Watch our concluding Copenhagen video, which takes us from Copenhagen to the New Year, then give us your vision for the climate movement in 2010.
The ‘accord’ that emerged from Copenhagen is woefully inadequate, but GetUp members can take pride in many amazing achievements, including giving a voice to 5 young Pacific delegates who were heard by world leaders and the international media.
As we rededicate ourselves to securing strong action on climate change in the New Year, your reflections can help enlighten and inspire all of us. We have an election next year in Australia, and that means every bit of pressure we create is felt keenly by our politicians. So, tell us in your comments below, what’s your vision for GetUp and the climate movement in 2010?
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This is going to come down to the wire folks! The educated masses know that we should have acted years ago. The less educated un-informed majority that are predominantly influenced and therefore controlled by our media, which is directed by the lobby groups with the most money (Currently polluters). This means that as the old saying goes….. “Real change only happens when everybody is most effected”. Some of us are already acting but the masses are still waiting for our governments who are influenced by the very masses that are waiting along with the ones with money (The polluters). I truely believe that this means we are going to have a playoff between the educated and the ignorant which will lead to some form of civil unrest. Please prevent this from happening and do your research and don’t just listen to the news as it will always portray two opposing views. Please also understand that we are all ignorant until we are educated and informed.
Regards love and respect from a onlooker.
I think 2010 will bring some proposals directed towards big changes, perhaps not as big as many within getup or the Greens would like to see, but changes none the less.
I would like to see Getup team and members lend some support to these changes, as one must with a child, reward every small step. It is inconcievable that there will be no comprimises. Perhaps we can have a dose of realism and as we do with our own lives decide what is most important to focus energies on.
As individuals we can do what we CAN personally and in our direct communities. As a voice we must support the best options available and them use those as stepping stones to push the next target. Resistance for resistance sake is futile and leaves as tiring as we run on the spot.
For 2010 I would like to see a concerted and intelligent political campaign to UNSEAT SITTING MEMEBERS of the Parliament, Federal & State!!
Base the Campaign in every seat that is considered ‘Marginal’ (3%?) and work the theme of something like:
“This Politician has failed to take effective action on addressing Climate Change. Change the Sitting Member”.
Target BOTH Parties equally – because both Parties have shown their love of Power and Dollar Bribes from vested and lobby Groups.
Target a limited number of seats – assuming the usual shortage of volunteer workers and financial contributions – and actually influence an ‘outcome’ or three. Would 10 seats be too many to try? I don’t know – but I suspect there would be people in Get Up.Org.Au that would!
Many mention “The Greens” but they are realistically only a strategy for the Upper House. Target Lower House ‘sitting members’ and you threaten both political parties in Parliament. Even then, there is no proof that the 2 major parties won’t work together rather than deal with the Greens in the Senate or even any Independents in the lower house. Both parties know that dealing with the Greens is the first real step away from the 2 Party Parliament Australia has experienced for all of my life (57)
I believe that the Party machines will understand that the lose of a sitting member in marginal seats CAN be influenced by such a campaign.
The ‘other side’ of this idea (as I see it) is that there has to be a very serious campaign to educate the population of Australia about HOW climate Change is going to affect us all. I got involved when I read about half a Billion Climate Change Refugees if things go ‘badly’ – but that won’t do it. Keep plugging the Bush Fire angles, the Storms & damages they will be doing to ordinary suburban homes & mortgagees.
This is not too much to wish for , is it?
Hey all you good people out there – just a thought. So often in these blogs I see the words “don’t agree with all of the Green’s policies and feel that they are lacking in many areas BUT…”. It’s almost like hearing that old cliché over and over again “I’m not a racist BUT..” Yes, I joined the Greens in the darkest years of the Howard government, knowing like everyone else did that essentially Labor was not much different to the Coalition. And since then I’ve continually found the Greens’ policies and approach to be more than adequate across the board. And on Climate Change, just like you guys, I know the Greens are the only ones within a bull’s roar of what is needed. So if there are genuine problems with the Greens policies, be specific – otherwise drop it. Because I’m as convinced now as I was then that what we have to do is WHOLEHEARTEDLY put our collective weight where it’s most likely to get the results we so urgently need on Climate Change.
Cheers, Iain
Words will not save All forms of Life on Mother Earth. Only actions will do that.
What the actions are, who can say ? But there are things we can do and must.
The world doesn’t need us, we need it ??
Happy 2010 to all you wonderful people.
Why cant we “Live simply so that others can Simply Live”.
We must moderate our behaviour. Stop spending, stop wasting. Or there will be nothing left.
Thanks to everyone who feels passionately about this issue and has done something about it this year. There is still so much work to be done, starting with educating the general public. While ever the general public has the impression that “the science is not quite right” the politicians will be restricted in what they can do.
The fact is that the arguments about the science are relatively petty – they poke at the edges of the vast body of broad agreement. And so far the scientific models have mostly underestimated the impact that has been observed. We need to move beyond this denial phase as a country.
I think the time has come to educate within our communities. To expand the existing grass-roots movement and the level of individual action. Making the switch to 100% green power and helping others in your community to do the same is a great way to start.
All the best for 2010. Here’s hoping we can help accelerate the process of change – for the better of the environment.
Let’s make it tangible, put targets asside and follow the lead of Climate Justice movements globally. If in 2010 we can stop new coal mines and powerstations – if we can put a real dent in the fossil fuel lobby’s power next year we’ll have a better chance of autralia not playing the laggard internationally.
great work this year GetUp!
I would like to focus on the positive side. Yes, the politicians did not come to an agreement at Kopenhagen, but made at least an attempt. To get 190 countries under one hat sounds very difficult indeed. As other comments state we have got the power to change the world with our actions. We can ride bicycles wherever possible or walk instead of using the car for short trips. We pass on the message that TVs are not needed on the whole day, definitely not in every room, not even on standby. Lights can be switched off. We can choose ethical investment companies. We can install solar cells or solar hot water, watertanks and roof insulation, even as tennants. We can plant fruit trees and our own vegetables for more sustainability and buy less packaged food. We can think twice, if we really need all the plastic articles or if we can present something more useful. We can reuse, recycle or repair items instead of throwing away everything. We can live with our computers, mobile phones and TVs a little bit longer and don’t need the latest gadget all the time.
I can see the onset of change in many families, we just need to support it and spread the messages further. There are already more cyclists on the road and somewhen hopefully even the awareness amongst car drivers will grow that cyclists are an equal traffic participant. A previous landlord told me that she had the forms to apply for solar cells already filled in, just not handed in before the government subsidy was withdrawn. A local small solar company has 50 new employers. The roof insulation we had ordered is on a 3-months waiting list.
Keep up the good work – get up!
As the pope stated in his Christmas Eve mass: Selfishness makes us prisoners of our interests and our desire that stands against the truth and separate us from one another.
Relying on politics alone to solve this is never going to work. As Australians I was hoping for something else, a bit of inventiveness perhaps to overcome the most important issues. Australia has a water issue and an energy issue relating to the use of fossil coal reserves. Victoria being the worst has more reason to act diligently.
Generating the energy for our future is going to require new technology from a disparate means of supply. Fossil gas, bio gos, methanol from waste and methane from waste has potential to generate 40% to 60% of our needs nationally. Each town, farm, buisiness and city has a part to play in this.
Most waste is carbon based and this means its actually a very old and simple process to convert it into useful energy. You can do this privately or on commercial scales. Another avenue is a total national grid designed around such disparate sources from hundreds of locations. Wind farms would then be capable of providing 24/7 base load energy. If its not windy in Melbourne it is in Adelaide, you get the picture. Landfills across the globe are producing methane in high volumes and will continue to do so for at least 300 years.
We should be looking at garbage as the most vital source of energy to power out needs into the future. Politicians do not have the capacity to imagine such changes and such basic technology as a digester and gasometer connected to a gas turbine. Such turbines can burn new methane, fossil methane and methanol as gas. 3 sources to one power plant. Fuels can include garbage to scrap garden waste and farm by products, manures and crop salvage. Thermal depolymerisation can turn rubber and plastics into fuels, oils, base materials and gas. Syngas and bio (char) gas are another avenue that has not been exploited at all.
My understanding of politicians is they listen to the people they pay to inform them, rarely would they take the advice of anyone not already in a big money making buisiness. That means most of us and our ideas will be ignored. Politicians assuming taxes and carbon credits will make any difference of wrong. These will just end up on the stock market and “fuzzy” pricing and fixing will take place. The cost of this is staggering and the overhead is massive.
Simply taxing energy – at the gate – is more than enough to fund a nation wide reconstruction of the electricity grid and provide funding for each town, each city to participate in securing its own base load energy generation capacity from renewable sources. This would require no more than 80 to 120 billion. Carbon credits will cost significantly more than that and achieve very little. Another thing to consider is transport. A city that has 200,000 workers needs 100 lanes of roads (1 lane = 2000 cars PH max) to service the city. Melbourne just spent 1 billion dollars adding 1 lane (in and out so actual is 2) to a freeway. $1 billion for 2000 cars an hour?
Public transport is “the only” solution to every cities needs. Melbourne needs to spend 340 billion to resolve traffic congestion – or – spend 30 billion adding North – South and East – West rail links. Underground and orbital rial lines would reduce the transport spending considerably in the long term.
The numbers speak for themselves yet politicians do not listen to people, they listen to advisers – advisers are ignorant on points of view they did not consider themselves. We need to start making our own businesses to overcome this or it will not happen.
If every Australian donated $250 dollars to a climate buisiness (54 billion total) over 4 years ($216 billion) our total pollution from electricity would drop to zero – our transport needs would be fully funded and people can get to work without the costs of commuting by private vehicle, those that want to can do so far more efficiently than before.
Once these new generating sources are running and proven to be profitable the government can sell them and use the funding for something like education and Hospitals.
I am not a scientist by education but I have an active interest in the field. I am simply a web programmer with some environmental science under my belt. I believe that with funding such solutions can work and work reliably. Given a redesigned national grid failures are easily mitigated and managed. No city will be without energy. Energy coming from multiple sources, multiple locations, minimal road miles and minimal risk to supply with the dynamic of easy expansion and technological improvements to produce something that is home grown, world pioneering and completely reliable. Not only that it would not matter if you were a mom and dad farmer or a multi millionaire. We all have a part to play in this. So, stop relying on politicians and find your own solutions. They will not help you, but simply tax you.
Regards
Mitch
Hey Mitch… Have a think about what we do in the bush. Some of us have to drive for an hour or more to get to work with no public transport available. We do what we can to reduce and reuse, convert to solar, etc if we have the money. We’ve downsized the car but it’s a necessary evil to us.
Cheers, Lyn
Without drastic action by both the majority of governments and individuals, climate change shall destroy our planet. However our biosphere is also being destroyed by habitat destruction and species extinction. The root cause of all these horrors is over population linked to consumerism, and if humans do not greatly reduce birth rates world-wide then there is no hope for our planet. Population was not discussed at Copenhagen and religious leaders need to start talking about the need for immediate birth control as well as about problems like poverty, famine and disease.
Thanks to Get Up for their awesome action. In 2010 I will be behind them more than ever and encouraging others to do so also. We must never give up!!
Look, I don’t want to be a bore about bikes. But so many people posting here are coming to the same point, namely that we have to do more as individuals, that I might as well make my case for bikes
Each of us has our our own ideas as to what that ” doing more” might be My bonnetted bee, if I can put it that way, is the potential of bike as a useful vehicle.
In one of my short blog movies, I did say, maybe contentiously, that a nation which is not willing to make short trips on bike, is simply not serious about climate change. It is a litmus test of people’s resolve.
Europe takes that test and passes it more and more. 40% of commutes in Copenhagen are made on bikes winter and summer. Our city average is about 2% at best.
I go further, a Government which is not prepared to spend the money needed to make those bike trips safe and pleasant, is even less serious about climate change..
Now, I know what you are thinking. Me on a bike? Nice in theory and, yes we do use cars way too much, but no, no, no!
Too alien, all t hat lycra, ugh! Too uncomfortable, too dangerous, too far in distance on my routine round, and too many bloody hills.
Well, stop for a moment before you clinch that thought. If you were in almost any European city, you’d be already thinking differently, the same you. And if so there, why not here?
Firstly, in Copenhagen , for instance, you’d know that those classic sit-up bikes, so favored, are very comfortable. The wide cushy seat means a happy bum. The fully enclosed chain mean no mess, and if your a woman, you can ride in a long dress, high heels, whatever you want. (See the famous blog, copenhagen cycle chic)
If in Paris, you’d have tried a Velib by now. There are 25,000 Velibs on the streets of the city of light, waiting for you to rent one. Riding a velib, you would have found how comfortable it is to sit up like that and how practical to get around on they are.
So, change the first part of your bike visualization. See yourself marvelously upright, like royalty on wheels. Glide alonq with the most casual of pedal thrusts.
Secondly, safety. Threatening cars cars loom at you in your visualization True, and it’s no comfort that if you were in Holland, your wheels would be rolling on 29,000 kms. of bike ways, and you’d never feel unsafe.
But their achievement only came about because in the 70’s, the Dutch were in danger of losing their bike culture. Instead, they bit the bullet and put their money where their wheels were.
No, every Dutch kid rides to school, there is very little obesity, and they certainly don’t spend 58 billion annually as we do on flab, diabetes, and attendant life destroyers.
But safety here and now for you on a bike? Well, upright, you are going to feel much safer. In your normal clothes, you are clearly not part of the lycra crowd, those mostly males with their heads down, thrusting through tiny gaps.
You will relate to motorists differently, you’ll be seen better and see better. I’m making eye contact with drivers all the time on my bike. I’m thanking them with a hand wave for waiting for me to cross an intersection, as they often do.
Being taller, I imagine that I have them all in school, and they are not bad pupils I never threate , I rage no roads.
Distance and hills. Well, tally up the number of short trip you make in your car, and you’ll be surprised, how many there are, really short ones, and how easily they could be eased over onto a bike, a bike with saddle bags like mine which easily carries 20 kilos of groceries. I never take the car anymore for anything under about 7K ms.
But the hills? Ah yes, they are the killer, the show stopper. Which is why my bike has a small electric motor in the front wheel.
While hills are still a bit of an effort, there’s but no painl and very little sweat. I never rise from my seat, never disturb my regal composure, even when loaded with shopping.
For every negative image in your bike visualization, there is a solution, one that will save you money, cut global warming (35% of our GG come from vehicle emissions) and put you on the road to easy fitness with your gym on two wheels.
I explore all this further on my blog, mostly in short movies. http://situp-cycle.com
Do have a look if you are prepared to at least mentally re-bike yourself, and remember that age is no barrier . In the big biking countries, people habitually ride healthy and happy into their 80’s and even 90s. Mike rubbo
I like your style Mike! Although I am mostly scared that someone is going to wipe me out … I am determined to get back on my bike (which incidentally is even better than my usual mode of transport – catching the bus). we can each do more – do better – and use less. we will all feel better for it too!
Megan
Not possible in the bush! Sadly. We have no public transport here to get us to work, so it’s cars or we just don’t get there. We’ve had to downsize to smaller motors but there’s really no other option.
Lyn
We need to make the politicians irrelevant. They are only concerned with the next election. You can trace most of the world’s serious problems back to Politicians. The modern geo-political realities stem from the Versailles Treaty and attempts by Politicians to create a world order suited to their aspirations. Politicians get their power from us. We need to reclaim it. If every Government in the world was routinely voted out of office at every election, they would perhaps begin to listen
Words make no difference. Only actions make a difference.
1. Be a STAND for Climate Change then create a possibility (and it has to be a real stretch) like the government is mobilised by the actions of the people into negotiating with the Greens that provides leadership for the world.
2. Be UNREASONABLE (making a request)
3. Be willing to be an INTERRUPTION to the drift of life.
4. Be UNSTOPPABLE in your STAND
Here are some ideas:
1. Check yourself out as to your own carbon footprint.
2. Join 1millionwomen.com and /or any other Climate Action group
3. Email EVERY politician urging ACTION on Climate Change – 40% reduction by 2020 and demand LEADERSHIP from them.
4. PHONE as many politicians as you can afford – it works if you are polite, but being a stand (as distinct from righteous) and keep on message and be willing to give your name and address.
5. Write chalk messages on the pavements.
6. Keep on generating the conversation amongst everyone you meet that Climate Change is urgent and enroll them too in participating in action.
Remember ‘the people united can never be defeated’
Give yourself fully to the task
Ailene
For a strong climate agreement, I think that two things will be needed:
- the liberation of the world from the debt-based banking system.
- closely related to the above, an end to the insanity of economic growth.
Once these two challenges have been met, it will then be possible to introduce an arrangement where the economy exists to meet humanity’s needs rather than the other way around.
At present, a leader of a major country who were to work, Bhutan-style, to focus on the wellbeing of his/her people while relegating the economy to a lower order of importance will be out of power within a few days. This can work on Tokelau but not in the US.
It is conceivably possible that the people of a country could all decide en masse to adopt such a priority, thereby dragging the politicians along with them, but unfortunately the combination of media-driven social engineering and conformism keep us consuming and wasting.
I believe this is all the more absurd because if various suppressed technologies were made available to us, and resource use was GENUINELY minimised – imagine an end to planned obsolescence – it would be possible to live our current lifestyle on a small fraction of the resources we currently consume.
A couple of ironies you might have missed:
- the Copenhagen conference finished one day before the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year.
- the conference was immediately followed by extreme weather conditions involving ice and snow.
We have a big responsibility to help our neighbours here in the Pacific region. Many of the people in Australia who HOPE that climate change doesn’t exist need the reality of what these island nations are facing confronting them on a daily basis. If the plight of these people doesn’t shift them, then I have little faith that anything will. The Pacific Island nations are suffering the effects of climate change now – in real time. And we need to stand up for them as a country.
I am very much for the cleaning up of the planet. Çlean air, water and soil and I have been a dedicated environmentalist for the past 60 plus years.
What I don’t like are the people who are exploiting ‘énvironmentalism’ for their own agenda, which is, Power and profit and eventually globalization.
I have lived through all the global scare tactics.
1950s it was the A-bomb that would disrupt weather patterns.
1960s The Ýellow hoards must be stopped in Vietnam, Reds under the beds etc.
1970s it was the coming ice age.
1980s the ozone hole would fry us.
1990s the Y2K bug will destroy civilization.
Any true environmentalists would understand that the planet can be cleaned up without committing this and future generations to a global taxation system and regulations placed on every aspect of our lives.
Before you follow the ‘Judas Goats’ it would be worthwhile to study the background and history of the AGW movement and, who is leading it and where it is leading.
http://www.afn.org/~govern/strong.html
Peggy,
You are confusing your so called scare campaingns. The yellow hordes, reds under beds etc was puerly polititical. The A bomb and weather was urban myth the scientific communinty’s concern was drift of radioactive material and the genetic effects of long lasting isotopoes.
The ozone hole was a real problem go ask the people of southern Chille or even Tas in summer in these high latitudes you get fried even with 30+ sun screen. The phasing out of dangerous flurodated hydrocarbons was supposed to ruin the economy of the west and continue the poverty of the 3rd world as the new refrigerant gasses where supposed to be far less efficient and more expensive. Gues what we have transitioned to the new gasses without a hickup and because all parties have followed the Montreal protocol the ozone hole is getting smaller. All of the scare campaigns were bull.
A lot of work went into identifying Y2K problems and eliminating them this work has never been properly recognised. But for it you would not have been able to use an ATM, use an access card to get into a building or your train ticket to name just a few. Because software problems are very hard to rectify everyone involved was concerned that not all had been vaccumed up. The lack of problems was a tribute to the y2K bug hunters that has never been properly acknowleged.
Yes human generated climate change is real and yes we need to and can do something about it.
To do this we need to put a price on carbondioxide whether a tax or a cap and trade system and use the money to help generate alternative technology.
Yes its goning to cost you and me. The alternative is much worse than a couple of hundred dollars each year in utility bills eg the loss of the Murray & Darling rivers as permanent water courses resulting in Oz becoming a net food importer at the same time as the major Asian rivers from the Indus to the Yangse becoming seasonal streams leaving us competing for food with the rest of Asia.
Any form of carbon dioxide reduction system will profoundly affect the structure of our economy. Personally I believe that this strucuter is pretty unstable vis rescent events.
It would be nice to have an economy in which valuable people like preschool teachers & medical personell were valued more highly than merchant bankers
Alex you say “The ozone hole was a real problem ” what’s this WAS business???
From http://www.theozonehole.com/climate.htm
> Today, some scientists are predicting the stratospheric ozone layer will recover to 1980 ozone levels by the year 2050. These scientists say we can expect recovery by that time because MOST nations have been abiding by international agreements to phase out production of ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. But the atmosphere continues to surprise us, and some atmospheric scientists recently demonstrated a new spin on the ozone recovery story that may change its ending. Well before the expected stratospheric ozone layer recovery date of 2050, ozone’s effects on climate may become the main driver of ozone loss in the stratosphere. As a result, ozone recovery may not be complete until 2060 or 2070.
Hardly seems a WAS to me.
My dream for 2010? Agreement by national leaders that Fair, Ambitious & Binding are the best principles for correcting climate change!
However, there must be much further agreement on the specifics of, & methods for, achieving these.
The Australian Government seems determined that their proposed ETS is the main best method. However, it is not yet too late for much further discussion so:
I propose Australia hold a National Day of Bipartisan Discussion on Correcting Climate Change. All politicians in Canberra, people in their work places & homes, & children in their schools, would set aside two hours to discuss this. It would at least improve knowledge & understanding of the issues!
Iain Fyfe makes the same point as myself when he says,”remember the aids awareness campaigns.”
The reason the Govt has not pulled out the stops, told us we are in a war situation, is that they are fearful of the economic implications if we consume less, which is the obvious response. Loss of jobs, things grinding to a halt, and themselves thrown out.
The courage comes in seeing that there is a new type of economy just waiting to be given a chance to engage and sustain us. We have to convince the Govt of that.
I’m sure if we all take steps towards that new economy in what we purchase, in what we do on house and transport decisions, we can swing this ship. Not a bad rallying cry perhaps. We can swing this ship. Mike Rubbo
On a finite planet, act locally, think globally.
I was under the impression that one of the Rudd Government’s election platforms was to move forward on addressing climate change while Howard was saying that there WAS no such thing. Howard was swept out of power and even lost his own seat. How often does a sitting Prime Minister not only lose the election but also lose his OWN seat. This should have been enough to show Tomny Abbott and Nick Minchin that Australians do NOT share their views (or lack of views) on Climate Change but they are VERY slow learners.
I am VERY disappointed in the Rudd Government’s progress. Yes, they have given many of us free (or very cheap) house insulation and they did remove the means test on grid connect solar systems resulting in a huge increase in the number of installed systems and a sudden increase in the number of companies competing in this field so progress IS being made SLOWLY.
I believe that Australians voted for REAL climate change action in the last election. Australians were sick of Work Choices, sick of being involved in illegal wars and sick of climate change skeptics controlling the government. Howard chose to do what HE wanted to do instead of what the people who elected him wanted him to do. Rudd (and I voted for him) is doing some of the same things now.
Currently the senate cannot act in a reasonable fashion because the Liberals/Nationals still hold enough seats to block legislation. They are not interested in the good of the country or the interests of the people. They are only interested in political point scoring. The opposition is quick to critisize EVERYTHING that the Rudd government is doing but when asked what THEY would do Tony Abbott just answers that “We are not the governement – it’s up to them to decide”. There is an old saying – if you’re not part of the solution then you’re part of the problem and the Libs are VERY MUCH a BIG part of the problem.
This is an election year so let US make a REAL change. We probably can’t give the Greens sufficient numbers in the lower house to make a difference there but we can easily change the balance of power in the Senate. Nick Xenophon appears to vote based on his conscience and to follow the direction that those people who voted for him would want him to follow. I personally feel that Steve Fielding is a dangerous man who wants to to take us back to the dark ages and who could be interchanged with John Howard and we may not notice the difference.
I don’t agree with all of the green’s policies and feel that they are lacking in many areas BUT Climate Change is a VERY important issue – perhaps THE most important issue at the moment. I can see no real alternative other than to allow the Greens a massive increase in power in the senate. This would hopefully ENABLE the new government (Rudd again as I can’t see that the Liberal/National Party can possibly be considered a viable alternative) to put through MUCH stronger legislation and (with a massive swing to the Greens) show him that he MUST do so.
I don’t want to hear that “Australia will do no more or no less than the rest of the world”. I want to hear that Australia will LEAD and is LEADING the world. We will have some short term pain but the rest of the world WILL follow because they HAVE to follow. Once the rest of the world catches up then we will be economically better off as we will already have the knowledge on what to do (and what not to do) and knowledge is power. If Australia is the ONLY country to take positive Climate Change action then of course we will be hurt financially but we won’t be the only country. Mahatma Ghandi was only one man and Nelson Mandella was only one man but each of them made a HUGE difference through personal sacrifice and they changed the world. Maybe Australia can be the little man in the world who made the whole world change
Here, Here! I wish everyone felt this way… yes, we should be leading the world on this issue, and I hope Mr Rudd does not lose this election over it. I too, do not agree with all the GREENS’ policies, but surely they are a better alternative to the other side who seem to be a bunch of ostriches (with their heads in the sand).
I do believe that any result is better than no result (Copenhagen), and now we have to work really hard at getting a better result at the next round of talks.
Well done! Bravo for all the efforts to save the human and other species! However, I think we should not speak of developing countries: firstly, because most are not really developing, but being kept in a situation of exploitation to maintain the privileges of the rich, and the ideal of development is but a carrot to keep them in their present predicament; secondly, because the ideal of development is at the root of the situation we are trying to solve, and must be forsaken in favor of degrowth. This is a term we should become acquainted with,
India’s position at Copenhagen, whilst understandable from a historical perspective, ignores a stark reality of climate change that impacts directly on that soon-to-be-most-unhappy nation.
I’m talking about the relentless dimminution to extinction of the Himalayan glacier complex that sustains the Ganges River.
Barrack Obama is the first US President inclined to support any International action on global warming, but it’s only one of his ‘balls in the air’. For him to push the issue, he needs more encouragement from the international community than he got at Copenhagen.
All in all, rotten things happened in the State of Denmark.
Negotiate with the Greens!
I’d like to apologize to my grand children for leaving them a stuffed planet. I apologize for the greed and lust for power of too many so-called world leaders in not giving a damn about their future, or the future of their children. When I think of the forests that have been raped, the flora and fauna that have gone, and the garbage my generation has forced them to breathe, I feel ashamed. We are polluting their future air, and it’s sad and disgraceful!
But, I promise to keep on doing what is in my power to do, so that the Rudd govt has to listen to us, and take the necessary action. I remember the warnings of 30 yrs ago – we tried to bring about change then, but were treated as loonies, commies and greenies???The time for talk is over – the time for action is running out! Let’s do it in 2010!
If anyone thinks Abbott is the answer? All I can say is, his govt sat on their hands for almost 12 yrs – and did stuff all! He won’t do any more than he deems necessary to get elected! And if elected, it will be one more ‘non core promise’? Remember them???
To all the wonderful people at GetUp, you’re simply the best! Thank you so much for your hard work and commitment! My grand kids would thank you too! Bless them!
My wish is that the population as a whole becomes properly informed and aware of the threat of climate change as soon as possible. Remember the AIDS awareness campaigns and the Grim Reaper ads sponsored by the government a couple of decades ago? Why is there NOTHING like that for Climate Change?
Then maybe we would get real groundswell support form the community, not the usual turnout of the already converted to the actions on Climate Change. Then even the government would feel empowered and brave enough to DO SOMETHING!
Great video summing up, folks!
But Phil Ireland revealed the contradiction in our situation. Ed Coper closed by saying the Rudd Govt had been convinced, “by you, ” their faxes were overflowing” he said.
But Phil, had already soberly admitted this same Govt. could have gone further. “If Every Australian was behind this, they would have.” sources confessed to him.
Meaning, our Govt. is actually not convinced the country is behind them, and how could it be when Rudd himself made no effort to mobilize the country, you and me, to the seriousness of climate change in 2009?
2009 should have been the year we declared a War on Warming, it’s that serious, and we should have been signed up to serve. If Rudd had done so, he would have gone to Copenhagen with a better argument for the developing counties, the saboteurs, we are told.
“Yes, your per capita carbon footprints are much less than ours right now. (India’s is about two tons per person, ours about 25) But my people are for real personal change. We will come down, every one of us.”
Our Govt. never tried to recruit us to such a cause because of the inherent contraction in their position, the contradiction which should be now guiding your campaigs.
Namely that this Govt. is committed to economic growth at all costs, and Rudd does not have the conviction or the courage to see that growth happening in new ways.
He dared, not it seems, swing the economy to sustainable Eco. growth in these fragile times. So, he played around with caps and trades, all of which left us all out of the struggle.
If he’d he’d got out of Copenhagen last week, he would have seen windmills on every horizon, and realized other economies are not so scared.
But what to do to break them out of their funk, and help them do an end run around the big polluters who’ll never willingly come on board?
GetUp should in my opinion identify each sector of the economy which needs to change, which can change , and work them up.
Discover who it is who’s already leading change in that field, and make them visible to the nation. Get them the kudos, the money, the momentum, they need to get going. Set the agenda by writing a new one, an Eco sustainable economy agenda.
On small example. I wrote to you two months ago about bikes as transport. I wrote about about how far behind we are in a vital area of cutting GGs
I predicted that this penny would drop for you in Copenhagen. Hectic as it was, you must have caught a glimpse of how serious the Danes are about bikes as transport. Not bikes for Sunday sport like here, but for getting from A to B. You heard the figures, 40% of commutes by bike Sun or Snow. You saw it, and maybe got on a bike yourselves.
Danish achievements, amazing as they are, are actually not as much as what the Dutch have done. Well have the models. We could turn this around. if we were to get serious about bikes as transport , it could be truly exemplary, truly a break with our profligate past, and a quick one.
But it would mean a personal lifestyle change on the part of millions of us, transport problem solving on the part of millions of us.
Montreal has done it this last summer with 6000 Bixis on the streets of that city. London will do it this coming summer with 10,000 Bixis on their streets. Wow!
My blog is http://situp-cycle.com
Mike Rubbo
Hey guys! this is the struggle! step by step never going back, always with peaceful method! We as a means of peaceful struggle voting for politicians: if
we count and tell them that remove the vote (not one, but
all of us) do not work seriously, we get listening and
action. We have to pursue us all the time, breathing down their neck!
It will be an exciting 2010 year, we learn to be more and more and
more forcefully. We are defending our planet that gives us the
life and livelihood!
Who cares if it was Big Coal or the Farmers’ lobby that stymied the Rudd government’s carbon trading initiative? It is depressing that both sides of Australian politics see climate change as an opportunity to wedge their opponents and very little else; and that a similar charade seems to have been played out in the international arena at Copenhagen.
Leaving aside the Nuclear option (part of the equation but an even bigger issue than climate change), there is a case for the Australian government to go into crisis management in the lead up to the 2010 Federal Election and hammer Big Coal with blunt fiscal instruments rather than giving it a free pass with emissions trading legislation. That means tonnage taxes at the coal face, haulage taxes and export taxes, with all of the proceeds earmarked for direct funding of renewable energy projects.
Then, in response to the real emergency of imminent climate change, we should allow the export of only enough coal to sustain the Australian economy on maintenance until the rollout of base load electricity from thermal and tidal power gains enough traction to allow the gradual phasing out of coal fired power stations.
Sceptics ignore what’s probably going to happen very soon – upwards of twenty consecutive days of temperatures in excess of normal body heat in Australian capital cities that will have their populations screaming for forced change in the direction of investment flows from the job cancelling and resource depleting activities of the coal mining industry to job creating renewable energy initiatives.
I think it would be best if we refused to let the politicians back into Australia without having made a deal. They are there to represent us – why is it so hard to get them to do that simple job?
If things are to change we need to change; change our desires our values. People not things, we must seek the wellbeing of all people not merely ourselves and our nation.Tthis is not easy, however surely it is possible? We need a new vision for humanity, were all are respected, valued, and cared for. That is my hope for the future. Such a commitment will certainly mean taking climate change seriously.
Australia is in a strong position to be a world leader in renewable energy networks, chemical free and sustainable agriculture and sustainable community development. Let us lead and not follow. To our PM’s comment that we’ll do nothing more and nothing less than the rest…c’mon Kevin, we can do more, so much more and we should be…let the world follow our example…let us inspire what can be not what is…blessings to you all.;)
My vision for 2020? That all political parties in Australia will agree to achieve at least a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 – nothing less than 20/20 vision by 2020!
They left looking like statesmen; they came back as politicians: No more and No less
Money. Money. Money.
If the cause of all problems (Co2 emissions, pollution etc) is the pursuit of profit, for what else does an industrialized economy produce goods for, then all your well intentioned efforts are wasted on the ears of politicians, for they are clearly the front men of the monetary system.
And, if even more Money is needed for lobbying, campaigning advertising etc to fix the problem, then when and where will it stop?
A change to a resource based economy as advocated by the Zeitgeist Movement would eliminate the “free market’s” excessive over production of goods and it’s inherent waste of energy and resources.
A switch to Ultra high Speed and energy efficient Evacuated Tube Mag Lev trains ( et3.com ) would eliminate the need for airlines and freight companies over night.
Then what would our Co2 emissions look like?
Change the monetary/political system first and the environment will look after itself.
For a saner, more humane future I humbly urge you to consider,
http://www.zeitgeistmovement.com
http://www.thevenusproject.com
In 2010, we should get public support behind real action for climate change by giving away free rain water tanks to households. This is a much better strategy than giving the wheinging polluters billions to reduce emissions by nominal amounts. Make decisions by making things easier – go for opt in systems of carbon reduction rather than than regulation based system.
Until humanity collaborates and addresses the ’cause’ of our problems we are all wasting our time by addressing the conseqences of the ’cause’. The obvious major ’cause’ is human over population. Until we achieve a sustainable world population then how can we ever expect to achieve a sustainable Biosphere? We are a clever species but not a very wise one.
I hope this is just the beginning and that we will follow up up this year with more actions. It’s great to see people being so active. Wishing you a happier and more compassionate future for us and all who share our planet.
In 2010 I hope that Get Up members finally wake up to the fact that the ALP will screw them over every time.
I hope that the English climatologists can finally get there act together enough, that they can prove beyond doubt their theories on Climate Change, so that the people of the world can be made to see what really needs doing, and to force our Politicians to be effective for one in their working lives.
I Hope that fair and equitable arrangements can be made for all Australians regardless of Disability, Gender or Race
I hope these two things come to pass so that GetUp can step closer to disbanding, and we can all get back to our lives and not have to force the collective will of Getup members on to the rest of the world.
I short i wish for a world in 2010 that does not have any need for Getup to exist.
I agree with so much of what has already been said, but I think Craig really hit the nail on the head when he stated the real problem is over-population. Lets get that on the agenda too.
But it is more than that….we can sustain the current population if we all want to live like the poorest of the poor, but if we want to live like us rich Australians (and who wouldn’t?) then we will need 5 earths using our current technology!
I am optimistic that man is creative enough to find ways of generating a low-energy way of living. The technology is largely there already, we just need the will to use it, both at a national and a local level.
We need legislation to force all manufacturing businesses to use green energy, or to install solar panels on their roofs…yes they will pass on the costs to the consumer, but if all businesses are forced to do this, then market forces will operate to make the costs to consumers minimum.
Remember the Buy Australia campaign all those years ago? We need to do the same – but “Buy local and Buy Green” should be the catch-cry. Never forget that as consumers we all have a great deal of power.
Well done to all in the GetUp Team…. keep up the good work in 2010 and we will surely turn this ship around!
best wishes for Xmas to all who care.
Thank you for all your hard work everyone.
Thank you also for the inspiration and hope you are creating amongst the general public who are concerned about these issues and want to see our planet saved.
Every positive thought and positive action will make a difference in some way.
My thoughts are that the only way to get countries on board who don’t want to join the world community on carbon reduction is through the use of import tariffs on their goods which are equivalent to the effective carbon tax on the country importing the goods. Australia could start this as we are such a huge importer of Chinese goods.
Unchristmas Me Without Merriment
I am trying to avoid Christmas. No, it is more than that. I am boycotting it. I no longer want to continue to allow myself to be dragged into a shopping festival that celebrates pointless excess spending and gormandizing. It would be nice to celebrate the Christian Christmas, but I am not a Christian, so that isn’t open to me either.
Therefore, I am doing New Year. This is a day of resolutions and commitments for the coming year and actively doing something about them on day one. It is a day to re-affirm one’ s values, beliefs, familial ties and friendships; to extol the virtues that make life sustainable and worth living.
Of course Christmas has traditionally been about that too, but my concern is that it is being drowned in increasingly grotesque propaganda and frenzied marketing pressure. By adopting the New Year one is at least for the time being, disconnecting from that framework and establishing other kinds of values.
The final straw for this was the Copenhagen failure. It suddenly became crystal clear that there is virtually nothing we can do to stop a generalized and worsening pattern of environmental catastrophe progressively hitting us until it puts us out of action.
I can no longer fend off the fear of what is going to happen to my children and grand-children.
I think we all going to be forced to rethink the way we live our lives. I don’t suggest that this will necessarily ameliorate what is coming, but it may teach us to become more resilient and frugal within ourselves and less demanding of others and the precious, wounded and now terribly fragile world we occupy.
I know this sounds unseasonably dismal and we should be sharing warm fuzzies, but I am afraid I am just not seeing much to be warmly fuzzy about. Some might say that in those circumstances, perhaps silence would be better, because of the risk of being seen as a humorless killjoy and party pooper.
Well, I’ll wear that. I have been putting off saying this and taking the plunge for too long. I have had Christmas in my sights for at least a decade, kept silent, went along with it and I have had enough.
So I am not wishing you or anyone else a Merry Christmas. All I can offer is a very sober and low key hope that 2010 will not be yet another year that the locusts ate. I am not holding my breath, but hope, even a poor sort of hope, is a lifebuoy to to love and laughter, and a sticking point for one’s courage to do what must be done in the year ahead.
And as to Father Christmas: I hope his elves go and get real jobs planting forests on the now receding snow lines of the arctic; that his reindeer get their real job back by replacing snowmobiles; and the fat slob himself gets stuck in one of his own industrial chimneys and chokes on the soot!
© Copyright 2009 Christopher Nagle (UN: kiffit at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Christopher Nagle has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
Dear Moderator,
I guess I am not too surprised my above comments did not meet the criteria for this topic. It was a sort of “cat among the pigeons” comment.
However, I would be deeply disappointed if comments of the nature of mine are, in fact, ignored by your organization, per se.
I think you will find that the scientific community are very much NOT in agreement with the climate model currently being used as a basis for the need for urgent drastic action.
If GetUp has a closed mind on this issue, I think it is time for you to stand back and have a think about your objectives, and make very sure that you are on the correct scientific path.
for 2010 we all need to get back to basics, in which, I mean, basic farming and agriculture without all the chemicals that are used to grow it faster, kill the pests and diseases etc etc which is only killing the earth and sterilising soils that they grow in and I think this has a lot to do with climate change. The industries that make all the fertilisers and chemicals for this usage must stop polluting the atmosphere producing them and the usage must stop as these are changing all living things chemical make ups therefore causing cancers and other diseases including diabetes, obesitysterilising and many many more illnessess. We have all lost our path to a full and enlightened life. We all want more and more. Tell the politicians to make all industries cut their emmissions immediately by a minimum of 10% within 2010 and the continually decrease over the next 5 years to acceptable levels. The general populous can only do so much, the corporations are the ones where it needs to begin.
The trouble is – farmers struggle to make a living here in Australia without the inputs they are told to put on their farms! We need to support agriculture from the ground up. We all need to buy locally, to buy orgnanic where we can, to not support mass monoculture of farms and communities.
The costs of fertilisers has just jumped 15% again, yet some farmers still apply at horrific rates over 500kg/Ha to ‘make it more productive’…..
It is the consumers that are such an important part of the chain! Don’t support irrigation farming that is not sustainable, don’t buy food if you don’t know where it’s from!
Carolyn
How inspiring it is to read so many thoughtful and intelligent comments.
Copenhagen is not the beginning and it is not the end: just another step somewhere along our path. For some it was a dissapointment while for others it eventuated in the utterly expected. Now is the time to start looking at what is possible. What came from it that can be nurtured and turned into a strength? We don’t have time for the indulgence of blame.
I agree with the comments left that suggest the only way forward is with the citizens of the world. It is the citizens that must indivdually change and not merely gripe about their governments inaction. It is each citizen who can make a difference, not only by conserving at home, but also by the choices we make at the supermarket. We live in a consumer democracy. The ‘ballot’ we cast each week at the local supermarket is arguably more important than the one we do for Canberra.
Competition is our ally. We need to seek the small companies (or large if they are out there) that are doing the ‘right’ thing and support them. Support those companies that are producing their products in the mode of the ’small footprint’ and are labelling accurately to inform the consumer. The others will soon follow. Facebook about them, Twitter about them from every street corner. The nay-sayers will haggle and try their best to water down the argument and muddy the waters but if we unite at the cash register then things will change. Some would suggest it is the only way anything ever has.
And we can make a difference every time we cast our ballot and empower smaller parties with our voices, giving them a bigger share of the media pie so they can spread their message via the mass media markets and better inform our citizenry.
We don’t and arguably should not leave this up to politicians to decide for us. Their primary job is to keep us secure, productive and properous NOW and not in the future (though their legacies may be formed by that). It is OUR job, each one of us to think longer term, to think about our children and their children and the kind of home we want for them.
I honestly believe that if we can create a business climate in this country that is the fairest and most transparent in the world; if we can create a climate that is healthy for small business creativity then investors and creative, inspiring minds will stream from within our ranks and flock to our shores. If we can create a citizenry that is informed, hopeful and motivated then anything is possible. We the consumers need to seek them out and support the work that is already out there as best our time and budgets allow.
International politics and agreements are a minefield of compromise. Why would we ever think to put our hope, our trust and the future of the planet in such hands.
It’s in ours.
Merry Christmas and thank you to GETUP! You’re awesome.
Great comment – here here!
I sat with my grandmother for Christmas yesterday and was so embarrassed by her support of no action coming from Copenhagen.
I think the new and younger generations need to hold steadfast and hold true to the effect of the last 80 years. How much worse off the planet is now, and in how many years will be not have enough oil or petrol or fertliser. Surely that would mean we all need to change the ways we live today!
To not act is to support. I know I want my children to understand the world is a great place. That we care about the earth, and I want it to be a prospoerous country, that can provide it’s own food sustainably, that we can hold true to being far stronger country than the US or the UK with all there larger scale issues.
Hold true to the cause!
Carolyn
Josef, I am very much taken with your small business vision, using our power as consumer/shoppers. You may have noticed that my
“thing” is bikes. I wonder how we could be making bikes again as we once did. They are pretty simple technology and yet leave much room for innovation.
The electric, bike which I think, answers our impediments of distance and hills, has incredible growth potential. The Dutch, a very high wage country, make their own bikes. Indeed, the Gazelle, Innegy, an Electric bike won bike of the year last year in Holland against all types. 140,000 were sold, an astonishing number
The setup costs in electric bike making would surely be quite small. Is it inevitable that our labor cost requirements would have to make the finished bikes so much more expensive? Is there any way around this?
I remember seeing a most inspiring documentary, the Fletcher Jones story. The working conditions and morale in the old Fletcher Jones factories were amazing. Based on conviction and not just the bottom line, management ran things in an unique way. Yet it could not, did not last.
How can we get back to making things in that way, unlocking our creativity, job possibilities, and work satisfaction of being part of such enterprises?
Are co -op businesses the answer? I remember being inspired, talking to co-op people in Maleny, the co-op capital of Australia. Mike Rubbo
Next time perhaps we should just send NGOs like GetUp and leave the governments out of it. Its beginning to look like people will achieve something while business-dominated governments refuse to fix anything. Keep on installing those panels and sustainable generators everybody, because nobody in power apparently wants to change the status quo. Thanks to all the GetUp members for pushing on this issue.
I had hoped that there would be a target of more than 5 %., We’re pathetic. Fancy saying we will take action when other nations do so. Let’s be a good example and make a start on saving our planet.
Let’s keep pushing our leaders to be more conscious and to act with integrity: to demonstrate authentic leadership where they are prepared to stand up and be counted as they represent the real people and this planet.