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!