- Target:
- Australians who want quick action on Climate Change legislation
- Region:
- Australia
- Website:
- www.live.org.au
The petition has been withdrawn after being there for a few hours.
This petition evolved from the Mother’s Day Rally Mothers Unite to Clean up Our Climate! in Federation Square, Melbourne Australia, on 11 May 2008.
The Science is in. The evidence of an emerging climate emergency is stark and overwhelming.
We believe that today’s children - and their children - deserve the same healthy and safe climate we have all enjoyed. Our Earth and the many species that call it home need and deserve better treatment.
Climate scientists still say there is a small, yet rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to halt global warming. Yet our political leaders carry on with ‘business as usual’.
Renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that can drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions are available NOW.
Australia is the sunniest—and one of the windiest—continents on Earth; what are we waiting for?
We want our taxes to stop fueling climate change by funding fossil-fuel energy sources, and instead go towards establishing energy efficiency schemes and a strong and sustainable renewable energy industry in Australia.
Please sign our petition to demand our politicians show some leadership and act NOW to secure a future that is safe, healthy and best for all—our chance won’t come again!
The world’s eminent climate scientists, such as NASA's James Hansen, say that serious climate-change impacts are already happening more rapidly and at lower global temperature increases than they had originally projected.
Since current GHG levels are believed to be 382ppm (CO2 equivalent) yet temperatures have only risen 0.8 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, we will no doubt feel further heating effects due to lags in response to carbon already present in the system.
The scientists are telling us now that sustained atmospheric concentrations of GHG above 350ppm will lead to the loss of countless species and condemn the remaining life on Earth to an existence of unpredictable and ferocious weather patterns, marked by severe shortages of fresh water.
To avoid the devastating impacts of human induced climate change, we must take all action now to reduce GHG levels to as near as possible to pre-industrial levels and to start actively cooling our planet.
We cannot afford to wait; we will not have this chance again.
For the sake of today’s and tomorrow’s children and all other species on Earth, we demand that our politicians wake up to their primary responsibility, as custodians of Our Environment – OUR COMMON-WEALTH – to protect Australia from the threat of climate change.
We ask our national government to take the following steps that are widely agreed as essential to ensure a secure and healthy future for us all.
We ask the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia to take these steps NOW:
1 - Halt all subsidies (currently around $10 billion per annum) for fossil fuel based energy and commence a just transition for workers to move from polluting industries into sustainable, renewable energy projects and into carbon sink projects such as bio char (terra preta de indio) to pull down atmospheric carbon
2 - Replace our current energy system which is based on maximum energy sales and encourages consumption and waste (ie through volume discounts) with one that provides incentives to conserve energy and reward energy efficiency (such as California’s successful Flex Your Power program)
3 - Through an effective carbon pricing mechanism, ensure that ALL polluting industries pay a high price for their devastating impact on our environment
4 - Use proceeds from the carbon pricing scheme to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects
5 - Halt all native forest logging because our forests are our most valuable carbon sinks, water catchments and wildlife habitats
6 - Transfer the hidden subsidies for cars and road freight transportation into public transportation
7 - Legislate energy star ratings and standards for all appliances
8 - Through retrofits to homes and public housing (as opposed to cheaper energy offers), ensure that low income earners are the first in the community to be supported through the transition to a sustainable economy.
Please lend your support to our Petition by signing it and forwarding it to your family, friends and colleagues, asking them to do the same.
We are no longer debating the fine points of computer climate change models; we are watching glaciers at both poles calve into the oceans 100 years ahead of the worst predictions.
We shouldn’t wait until our parks and gardens are barren wastelands and fresh food is unaffordable before we act decisively. Where is the leadership we need now?
The Saving Our Climate petition to Australians who want quick action on Climate Change legislation was written by David Robinson and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.