A group of people have gathered outside the Sydney office of the Prime Minister of Australia to deliver a petition bearing the names of more than 83,000 people urging the PM to stop fuelling the bushfires by supporting coal.
As global pressure mounts on the Prime Minister for his lack of leadership on climate and bushfire response, similar demonstrations will be held throughout the day at Australian embassies in 14 countries, including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Belgium.
“Australians are now on the frontlines of severe climate damage – and coal is the number one driver of the crisis. This summer we’ve seen at least thirty people killed, hundreds of thousands evacuated or directly threatened by fires, and millions suffering through days of thick hazardous smoke. The people of Australia are deeply worried about an uncertain and dangerous future,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said.
“Since this government was elected in 2013, there have been at least 18 expert warnings of rising emissions leading to catastrophic fire conditions. What will it take for Morrison to act to protect Australian families from the climate emergency? Delaying action on reducing emissions is costing Australian lives now and in the future. Morrison must move to shutdown polluting fossil fuel industries like coal as fast as possible.”
So far this bushfire season at least 30 people have been killed, more than 2,500 homes have been destroyed, and left millions of people breathing dangerous air, as well as killing over 1 billion animals.[1] More than 17 million hectares of land have been burned, spurring an outpouring of solidarity worldwide.
Last week, Greenpeace USA delivered a petition with 20,000 signatures to the Australian Consulate in San Francisco, asking for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to “stop his love affair with coal and immediately address the climate crisis that’s driving the catastrophic bushfires in Australia.”[2]
Greenpeace is asking people to sign the petition to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrision to ask him to act immediately on the climate crisis, and to leave messages of support or koalas at Australian embassies.
—ENDS—
Notes
[2] https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/status/1217991673994600450?s=21
Coal is the biggest driver of climate change in Australia, which is making our bushfire seasons worse.
Climate change is driving more extreme drought seasons in Australia which has a knock-on effect to bushfire seasons.
Greenpeace is calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to take climate change seriously and protect Australian families by urgently reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have been rising for the past four years.
Photo and video:
Photos of the Bligh St rally here (keep refreshing will be updated throughout the day)
https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJ8ZW23G
New images of fire-impacted communities in Australia are available here
https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJ8BPM6K
Global protest images to be uploaded throughout the day
Contact
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Communications Campaigner, Martin Zavan
0424 295 422
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Communications Campaigner, Nicholas McCallum
0422 698 970