Last week’s highlight was Nannas having fun, flouncing around in costumes or entertaining people with puppets at the Sydney Seniors Festival Expo at Darling Harbour. Lots of photos were taken of us and here are some of ours.
NSW Seniors Festival Expo
The annual Seniors Festival Expo is a huge two-day NSW government event held at Darling Harbour. For the first time this year Nannas had a stall where we displayed our crafts and chatted to visitors. There were plenty of Nannas there to roam the hall wearing costumes and carrying our koala umbrella. Hand puppets Kylie Koala and Glad the Glider asked visitors about their views on native forests and logging and we had lots of good conversations.
Some of our visitors were shocked by the climate scarf when we explained what it tells us about how sharply global temperatures have risen over the last century.
Nanna Elizabeth’s knitting patterns were very popular and we’ll be emailing them soon.
Many people asked to be photographed with us, usually with the very popular koala umbrella, swift parrot and hand puppets. We hope they show their friends their photos or post to social media to spread the messages about climate and threatened native species.
Our aim was to raise awareness of the Nannas and the issues we’re concerned about, and to contribute to an event that offers opportunities to seniors. We think we were successful, and we also found a few people interested in joining in the Nanna action.
Election 2025
The election will be held on either the 3, 10 or 17 May. Extreme weather from Tropical Cyclone Alfred has changed what the ALP is saying. They have actually started referring to climate change again after avoiding it in their campaigning to now.
Alfred’s destruction was driven by the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas. 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history and the hottest for Australia’s oceans. “Climate scientists are raising the alarm that we are living in a world that is hotter, wetter and more turbulent with extreme weather events happening more frequently and with frightening intensity.” (Climate Council)
Here’s a couple more important messages for the election…….
“Renewables like rooftop solar, gridscale wind and solar, and advanced storage now provide around 40% of the electricity in our main grid. The catch? Fewer than 1 in 10 Australians know it.” (Climate Council)
Coal fired power stations are operating past their use-by dates and are unreliable. They will have to be decommissioned long before nuclear could produce electricity even on the most optimistic predictions. (Climate Council)
Sydney Alliance Pre-Election Assembly
Nanna Alanah (pictured left) attended the Sydney Alliance Pre-Election Assembly at Westmead on Thursday 13 March. Over 800 people from faith and cultural communities, unions and local groups were there to hear from politicians vying for their votes in the May election.
The Alliance prepared Questions for candidates from the ALP and the cross-bench. Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Western Sydney MP and Andrew Charlton addressed questions for the ALP. Dr Charlton was standing in for Clare O’Neil, the Minister for Housing.
There were separate questions for crossbenchers, Mehreen Faruqi (Greens) and Zali Steggall (community Independent).
Alliance members are now waiting for the federal budget to be delivered on 25 March following their push for real commitments on housing, energy, and climate resilience.
Nanna Alanah said it was great to see grass-roots democracy in action, adding “this was my third Alliance event and they never cease to impress me.”
Reports from Nannas out and about
The Nannas have been extremely busy this week as it was Climate Action Week and many of the Nannas were at Seniors Festival Expo. Here’s a quick run down of where they went and what they did.
Nannas Claudia and Janet went to the International Women’s Day March on Saturday 8 March. At first, it seemed poorly attended, partly due to rain at the time. But, once the march started, there was quite a big crowd, although not as many as last year.
We had planned to go on Wednesday 12 March to Climate in the Pub with Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle – Walking the Tightrope: Renewable Energy in the regions but we were too exhausted after Seniors Expo. This event was about rolling out solar, wind, batteries and transmissions more widely across NSW and doing it sensitively, respecting nature and the communities that are closest. As we have registered for this event, slides will be available and we will share when we have them.
Nanna Heather attended a Tranby IWD event where the Yanalangami course was launched for 2025. During the course young women are mentored by older women. Climate change is one of the themes of the course, in line with Tranby’s strong interest in protecting the environment. Tranby is a place of Aboriginal-controlled education and social action for Indigenous peoples.
Climate for Change is an environmental organisation focused on helping people to have conversations about climate change with their peers. They conduct online Zooms and events at the Shakespeare Hotel in Surry Hills. Download their Climate Conversation Guide here.
Nannas are watching
FUKUSHIMA. NEVER HERE. This webinar is about the risks and implications if a nuclear accident was to occur here and the implications in the Australian context. It was part of the National Day of Action against nuclear power, and hosted by Don’t Nuke the Climate Australia.
Jo Dyer and Dave Milner talk with Ben Eltham and Claire Connelly about institutional fear and loathing and the chilling effect on free speech, including the anti-protest laws (15:00). Plus The Tally Room’s Ben Raue gives his analysis of the WA election results and the upcoming Federal election. (The Sunday Shot – all videos)
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa – In this documentary, a Nepali mountaineer risks everything on a record-breaking Mount Everest climb to secure a brighter future for her daughters. (Netflix)
Nannas are reading
How to defeat the far right this election – (The Commons)
Hunter Region councils secure renewable deal with Iberdrola (Eco Generation)
No power bill for 10 years for wool mill that switched to renewables (ABC News)
Forthcoming Events