Get Up in Canberra for the environment
Momentum is building for real government and civil society action to address the world’s serious environmental crisis. One such organisation is Get-Up.
This Sunday morning, in Canberra’s fine spring weather, Get Up orange clad activists and their children gathered to welcome the environmental climate torch relay, and with songs, and speeches. Bob Brown was in fine form and others and Labor’s Katie Gallagher.
it is time to push up lobbying all MPs in the Australian Parliament when it sits in the next two weeks. Rudd/Turnbull masks pleaded with both parties to act.
Placards urged people to push the government for action on global warming. Now is not the time to be minimalist and technocratic, but take action to renew our economy – a much greener economy.
In broader terms, Get-Up debates a People’s Agenda for the new Parliament.
People have to counter the powerful polluting corporates whose lobbyists and Turnbull’s liberals are pressing Canberra this week for delays on reducing CO2 emissions…their excuse is now due to the financial crisis!
These corporate interests from the Howard era are powerfully represented in the Canberra bureaucracy. They are still far too dominant over PM Rudd and Minister Penny Wong and weakening even the middle-of-the-road Gaurnaut reforms.
Popular pressure is on to reverse environmental collapse and for greener radical alternatives to free-market capitalism.
The Rudd government lives with these pressures and contradictions and knows that their current ‘lite-green’ wash does not sit well with the democratic process.
Voters feel there really is a ‘climate warming’ emergency.
Voters support core-promises of decisive protective action to save society and the environment.
People want faster development to a greener economy with green jobs.
People want Australia demonstrating we are becoming environmentally sustainable.
Australia is way behind. Rudd promised more than symbols, however important signing Kyoto was. People want international leadership at Copenhagen on climate change.
The Rudd government runs the political risk of failing these big issue determinations by caving into corprate interests.
The big end of town or corporate giants overseas themselves are primarily responsible and are the problem and market-led reforms are not the solution.
And the worry is that when Australia does implement a carbon reduction scheme, the corporate giants will so determine how the details are to function, that the scheme does not meet the targets in an ever faster collapsing of the environment.
The world’s citizens have little confidence for our protection from these corporate polluters.
Radical alternatives for the world’s economy effectively reducing CO2 and alternative energy is pressing.
This morning the famous Chorus of Women sang new environmental songs
‘A Chorus of Women came into being when 150 women filled the Australian Parliament with the song “Lament” on 18 March 2003, the day Australia’s intention to invade Iraq was announced.
We have been singing ever since. Like the ancient Greek chorus on which we model ourselves, we have commented on the events of our time. We try to listen to the wise course and seek to activate integrity and compassion in our communities.’
I visted the ethical investment table. See http://www.austethical.com.au/
Anyone in a superannuation fund can be active to ensure ethical investment. See my blog on Socially Responsible Investment.
So, I am a regular ‘green activist’ protesting and with two grandchildren look at 60 year planning agendas to save their earth and read and listen to the likes of Tim Flannery and respected scientists.
On a related issue, one of my fears is the death of the River Murray’s Coorong. The ALP Rann government and its National Party Minister for the River Murray Maywald and Penny Wong Minister for the River Murray and other MPs have to date failed to give confidence in saving South Australia’s parched Coorong wetlands and lower lakes.
See http://www.thecoorong.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coorong
30 years ago I experienced the large numbers of wonderful migratory birds flying in to the plentiful lakes. If you have not been there, you may remember the pelicans in ‘Storm Boy’. it was was such a well-known film that in China at the time, opening up to the world, the Chinese were shown this film to learn about Australia.
Rudd has to be careful advising the Chinese to take environmental action. After 11 years of Howard doing nothing, and Rudd’s minimalist actions, the recent Senate committee report depressingly said the Murray-Darling is so starved of water that it may not be possible to save the Coorong. The Coorong is gone in 2009. A major disaster. As well an international embarassment breaching our environmental obligations.
What is remaining is more submissions by concerned scientists to urgently cut water use. Watch for protests by SA Senator Nick Xenephon and SA Greens Sarah Hanson-Young.
I urge Get-Up to make Saving the Coorong a priority.
Unless there is national effort, the boy and his pelican are only on film.
Too often working for the union movement in the past, I was not able to be environmentally active. Unions have to protect the jobs of existing members against greener developments, even when in polluting industries or coal or uranium mining or timber workers’ interests. Today, within sections of the union movement changes see working in long-term in alliances with the environmental groups.
Elsewhere on this blogsite, I argue for the Rudd government’s new labour laws not to penalise workers involved in environmental protest action, or green bans for sustainable development.
Workers facing future challenges want respect and dignity and should not be dismissed and their unions fined if they want to determine taking action on global warming, as happens now.
To date, despite the ACTU reasonable arguments for the right to strike on environmental issues, DPM Gillard has an absolutist scheme where any workers withdrawing of labour during the terms of the collective agreement of three years is unlawful and to be penalisable, used under WorkChoices. This is not acceptable.
I urge Get-Up to add to there list of has to be done is the firewalling of an individual’s right to strike over the environment.
For those who want to read a new book try
Climate Code Red, the case for emergency action
by David Spratt and Philip Sutton
Scribe publications
info@scribepub.com.au
meanwhile the world’s financial crisis continues.
