Welcome

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Climate Action Newcastle (CAN) is a committed group of local residents from all backgrounds working together to address the single biggest issue facing humanity: climate change. We are a community based non-party-political group of volunteers who recognise that the world faces a crisis. Climate change is a global emergency. The urgency to act simply cannot be understated. CAN is here for people of all walks of life to be a part of the solution.

Your input and involvement in creating a low emissions future is vital to the future of our region and the planet. Please join CAN on our common path towards a truly sustainable future. CAN meets every first and third Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM at Hamilton Public School at the corner of Steel and Tudor Streets, Hamilton.

Newcastle walks against warming

Around 500 people participated in Newcastle's Walk Against Warming on Saturday 12th Dec 2009, coinciding with the crucial international climate negotiations in Copenhagen.

Climate Action Newcastle December Newsletter (and reminder Walk Against Warming Newcastle this Saturday)

CAN Newsletter December 2009

(newsletter pdf can be downloaded from the CAN website –see link at end of this email)

CAN meets every 1st & 3rd (never 5th!) Wednesday of the month from 6:30pm at Hamilton Public School (ground floor, eastern building), corner Steel & Tudor Streets, Hamilton.

For your Diary

 Thurs 10th December - Health Impacts of the Hunter Coal Industry

Is coal dust making us sick? A public forum featuring

  • Dr Dick van Steenis, UK pollution health expert, now touring Australia.
  • Steve Denshire, Rising Tide Newcastle activist.

When: 6-8pm Thursday 10th December
Where: Gallipoli Legion Club, 3 Beaumont St, Hamilton (near the train station).

The Hunter Valley is home to one of the largest and most lucrative coal industries in the world. Coal exports from Newcastle are booming, and the coal mines are marching westwards. Many people believe the industry makes us wealthy and successful. But is it making us sick?

Dr Dick van Steenis began investigating the health impacts of the coal mining industry in Wales in 1994. He discovered that the rate of asthma puffer use in children was directly proportional to how close they lived to a coal mine. He has since become a global expert on the health impacts of coal and dust pollution. He is a retired GP and has studied pollution science at Harvard University.

Saturday 12th December - Walk Against Warming Newcastle

This year’s walk against warming takes place in the middle of the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen. Come along on Saturday to add your voice in the call for a FAB outcome - Fair, Ambitious and Binding.

When: 1pm Saturday 12 December

Where: Wheeler Place 1pm rally, then march along the waterfront (via Honeysuckle precinct) to Customs House Plaza/Park (arrive around 2pm).
Contact: can@climateaction.org.au or 0425316496 

Check out the facebook page here – and invite your friends and family!

Speakers:

Lee Rhiannon (NSW Greens MLC)

Geoff Evans (University of Newcastle)

Zoe Rogers (Climate Action Newcastle)

Steve Phillips (Rising Tide)

Michael Osborne (Newcastle Greens Councillor)

Heather Stevens (Playdates for the Planet, Newcastle)

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.

 

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

The Tighes Hill Catholic Church welcomes everyone to Climate Change Prayer Vigils every evening from Monday 7th December to Friday 18th 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 15th January 2010.  Ideas will; be briefly reviewed at the CAN meeting on Wednesday 20th January, to set the agenda for the all day strategic workshop proposed for Sunday 31st 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, 23rd 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 15th 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!

Walk Against Warming Newcastle 12 December

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12/12/2009 - 13:00
12/12/2009 - 15:00

Walk Against Warming Newcastle 

When: 1pm Saturday 12 December

Where: Wheeler Place 1pm rally then march to Customs House Plaza/Park

Speakers: Lee Rhiannon (NSW Greens MLC), Geoff Evans (University of Newcastle), Steve Phillips (Rising Tide), Zoe Rogers (Climate Action Newcastle) and Heather Stevens (Playdates for the Planet), Warrick Jordan, Activist.

Bring: your friends, family, colleagues & banners, signs, instruments and your voices! (and if you like, wear blue shoe laces in collaboration with the national walks) invite them on facebook here

Let's tell our government to make Copenhagen count!

see below for more information about the Walk, or contact can@climateaction.org.au

Walk Against Warming 2009Walk Against Warming 2009

In Reality, there is no such thing as clean coal

There is simply no such thing as clean coal. Check out this short video.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

At this very moment, the fate of civilization itself hangs in the balance. Watch this great video by Leo Murray, "Wake Up, Freak Out – then Get a Grip":

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