Archive for December, 2008

Take part in climate protests around the country

Posted on December 16th, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under Grassroots action, Climate change | Global warming | 10 Comments

Following the apalling betrayal from Kevin Rudd yesterday, there are climate change protests springing up all over the country. They’re being organised by grassroots community groups who have asked us to promote them as widely as possible.
So if you want to let your outrage be felt, get out there and get involved. Or if there […]

Rudd’s climate placebo: a 5% target

Posted on December 15th, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under Emission Trading, Coal, Climate change | Global warming, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

On Friday, Kevin Rudd announced over half a billion dollars in funding for the NSW coal industry. Today, he announced an emissions reduction target and an emissions trading scheme that will have virtually no impact on reducing emissions and will give billions in handouts to the big polluters. This is a climate action plan that […]

Rudd’s climate emissions shock and awe hits Greenpeace

Posted on December 15th, 2008 by Dan Cass
Filed under Emission Trading, Coal, Climate change | Global warming, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

People in the Greenpeace office in Sydney are still in shock that Australian PM Kevin Rudd has just announced an atrocious emissions target of 5% by 2020. Staff and volunteers put their heads up over the partitions, mouths agape, when the news went around.
This is one of those moments that puts a very powerful spotlight […]

The coal industry’s Christmas joke

Posted on December 11th, 2008 by Julien Vincent
Filed under CCS, Coal, Climate change | Global warming | 1 Comment

One thing I always associate with Christmas is terrible jokes. It might be that and awful gag has just fallen out of a broken cracker or, after a bit too much brandy, Dad decides to update us on how his comedy act is coming along.
But the coal industry have outdone us all this Christmas by […]

A personal victory in Poznan

Posted on December 10th, 2008 by Paul Yaqona
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming | No Comments

This post is just in from Paul Yaqona, one of our Pacific representatives in Poznan.
It was an amazing experience to be part of the Global Day of Action on climate change. Marches around the world were held to ensure that government leaders arriving in Poznan listen to the will of their citizens and get serious […]

Releasing the clowns

Posted on December 9th, 2008 by Leah Wickham
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming, Uncategorized | No Comments

I’ve been a banner bearer in lots of marches back home and always thought the task was a breeze. That is, until I had to hold the lead banner for our delegation at the Global Day of Action on climate change with Steven, my counterpart from the USA. The temperature was minus zero, we couldn’t […]

An ill wind blows for Aussie workers

Posted on December 9th, 2008 by Danielle Stewart
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming, Media reports on climate change, Renewable energy, Uncategorized | No Comments

As Australian government delegates do nothing in Poznan, our unsupported renewables industry starts to close down back home. Last night, ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report program revealed that hundreds of Australian wind industry employees are about to be sacked, thanks to government inaction on renewables target promises. And there’s a bitter irony. In the same town as […]

Poznan day 8: Forests are more than just carbon sticks

Posted on December 8th, 2008 by admin
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Forests and climate change, Climate change | Global warming, Uncategorized | No Comments

Paul Winn, our climate and forests campaigner, is in Poznan to talk about the Greenpeace Forests for Climate proposal.
The world’s forests are more than just carbon sticks and a market offset approach won’t do much to ensure real emissions reductions to help avert catastrophic climate change. Greenpeace proposes a solution that addresses the need to […]

Poznan day 7: Voices of the climate affected

Posted on December 7th, 2008 by Danielle Stewart
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Coal, Climate change | Global warming | 5 Comments

This post is from Paul Yaqona, one of our Pacific representatives in Poznan.
The Poznan meeting has a bunch of ’side events’ (including one by Greenpeace on our Forests for Climate proposal). I’ve been to the ‘Local Mitigation and Adaptation Measures of Indigenous Peoples’ side event - and it proved to be a fantastic eye-opener for […]

Australian silence echoing around the halls of Poznan

Posted on December 5th, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming | No Comments

Another update from the halls of Poznan. They really are halls too. Huge great cavernous things with terrible acoustics and miles of corridors. Hollow rhetoric resonates powerfully, bouncing off the walls and feeding back on itself to create the illusion of substance.
As I wrote yesterday, the key thing that needs to come out of […]

What are our delegates doing at Poznan?

Posted on December 5th, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming | No Comments

The first week of the UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland are coming to an end, and so far, the 30-strong Australian delegation has remained resolutely silent during the sessions. According to my contacts on the ground at the meeting, the Australian delegates have hardly said a word - apart from suggesting time-wasting […]

Poznan, Day 3: Coal rears its ugly head – activists to the rescue

Posted on December 4th, 2008 by Darren Smith
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Coal, Climate change | Global warming | 1 Comment

This post is just in from Leah Wickham, one of our Pacific representatives in Poznan.
It’s day three of the UNFCCC COP 14, and while world leaders  continue their discussions in Poznan to decide on measures to reduce global emissions, less than two hours away, in Konin, plans are in place to expand an enormous coal […]

An open letter to Kevin Rudd on climate

Posted on December 3rd, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under Grassroots action, Climate change | Global warming | 3 Comments

Today Greenpeace released this joint statement, together with over 50 Australian environmental organisations. Any day now the Federal Cabinet will be making a decision about the target for cutting greenhouse emissions over the next decade. It’s a crucial moment. We’ll find out what the target is on the 15th - when we will know if […]

It’s your meeting but it’s my home

Posted on December 2nd, 2008 by Danielle Stewart
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming | 6 Comments

This post is just in from Leah Wickham, our Pacific representative in Poznan.
I arrived in Poland two days ago, having travelled thousands of miles from the hub of the South Pacific and enduring flight delays, missed connections and lost luggage. Then there’s the cold and the minus-0 temperature. That is agonising for a girl from […]

40% or bust - call Penny & Kevin

Posted on December 1st, 2008 by John Hepburn
Filed under International Meetings: Poznan | Kyoto | Bali | APEC | , Climate change | Global warming | No Comments

Late on Friday afternoon, our Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, put out a media release stating that Australia would not be announcing it’s greenhouse reduction targets before the international meeting in Poznan. It seems that Cabinet are split on what the target should be. A decision still hasn’t been made but it will be […]