Wednesday, December 09, 2009

No Impact Man Screening

On Monday night a bunch of us here in Darwin who are loosely connected with Climate Action Darwin (CAD) Screened the film No Impact Man.
The night was a great success. With a Huge Thunderstorm looming over us about 80 people turned out at the Nightcliff Uniting Church to mingle, share some local food and to watch the video documentary of the No Impact Man.

After following the blog for most of the project year I am a big fan of Colin Beavan and the movement he has inspired. I was so glad to be able to share this with my friends and see their reaction.
Last Month our family attempted the No Impact Week and I have to say we failed dismally... However as far as I am concerned and as Colin has illustrated it is not really a failure. I was able to engage my family with the issues and they experienced a taste of what we might progress towards. As has been pointed out in the book and the blog. The hardest thing about it is Changing a habit! Individual aspects might appear daunting but it is changing a habit that is the hardest thing. Like quitting smoking... I took about 10 serious attempts to quit smoking and each time I busted I felt like I'd failed, but now I've not had a cigarette for about 10 years. Should I be concerned about my failures now? Or can I just be glad I no longer smoke?


COP15 has commenced and I've read a lot of very startling facts in the past week. I know that we will not see the commitment we need to have a meaningful affect on global warming. Actually I doubt these talks will even point the world in the right direction, however I, just like 1,000s of others, will attend rallies send letters, talk to politicians and continue to fight as though it matters and as though a difference can be made. What else can we do?

Right now in Australia there is a resurgence in Climate Skepticism... that is people who don't even believe that Human induced Climate Change even exists! This bizarre denial can actually be found at the highest levels of our own Opposition Government... Or at least they are pushing this banner (possibly because their investment in the Status Quo is so great they can't afford reality to interfere with business as usual). I wonder if those powerful people would be investing in places that come under high risk from the results of climate change. Would they buy property on a low lying Pasific Island? I see no need to engage in this debate, it is only a diversion. They keep introducing ridiculous arguments so we continue to debate whether or not climate chane even exists, I don't see the point ind discussing this or even debating about the variation in climatic readings! The point is that this is happening, our own actions are primarily responsible for it and it is our action that must resolve this global problem. The only question I see as valid is : "Where do we start?"

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