The Blue Mountains community threw down a challenge for action on climate change in the grounds of the Carrington Hotel, Katoomba on Sunday, December 10.
Hundreds of people attended the rally which was addressed by experts, politicians and local residents.
Jim Casey from the Fire Brigades Union provided a warning about the increased risks to Blue Mountains people and houses. He said fire seasons are occurring earlier and increasing in severity with significantly greater risks to the community and firefighters.
“Climate change is causing more and more extreme weather events. We're seeing massive bushfires, flooding where flooding never occurred before, and violent storm and tempest activity. This is our workplace, and it is becoming less safe. For firefighters climate change is an OH&S issue,” he said.
Addressing broader public health issues, Dr Helen Redmond from Doctors for the Environment stated: “Climate change is nothing less than a public health emergency on a scale humanity has never faced before, with escalating health impacts on hundreds of millions of people globally. The good news is that ending fossil fuel use and other measures to rapidly reduce carbon emissions have large co-benefits for health such as fewer deaths from air pollution, healthier diets and more active lifestyles.”
She also spoke about more days of extreme heat, extended heat waves and the impact on our most vulnerable members of the community – the young and the elderly. This is of particular concern for western Sydney, which misses out on the cooling effect of coastal breezes, instead receiving the full brunt of westerly inland winds.
Emily Kain from GetUp’s Stop Adani team provided an update from the trenches about the effectiveness of citizen action in protecting our environment.
“The Galilee Basin is one of the biggest reserves of fossil fuels left untapped in the world. If we have any hope of ensuring a safe climate future, we must keep all Galilee coal in the ground, and this starts with stopping Adani,” she said.
“We have seen some massive wins over the past year, kicking off with Westpac, one of the biggest corporations in the country, listening to the people and saying ‘no’ to Adani. We saw 20,000 people take to beaches and parks across the country for a National Day of Action, literally using their bodies to spell out ‘Stop Adani’ for our politicians.
“And just two weeks ago, we saw Queenslanders elect a government that is committed to stopping the $1 billion dollar loan of taxpayers money to Adani.”
Despite mixed messages at the Federal and State level, local labor politicians demonstrated a united, strong and clearly personal message of support for climate action. As Mayor Mark Greenhill passionately stated:
“It is unbelievable to me that policymakers cannot look at the changing world around us and see the marks of climate change everywhere,” said Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill.
“Severe weather events. Longer summers. The clear and present economic and social impacts. Yet we have governments in this nation who refuse to even try and kick their dirty coal habit. A habit that threatens very planet that supports us. This lack of leadership is, frankly, immoral.”
Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle was similarly forthright in her speech declaring she will continue to advocate strongly for increased action on climate change.
“In the Blue Mountains we should be very concerned about these impacts as the planet warms – adverse weather events and the increased risk of bushfire will put our homes and our villages at direct risk,” she said.
“Moreover, given our local experience with collieries in Lithgow discharging coal waste and highly saline effluent into our world heritage national park’s waterways, I am galled by the continued inaction and indifference by the New South Wales and Federal Liberal Governments to the concerns of the community about the local environmental impact of these mining operators. There is no reason why public money should continue to be invested in old technology when the renewables sector is screaming out for government support and investment.”
A passionate crowd were kept engaged, not only by the speeches but by the sounds of local band Snail and by Andie Isalie. Festivities continued into the evening with a bushdance fundraiser across the road at Junction 142.
