By Geoff Ellis
Like the climate emergency itself, the National Climate Emergency Summit in Melbourne last weekend was almost too big.
As the nine o'clock opening approached I strode to the end of the queue for the delegates' entrance. Surprise! The line starts 200 metres around the next corner.
I shuffle into the queue and put my journo question to the first person who makes eye contact. "Where are you from and why are you here?"
The couple next to me are from the edge of Torres Strait. Their beaches and their islands are in peril. They had to shift their cemetery to higher ground to save it from the rising tide. I compare the risks to our dunes and Bunurong/Boonwurrung artefacts. Inundation and development.
Like the climate emergency itself, the National Climate Emergency Summit in Melbourne last weekend was almost too big.
As the nine o'clock opening approached I strode to the end of the queue for the delegates' entrance. Surprise! The line starts 200 metres around the next corner.
I shuffle into the queue and put my journo question to the first person who makes eye contact. "Where are you from and why are you here?"
The couple next to me are from the edge of Torres Strait. Their beaches and their islands are in peril. They had to shift their cemetery to higher ground to save it from the rising tide. I compare the risks to our dunes and Bunurong/Boonwurrung artefacts. Inundation and development.
We have the same issues at both ends of our continent. Fires and floods in between. What’s the word I’m looking for? Sobering, poignant, critical, doomed – it’s all of that, and more, and the line shuffles forward.
Later in the day I talk to a guy sitting by himself, three rows back from the main stage. Geoff’s from Peregian Beach, Sunshine Coast. He’s been evacuated FOUR times between September 1 and December 18 due to uncontrollable bush fires. We agree to catch up over the next two days. But this summit is so big that our paths don’t cross again.
I watch a video about one of those giant NT cattle properties. A few years back they replaced European breeds with cattle and goats from the edge of the Sahara Desert. These days the open ground temp is 70 degrees. That rendered the cattle infertile. All the new trees that had been planted died. The grass stopped growing. Destocking was the only option. 500 year old River Red gums are dying. Now.
‘Birrarung’ unofficially replaced ‘Yarra’ as the name of one of the breakout rooms and that’s the venue for the Crisis on Country session. The room is packed. Former Greens MP Lidia Thorpe is in the spotlight alongside Jacqui Katon, Tony Birch and Neil Morris. Neil Morris = wow.
This was an hour of empowerment and a call for climate justice based on First Nations participation and honest, meaningful interaction. Get real, basically. There's a podcast of it somewhere but I don't have grandkids to find it for me!
One of the underlying themes could be bluntly summarised as "Colonisation wrecked the joint, erased our history, robbed us of our children, smashed our society and now you want us to stop the burning ”. Lidia put it much better than that, of course, and there was an overwhelming round of applause for everything.
Author Tony Birch spoke passionately about the need to listen to the voice of Aboriginal women. They are the carers for country.
All I know about Yorta Yorta poet Neil Morris is from the Summit notes but he did a rap/poem in his cool, absorbing way of talking. His T-shirt is emblazoned AUSTRALIA DOES NOT EXIST. Imagine!
Other sessions confirm that Pacific islands in danger from rising seas. Environmental refugees. Look how we treat the hundreds who have washed up on our shores already. Imagine millions!
There’s an article floating around, “Fortress Aotearoa” that talks about New Zealand getting a proper navy to turn our boats back to Bondi. It’s not funny. Somewhere in there, someone said "it's always Aboriginal and poor people who die first.”
Near the end of the two days, I attend a session that includes a presentation by a guy from Friends of the Earth who visited Inverloch. Twice. Don’t mention the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, eh? He mentions Bass Coast in his talk and how good it is to see local government represented here. I snap a pic and post it on Facebook, just to return the compliment.
This prompts a woman to read my badge. She’s a zealot for renewables and just has to ask me something. “How much is your power bill?”
Don't have one. We're off grid.
“How many KVAs?” she asks.
I can't remember and who cares? We’re beyond numbers. All I need to know is that our batteries don't get below 75 per cent. We could power the house next door. Even when the wind isn't blowing and the sun is obscured by smoke. It all just works.
Somewhere in there I was interviewed by 3CR for a summit special to be broadcast from 7-9 am this Saturday. The interviewer asks me why I’m here. Because Bass Coast Shire declared a climate emergency in August and our action plan is about to commence. Here to listen to the experts and the true believers. I mention John Hewson and Zali Steggall
The summit was full of optimism but if you look at the targets there isn’t much time. The road along Jam Jerrup might crumble into the sea within three years, according to DWELP. But the planning scheme still permits development along that road.
On Saturday afternoon we had a thousand people on the same page. On Sunday morning I watched Insiders and there was nary a mention of climate, action or otherwise. There was a half an hour discussion about leadership tussles in the Nationals. Barnaby. Who?
After the final session, on the way out of the Town Hall, I bumped into Julian Burnside. I had to ask him “What did you think of that?”
“It was a great event,” he said politely.
I asked him if he was optimistic.
“Not while fuckwits are in power,” he said.
Cr Geoff Ellis and Cr Michael Whelan attended the 2020 National Climate Emergency Summit as representatives of Bass Coast Shire Council.
Later in the day I talk to a guy sitting by himself, three rows back from the main stage. Geoff’s from Peregian Beach, Sunshine Coast. He’s been evacuated FOUR times between September 1 and December 18 due to uncontrollable bush fires. We agree to catch up over the next two days. But this summit is so big that our paths don’t cross again.
I watch a video about one of those giant NT cattle properties. A few years back they replaced European breeds with cattle and goats from the edge of the Sahara Desert. These days the open ground temp is 70 degrees. That rendered the cattle infertile. All the new trees that had been planted died. The grass stopped growing. Destocking was the only option. 500 year old River Red gums are dying. Now.
‘Birrarung’ unofficially replaced ‘Yarra’ as the name of one of the breakout rooms and that’s the venue for the Crisis on Country session. The room is packed. Former Greens MP Lidia Thorpe is in the spotlight alongside Jacqui Katon, Tony Birch and Neil Morris. Neil Morris = wow.
This was an hour of empowerment and a call for climate justice based on First Nations participation and honest, meaningful interaction. Get real, basically. There's a podcast of it somewhere but I don't have grandkids to find it for me!
One of the underlying themes could be bluntly summarised as "Colonisation wrecked the joint, erased our history, robbed us of our children, smashed our society and now you want us to stop the burning ”. Lidia put it much better than that, of course, and there was an overwhelming round of applause for everything.
Author Tony Birch spoke passionately about the need to listen to the voice of Aboriginal women. They are the carers for country.
All I know about Yorta Yorta poet Neil Morris is from the Summit notes but he did a rap/poem in his cool, absorbing way of talking. His T-shirt is emblazoned AUSTRALIA DOES NOT EXIST. Imagine!
Other sessions confirm that Pacific islands in danger from rising seas. Environmental refugees. Look how we treat the hundreds who have washed up on our shores already. Imagine millions!
There’s an article floating around, “Fortress Aotearoa” that talks about New Zealand getting a proper navy to turn our boats back to Bondi. It’s not funny. Somewhere in there, someone said "it's always Aboriginal and poor people who die first.”
Near the end of the two days, I attend a session that includes a presentation by a guy from Friends of the Earth who visited Inverloch. Twice. Don’t mention the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, eh? He mentions Bass Coast in his talk and how good it is to see local government represented here. I snap a pic and post it on Facebook, just to return the compliment.
This prompts a woman to read my badge. She’s a zealot for renewables and just has to ask me something. “How much is your power bill?”
Don't have one. We're off grid.
“How many KVAs?” she asks.
I can't remember and who cares? We’re beyond numbers. All I need to know is that our batteries don't get below 75 per cent. We could power the house next door. Even when the wind isn't blowing and the sun is obscured by smoke. It all just works.
Somewhere in there I was interviewed by 3CR for a summit special to be broadcast from 7-9 am this Saturday. The interviewer asks me why I’m here. Because Bass Coast Shire declared a climate emergency in August and our action plan is about to commence. Here to listen to the experts and the true believers. I mention John Hewson and Zali Steggall
The summit was full of optimism but if you look at the targets there isn’t much time. The road along Jam Jerrup might crumble into the sea within three years, according to DWELP. But the planning scheme still permits development along that road.
On Saturday afternoon we had a thousand people on the same page. On Sunday morning I watched Insiders and there was nary a mention of climate, action or otherwise. There was a half an hour discussion about leadership tussles in the Nationals. Barnaby. Who?
After the final session, on the way out of the Town Hall, I bumped into Julian Burnside. I had to ask him “What did you think of that?”
“It was a great event,” he said politely.
I asked him if he was optimistic.
“Not while fuckwits are in power,” he said.
Cr Geoff Ellis and Cr Michael Whelan attended the 2020 National Climate Emergency Summit as representatives of Bass Coast Shire Council.