Climate Camp NSW shuts down Dendrobium coal mine.

Climate Camp shuts down Dendrobium coal mine.

7.05am. Currently, four people from Climate Camp 2009 have scaled and locked themselves onto the coal conveyor belt at the Dendrobium
coal mine near Helensburgh, NSW.

Spokesperson for the group Aimee Bull-McMahon said “We have shut down the conveyor from this underground polluter as part of the Climate
Camp 09 three days of action. The Dendrobium coal mine, owned by Illawarra Coal, has been disastrous for the surrounding water ways that
the local community relies on for drinking water.”

“The EPA has found that the mines underground coal activities have had massive negative impact on the Wongawilly Creek and numerous surrounding swamps that have been drained from the operations of this mine.”

“By taking peaceful direct action at this heavy polluter, and destroyer of water ways, we are making it clear to our state and federal government that the community wants a transition away from coal towards a future
of water security and renewable energy, “concluded Ms Bull-McMahon.

Climate Camp concludes today with a mass peaceful direct action in beginning at the Rex Jackson Park in Helensburgh at 11am to the site of the Metropolitan Collieries.

Switch off Hazelwood takes action at Climate Camp NSW.

Almost a month after the historic peaceful community action at Hazelwood many of those who took action for renewables in the Latrobe Valley are supporting www.climatecamp.org.au at Helensburgh in NSW.

Hundreds of people are coming together at Helensburgh to take action at the Metropolitan Coalieries mine. Plans are afoot to expand this mine, one of the oldes in Aus, which will negatively impact drinking water for the local community...and expand our emissions from coal.

For up-to-date information go to www.climatecamp.org.au

It is the day after our historic action at the Hazelwood Power station. The media phone is ringing off the hook, we are getting inundtated with peoples photos of the day - keep em coming - and there is a real buzz that more community action on climate is the way to go.

Even in the face of a massive police pressence, think Brumby is over reacting with police force on community protest, people kept on with their plans to present the Community Decomissio Orders on Hazelwood.

Twenty two people managed to get across the fence to attempt to ge these Decommission orders presented...what a victory!

Tonight the campaign continues, as we gather at the Climate Action Centre to hear Greenpeace renewables expert Sven Teske, talk about the transition we can make out of coal toward renewable energy solutions.

L

The sun has just risen through the smoke haze that is sitting across the valley from the myriad of coal smoke stacks that dot the horizen, in the muted glow of that sun hundred of people are emerging from tents and swags to take action for renewable energy.

We have seen the mounted police, dog squad and air police throughout the past 24 hours...methinks the government is over reacting with police pressence.

From 11 am we will start our day of action with a rally to the front gates of Hazelwood - then attempt to slap the 'Community Decommission Order' on this polluter of the past.

onwards...

L

Our historical first begins.

The first day of the Switch off Hazelwood - Switch on Renewables day of action has been a massive success.

Over 200 of us are currently having dinner together, planning and getting ready for tomorrows historic day of action.

This is a first for the Victorian climate movement, and that fact is definately not lost on anyone here.

L

Today we start our weekend of community action to start the transition to switch off coal and switch on renewables. In a slightly windswept campsite (insert pun about winds of change here), we are pitching marquees and setting up kitchens in readyness for the masses to arrive this afternoon.

Im nervous and excited...this is the first time we have done anything like this in Victoria and it looks to be a massive success already.

Hazelwood has barricaded itself from the community, while the Government has shown its true colours, showing more support for the big polluters than the community. This community event is blowing away the smoke and cobwebs in many realms.

I'm off to pitch my tent now...

L

Politics has failed -- time for civil disobedience.

Clive Hamilton: politics has failed -- time for civil disobedience

Author of Scorcher Clive Hamilton writes:

The protesters who expect to be arrested this weekend in the campaign to close down Hazelwood power station may break the law, but they have justice on their side.

With scientists predicting runaway climate change unless we take drastic action in the next five years, and the manifest failure of our democratic system to respond adequately to the overwhelming threat posed to our future, it is legitimate to step outside the usual boundaries of protest.

Last year, six British Greenpeace protestors scaled the smokestack of the Kingsnorth coal-fired power plant in Kent and painted a slogan on it. They were arrested and charged with criminal damage. In court they did not dispute that they had caused damage but argued that they acted to prevent a greater harm -- the damage to the atmosphere being caused by carbon dioxide emissions from Kingsnorth.

The 40-year-old Hazelwood power station is Australia’s largest single source of carbon pollution and symbolises everything that is wrong with greenhouse policy in this country.

An industrial relic, Hazelwood was due to be decommissioned this year. The owners applied for an extension of its life to 2031. In 2005 the panel appointed by the Victorian government to review the application concluded that, if Hazelwood’s electricity output were replaced by natural gas turbines, carbon dioxide emissions would be two-thirds lower.

But Big Coal won and the Victorian Labor government extended Hazelwood’s license to pollute to 2031. The extension of its life will add around 340 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. By comparison, in 2007 the whole electricity sector in Australia was responsible for 200 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Over the next two decades, the carbon emissions from Hazelwood will wipe out more than half of the emissions savings from the Rudd Government’s 20 per cent renewable energy scheme.

The jury in the Kingsnorth trial heard the arguments from defence and prosecution. They accepted that the protesters had a lawful excuse for damaging the power plant and acquitted them.

The law was applied and they were found not guilty.

While anyone can claim that their cause justifies civil disobedience, few receive such an unambiguous endorsement for their ‘law-breaking’ from fellow citizens. In history’s league table of great causes, fighting global warming is up there with campaigns for the suffrage and civil rights and against slavery and apartheid.

In fact, it puts all others in the shade because the fate of the planet hangs in the balance.

Global warming is uniquely dangerous because victory can come too late. Unless it occurs now a sudden awakening by governments to the peril will be too late; the global climate system will have shifted course and the future will have been taken out of our hands.

We are lucky to be citizens of a country that is peaceful, prosperous and governed by the rule of law. Yet runaway climate change jeopardises the stable and civilised community that our laws and our democracy are designed to protect. Those who have overcome the natural tendency to avoid or play down the facts and so recognise the awfulness of the threat we now face must ask whether they are bound to submit to laws that protect those who continue to pollute the atmosphere in a way that threatens our survival.

The people who will gather at the gates of Hazelwood this weekend are some of the most law-abiding in the country. They are among the most civic-minded, the most committed to democratic participation, and the most respectful of laws that serve the common interest.

They and thousands of others around the country have pursued every avenue -- petitions, letter-writing campaigns, media events, delegations to MPs, lobbying, peaceful protests and elections. It is now clear that the influence of the energy and mining companies swamps the effect of community campaigns and drowns out the warnings of our best scientists.

Disobeying the law should be a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted. And they have been. Given the moral imperative for decisive action on global warming, the protesters who plan to trespass at Hazelwood this Saturday are morally justified in breaking the law.

Their target is not the laws against trespass or criminal damage, but the failure of our governments to make laws that would see Hazelwood and other coal-fired power plants in Australia closed down in short order.

Many hoped a new dawn had broken with the election of a Labor Government promising to take far-reaching measures to tackle Australia’s contribution to global warming. Many believed the Prime Minister when he declared that climate change is the greatest moral challenge of our generation. But it is now apparent that its true intentions were business-as-usual. It is now clear that beneath the superficial differences there is bi-partisan agreement that short-term commercial interests must come first and as little should be done as governments can get away with.

The scattered acts of disobedience we have seen to date in Australia and other countries are a mere taste of what is to come. The only hope for the world lies in a campaign of radical activism aimed at shifting power away from those who do not care about the future.

Never has a campaign been more necessary. It is a campaign for all of those who understand that the lives of our children and grandchildren are at stake.

Clive Hamilton is Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University.

Politicians using us for their own agendas?

Community members involved in a peaceful protest at the Hazelwood coal station on Sept 13 have expressed concern that they may be used as a vehicle for politicians to push laws to limit public right to protest.

“We have recently seen our state shadow Attorney-General, pressure the Brumby Government to ‘act urgently’ to protect polluting coal fire generators from peaceful community protest… We are still waiting for him to demand the Brumby Government act urgently on climate change” said Switch off Hazelwood spokesperson Louise Morris.

“The question needs to be asked; to what extent will those who want to limit the public right to protest use this community event as a platform to push an agenda of increasingly draconian laws, that limit our free speech and civil society?”

“It is alarming that ordinary Australians organising for a peaceful protest in such an open, honest and transparent manner could be used, and misrepresented, by those in politics. We are committed to peaceful and direct action to show that we are revoking the social licence to go on burning coal.”

Who is protecting who?
GreenBlog Blog
http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermail/greenblog/index.php/couriermail/com...
Graham Readfearn
Thursday, September 10

WHAT makes an action morally right and just. And who is the judge?

A couple of hundred people are preparing for a day of protest this Sunday in Victoria to call for the closure of one of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest power stations - Hazelwood, in the Latrobe Valley.

One of the organisers told me there will be a camp the night before, followed the next morning by a rally with some speakers and then a march down the street to the gates of the power station. They’ll be armed with big stickers - lots of them - which they will attempt to stick onto the buildings and infrastructure.

Punting on coal is a loser, tell the Government.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/punting-on-coal-is-a-loser-tell-the-gov...

Everyone else can see the folly of propping up polluting industries.

THERE'S an irony in the rushed construction of a new security fence around the Hazelwood power station, in anticipation of a community protest this weekend.

The Government, it seems, is more in interested in protecting Hazelwood from protesters, than protecting our climate from Hazelwood.

Victoria has been shamed as the least climate-friendly state, running three of Australia's four dirtiest power stations. And Hazelwood is one of the dirtiest in the developed world, scheduled to close this year but in 2005 given a lifeline by the State Government to 2031.

Camping with us?...few things to remember.

We are two sleeps away from our first day of Switch off Hazelwood - Switch on Renewables, and are hearing from lots of people that they intend to camp with us over night...but havn't RSVP'd.

If you are camping with us please be sure to bring your camping cup and plate (cutlery too), tent, sleeping bag, warm clothes and sense of fun.

Otherwise, we will see you on Sunday morning for our day of peaceful community action for renewable energy.

Morwell hears how we can make the switch.

Clean Energy or Coal? Is the question being posed to residents of Victoria and the Brumby Government at a public meeting in Morwell on the evening of Wednesday, Sept 9, 2009.

Gippsland Trade and Labour Council representative John Parker, Latrobe Valley resident Denise McKenna and renewable energy advocate Mark Ogge will join Damien Lawson, a representative of the switch off Hazelwood organising group, in a public meeting in Morwell, to talk about the transition options for the Latrobe Valley to switch away from coal.

Damien Lawson from the ‘Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables’ organising groups said "I grew up in Morwell and my family all worked in power generation. So I know the importance of the coal to the Valley, but there has to be a change."

"We now know that continuing to burn coal is incompatible with ensuring a safe society and a stable climate."

"Pursuing the clean coal pipe dream will just prevent us planning for a shift to new
sustainable industry and employment in the Latrobe Valley. It’s time we all worked together to plan a just transition for workers in the power industry, the first step is a
plan to close Hazelwood."

for the rest of this document go to our media page...

Who says it "can't be done"!

The Canadian province of Ontario said on Thursday it will permanently close four of its 15 coal-fueled power units by October 2010 and study whether it can convert the 11 remaining units to other fuels, such as renewable biomass.

The provincial government, which has pledged to eliminate coal-fired power generation by the end of 2014, said the four plants slated for closure represent about 2,000 MW of generation capacity.

Ontario is on track to be one of the first jurisdictions in the world to eliminate coal-fired electricity generation.

They're apparently shifting to gas as a bridging fuel to clean energy.

http://communities.thomsonreuters.com/Carbon/414530?utm_source=20090907&...

Clean Coal nightmare revealed.

ABC Television program Four Corners has shone a light on the dirty coal nightmare, that is the oxymoron of ‘clean coal.’

“This program has detailed what many climate scientists, geologists, renewable energy experts…and the community already know. So-called ‘clean coal’ is a pipe dream that is wasting valuable time and money when we should be switching from coal to renewable energy,” said switch off Hazelwood spokesperson Louise Morris.

“Hazelwood is an example of the desperate attempt by government to run a smoke and mirrors campaign on coal. Retrofitting an onsite water treatment plant into a Carbon Capture Sequestration demonstration unit that captures a paltry 25 tonnes of CO2 a day. Hardly a resounding success to prove commercial viability for so-called ‘clean coal.’”

“Our government needs to spend the $4 billion of taxpayers money being pumped
into the dead end pipe dream of ‘clean coal’ towards clean, job rich and ready
renewable energy. The IPCC admits that CCS will not be commercially viable for at
least the next twenty to thirty years. We don’t have time for this expensive and
unviable false hope,” said Ms Morris.

“It is clear our government is not serious about supporting a transition to renewable
energy, as is borne out by its support for a new coal fire power station in Victoria in
the HRL proposal. This proposed IDGCC, 400MW plant has been plagued by financial, environmental and location troubles…and would only add to our emissions.”

“Community is calling for government to put our taxes to good use by supporting a transition to renewable energy and switch us off our reliance on coal,” concluded Ms Morris.

Community reveals Victoria's dirty secret.

Community members wanting to see an urgent transition from coal to renewable electricity for our state today officially launched the ‘Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables’ day of action.

Pablo Brait spokesperson for the group said “We are launching this community campaign here on the steps of Parliament house to make it clear to our political representatives that the social licence to continue burning coal is being revoked.”

“We have signed petitions, written letters and changed our light globes, yet we still see government failing to take any meaningful action on climate change. In fact they are continuing to subsidise the coal industry with our tax dollars.”

”That sort of political and taxpayer support should be put towards a transition to renewable energy – not continuing our reliance on polluting coal. The Rudd and Brumby Governments are not listening to the climate scientists or the community and they are refusing to stand up to the big polluters.”

”On Sunday Sept 13, hundreds of ordinary Victorians and Australians, will go to the
Hazelwood coal power station, one of the most polluting coal power stations in the industrialised world and declare a ‘Community Decommission Order’ on this dinosaur of the past,” said Mr Brait.

“The thing that is blocking this transition to renewable energy is a lack of political vision and leadership. We have the technology, the expertise and the ability…now the community is leading the way to make the transition to switch on renewables and switch off coal,” concluded Mr Brait.

Exactly one week to go...
I'm torn between excitment and apprehension, i woke up this morning realising that this time next week we will be at Hazelwood.

This time next week we will be pulling off a first for the Victorian climate movement - a peaceful community driven action to completely revoke the social licence to go on burning coal and push for a transition to renewable energy...at the front gates of the polluter!

I'm going through the checklist in my head: banner..check, camera...check, tent...check, more sleep...hmmm,need to work on that one.

A lick of paint and a spot of gaffa tape.

Tomorrow (Sunday, Sept 6) is the last time the Switch off Hazelwood - Switch on Renewables creative collective will have an all in painting/pasting/creating get together before the big weekend.

Come join us at the Northcote High School (25 St Georges Rd, Northcote) at 10am.

Bring ideas for what ever banners, placards or costumes you want to see on the day, or just help us finish off the projects already under way. This is a community organised event, so we need everyone to actively create their role for the day!

Parliamentary attack on community protest condemned.

Community members involved in a peaceful protest at the Hazelwood coal station on Sept 13. have condemned the Shadow Energy Ministers call to protect the polluters from ordinary Australians.

“That shadow energy minister Clark, who is also shadow Attorney-General, has said today in Parliament that he wants the Brumby Government to ‘act urgently’ to protect polluting coal fire generators from peaceful community protest, is a timely indication of the priorities of Government on climate policy,” said Switch off Hazelwood spokesperson Louise Morris.

to read full media release go to the 'Media Releases' tab on our webpage.

Why Chris is coming to the action.

I'm coming because I care about people. I have a five year old son, & I care about the world he will grow up in. I care about the 173 people who burnt to death in the Black Saturday bushfires. I care about the 300 million people who live in the low lying flood plains of the world. I care about the billion people who depend for food on the glaciers, which will soon disappear, that feed river systems in China, Pakistan and India.

I care about people in the Latrobe Valley, I want them to have decent unionised well paid jobs – in clean industries. If government took over the power companies and directly invested in renewable energy and green manufacturing we could do it - skilled power workers could make the transition keeping their years of service and current pay levels. I’m coming because I want to take the power back, both for the Valley and the wider world.

Switch off Hazelwood - Switch on Renewables has a Twitter account!

http://twitter.com/hazelwood09

follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates on our lead up events, what we are doing on Sat 12 ...and of course the big day of action.

The best climate change campaign? Grassroots, of course.

Eco-warrior Franny Armstrong knows how to harness people power, with her film The Age of Stupid financed by crowd funding and her 10:10 carbon emissions campaign. Armstrong and her team are trying to get as many organisations, individuals..and hopefully Governments as possible to sign up to the pledge of reducing carbon emissions by 10% by the end of next year. Her message is'If you're not fighting climate change or improving the world, you're wasting your life'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/01/franny-armstrong-10-10

Announcing...the campsite!

We can finally announce the location for Switch off Hazelwood - Switch on Renewables campsite for Sept 12/13...it is the Hazelwood Pondage Caravan and Campsite.

Saturday Sept 12, from 4pm, will be an afternoon and evening of dinner, meeting each other, legal briefing, banner painting, affinity group planning, movies, discussions and final finishing touches for the following day of action.

To see a map and location of the site go to;

If you are planning on camping on Saturday night please RSVP via this webpage - the big red RSVP link will take you there.

Why Lynn is coming to the action.

Dear All,

I am a member of the CAG Lighter Footprints which is based in Boroondara and have recently attended the training offered by the organisers of the Hazelwood action. I am writing to encourage you to attend the Hazelwood action on Sunday 13 September.

On first reading about this event I was hesitant about attending as I do not want to be arrested and the civil disobedience component of the day concerned me. However, having attended the training, I now have a better understanding of the action and my concerns have been allayed.

The organisers of this event are very professional. They understand that most people do not want to risk arrest and they are planning the day to ensure that only those people participating in civil disobedience
will be at risk of arrest.

Civil disobedience has been an important part of many movements throughout history and I do not think we should shy away from this event
because it will include a civil disobedience component for those who wish to participate.

This action will be similar to the climate camp held in Newcastle last year (people have the option to camp overnight on the 12th). It is not essential that you attend the prior training, especially if you don't intend to participate in the civil disobedience, but it will help you understand more fully how the event will run.

There are many roles the organisers need help with that are not arrestable. The skillshares are built towards skilling people up for those roles, forming affinity groups and making sure people are active participants in this event and enjoy the day.

The protest will commence at 11:00am on Sunday 13 September near the
Hazelwood power plant with speeches from Robbie Thorpe - (indigenous
representative) giving Welcome to Country, Sven Teske - Greenpeace
Germany, David Spratt - climate campaigner and renewable energy expert,
Senator Christine Milne - Greens climate spokesperson and Dr Merryn
Redenbach - physician, climate activist and one of the organisers of the
Switch off Hazelwood action.

There will then be a march to the power plant. The organisers are
hoping that this will be similar to the Walk Against Warming with people
of all ages including children and lots of colour and movement. Those
people marching who do not want to participate in civil disobedience
will be directed to a location, previously negotiated with the local
police, where they can stand and continue their protest. Those who have
decided to participate in civil disobedience will be posting "Community
Decommission Orders" on the Hazelwood power plant, the fence and the
surrounding infrastructure. The organisers have described this as "an
act of peaceful civil disobedience".

I hope you will all consider advertising this event to your CAGS and
encouraging your members to attend. The larger the crowd, the more
powerful the message to government. Finally, please also RSVP to the
www.switchoffhazelwood.org
website so that the organisers have
some idea of how many people to expect.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Lynn Frankes

Lighter Footprints

For the past few weeks it feels like the organising group has been bunkered down and in somewhat of a time warp. Raising the questions of 'is anyone aware this action is happening?' - 'are we getting the word out there?'

...and all of a sudden this week our inbox is overflowing with speaking invitations to communithy groups in Belgrave, Footscray, Morwell, and all places in between. I have a feeling we are making a difference and people are excited about this camp and action.

Tomorrow a few of us are heading out to Footscray to talk about this action, the day after that Melbourne central. Next week its Belgrave, Melbourne uni, Anglesea and then Morwell.

We may need a tour bus and a suitable roadtrip theme song! any ideas on the theme song will be considered - must be able to dance to it.

a week or so ago i started posting peoples comments on why they were coming to the action on this blog...which has prompted heaps more such emails to the info@switchoffhazelwood.org address.
this one from Jenny-

"I am taking part in this peaceful mass civil disobedience because i know this is the biggest moral and social issue we face.

I am taking part in this protest because I have a two year old daughter who will inherit the problems we fail to tackle now.

I want my daughter to know what snow is, to know what clean water is, to know what a forest is... and to not know what continual water shortages are, not know that she may not be able to afford fresh food and what it is to be fearful every summer of climate fueled fire storms."

Coming to the action? Come get skilled up and prepared!

To make sure, as sure as we can, that people are prepared and in-the-know about what to expect for the day of action (Sunday Sept. 13), we strongly recommend you come to one of the skillshare sessions.

Stream one Aug 15 and 22

Stream two Aug 29&30

...did i mention we really want everyone to come and help prepare for the action?

RSVP through the big red RSVP on the front page...check out 'trainings' tab for more information on the program and time/location.

These sessions are useful for those who have a range of experience, want to shape how their involvement in the day will look and want to take peaceful, creative community action on climate change.

...from Shaun.

I'm participating in civil disobedience because the climate crisis is a moral issue that requires us to step outside our comfort zone in order to be counted.

I've taken as much individual action as I can to reduce my emissions, but these sacrifices are for nothing if I stand by and passively witness our governments' complete failure to avert the climate crisis we now face.

..this from Felicity.

I am going to Hazelwood because I don't want to be the one who let climate change happen;
because I've seen the devastation of the bushfires
heard about the horror of hurricanes and tsumanis
spoken to climate refugees
and I know it's only a hint of what's to come.

I am participating in civil disobedience because there's enough hot air in the atmosphere;
because actions speak louder than words
because we've seen its success with Gandhi and King:
nations have been reshaped completely
with the energy of nonviolence.

I am fighting climate change because I reject selfish overindulgence and destruction
because I'm grateful for existence
because I love this planet
and because I know whatever I do
it will never be enough to repay what I've been given.

- Felicity

Coming to the action? Come get skilled up and prepared!

To make sure, as sure as we can, that people are prepared and in-the-know about what to expect for the day of action (Sunday Sept. 13), we strongly recommend you come to one of the skillshare sessions.

Stream one Aug 15 and 22

Stream two Aug 29&30

...did i mention we really want everyone to come and help prepare for the action?

RSVP through the big red RSVP on the front page...check out 'trainings' tab for more information on the program and time/location.

These sessions are useful for those who have a range of experience, want to shape how their involvement in the day will look and want to take peaceful, creative community action on climate change.

Thank god the CPRS, did not get passed as law today!

Trading of emissions is not what we need. Shuffling the pollution cards around the table will not solve the climate problem - only drastic cuts to our emissions will.

The rejection of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is an opportunity for the government to re-assess its approach to global warming and switch to a Plan B for dealing with the climate crisis.

Australia could be on its way to halving its emissions within a decade through public-lead investment in renewable energy and sustainable energy and transport infrastructure.

Australia’s big polluters had their fingerprints all over the proposed trading scheme. It would have delivered billions of dollars of free permits and compensation to the big greenhouse polluters and allowed them to outsource pollution cuts to developing countries.

We now need the federal government to now reconsider its failed approach to dealing with climate change.

The ALP recognises the enormity of the climate change crisis, so now it has to produce a new scheme that offers targets equal with what the climate science tells us is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change.

A word from David Spratt (co-auther 'Climate Code Red').

CPRS: now is the time to be heard (and seen!)

In Canberra there is a feeding frenzy about the CPRS legislation which hits the Senate this week. Whilst one side wants to call the other dinosaurs, they are all back in a climate policy Jurassic as far as I can see.

The CPRS and the proposed opposition plan simply ignore the climate science and what it tells us we must do, and instead propose appalling-constructed policies that will lock in the brown economy, legislating pollution rights for the big emitters for decades to come rather than driving us quickly to a safe climate, a clean economy and preserving a planet fit to live on.

The revised CPRS is leisurely in its timing, delaying implementation for a year and setting a nominal first-year carbon price of $10 a tonne with unlimited number of permits, meaning no effective action for another three years. It has increased permits to the biggest polluters from 90 per cent to now start at 95 per cent, and preserves the outsourcing of Australia's national responsibilities by allowing the unlimited purchase of permits from overseas, so that the scheme has no mechanism for ensuring that Australia's emissions (as opposed to domestic permits) will drop by even one tonne by 2050. The Treasury modelling assumes no decrease in Australian emissions for another 25 years!! Nor will the CPRS produce an avalanche of "green jobs" because it is not designed to close down the brown economy or build a clean, renewable-energy sector.

My views at greater length are available here:
http://newmatilda.com/2009/05/05/sweethearts

Now is the time for all of us who don't want the Senate to lock in a disaster, and who demand that climate policy be based on climate science rather than appeasement of the fossil fuel industry, be heard.

And here's an opportunity. The Greens have prepared a television ad on the CPRS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5EfEZfQXEE
OR
http://www.youtube.com/AustralianGreens

The Greens want to raise $30,00 to put the ad on TV, and in just one day they have raised almost half. They need to raise the rest in the next day, so that the ad can hit the TV stations this week. I am making a contribution, and would urge everyone who wants an effective voice of opposition to the CPRS and a voice for real action on climate to think about contributing:

https://greens.org.au/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=27

This is one of those moments where your action can help make it happen.

Thank you

David Spratt
Co-author "Climate Code Red"

So close, yet so far.

It's a little hard to believe that in just over four weeks (a month), hundreds - maybe thousands - of people who care about climate will be taking part in a peaceful mass community civil disobedience at the Hazelwood power station.

As i sit here in the North West Australian mining town of Port Hedland (where i grew up), i'm trying to picture what the day will look like. Not easy when i'm looking at piles of iron ore, red dirt and its 31 degrees.

Quite a contrast from the relative greenery of the Latrobe Valley, the iconic billowing smoke stacks of Hazelwood and the ever steamy cooling ponds adjacent to Hazelwood power station - known as 'the pondage.'

I have been surprised by the reaction from, what is now known as 'Middle Australia' to this community civil disobedience. By far one of the most enthusiastic reactions to this has been from Mums and Dads and even Grandparents. People who have kids and are genuinely worried about what we are doing/or not doing to avert catastrophic climate change and are ready to do something about it.

I'm sure doing something with a community focus is also boosting people's confidence.

We have come to a point where people have written letters to thier politicians, changed lightbulbs, put in rainwater tanks (now for the the rain) and done what they can to make the switch in their own lives. Now they realise that unless we switch the way we create electricity, it is all for naught.

Changing your light bulb won't do much for the climate if you are still running it on dirty coal from a dinosaur like Hazelwood!