10/10/10 = NUC Wheels of Change

350.org has done it again!

"Dear friends,

It's happening--and it’s even bigger than we thought it would be.

From what we can tell from reports streaming in from East Asia and Australia and New Zealand, 10/10/10 is going to be the biggest day of climate action ever--from one end of the planet to the other, people are already hard at work."
(Bill McKibben 350.org)

10/10/10 marked another 350 day of Climate Action! Yesterday in Darwin there were 3 events planned.




NUC Wheels of Change - A bunch from Nightcliff Uniting Church decided it would be a great idea to ride to Church

Lakeside Drive Community Garden 10/10/10 Working Bee - The Lakeside Drive Community Gardeners chose this date as the time to turn the first sod of soil in the creation of their ambitious new community garden on a spit of land between the road and the Rapid Creek.

Peddalling for the Planet - A bunch of cyclists planned to get together dress their bikes up and ride a 3.5 km circuit to promote climate action.


I was fortunate enough to attend two of these events and the atmosphere was great.

A pretty large bunch of people turned up at Nightcliff Uniting Church on their bikes... I shouldn't have been surprised really! There's a lot of active enthusiastic participants in life who attend that Church. I should have known they wouldn't need much prompting to jump on their bikes and have some fun riding to Church! Unfortunately my family weren't feeling too good on Sunday morning (it seems they'd finally caught the cold I brought home from work a week ago!) so it was a party of one who left our house at 8:30 am. I didn't have to ride far before I met with Penny, then Lucy and her two boys. The 5 of us had quite a pleasant ride along the McMillans Rd cycle path and then past the farm on Rapid Creek. By 9:15 we'd arrived at the Church early enough to watch all the others come peddling in! It was so cool to see everyone rolling up. There were about 5 families who rode together and a bunch of others who peddled solo from various locations around Darwin. I'm pretty sure now the youngest riders were a pair of 3 year olds while the oldest would have been somewhere over 60 years old... The atmosphere was so great that Jana (the Minister and worship leader of the day) had to come out and ring a bicycle bell to get the crowd to come in and join the service!
This spontaneous effort spurred people to think about future rides we might like to do together as a group.

Later in the day at about 4:00pm when my girl was feeling more like riding we hopped on our bikes and rode down to Lakeside Drive where we met with a bunch of others who had peddled down there to start work on the new Community Garden! Once again the atmosphere was buzzing with enthusiasm and a sense of fun! Once again there were a great mix of children and adults all participating in an activity of affirmative action toward a carbon neutral future!



It was great to take part in these events! Being part of a community of people from all age groups working together for a sustainable future is a great buzz. We don't know exactly what the future will bring. Maybe we will never achieve the goal of 350 parts per million of Carbon in the atmosphere but working together as we have may help us to build the skills necessary to participate in a rapidly changing and increasingly hostile environment.

Parliament of World religions media release

A friend who recently attended the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne advised me to check out what went down there.

Here's an interesting statement they made:

The Transition may be blogged

Transition Towns

So with all the drama and fear around the environmental crisis and potential economic collapse how do we prevent total social breakdown?

Maybe we just need to wake up, read the writing on the wall and begin preparations for our Transition to a different way of living.




Let's not resign to Cormac McCarthy's 'Road'. There may yet be a way...

Walk Against Warming - Darwin!

It's on again! We've been doing this for a few years now but this year is critical!
Wherever you are on Saturday 12th December: Walk Against Warming!

If we are concerned for the welfare of future generations, and in fact our own, if we do not stand now and raise our voices loud enough to be heard above the noise made by big polluters with their cashed up Lobbyists and army of naive climate Skeptics then we will lose the opportunity to prevent a catastrophe far worse than the 'global recession'.











If you live in Darwin then here's where it's at:

Nightcliff
5pm Sat 12 Dec
Sat 12 Dec
Nightcliff Jetty and along the foreshore

Climate Vigil Darwin NT

If you live in Darwin and are concerned about Climate Change, if you've heard about the Climate Conference in Copenhagen but are unsure about what it all means or what any of this might mean to you or your future. If you are feeling anxious and don't know how to direct your feelings or connect with others who share your concerns, you might like to come along to the Climate Vigil that is being held at the Uniting Church in Nightcliff. I went last night and found it extremely rewarding. Although the vigil is being held in a Church it is a non religious format and people of all walks of life are encouraged to come along and share the space.

The event promotional literature says:

"We are hosting a quiet reflective space from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Everyone is invited to simply come and share the space and light a candle. Brief updates on the plans for the day in Copenhagen will be posted on the notice board to keep people informed.

bring a candle and a rock for the labyrinth if you'd like."

I found the experience quite profound and moving. Taking time to deliberately sit in silences with others was quite a novel idea and allowed me to slow down from my daily routine. However the few words that were read in dedication to the event absolutely shook me and gave me the opportunity to feel and express my confusion, sadness, grief and hope regarding the current situation we all now find ourselves in. To acknowledge this in a safe and friendly environment amongst people who share those same feelings gave me a great sense of ease and piece of mind.

I highly recommend you come along and join the vigil even if it's just for one half hour visit. This is a time for reflection, we are not seeking to solve the worlds problems...

Just to see them and feel them and to acknowledge that they do exist.

Courage to Change

I can't help wondering with all this talk of the future, what do young people have to say? Well several years ago at a UN Earth Summit in Brazil Severn Suzuki had something to say and it must have stopped the show and left the next speaker feeling somewhat inadequate.


Severn Suzuki UN Earth Summit 1992

This is a powerful speech, about the most powerful I have ever heard... We will hear a lot of speeches in the coming weeks, many will be Rhetorical but non committal, some will be no more than lies, others will be similar pleas for sense and compassion to prevail. Will we be inspired by what our own leaders say? If we hear words as meaningful and powerful as these will we take them? Will we act on them or will we let them fall to the ground wasted and lost?

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?"