The UN Chief’s message that the “Era of global boiling has arrived,” spurred Nannas and others into action last week.
CLIMATE ACTION CONFERENCE
About 150 people came together in Redfern Town Hall on Saturday 29 July for a Climate Action Conference organised by Sydney Climate Coalition. The coalition is an alliance of climate and environment groups aiming to bring people concerned about the climate emergency back into a mass climate movement. The conference was a step along the way, with diversity in the speakers and participants and great energy and humour throughout the day.
Speakers covered many of the critical topics: what climate science is telling us, why Australian government policies must change quickly, what a just transition looks like and what community activist groups are doing and planning.
Nanna Bernie Hobbs, who spoke for the Sydney Knitting Nannas, said afterwards “I think today was a great success for the climate coalition – it was incredible. Lots of focus on what we’ve got in common, what we can do together and how our strength is in our diversity.”
Videos of the speeches are on Facebook
Climate Science and Climate Policies
Bill Hare – CEO of Climate Analytics – video on Facebook
Like all talks from climate scientists these days this was alarming. But Bill doesn’t believe it’s too late to meet the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees on pre-industrial levels though, even though warming has reached 1.2 degrees already. But many countries will need to set better targets and more importantly change their policies and actions if we are to have a chance of avoiding climate collapse. He estimates that countries’ existing actions put the world on a trajectory to an average rise of 2.7 degrees. His report card on Australia’s actions was particularly alarming.
The UN Climate Ambition Summit to be held in September will be an attempt to get countries on board with major changes in what they are actually doing.
Polly Hemming – Director, Australia Institute Climate & Energy program – video on Facebook
Polly spoke about the scam on which Australia’s emissions accounting is based. There is action on renewables but not decarbonising the economy. There are low hanging fruit – stop new fossil fuel projects and make changes in transport. But there is no plan to do either. Talk of Australia as a renewable energy superpower is constant and there is some action, but meanwhile the contribution of expanding gas and coal to global heating is happening now.
Fighting new coal and gas projects
Gadrian Hoosan – Garrwa community leader from the Gulf Country, NT – video on Facebook
Gadrian’s talk on the struggle against fracking and mining in the NT covered the ways in which fracking would be devastating for traditional custodians, culture and country. He said that government won’t listen and won’t visit to see and hear about what will be lost if fracking goes ahead.
He called on us to get the climate justice family around the country back together to stand up and protect country.
Karra Kinchela – Gomeroi Traditional Custodian from Narrabri in northwest NSW – video on Facebook
Karra gave an update on the Gomeroi fight to drive Santos out of the Pilliga.
A just transition
Nathan Clements – Hunter Jobs Alliance – video on Facebook
and Allen Hicks – NSW Secretary, ETU – video on Facebook
Nathan and Allen talked about what a just transition for coal communities looks like and the work of unions in achieving the transition.
Building the climate movement
Ethan Lyons -School striker, Fahimah Badrulhisham – Move Beyond Coal, Paddy Gibson – Workers for Climate Action, Blockade Australia and Bernie Hobbs for the Knitting Nannas. Video on Facebook
Extract from Bernie’s talk:
I’m one of the very many new Knitting Nannas so if it’s expertise you are after about the Knitting Nannas, I’ve got a whole bunch of notes you can have a look at. The woman who could speak to that history lives just out of Sydney and couldn’t be here today because while we know that the fire season in Australia shouldn’t be starting until mid-September, due to the warm weather we’ve been having and the news from Europe, Kathy is already organising her community to prepare for the bushfire season. It’s real, it’s happening right now and she wanted us to have a little reminder of that.
Knitting Nannas forge connections and alliances and cause a little bit of havoc. We know that what will make the climate movement really grow again is the next disaster. We also know it is just around the corner. But what we in the movement have to be doing, constantly, and this is the hard yards, is making sure we are refining our method. We’re making our connections with each other and when someone says to us what can they do to help we know what groups are available, what kind of skills they might be interested in and we are able to refer people to our allies in the movement, not just that – you can’t knit, sorry babe, you’re out.
To be a Knitting Nanna you don’t have to be able to knit and you don’t have to live in Sydney to be a member. The Sydney Knitting Nannas will even take a crusty old talentless, childless lesbian like me. They are very accepting.
KNIT-IN AT MARTIN PLACE
A day after the UN Chief, Antonio Guterres, said the “The era of global boiling has arrived” the Nannas decided that urgent action was needed and organised a knit-in at Martin Place near the NSW parliament on Thursday 3 August.
We were a small bunch of Sydney Nannas on the day so we were delighted to see Nannas from the Central Coast there even before we arrived. The messages were
- Wake up to climate chaos – with boiling kettles and alarm clocks to make the point
- No new gas or coal – it’s burning fossil fuels anywhere in the world that’s the main driver of the accelerating climate emergency
- The governments’ inaction in the face of a deepening climate crisis
- The media’s failure to ask the hard questions of the politicians responsible for decarbonising and for preparing for the next climate emergency.
Later the Nannas joined members of Save Sydney Koalas and the Bob Brown Foundation to protest about NSW Labor voting the night before to continue native forest logging in the Great Koala National Park. The Greens MLC, Sue Higginson, addressed us powerfully on this. About 30 people attended, including people from XR and Water for Rivers. There was a lot of good passer-by engagement, including school children who stopped to take photos with us.
Sydney Nannas send greetings and solidarity to the forest protectors in their front-line actions to protect native forests and koalas in different parts of the state. Action can’t wait, this is a critical time and they are doing the hard yards in spite of the oppressive approach being taken by the police.