44 days to go! An update from the Camp for Climate Action Australia
Bulletin of the Camp for Climate Action Australia
Tuesday May 27th, 2008
Preparation for the Camp for Climate Action is in full swing with less than two months until the camp begins! A wide range of community members, climate activists and organisations are building for six inspiring days of workshops and grassroots direct action aimed at stopping the expansion of the world's biggest coal port in Newcastle, from July 10-15th 2008.
>>> Registration is open! Let us know you're coming.
Now is the time to gather your friends, family, or your local Climate Action Group and begin to prepare for this exciting week. Register online to help the kitchen and site organisers prepare for your arrival. Click here for an invitation to send to your friends, or find the Camp for Climate Action event on Facebook.
>>> Stopping climate change in its tracks – Climate Camp action announcement
Last Friday, organisers of the Camp for Climate Action announced plans for a large community protest to blockade the coal rail line to the world's largest coal export port in Newcastle, north of Sydney. The Climate Camp action will take place on Sunday 13th July, involving up to a thousand people engaging in peaceful direct action, aiming to stop coal exports for the day. If we stop the Kooragang rail line for 8 hours, 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be prevented from polluting the climate, equivalent to stopping every vehicle on every road in Australia for 8 hours.
>>> Draft Program Available
A draft program for Climate Camp is now available, with more submissions still arriving. Featuring an exciting, jam-packed six days of workshops, plenary discussions, kids activities, open space discussions, music and direct action. Interested in organising or holding a workshop at Climate Camp? Please send a description and your contact details to program@climatecamp.org.au by June 10th. There will also be "open space" time during the camp, where people can submit and create workshops on the day.
>>> Show your support - endorse the Camp for Climate Action
Numerous community organisations and climate change groups are organising Australia's first Camp for Climate Action. We encourage other groups, individuals and organisations to get involved in organising the camp, do outreach and co-ordination in your local area or workplace, and to pass a motion or statement endorsing the Camp for Climate Action in your union, organisation or community group.
Send your group's endorsement, statement of support and enthusiasm to info@climatecamp.org.au You can find a model motion to endorse the Camp at http://www.climatecamp.org.au/endorse-camp-climate-action
>>> What people are saying about the Camp for Climate Action
Ian Lowe, President on Australian Conservation Foundation on Climate Camp At a Brisbane Public Forum for Climate Camp "Our Climate At A Crossroads", May 17, 2008.
"The economist's approach is to say: there's no point travelling steerage if you're booked on the Titanic, you might as well go to the bar and order the vintage champage, because your cheque is never going to reach the bank.
"The apathetic's approach is to say: the crew must know what they are doing so we might as well just enjoy ourselves.
"But the activist's approach is to say that we don't have to hit the iceberg. We don't have to condemn the world to unacceptable climate change. If the crew on the Bridge won't change course, we should organise a mutiny. What I think the Climate Camp is about is organising a mutiny. If the people we elect and place so generously to make decisions on our behalf won't make responsible decisions on climate change, we will in the great tradition, honed to an artform by Mahatma Gandhi; we will indulge in civil disobedience and we will force people making the decisions to take a more responsible approach."
>>> Get involved in organising the Camp
Whatever your background, there is a role for you. We need people to help with the physical set up of the camp to make it as sustainable as low impact as possible. We need help promoting the camp and spreading the word, facilitating workshops, and we need people to come with their own creative ideas and plans for direct action. In your own area, think about starting your own Action Team and register your Neighbourhood. Contact info@climatecamp.org.au to offer your support.
>>> Getting there: transport to Newcastle
If you live a long way from Newcastle, don't be put off coming - there may be other people in your area who want to come, and it's not too late to raise some funds and organise shared transport. If you're looking for a lift to the camp or can offer one, you can use our transport forum webpage to find details of people organising transport from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane! If you're worried about getting there contact us on info@climatecamp.org.au and see if we know of anyone coming from your area.
>>> Tired of hot air and want to take real action against climate change?
Join hundreds of people at the Camp for Climate Action. The Camp for Climate Action is a chance for everyday people to take action for a future free of dangerous climate change. By being a part of it – in Newcastle in July, at the coalface of climate change - you can be part of the transition to a just and sustainable future.
Check out www.climatecamp.org.au to register and see how you can get involved.
- Holly Creenaune and the Climate Camp organising collective.
>>> Upcoming events
Already there have been exciting forums in Brisbane, peaceful direct action trainings in Melbourne, film screenings in Perth, and a legal-focused forum 'Lawyers, Protest and the Frontline of Climate Change' in Sydney. There are many events coming up right across Australia to prepare for Climate Camp – get along to one near you! See below for information or more details at www.climatecamp.org.au
[Huonville, Tasmania] Direct Action and Civil Disobedience Workshops, Saturday 31 May, Huon Valley Environment Centre, 9.30 am -5pm. Bring food and water or go to organic cafe next door!
[Melbourne] Climate Camp Peaceful Direct Action Training – 31st May 10am – 4pm at RMIT (Swanston St entrance) Building 8 Level 4 Multifunction Room (Melway Ref: 2F, E1) RSVP: vicclimateaction@gmail.com The series of workshops will cover what to expect at the Camp for Climate Action, defining clear objectives for an action and ensuring actions meet your objectives, legal briefings on NSW laws, media and interview skills, and creating peaceful direct actions in Victoria in the future.
[Newcastle] Camp for Climate Action Fundraiser Gig - Sunday 1 June from 2 pm featuring Dhopec, The Bits, Corporate Smack, Funky Farmer, Charlie Barbecue, Paul Spencer and more... Plus food, films, raffle, and pub quiz! Where: The Lass O'Gowrie, Railway St, Wickham, Newcastle. See you there!
[Perth] Western Australia Peaceful Direct Action Training weekend. Friday 6th June (pm) to Sunday 8th June. If you were going to take part in a non-violent direct action, what would you need to feel as safe and confident as possible? The weekend will focus on sharing practical skills in planning and taking non-violent direct action, especially in the context of the up coming camp for climate action. Contact dsinclair01@gmail.com for more information.
[Lismore] Climate Camp Public Forum - Our Climate At a Crossroads - Saturday 14th June at Red Dove Cafe (Uniting Church Hall Cnr Keen St and Woodlark, Lismore). With speakers Steve Phillips, founder of Rising Tide Newcastle, Climate Camp organiser; Alan Roberts, Lismore Climate Action Group, Nan Nicholson and Hugh Nicholson of Australia's first forest Blockade! and entertainment by Grace Turner on guitar and vocals.
[Lismore] Climate Camp Preparation and Direct Action Skillshare - Sunday 15th June. Details TBA, contact Lily on <brown_couch@hotmail.com>
[Sydney] Film Screening and discussion on the Camp for Climate Action at Jura Books - Saturday 14th June, from 2pm. If you're concerned about climate change, and want real action instead of more hot air, then we encourage you to come to the camp and bring your friends and family! Want to find out more and meet people who are going? Come to Jura on Saturday 14th June. We'll be showing an inspirational one hour documentary about the need for radical action and the 2006 Camp for Climate Action which happened in the shadow of one of the biggest C02 emitters in Europe: Drax coal-fired power station in Yorkshire. Where: Jura Books, 440 Parramatta Rd (near corner of Norton Street), Petersham.
[Sydney] Curing Australia's Coal Addiction: a public forum to remedy Australia's black lung – Wednesday June 19 at 6:30pm at Footbridge Theatre, University of Sydney, Parramatta Road, Broadway. In a public forum hosted by Friends of the Earth Sydney and The Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, join George Monbiot via video link up from Wales at this Sydney public forum. Monbiot is the UK author of Heat, The Age of Consent and Bring on the Apocalypse; Guardian journalist and activist. He will speak on fossil fuels in the growth economy and peaceful direct action in the movement to stop climate change.
"I left the camp on Sunday evening convinced that a new political movement has been born." George Monbiot, in The Guardian newspaper on the UK Camp for Climate Action 2007
[Sydney] Sydney Climate Camp Preparation and Direct Action Skillshares, Sunday June 22 and June 29, 11am - 5pm at Newtown Library on 8-10 Brown St, Newtown (just off King St). Come along to learn skills and knowledge and prepare for direct action for a safe climate future.
