On Sunday night, a group of Greenpeace volunteers, including myself, took to the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to take a stand against the coal industry and its place in causing mass coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.
On the shortest night of the year, under a full moon, volunteers across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane braved the night to change the ads in bus, train, and tram stops. The new image shows the Australian public the devastating impacts the coal industry has on the Great Barrier Reef. They painted the town white, just like the coal industry has done to the reef.
As you read this, I’m suspended from a streetlight, 15m off the ground, right outside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney office. With fellow volunteer, Christina, who is on another streetlight next to me, we just safely hung a banner with a strong message that Turnbull can’t miss. Here’s what it looks like:
Imagine, for a second, if your home was sunk under water. Not temporarily flooded, like a leaky roof after heavy rains, or water on your carpet that eventually receded. But permanently. Imagine your whole town under water. That is what is currently proposed for the lands of the Munduruku people, in the heart of the Amazon.
This year the Great Barrier Reef experienced its worst bleaching event ever and the Australian public didn’t let the Reef down. The public said loud and clear they support coral rather than coal. The Australian public know the fossil fuel era is over.
Monday afternoon the text came through: the Federal Court had upheld the Abbott Government’s environmental approval for the massive Carmichael mine. The court challenge, brought by our friends at the Australian Conservation Foundation, was defeated.
The United States and China – the world’s biggest economies and the largest emitters of greenhouse gases – announced they will ratify the Paris climate agreement over the weekend.
My little darlings, on 28 July 2016 as you slept with the sound of the ocean keeping you both company, there was a big commotion on the other side of the ocean.
