We have finally locked in the politicians, the press and now all we
need is you!
Tomorrow there will be extensive debate over the 40% legislation,
however we will be having our own celebration, presenting our Love 40%
t-shirts to members of all the parties outside the Assembly at 1pm!
We would love to have you there to help celebrate and take a great
picture for the media.
If you would like to arrive early and hear some debate in the chamber,
the legislation is scheduled for debate up until lunch. If you would
like to hear some debate please come and help us fill the chamber
anytime after 11am, but especially from 12pm onward. We will have t-
shirts available to lend you for the lunchtime photo op.
Well, the 40% milestone has been won. But what happens next? A target is nothing without a solid plan for how to reach it. Winning was just the beginning. Canberra ♥ 40% will be here to make sure a fantastic action plan for Canberra is developed over the next year. What are your visions for Canberra? Light rail? Up to date new buildings that create power rather than create energy bills? A top notch cycle system that keeps bikes off roads but gets you there faster than a car? Warm houses in winter? We want to know where you, the community, think that Canberra should be heading. Leave us a comment or reply to info@love40percent.org with your vision of Canberra in 2020 and where the Canberra ♥ 40% campaign should go from here.
One thing we’ve learned from this campaign is that the Government needs to hear from us. So don’t just share your ideas with us, tell the government as well! 40% will be a big part of our shared future, and right now the Government is asking for the community’s vision of Canberra in 2030. Over the next few weeks they will be conducting three community workshops where you can share your hopes and dreams for our city.
Workshop 1: Monday 20 September in Central Canberra
Workshop 2: Wednesday 22 September in Woden
Workshop 3: Wednesday 22 September in Belconnen
Although registration is free you must RSVP in advance. More information can be found here. If you can’t attend any of the workshops, you can still be involved by completing the survey. Just remember to mention how important actually achieving the 40% target will be.
While uncertainty is still raging up on the hill over who will form a national government, our own local government has today taken an immense and important step that will blaze like a shining beacon to the rest of our nation. Today, Simon Corbell, our local minister for Environment and Climate Change, introduced to the legislative assembly a 40 percent target for CO2 emissions reduction by 2020!
This is a huge win for all the people of Canberra who worked so hard to bring this about. But more than that, it is a win for the children of Canberra. From today on, they can look forward to living on a healthier planet in a vibrant city reaping the benefits of a green economy. They can look forward to being able to bring their own children up in a city that lead the way in tackling the great moral challenge of our time.
Today the people of Canberra can hold their heads up high and know that we are blazing a trail for the rest of our vast and wonderful nation to follow.
Today is indeed a day to love our city, to love our future and to love 40 percent less CO2.
An update from the Assembly…
The Environment and Climate Change committee at the Assembly has just tabled the final Climate Change targets report.
In doing so, Zed Seselja, Leader of the Liberals spoke to the report. He indicated that he doesn’t support a 40% target, but that the Liberals do have a Bill on the table for a 30% target. He effectively confirmed Liberal Party support for that position by saying that while 30% would be a very challenging target, it was a “sensible approach”.
The ACT Greens MLAs position remains 40% by 2020 off a 1990 baseline.
The Government will table their in the Assembly bill on Thursday morning, so expect to see their 2020 target annoucement on the front page of Thursday’s Canberra Times.
This coming Wednesday (18th of August) the ANU will be playing host to the Canberra Sustainable Careers Expo and the ♥ 40% campaign will be hosting an awareness raising stall. If you’d like to help out on the stall or just learn more about how a 40 percent target could drive Canberra’s green economy, please come and visit us on Wednesday. Similarly, if you would like a stylish ♥ 40% T-Shirt, they will be for sale on the day (alternatively you can arrange to buy a T-shirt at any time by emailing info@love40percent.org).
The expo will be held between 12 and 4pm in the Sports Hall at the ANU.
Three interesting events are coming up in the next week:
First up is a knitting get-together at The Front Cafe in Lyneham this Sunday from 2pm to 4pm. If you’ve been wanting to get involved in the knitting/crocheting/crafting come along to this with your needles, wool and ideas. Also be sure to join our knitting Google group to discuss ideas. If you have squares or hearts that you’ve made and you can’t make it this Sunday then remember you can drop them off at the Conservation Council. We are planning to do our first yarnbombing in a bit over a week so you will soon start seeing love 40% hearts popping up around Civic and the various town centres.
Next is the ‘Vote Climate’ forum being organised by our friends at Climate Action Canberra on the 11th of August from 5:30 at The Canberra Club, 45 West Row, Civic. It will be a great opportunity to ask our Federal politicians what they are doing to help Canberra go for 40 percent.
Finally, on Sunday the 15th our friends at the Conservation Council have organised the annual Walk Against Warming which will start at 12.30pm at Questicon.
With so much happening in Canberra in the next week, this only goes to show, once again, that there is clearly a deep concern in our community about climate change and that ordinary Canberrans support ambitious local action.
With the National government abandoning its climate change policy to a “giant focus group” action at the local level has become more critical than ever. The ACT Government is deciding on the target it will take to the Legislative Assembly right now! They need to here your voice and they need to hear your voice now. As citizens we need to leave no doubt in the minds of our elected representatives that we want real action on Climate change.
The most effective way that you can make your voice heard is by sending them a letter. If you can, please send a letter to your local MLA asking them to adopt a 40% target. Click here for instuructions on how to write a letter to your MLA. Remember to remind them that they are YOUR elected representatives and that the emissions target they set will sway the way you vote in the next election.
Together we can make Canberra into an example that the rest of our nation can follow.
Last week was a wonderful success. Our Southside community forum was well attended and featured stimulating dialogue between the community and our elected representatives. Similarly our very successful letter writing workshop led to the creation of a very nice guide to letter writing (thanks Scott). Now all that is needed is for you to get out your pencil and paper and start writing those letters. If we want real change in our community we need as many letters as possible to land on the desks of all our MLAs.
In other news the invites for our forum at the legislative assembly have been created. If you only come to one love 40% event, then make it this one. It will feature the climate spokespeople from all three parties and will be your best opportunity to share your view with our politicians. The forum will be held on the 29th of July between 12:30 and 1:30.
Finally, just a quick reminder that we have a meeting tonight (Monday 19th of July) at 6.30pm in Room G015 of the Crisp Building, ANU.
Ever wanted to write a letter to a politician but not been quite sure where to start? Well you’re in luck. This Saturday (17th 0f July) we’ll be running a letter writing workshop to share skills on how to write letters to your local MLAs. The workshop will be held between 11am and 3pm at the Conservation Council, 17 Childers St, Acton. This will be a fairly informal affair so please feel free to drop by whenever is convenient for you and for as long as you want between 11 and 3. Bring a plate of food to share if you are able and a laptop if you have one.
If you can’t come along we would still love you to have your voice heard by our MLAs so head on over to our letter writing page for the names and addresses of your elected representatives. We have been presented with a rare opportunity to create real change here in the ACT. It is up to the entire community to make sure that this potential is realised.
After much excitement and anticipation we will be celebrating our media launch this Wednesday (the 16th of June) at 9.15am outside the Legislative Assembly. We would love nothing more than for you to come along and join the fun. We would especially like to encourage children and young people to join us as it is this generation that will be most effected by the decisions that our elected representatives are making now. It will be loads of fun and we would love to see you there. So if you would like to get your beautiful face in the paper and on the nightly news, please come meet outside the ACT legislative assembly in Civic. While there is no need to RSVP we would really love if you could email us at info@love40percent.org if you are able to bring along any children.
40%
