Do you follow the news in Queensland and Australia regularly? Or do you ration your exposure because it is too hard/sad/unjust/irrelevant/stupid??
If you are like me, you often skim other headlines, but settle on those that connect to things you care about.
Besides, news is not the best way to get an understanding of much – at best, just a glimpse and often too superficial. An example of this is how others in our state have experienced last summer.
Being in Brisbane, I wonder if I am insulated from the woes that this overheated steamy summer has brought to northern Queenslanders. Here’s what our friend Madde in Townsville told me when I asked how their community has coped with the summer of 2023/24…..
“We are always well prepared for climate disasters up here, but even the rhetoric around Tropical Cyclone Kirrily was more focused on how extreme and frequent these events are becoming, and how people were becoming fearful. Not so much fearful of the disasters themselves, but of the ongoing resilience needed to weather them - we just don’t have that resilience as individuals or communities.”
It's a wicked problem, this climate heating.
But unravelling a knotty ball of string still starts with an end that we can begin with and work along. At Climate Club Queensland, we find loose ends for each of us to grab and start from. It doesn’t actually matter that we can’t see the end of this task, just that it needs to be done.
And there are some amazing people untangling the mess in various ways in Oz and here in Queensland.
I am inspired by the diversity of approaches taken by different people and groups to accelerate the changes we need in order to slow the heating of our world. Some of those are evident in our actions below.
And I have been pretty pleased by the court rulings for some Australian activists recently. The mass action at Rising Tide Newcastle (reported in Issue #34) led to over 100 ordinary people being arrested at the world’s biggest coal port.
The Magistrate described those before him as “valuable contributors to society, persons who are intelligent … and making a real contribution to society.” The protesters were not convicted or fined, as he said “they had shown good character”. (more in ABC News here).
But it’s not all going well as the case of Ben Pennings versus Adani aka DadvsAdani shows. This is a long drawn out legal case aimed at silencing dissent against the norm of “Coal is king in Queensland”. Go Ben!! We can all play a role in strengthening our democratic rights including to protest - check out the 15 minute actions below😉
Overall, I feel somewhat encouraged. 🤔 So let’s keep untying that knotty ball of string together and get cracking on this week’s actions.
What can you do today?
🐝 If you have 5 minutes:
A healthy society depends on our rights and people with the courage and conviction to stand up for them. The Australian Democracy Network has some impressive wins and collaborators as it seeks to influence our government. They may just be an essential catalyst for the changes we need.
Action: Sign up to their email news (scroll down) so you can stay informed or help out with their actions.
350.org is delivering a petition on World Water Day this coming Friday, 22 March to Environment Minster Plibersek. Gas drilling giant Tamboran is rushing to beat the newly minted Water Trigger laws and thwart efforts to protect the Territory from fracking and irreversible loss for First Nations people and the environment.
Action: Sign the petition pronto!
🐇 If you have 15 minutes:
Our Islands Our Home is a landmark campaign we talked about in Issue #4. After a huge legal win, the current government is still dragging the chain on installing sea walls and measures to protect Zenadh Kes (the Torres Strait and surrounding seas).
Action: .Watch the story of Yessie Mosby and his young son as they travel from their home on Masig Island to Sydney and sign the petition calling on the government to urgently increase funding for adaptation measures.
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more:
If you are in Brisbane, on Wednesday 27 March, ACF supporters are heading to the office of the mega super fund Australian Retirement Trust to urge them to loudly hold Woodside (“Australia’s greatest climate criminal”) to account for its climate pollution.
Action: Join this short, respectful and fun morning action to make a bigger crowd.
Join the celebration! This Saturday night Friends of the Earth (FoE) Brisbane are gathering to celebrate stopping the Waratah Coal Fired Power Station. Everyone is invited to enjoy food, music, drinks and conversation about FoE Brisbane and a new campaign they are launching that night.
Action: Join Friends of the Earth Brisbane on Saturday 23 March, 7-9pm at 20 Burke Street, Woolloongabba to celebrate this huge success!
As we plough on in ’24, let’s make sure that we balance our involvement, reading and participation with some activities that provide a pressure relief valve and keep us sane and calm. My relief valve is taking photos of our natural world. What’s yours?
To help keep these newsletters useful, we’d love your feedback and you can always get in touch by email climateclubqld@gmail.com or check out the simple info on our About page.
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action.
See you in two weeks
Malcolm
plus Robyn, Jan and Ron - The Climate Club Qld team
We live, work and play on the lands of the Yuggara and Turrbal people in and around Meanjin - Brisbane. We pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded - always was, always will be Aboriginal land.