George
Monbiot despairs at the
chaotic, disastrous denouement
of a chaotic and disastrous
climate summit,
Click here
to read
__________________________________________________
There is
an interesting report on the
www.350.org
web site which has some insights
into what happened on Friday. Scroll
down past the photos and video to
read...
By
Jamie
• 19
December, 2009
_______________________________
George Monbiot. Published in the
Guardian 15th December 2009
The
talks at Copenhagen are not just
about climate change. They represent
a battle to redefine humanity.
"This is the moment at which we turn
and face ourselves. Here, in the
plastic corridors and crowded
stalls, among impenetrable texts and
withering procedures, humankind
decides whether to continue living
as it has done, until it must make a
wasteland of its home, or to stop
and redefine itself......"
Click here to
read
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________________________
15 December 2009
NEWS FLASH
The CSIRO Censored carbon trading paper by Clive Spash
“The Brave New World of Carbon Trading,” has been uploaded onto
the web by Solidarity. Well worth the reading of this clear and damming expose
of the carbon trading scheme, which he claims will not deliver on the
environment and economic levels.
Click here to download the Clive Spash article
A quick summary by Chris Breen can be read at
http://www.solidarity.net.au/web/spash/
For World wide vigils for 350ppm
click here
Monday 7th Dec
Tony Jones interviewed James Hansen on ABC Lateline.
To read the transcript of this interview go to
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2764523.htm
Friday 4th Dec
In an interview with the Guardian,
James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement
likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would
be better to start again from scratch
Click here to read and hear James Hansen.
BUSY END OF THE YEAR
Critical Climate – Sat. 19 Dec, 2pm
Bike & foot parade. Meet at Victoria Square. www.criticalclimate.net
CLEAN Xmas Party – Sat. 19 Dec, 6 - 9pm
Fern Ave Community Garden, Fullarton
Critical Climate
Climate Emergnecy Foot & Bike
Protest Parade
2pm Sat Dec 19 Victoria Square
Grab your bike or just your
shoes - Critical Climate is set
to take over the streets again -
Bigger and better than ever!
Click here to
find out more
_______________________
Why we need to oppose the Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme (CPRS)
The CPRS locks us into inaction on climate change until
2020.
The CPRS includes the pathetic emissions targets of 5%
by 2020, with the potential for up to 15% depending on
international targets. These targets completely
ignore the science that tells us we need to reduce
emissions by a minimum of 40 -60% by 2020 to be on the
road to achieving the safe climate level of 300ppm
atmospheric CO2.
But the scariest aspect of the CPRS is the major flaw
inherent in the Emissions Trading Scheme. When
Emissions Trading comes in, every tonne of carbon
dioxide saved by households will simply free up a tonne
that can be used by industry.
What does this mean? That if a homeowner spends money
putting a solar panel on their roof, the energy savings
will be reflected in a lower price for permits due to a
lower demand. So any action taken by individuals
or communities to reduce emissions will have NO
EFFECT
on Australia’s overall emissions, and will simply free
up permits for big polluters to buy at a cheaper price,
allowing them to pollute more.
Therefore emissions can’t be reduced beyond the
pathetic 5% target locked in until 2020. So
the targets are not a cap over which emissions will not
rise but rather a floor below which emissions cannot
fall.
The ‘’Carbon Polluter’s Rewards Scam’’ rewards
significant polluters in 4 main ways:
1/
Under this scheme
if individuals,
communities or state governments try to do their bit for
the environment, all they will achieve is the freeing up
of permits for the big polluters to increase their
emissions.
2/
Companies producing over 2000t CO2 per $1m
revenue will receive 90% of their permits for free and
the 1000-2000t band will receive 60%.
3/
The Agriculture sector is fully exempt.
4/
Very generous compensation packages are given to
non-exempt sectors, especially the most important
polluters of all, coal-burning power generation -
$3.9billion
_______________
Climate Camp Reports
1)
ABC Report
Protesters
hold peaceful power plant rally
2)
Coober
Pedy Regional Times
(South Australia)
Reported and photographed by: Nellie
Malseed at Copley.
Nellie is a 14-year-old student from
South Melbourne, on location in the
Flinders Ranges
http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/derailment-of-leigh-creek-coal-train-enroute-to-port-augusta-power-station/
_________________________________________
Climate Camp 2009: A great success!
For immediate
release 26 September 2009
Climate camp
activists gathered in Port Augusta,
South Australia have declared the
state’s first climate camp a great
success. On Friday Flinders Power
announced that the coal train from
Leigh Creek, the longest coal train
in the world, would not run over the
weekend.
On Saturday
morning a crowd of 50 gathered
outside the Port Augusta power
stations to demand that the aging,
inefficient stations be closed down
and replaced with renewable energy.
The power stations had been declared
a “protected area” under the
Protective Security Act 2007 for the
period of the Climate Camp.
Protesters then marched two
kilometres through the protected
area to a point where they were
stopped by 70 police including many
mounted police and a canine unit.
A Community
Decommission Order and 350 native
flowers were presented at the gate
and a number speakers addressed the
crowd.
After
negotiations a small delegation of
protesters were escorted by police
to the actual front gates of the
power station where representatives
of Flinders Power failed to meet a
delegation to accept the Community
Decommission Order.
The action
occurred as part of a four day
climate camp where a range of
workshops were held to discuss the
science and politics of climate
change, including the need for an
immediate switch to renewable
energy. Participants emphasised
the need for a just transition for
workers in the region and that more
jobs could be created in renewable
energy than are currently provided
by the power stations.
In the lead up to
the international climate summit in
Copenhagen, activists called on the
Federal Government to scrap the
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme,
take measures to genuinely cut
Australia’s emissions and switch
immediately to renewable energy.
Julie Jordan, an
activist with Climate Camp
commented, “we’ve taken some
important steps over the weekend to
highlight the urgent necessity to
switch off coal-fired power stations
and engage regional communities in
the necessary switch to renewable
energy. As a direct result of
Climate Camp SA 2009 the longest
coal train in the world did not run
this weekend. We will continue our
campaign until the coal train and
all coal-fired power stations are
closed down forever”.
For further
comment please contact Julie Jordan
0403 822 946
_______________________________________________________
Climate Camp
is happening from
24th to 27th September in Port
Augusta. If you're planning on
attending please register (
climatecampsa.org ) so we
can give you updates as they arrive,
and cater accordingly.
http://climatecampsa.org
Climate Camp
Climate Camp aims
to inspire Australia to take
appropriate action on climate change
and draw public attention the
underlying cause of climate change -
coal-fired power stations and fossil
fuel infrastructure. In 2008 we took
action on the biggest coal port in
the world in Newcastle.
This year Climate
Camp’s are happening all across the
country from mid – September. In
South Australia we’re pitching tents
and flying flags with the
Adnyamathanha people at the
destination of the world’s largest
coal train, Pt Augusta.
Every Camp for
Climate Action event weaves four key
themes: education, direct action,
sustainable living, and building a
movement to effectively tackle
climate change by both resisting
climate crimes and developing
sustainable solutions.
Everybody is
welcome, so hopefully see you in
September. We are encouraging people
to register via our website.
http://climatecampsa.org
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