have taken it on board on behalf of their 20 million residents. If you haven't followed this development, the video offers an opportunity to catch up: https://t.co/UAxaXpDCsM
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.
“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
On 21 November 2018, the Ballarat City Council passed a Notice of Motion from Councillor Belinda Coates noting the IPCC report and acknowledging the climate emergency.
Five local residents came to speak in support of the motion, including Miriam (left on the photo above) and Anna (middle) – a student who is organising a school strike at Trades Hall in Camp Street in Ballarat on 30 November 2018. Belinda Coates (right), member of the Greens, moved the motion.
Councillors pointed out that they already have plans in place for council operations to go carbon neutral by 2025. Others remarked that there was more that could be done with local planning laws, transport plans and the like.
Five voted in favour, two against.
NOTICE OF MOTION:
That Council
1. Notes the recent October 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change.
2. Notes the successful motion to the Municipal Association Victoria (MAV) May 2017 to recognise that we are in a state of ‘climate emergency’ that requires urgent action by all levels of government, including local councils.
3. Acknowledges the ‘climate emergency’ and the need for urgent action by all levels of government, including local councils.
4. Acknowledge the need for priority resourcing of the carbon neutral and 100% renewables action plan and prioritisation of initiatives that move us towards carbon neutrality and 100% renewables.
5. Councillors receive a briefing from officers on how to best act on this ‘climate emergency’ acknowledgment and ensure that this is embedded into the ‘carbon neutrality and 100% renewables action plan’, council plan review and future strategies.
On 3 October 2018, City of Ballarat Council voted unanimously to become a member of Cities Power Partnership as part of ramping up its local climate action, moving towards renewables and becoming a carbon neutral city.
The Council committed early last year to strive towards a target to aim for carbon neutrality and 100% renewables by 2025.
The municipality has solar hot water systems for around 20 facilities and solar panels on the rooftops of 10 major buildings.
The Cities Power Partnership is a free national program that brings together Australian cities making the switch towards clean energy.
