In 1971 Joni Mitchell penned River with the line “It’s coming on Christmas and they’re cutting down trees.” In Australia’s case, “it’s coming on Christmas and we’re burning down trees.” There are 200 fires across five states. Unpaid fire fighters and emergency responders are taking time away from families and work to try to mange the unmanageable. The Prime Minister has been in Hawaii on holiday, but we’re not supposed to talk about that anymore.
That’s okay, I’d rather talk about what we can do to take stronger action on climate change in the face of our Government’s indifference.
So, in the spirit of the twelve days of Christmas, here are twelve actions that might lead to Australia doing better on climate change next year. It’s not a comprehensive list but it’s one version of how you can do your bit:
- Climate change is the single biggest issue affecting the planet. Vote accordingly. And then start talking about climate change as the primary driver of your voting behaviour, and talk to everybody you can about it.
- Sign the ACF petition which will be delivered to politicians to show community support for real action on climate change: https://www.acf.org.au/vote_climate
- Educate yourself about how your personal politics aligns to party politics on climate change: https://www.acf.org.au/scorecard_2019 … and then get your local member on speed dial and ask for an electorate meeting to discuss your concerns or explore how to join your party of choice and push for better action from within.
- Educate yourself about Australia’s energy policies and why it is so critical that we change them: https://sunriseproject.org.au/
- Drill into your superannuation and shift to the ethical super option. If you’re dissatisfied with their definition of ethical in the context of climate change (ie, if they haven’t divested from fossil fuel industries and invested in renewable energy) lobby them to change.
- Donate to environmental charities to support their work.
- Offset yourself. Carbon offsetting is not the silver bullet, but it helps: https://sforce.co/2Sst3iN
- Change your own source of energy to renewables: https://www.choice.com.au/home-improvement/energy-saving/reducing-your-carbon-footprint/articles/green-electricity-review (If you do want to shift to PowerShop, let me know and we can each get a financial reward for you making the shift, or ask in your network to see who else has PowerShop)
- Take a look at your diet and see how you can increase your plant-based meals or organic produce.
- Try to maintain some sense of hope. Subscribe to some of the good news sites/lists (https://bit.ly/3634PQ9 and reasonstobecheerful.world/ come to mind)
- Be kind to your bum and your planet and buy toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap https://au.whogivesacrap.org/
- Live the 6Rs: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RESPECT, REPLENISH AND REFUSE. (I also like the version which has ROT as a call to compost). https://bit.ly/2PRET47
Stardust Becoming 