Roadtrip to Newcastle

Yesterday the ASEN road trip crew travelled up to Newcastle and was taken for a tour of the Newcastle Port by our travel guide Jonothan Moylan. From Nobby’s Headland, we saw the dredging boat taking out sediment to dump it offshore widen the channel to accomodate more coal exports. We stood over the large arterial railway that takes coal trains to and from the port day in and day out, not even breaking for holidays. There coal trains are not covered and the coal dust poses a health risk to the 23,000 children who go to a school within 500m of the train line. (more…)...
Read More

The Geographic Frontline for the Climate Movement

Over the past few years the geographical and demographic division of the political spectrum has become increasingly distinct. Although it has been evident for decades, the growth of the Greens in inner city electorates and the growth of the Katter’s Australia Party in North Queensland has made it clear that geographical lines are now also political lines. Currently the climate movements electoral support has been stunted because we have allowed the political mandate we once had to slip away unnoticed. We took the shallow support we had for granted and failed to galvanise frames for action in both progressive and conservative sides of politics. As a result it is now an imperative that we start communicating and acting on climate change in a way that resonates with all the Australians who have been unsure of the problem or critical about its solutions. We are not going to succeed in doing this unless as individual campaigners and a collective movement we...
Read More