NEXT MEETING

Time/Location: TBA
Meeting type: TBA
Chair/Facilitator: TBA

To view or add agenda items, visit the ‘Wednesday Meeting‘ Page.

Walk Against Warming 2008

First posted as a message on the Eco-Committee Facebook page.

Last Year's Walk Against Warming

The Arctic Ice caps are expected to melt completely in five years time. The sea levels are rising and will continue to rise, increasing the rate of global warming as the sea becomes darker and destroying the lives of millions. New waves of natural disasters are sweeping the planet, and islanders in Papua New Guinea have already been displaced as a result of rising sea levels. These people are the first of what are known as climate refugees, the first of many to come unless the the urgent climate emergency is recognized for what it is, an emergency, and addressed immediately.

Yet the most the Rudd Government has to offer us is an emissions trading scheme that will let the heaviest polluters off the hook, even “compensating” the coal industry. The right to pollute will become enshrined in the form of a hundred-billion-dollar commodities market. In Victoria, new coal-fired power stations are being built, under the guise of “carbon capture ready” – a skillfully deceptive work of greenwashing that conveniently covers up the fact that the technology will only leave the experimental stage in 20 years time.

Let’s make one thing clear: It is the profit-driven logic of the market that got us into this mess. The market will not rescue us from climate change, it’ll only ensure that the real costs are driven back to ordinary people. You’ve signed kyoto, Rudd. Now it’s time we start seeing some real action on climate change.

What we need is not more lies and greenwashing, but massive public investment in renewable energy and public transport. If companies can’t cut their emissions without jeopardizing their profits, then they should well be nationalized and put into public hands. Where are the publicly-subsidised solar panels on peoples’ homes, and that free, accessible public transport system that people would acctually want to use?

Ultimately, ordinary people are going to have to bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. The most oppressed among us will be the hit hardest – as we have seen in the pacific already.

Over 40,000 people attended last year’s Walk Against Warming, either as individuals or from various community activist groups. We held the single largest climate change rally in history, a testament to the sheer urgency of the crisis and the need for an alternative.

A month later, Australia signed Kyoto.

At this year’s Walk Against Warming, we will be sending a clear message to Rudd, Brumby and corporate polluters that we will not put up with any more compromises. We want this year’s rally will be bigger and louder than ever before. The time for urgent climate action, and change, has never been more urgent. So cancel your arrangements, your saturday school, your holidays, your honeymoons, your trip to the moon etc. and invite everyone you know to get out onto the streets on November the 15.

See you there.

- Jimmy is a member of the GWSC Eco-Committee

=================
RALLY DETAILS:
November 15 2008
1pm at State Library (we will meet at 12:30pm)

GROUP PUBLIC TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS TO BE ANNOUNCED. STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FROM GLEN WAVERLEY SECONDARY WILL BE ATTENDING THIS DEMONSTRATION. BRING BANNERS, PLACARDS, SIGNS, ETC.

http://gwscecocommittee.wordpress.com
===============

Treasurer position filled

Mark Sun has been elected the Eco-Committee treasurer. As treasurer, he will be responsible for looking after all funds collected by the Eco-Committee.

Members are encouraged to bring $2/$3 (or more) to school tomorrow to give to Mark so we can start badge production as soon as possible.

You can contact him at SUN0009@gwsc.vic.edu.au

- The GWSC Eco-Committee

Discussion forum: Water crisis

Our next discussion forum on the 29th of October will be on solutions to the Water Crisis in Australia. We’ll be looking at alternatives to desalination, opposition to water privatization around the world, links between climate change and drought, and the importance of preserving water catchments.

All students are welcome to attend. The meeting will begin at 1pm in room T1, but students are encouraged to arrive earlier.

The meeting will be chaired by Saba Vayani-Lai and Jenny Peng.

LEGALISTIC NOTE REGARDING ECO-COMMITTEE POSTERS:

POSTER AUTHORIZED BY THE GLEN WAVERLEY S.C ECO-COMMITTEE. NO STICKING ON WALLS OR WINDOWS. ONLY PIN TO BULLETIN BOARDS. NO STICKYTAPE. WE MADE THAT CLEAR. THE ECO-COMMITTEE AS A WHOLE ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY VIOLATIONS OF SCHOOL REGULATIONS ETC ETC

Walk Against Warming

It’s that time of the year again! Less than a month to go until the Walk Against Warming 2008  on November the 15th. The WAW is an annual national community day of action for “renewable energy and a safe climate future …”.

Last Year's Walk Against Warming

There’ll be more news/info about this in the lead-up to the rally.

Meanwhile, you can read the new Walk Against Warming page on this blog, or view photos from last year.

- Jimmy

[Jimmy] “Too Political”?

I have deleted the second one because it’s ultra-left.

The point is however, to show the utter hypocrisy of those who don’t oppose the wars in the middle-east or uranium mining, or pull-mills on the basis of them being “too political” for the Eco-Committee, yet go on to advocate carbon offsets and greenwashing as if they were “neutral” positions.

Now, scroll down and read the vitriolic discussion. It’s great fun.

“Green Bombs” actually do exist by the way.

On a more serious note…. I propose the tree-planting project be renamed to TREES FOR GWSC, with no mention of carbon offsets or any direct relation between trees and the new building.

Also, everyone should chip in a few dollars (a gold coin or something) next week to go towards the badge-production fund (not these ones, see the previous posts) . We could make them at the zine shop under Flinders St Station right after school on Wednesday. Who wants to come?

- Jimmy

PS. Yeah, it’s satire…

[ZAIN] OFFSET GWSC – PHASE 1

Badges

- Zain

[JIMMY] Proposed badge designs

Here are the “beautiful badges” (according to zain – see post below) I designed, though apparently “too political” for the likings of the respectable “school community”:

Of course, these are only first drafts. There would probably be more environmentally-themed badges than general social justice badges.

However, it is important to recognize that we don’t live in a bubble as students or environmental activists. The environment is deeply political, especially now considering the sheer scale of climate crisis and the immediate urgency for action. Climate change, as with any other form of ecological catastrophe, is always the result of conflicting interests. When you deny that and  instead insist we’re “all in this together” and that we shouldn’t bother to step outside the safe boundaries of school, you’re not taking a “neutral” or “less-political” stance. Rather, you’re fighting for a different cause altogether and you end up placing yourself on a different side of the fence. In other words, your stance is still “political”, albeit a more right-wing one.

Broadly left-wing badges would appeal to the many people who express opposition towards the wars in the middle east, and who support womens’ reproductive autonomy for instance. These people are generally concerned about climate change as well, and would indeed support the Eco-Committee. None of these are isolated, “pre-packaged” fragmented causes, they’re all inherently linked.

Some have raised concerns about these badges from a different perspective – that younger students may not understand them and so therefore we need to promote “less politically provocative”, more “friendly” badges.  That’s precisely where we come in as Eco-Committee members, to explain and talk to people about climate change and to engage them in the importance of becomming active and putting pressure on the government and corporations to start acting on climate change. Simply watering down our message to “buying greener” or “offsetting carbon” will not necessairily attract more people, but will only lead us down the path of buying into corporate greenwashing and to an overall more conservative position.

I think some of this is also partly based on a patronizing and stereotypical view of year-7s. Most students, however old, know that climate change is a crisis of emergency proportions. It’s pretty difficult not to. The issue however, is what to do about climate change. In a time when the dominant “solutions” advocated by the ruling class are either emissions trading schemes that “compensate” the heaviest polluters, or ones that shift the blame to ordinary people in the form of individual consumption politics, it is imperative that we start looking at what will actually stop climate change, to recognize that we don’t share any common interests with those who got us into this mess.

We need to move on from benignly “raising awareness” about climate change (who isn’t aware?) to start making concrete demands- even if these demands won’t be popular with the coal industry. This ultimately means taking firm, principled, and dare I say, radical stances. It also means recognizing that there exists an environmental movement beyond the fences of our school. “Business as usual” will no longer do when the ice-caps are expected to melt in five years, or when Islanders are being displaced as a result of rising sea levels.

That’s why I don’t think we should throw out the militant or “non-eco” badges.

_ Jimmy

[ZAIN] Badges / Proposal for “OFFSET GWSC”

Lads and gents,
We’ve all heard of the soon-to-come construction works in the school. One though that came to mind was offsetting. Not where one pays a third-party to plant trees, but rather where the school committee itsself is attracted to this. This could be a great event to bring the school together, and perhaps act as some marketing for our ever member-hungry committee.

The matter also down to promotion, where Jimmy made some beautiful badges, however majority of us would agree that they were perhaps a bit too political for the likings of our school community ( JUDGING THEM ON MAINSTREAM TRENDS). Thus, we do plan on taking this offset programme to Phase 2, of calculations, planning etc.

MEANWHILE : My brainkids (lol)

Exactly as it says

Switch to vegies – Be green ??

- Zain

Forum proposal – survey (kind of)

We’re thinking about making an online forum for the Eco-Committee in order to discuss ideas outside of the 40 minute meetings we have once a week.

But seeing as our numbers are quite small and a minority of the Eco-committee are active on this blog, the key question is will people use a forum to communicate?

Please contribute your thoughts. Should we have a forum? If not, why?

Climate Criminals Tour Photos

On Friday afternoon, a small crowd gathered outside ExxonMobil in Southbank. With Rod Quantock emceeing the demonstation, the walk through the city was relaxed and jovial. Security guards panicked and frantically called for help through their walkie talkies as we approached BHPBilliton (you know… that grey thing in Lonsdale Street). Speakers outside Exxon and BHP Billiton, and at the Parliament steps spoke about the necessity for immediate climate action and the urgency of the situation today. We were confronted with rain, then hail but we stuck to our guns and finally arrived at Parliament House, after cutting short our route and regretably skipping our visit to Peter Bachelor’s office.

Unfortunately, the turnout from GWSC and the Eco-Committee was lower than expected (well basically non-existant), mostly as a result of last-minute, condescending decisions from parents. But as small as the demonstration was, our voices were not. We were there to send a clear message to Rudd and Brumby that enough is enough, that we will not put up with compromises. Demands included an end to new coal-fired power stations and the Eddington Road Tunnel, no desalination, massive investment in renewable energies and free public transport.

The Climate Criminals Tour was just one of many demonstrations to come, with the annual Walk Against Warming in November less than 2 months away, in which thousands of people are expected to attend, as they did last year. You can visit the resources page on this blog to view photos from last year’s Walk Against Warming.

Phil Sutton, Co-Author of Climate Code Red

More photos below.