ASEN

Saturday March 13 – Monday March 15 Australian National University, Canberra

You’re invited to the 2010 Climate Action Summit, the only national meeting of the grassroots movement for a safe climate.

The Summit will provide much needed space to work out how we move forward in the year of a federal election after Copenhagen. Plenary speakers include David Karoly, Christine Milne, and Walden Bello, and there is a strong focus on alliance building and tactics to build the movement.

The full program is available for download from http://www.climatesummit.org.au/summit-2010-program

With the climate summit this year we’re aiming to build on the work of last year, and have developed campaign streams, a network stream as well as issues and skills workshops.

The campaign stream are: 100% renewables, coal campaigning, vote climate, climate emergency, green jobs and building alliances with trade unions. There is also a full range of issues and skills workshops on topics as diverse as forests, transport, climate justice, alternatives to the CPRS, population, media, dealing with sceptics, lobbying and communicating on climate change.

Who should come to the Summit?
- Members of climate action groups, whether actively involved in organising or just wanting to learn more about the issue and meet like minded people
- anyone interested in or active on climate change

Registration
Please register through the Climate Summit website, at http://www.climatesummit.org.au/register-2010-summit.This year we are asking participants for a registration payment to cover the costs of organising the summit. Registration will cost $10-15 per person day for unwaged individuals and $25-30 per person per day for waged individuals.

Applications for exemptions can be made by emailing 2010climatesummit@gmail.com.

For more information please contact Ellen Roberts on 0408 583 694.

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Friends of the Earth Sydney collective put this 16-page booklet together as a resource for climate justice action – for people organising in their communities and in their workplaces.

Download the Climate Justice Kit here.

Right now, all eyes are on climate change stories – whether it’s the upcoming international talks at Copenhagen, or the new coal-fired power stations being proposed to meet Sydney’s future energy consumption. But we don’t always look at what debates over ‘parts per million’ and emissions trading mean in human terms: who will pay, whose land is being mined or covered with private plantations, and whether ‘green’ industries are creating jobs where workers have a real voice in their workplaces.

We think climate justice is about which solutions to the climate crisis we campaign for, and how we campaign for them. This Climate Justice Kit includes short stories from across the world of communities that are fighting for clean air and secure livelihoods in the face of big polluters and offset entrepreneurs; as well as some key facts, like who is going to bear the heaviest burdens of climate change.

You can download the Climate Justice Kit here: http://tiny.cc/KW2Qg

Regardless of what businessmen and politicians do in Copenhagen (or any other capital cities), people across the globe will keep fighting for real solutions. We hope some of our ideas for action will be a useful contribution to that struggle in Australia.

If you’d like printed copies mailed to you, let foesydney@gmail.com know how many you want, your name and address.

If you have comments or questions, are keen to do a workshop or an action with us, we’d love to hear from you!

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In the early hours of the 11th of October, four student activists locked onto the conveyor belt at the Dendrobium coal mine in Wollongong. The group was protesting over concerns about the mine’s impacts on the local river system. Shot and edited by Tyler Freeman Smith, music by The Herd.

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We hope to see you next weekend at Climate Camp ‘09 at Australia’s oldest coal mine: where actions speak louder than words.

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Members of QEAN in Brisbane are preparing for a peaceful action at a Qld coal port to protest continued coal exports in the face of climate change

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Works by diverse artists from across NSW & the ACT will be auctioned off with all proceeds going towards the running of Climate Camp 09. Come to find out more about Climate Camp next month.

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“Switch off Hazelwood. Switch off Coal. Switch on Renewables” is a day of fun, creative and inspiring direct community action at Hazelwood coal power station. This march and protest at the front gates of the Hazelwood Power Station, is organised by community members who care about climate change - and are willing to take peaceful community action.

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The Australian Student Environment Network congratulates general staff at Southern Cross University (Lismore, NSW) and the Public Service Association / Community and Public Sector Union for winning a climate Environmental Sustainability agreement this week.

The PSA/CPSU represents non-academic/teaching staff on campuses (and in schools and TAFEs), such as building maintenance staff.  The union also organised their members to make a Sustainability Pledge and a climate change forum on campus for rank-and-file members.

This is new ground for the PSA / CPSU (and for all trade unions) to be looking at climate change, and organising with their members for climate justice.  Certainly, there is a long way to go in looking at climate change as a class issue - with and well beyond trade unions - and organising with workers and communities for land, labour and climate justice.

Media Release 24 July 2009

Southern Cross University Reaches Landmark Environmental Sustainability Agreement

Southern Cross University Staff today applauded the reaching of a landmark Environmental Sustainability agreement. The in principle agreement, reached between Southern Cross University and the Community and Public Sector Union on behalf of University General Staff, will be incorporated into the new Enterprise Agreement that is currently under negotiation.

The Agreement, the most comprehensive and enforceable provision so far negotiated in Australia, provides for:

• A broad Environmental Sustainability Working Party to drive policy development, environmental auditing and target setting on carbon emissions, water and energy
• Reducing carbon emissions through flexible travel and car-pooling
• Comprehensive training and education for staff on energy efficiency, transport, waste and water use
• Protection for staff to raise environmentally damaging practices

Community and Public Sector Union Southern Cross University President Ms Toni Ledgerwood said “Environmental sustainability was a key claim raised by Union members in the lead up to negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement at SCU. The CPSU welcomes the positive University response to the eagerness of staff to tackle the urgent danger of global warming.”

Ms Ledgerwood added “The CPSU held a “Low Carbon Workplace” forum in July and has circulated an Environmental Sustainability Pledge for staff to sign and show their support for decisive action on climate change. The in principle Environmental Sustainability agreement between the Union and SCU is the start of the whole University community working together. We are proud to be working at a University providing national leadership on the issue that will dominate  our future as well as our children’s.”
ABC coverage here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/27/2637798.htm?site=news

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On Friday the 26th of June, two activists locked onto a conveyor belt at Bluewaters coal-fired power station near Collie, 3 hours south of Perth, W.A.. The action is to protest Griffin Energy’s decision to burn wood from WA native forests for energy production. The two activists were arrested and later removed from the conveyor belt by police, after more than four hours of preventing coal from being fed into the power station. A third activist has also been arrested at the site.

“Griffin Energy is one of WA’s worst contributors to climate change. The company has recently opened yet another coal-fired power station and is constructing another three,” said Ms Jael Johnson, spokesperson for the action. “To add insult to injury, it now proposes to burn wood from our precious native forests as fuel and count this as renewable energy.”

“The WA public has a right to renewable energy. Here we have an abundance of wind, solar and wave energy. CETO, a wave energy company, has chosen to be a part of this renewable revolution. Griffin also has the opportunity to join Western Australian businesses committed to sustainable solutions. There is no place for coal-fired power station or native forest logging in a sustainable WA,” said Ms Johnson.

Griffin Energy recently won a tender from the Forest Products Commission (FPC) to buy between 250,000 and 400,000 tonnes of native forest logs a year.

Our native forests provide the WA community with clean air and water, biodiversity, and homes for unique WA plants and wildlife. Native Forests also store huge amounts of carbon. After logging and burning, the carbon is released into the atmosphere. Globally, deforestation and logging contribute about 27% of all climate change-causing greenhouse gases.

“Research in the eastern states shows that if native forests are left undisturbed, they can play a vital role in storing carbon and contributing to a climate change solution.

“Instead of protecting them for their vital role in reducing climate change, Forestry Minister Terry Redman proposes to allow Griffin to burn native forest logs, thereby releasing massive amounts of GHG and accelerating run-away climate change. This is an atrocious distortion of a system that should be leading us towards a zero-carbon economy, not further away from it.

“The people of WA will have to pay for Griffin’s reckless corporate behaviour long after its shareholders are done lining their pockets. So we will continue to disrupt the operations of organisations like Griffin for as long as they continue to display such corporate recklessness and short-sightedness.

“At the same time we support the calls from the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions for a just transition to a renewable society that leaves no worker or community behind,” said Ms Johnson.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Ms Jael Johnson: Mbl: 0438 856 981

Ms Emma McIntyre: Mbl: 0415 258 301

Photos and video on Indymedia (or soon to be on there!):

http://www.perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=144499

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