We hope to see our followers at the Seniors Festival Expo on Wednesday and Thursday this week at Darling Harbour. It’s going to be a big week for Nannas as there are many events being held as part of Climate Action Week.
Wednesday and Thursday, 12-13 March – Seniors Festival Expo
Hall 4, Convention Centre, Darling Harbour – Sydney Nannas have a stall at CZ06 in the Community Zone. We will also have access to the nearby well-being community space where we can sit and chat and show you some of our craftivism:
Wednesday 12.30pm – 1.00pm Open 9.00am – 5.00pm
Thursday 2.15pm – 3.00pm Open 9.00am – 3.00pm
We look forward to seeing you there. It’s FREE! Seniors Festival Expo website
International Women’s Day – March 8
It was a sombre day for Nannas as some of us were watching rivers rise instead of joining Women’s Day events. We’re still watching the impacts of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred which brought heavy rain and flooding to southeast Queensland and the NSW north coast.
Nanna Kathy made this video of highlights of our actions for a better future.
NCC Members Forum Online
At the latest quarterly meeting of members of the Nature Conservation Council some members shared their local concerns and what they are doing about the issues.
Bud Moses talked about the Tabiea campaign. Sydney Nannas joined them at their Picinic for Nature at Garrsion Point last year. Tabiea is the Arabic word for nature. The campaign in Western Sydney is building an Arab speaking community concerned about climate, energy, and the environment by developing trust, providing education, allowing advocacy and debunking disinformation.
Pip Walsh from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation talked about the fungal disease myrtle rust and how it spreads through the air. Bushwalkers need to wash their clothes, hats, bags and boots to stop the spread. We need to be more aware of biosecurity threats. Another person spoke about how 18% of a threatened species must be replanted to make way for a coal mine near Wollongong.
North East Forest Alliance and Fridays4Forests are campaigning to save the Richmond Valley forests from logging. A community meeting will be held in Lismore on April 3 at 10am to discuss strategy.
Jarake Wildlife Sanctuary is situated near the Glenbog State Forest near Cooma. They rescue wombats and train loggers working in wombat areas to protect the animals and avoid burrows. They have written agreements with the loggers. The Sanctuary is not open to the public – it’s too busy saving wombats.
South West Forest Rescue v Forestry Corp of NSW is in the NSW Land and Environment Court and the Supreme Court of NSW Court of Appeal.
Lock the Gate Movement Muster – next steps to stop coal and gas in NSW
Two Nannas from Sydney and six from other loops joined this muster of the people working in different ways to stop the expansion of coal and gas mining in NSW.
Nannas caught up with the state of play in corporate plans to expand coal mining and to build gas pipelines across the Pilliga and the Liverpool Plains to Newcastle. The next stages of the NSW government assessment process for coal mine expansions were noted and actions were planned.
Public actions opposing the Moolarben mine near Mudgee will be stepped up very soon, with the planned expansion likely to be referred to the Independent Planning Commission at the end of this month.
There was a review of how the movement has achieved wins in the past – usually taking years of community campaigning, court actions and public protests. The lifelong friendships made in these collaborations have built our strength to keep battling the corporations and their supporters in government.
As we were brainstorming the messages needed to cut through on the urgency of cutting emissions from fossil fuels we were faced with the realities of government inaction over decades. Some of the participants from the north of the state had to hit the road early to be home before Cyclone Alfred hit the coast.
Campaigning planning to stop the most damaging expansions on a list of 20 new coal projects in the NSW planning system was given momentum as we checked the news updates about Alfred, a tropical cyclone bearing down on a sub-tropical area.
Mustering a diverse group of people for in-person sharing and brainstorming worked well and has set the movement up for a year of working together. Nannas enjoyed catching up with old friends from the frontlines and we had intriguing conversations with people involved in research-action projects. Nannas thank the organisers and presenters for their work to plan the way forward.
Climate 200 – No Safe Seat
It was a full house at the Randwick Ritz on 4 March for the showing of the short film No safe Seat narrated by Julia Zemiro. The energising event’s panellists were Nicolette Boele, Independent candidate for Bradfield, Sophie Scamps, the member for Mackellar and Simon Holmes a Court, Convenor of Climate 200.
Travelling Nannas
Nannas Claudia and Anne were in Tasmania last week and were lucky enough to walk among giant, ancient blue gum, stringy bark and swamp gum trees. These magnificent trees are up to 80m tall! In the forest they stand strong and support a myriad of other life, but on the edge of logged areas their bases are weakened. We absolutely must protect and preserve our native forests and their biodiversity! Walk among these ancients and you’ll know how precious they are! The Tree Projects
Watch Claudia and Anne’s fabulous reel of trees
Tasmania’s Bruny Island salmon farms are a shocker!
Nanna Anne and a friend kayaked in a couple of different places off Bruny Island and were surprised to see how degraded the waterways are. Although the water was clear, algae covered all that is good below the surface of the water. They saw bits of dead salmon washed up on the local beach. It’s not surprising that swimming in these waters is not recommended.
Three big multinational companies own all the salmon farms in Tassie. There is no such thing as an environmentally friendly Tasmanian salmon. We must stop eating Tasmanian salmon (if you haven’t already).
Nannas are watching
From the bush to the burbs, insurance costs are rising. Meanwhile fossil fuel companies causing the problem are making billions of dollars in profit. Bushfire Survivors are working hard to change this. Video here
The Sunday Shot – Well, this is AUKUS
Nannas are reading
Australians for Affordable Energy have produced a summary of the pros and cons of different energy sources: coal, nuclear and renewables. https://afae.net.au/
Forthcoming Events