Environment

A youth climate coalition Emma Kefford 17 November 2007 The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) aims to bring together existing social justice and environment groups to work cooperatively on climate-change activism. The hope is that a coherent and united youth voice on climate change will emerge. The idea is that member groups will benefit from the support of being part of an umbrella organisation, and that we can get some really exciting and amazing initiatives going, really quickly!

5 ways to help organise a group of students from you school to join the YOUTH CONTIGENT @ Walk against Warming (in most places on Sunday November 11)

1. Organise for a time and place for people from your school to meet before the contingent, like a train station or bus stop. 2. Make some leaflets with the time and place of where you are meeting (and the details for the contingent) Photocopy as many as you can and start distributing them, - outside your school, in class, where ever you ca! Leave a bundle by the door of the library, or pin a couple to the notice boards 3. Paint a banner to lead the contingent. Buy some cheap calico, brushes and paint and paint it one lunch time. Ave a slogan like “Bradfield College students support renewable energy!” and get people to sign their name or put their hand print in it, This is a good way to start political discussions on your school and get in contact with student who you may not have known are interested in leftwing politics. 4. Paint placards with anti-coal slogans like “Coal is not Cool” or “Save Anvil Hill” Try to place an ad in your school newsletter advertising the details of the rally and your contingent- it might get rejected but it’s worth a try. 5. Ask if you can announce the contingent at your school assembly.

Save the Planet! Renewable Energy not Wars for Oil!

Capitalism fouls things up In Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, he called global warming "the greatest threat humanity has ever faced". James Hansen, senior climate scientist with NASA, has said the world has ten years to make severe cuts to greenhouse emissions or else face a bleak future. We know what the problem is: the relentless burning of coal and oil to fuel economic growth. A business-as-usual scenario where emissions are allowed to spiral uncontrollably will cause an ecological meltdown. Melting ice sheets, destructive weather patterns and increasing desertification will create hundreds of millions of climate refugees.

Below is the declaration coming from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, launched today Friday 16 of February, 2007. To sign onto the statement visit the AYCC website. See also the Resistance statement System Change not Climate Change. As young Australians we say that climate change is no longer an issue for tomorrow, it is an issue for today. It is time to transform understanding into action. We have a right, along with all species, to a sustainable future and a liveable planet. This right carries on to our children and grandchildren. Climate change affects all aspects of our lives. It impacts on our cultural heritage, including that of the oldest continuous culture on earth. It destroys a fragile environment unique in the world. Weather unpredictability, drought, increasing salinity, coral bleaching, sea level rise, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss threaten our country’s future – and with it, our own. The unprecedented pace and intensity of climate change becomes more pronounced every year. We recognise that the current extent of climate change is human induced. We no longer have the luxury of continued debate; the time for action is now. As young Australians we are ready to make this change. We call upon all Australians to join us.