Newcastle community ups the heat on climate change

MEDIA RELEASE - 5 November 2006 Over 900 people braved a cold, wet Saturday on Nobby's Beach on November 4 to protest the need for urgent political action to address climate change. "We're staggered by the numbers who came out despite the bleak weather" said action organiser Climate Action Newcastle spokesperson Vicki Brooke "There's obviously a deep level of community concern that we need to do something about climate change now and people are saying we must make the transition away from coal to renewable energy" she said. The event mirrored similar events in capital cities and regional centres for International Day of Action on Climate Change, with around 50,000 people walking in Sydney, over 20,000 in Melbourne and 3,000 in Canberra. In the Hunter over 100 people gathered in Maitland and many then travelled to Newcastle to be at Nobby's. The gathering heard from Dr Glenn Albrecht from the University of Newcastle, Steve Phillips from Rising Tide and Vicki Brooke from Climate Action Newcastle. "People were energised by the speeches and by the action of forming giant letters spelling 'Beyond coal...!', she said. Such a large turnout confirms that there is broad community support to address climate change, by implementing a mandatory renewable energy target of 25% by 2020, establishing an emissions trading scheme within Australia to put a price on carbon and capping Newcastle's coal exports to the current rate of 80 million tonnes per year. For further information contact Vicki Brooke 0425 243 860 More photos are available here.