Tag: climate change

Events, Webinars, Advocate

It’s 2022 – what will we do?

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Time to get off the beach and back into action!

Happy New Year! The summer break is becoming a distant memory, and now is the time to focus on the year ahead.

This year, there are many opportunities to share the messages around Zonta Says NOW to gender equality and climate action. Here are two that you can start planning for today!

International Women’s Day (IWD) – 8 March

The UN women’s IWD theme for 2022 is Changing Climates: Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow. The theme recognises the contribution of women and girls working to change the climate of gender equality and build a sustainable future.

On Friday, 4 March 2022, UN Women Australia will be hosting five live events concurrently in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and a live stream virtual event. These will all include a virtual interview with the indomitable Jane Goodall, so join online or in person if you can.

Many Zonta clubs are holding IWD events, so please support them too.

Zonta Says NOW and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 66th Session – 14 to 25 March

The CSW is the most significant global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This year’s priority theme is Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.

Zontians from District 23 and the USA Caucus submitted a proposal to present a session on Zonta Says NOW in the NGO CSW/NY parallel event.

We have just heard that the proposal has been accepted! Our session will be from 8.00 am to 9.30 am on Tuesday 15 March EST – that’s New York time.

So please mark your calendars for 15 March from 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm in Western Australia, 10.30 pm to 12 am in South Australia, and 11 pm to 12.30 am in Victoria and Tasmania. Please share the save the date flyer below.

20220118 zonta says now flyer for CSW – AustraliaDownload

The free session will be on Zoom, and we’ll circulate registration details, program etc., when they are confirmed.

2022 – Bring it on!

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Events, Advocate

Congratulations to Margaret Hender – walking the talk of climate action

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Congratulations to Margaret Hender, founder of CORENA and winner of the ZC Melbourne on Yarra’s Women Taking Climate Action Award 2021

The winner of the Zonta Club of Melbourne on Yarra‘s pilot Women Taking Climate Action Award 2021 is Margaret Hender from South Australia.

Margaret is the creator of CORENA (Citizens Own Renewable Energy Network Australia) – Australia’s first solar revolving fund.   The idea of CORENA was conceived when Margaret was on the ‘walk for solar’ from Port Augusta to Adelaide in 2012.

What is a revolving fund? CORENA uses donations to provide interest-free loans to small not-for-profit organisations to install solar, invest in energy efficiency, get off gas, or purchase electric vehicles.  Repayments are used to fund further projects. 

So far, CORENA has successfully loaned $800,000 to fund 44 projects, generating almost $200,000 in savings for the not-for-profits. CORENA loans have helped many child care centres, specialist schools, housing associations for the disabled and community resource centres throughout Australia.

Many women involved in not-for-profit organisations are daunted making investment decisions related to energy – which is still a very male-dominated industry. CORENA’s key positions are all held by women and they are able to offer independent technical advice and support.

The pilot Women Taking Climate Action Award was developed by the Zonta Club of Melbourne-on-Yarra to acknowledge women who are taking innovative climate action that engages with women.

Funding for the $1,000 award was raised through a Climate Action webinar with inspirational guest speaker, Natalie Isaacs, the CEO of 1 Million Women.

The Award was open to any woman living in District 23 (Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia). The judges were Suzanne Lees and Dr Jasmine Schuijers from the Zonta Club of Melbourne on Yarra and Carole Theobald from the Zonta Club of Perth who is the convenor of Zonta Says NOW to Gender Equality and Climate Action.

Competition for the award was very strong and judging was complicated by the diverse range of activities and experience levels of applicants. Applicants will be invited to speak at club and Zonta Says NOW meetings to share their work and passion. Knowledge gained from the pilot will be valuable to review the criteria for future years.

If you and/or your Zonta Club is interested in becoming involved with Zonta Says NOW, and/or supporting the Climate Action Award, please contact Carole Theobald via  zontasaysnow@gmail.com.

Reduce Emissions

Electric vehicles

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One of the goals of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow is to speed up the switch to electric vehicles. But how should we do this in Australia?

For individuals in Australia, one way is to enter the 1 Million Women’s raffle for a new Electric Nissan Leaf! (Congratulations to Josephine Lamont who subsequently won the raffle!)

You could win a brand new, 100% Electric NISSAN LEAF 5-door hatch, including on-road costs valued at $53,190.00 drive-away. Every dollar raised in the raffle goes to 1 Million Women to help their critical work empowering women and girls from every corner of the globe to act on the climate crisis. 

The prize will be available for pick up by the winner at their nearest Nissan dealership within 60 days of the draw. Get your tickets before 21 December!

For governments, we can advocate having policies that support the uptake of EVs.

The Grattan Institute has just released The Grattan car plan: practical policies for cleaner transport and better cities and states that the plan:

…calls on the Federal Government to impose a cap, or ceiling, on the emissions allowed from new cars sold in Australia each year, and to ratchet the ceiling down to zero by 2035.
 
This would help Australia hit a national target of net zero by 2050 and save drivers money – because zero-emissions electric cars are much cheaper to run than high-emitting petrol and diesel cars.
 
But cheaper driving could mean more driving, so state and local governments should act to discourage driving and make public transport and cycling safer and more attractive.
 
They should impose congestion and per-kilometre charges on cars, make trains and buses as COVID-safe as possible, and do more to separate cars and trucks from cyclists and pedestrians.
 
Grattan Institute modelling for this report shows that an emissions ceiling for new light vehicles could achieve at least 40 per cent of Australia’s emissions reduction task between now and 2030, at virtually no cost to taxpayers.

What do you think of these ideas?

add voice, Advocate

Monday is a big day for climate action in Australia

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Two key events happen on Monday 18 October.

Improved Climate Bill

The improved Climate Bill will be tabled in the Australian Parliament. It has been revised to reflect feedback from the inquiry process and introduce a new, short-term emissions reduction target of 60% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

As Zali Steggall, the independent MP for Warringah, puts it in her media release:

“Climate change is the single biggest threat to Australia’s prosperity and largest opportunity for economic development,” she said. “These bills will ensure Australia gets a share of the estimated $1.7 trillion per annum invested globally in the net zero transition.”

“The Government hasn’t done the work and is letting Australia down, scrambling to negotiate a last minute plan with the Nationals. We must act decisively in this next decade to set Australia up.”

“There is a new wave of opportunity, and we need leadership and commitment to be part of it.  We need to set ambitious targets to drive investment and uptake in clean technologies.”

“I call on the Morrison Government to pass the Bills without delay and go to COP26 with a strong, responsible position on climate.”

Sharma Case Appeal to be heard

In May this year, the Federal Court found that the Minister for the Environment has a duty of care to protect young people from the future harm caused by the climate change impacts of a proposed coal mine extension project (Vickery Extension Project).

The case was brought by eight children led by Anj Sharma with the assistance of Sister Brigid Arthur, their 86 year old litigation guardian.

The day after the decision, the Minister of the Environment announced she would appeal to the Full Federal Court.

Since then, the Minister has approved the extension of three large coal mines: the Vickery Mine extension, expansion of underground mining at the Russell Vale Colliery, and expansion of the Mangoola mine.

Three judges heard an appeal from 18-20 October, and you can see progress on this Federal Court link.

Advocate, add voice

Mass Mailout for Climate

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Thousands of people around Australia have not given up on the Climate Change Bills. A concerted effort is underway to get them reintroduced into Parliament.

The recent IPCC report showed we are in a climate emergency. We must achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 to have any chance of preventing runaway global warming. Are you worried and don’t know what to do?

A Different Approach Community (ADAC) has been writing 227 letters a month to all Federal parliamentarians since 2019, asking for urgent action on climate change. They have devised this ingenious Mass Mailout for Climate campaign and have asked community groups to send letters to their MPs:

Throughout September, an expected 30,000 letters will be collected in a post office locked bag in Canberra and delivered to independent parliamentarian Zali Steggall at a media photoshoot event in October.

Visit the Mass Mailout for Climate website to view videos of Zali Steggall describing the campaign, get instructions on where to send your letters and some ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

UPDATE: The pandemic stopped the letters being presented, but follow progress on the Mass Mailout for Climate Website.

Uncategorised

The Heat is on Australia

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The findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released this week have gone beyond being a wake-up call – they are a scream to take action.

As the Climate Council puts it:

There’s so much packed into this report – so we’ve compiled some of its key conclusions into our latest article: What does the IPCC’s latest report mean?. Here’s what it all comes down to:

  1. The scale and pace at which humans are altering the climate system has almost no precedent. Human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last two thousand years. 
  2. Climate change and its impacts are accelerating, and more impacts are on the way. Lack of action, despite decades of warnings, means we are now seeing these alarming changes unfold at a faster and faster rate. In other words, our climate is not merely changing, the rate of change is now accelerating.
  3. Every fraction of a degree matters. Every additional increment of warming means more extreme weather, including increases in the intensity and frequency of heatwaves, damaging rainfall, and droughts.
  4. Responding to climate change means doing everything possible to reduce emissions, while also adapting to the impacts that can no longer be avoided. Past inaction means that more impacts from climate change are on the way but the right choices made today will be measured in lives, livelihoods, species and ecosystems saved.  

The findings of this latest report are unmistakable: only stronger action this decade can prevent climate catastrophe.

Looking for ways to take action?

There is not a day to waste!

Facts

Australia’s climate change history in pictures

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This article appeared on the ABC news website today. It provides an engaging dialogue in words and pictures of Australia’s relationship with the climate. It clearly outlines why we need to take climate action now and how doing so opens up opportunities to create the industries that could turn Australia into an energy superpower. Bring on the transition – the future looks good.

More good news is that the WA Government is fast-tracking its planned phase-out of single-use plastics. Plastic straws, cups, plates and cutlery will be outlawed in WA from the end of the year. With Plastic Free July just around the corner, let’s stop using single-use plastics now!

Advocate

Zonta International Statement on Climate Change – A Gender Equality Issue

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Zonta International’s Statement on Climate Change is a call to action for members around the world.

Zonta International Statement on Climate ChangeDownload

The statement clearly outlines the case of climate change being a gender equality issue and highlights the following key actions.

Zonta International:

  • Asks governments that have not yet signed the Paris Agreement to sign the Paris Agreement.
  • Asks governments who signed the Paris Agreement to actively take into account human rights, gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in defining and implementing their national climate action plans, including gender-responsive measures that are more effective and respectful of human rights.
  • Calls for governments and policymakers to uphold the principles of climate justice agreed to in the Paris Agreement and ensure that the most marginalized groups do not bear the brunt of the climate crisis.
  • Calls on Governments to set up more gender-balanced governing bodies to integrate gender-sensitive climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning, as per SDG 13.2 and the Paris Agreement.
  • Calls on Governments to arrange education for girls and support girls’ access to education.
  • Calls on Governments to include basic education on climate change and its consequences to nature and societies for all students, recognizing and addressing the social and economic factors aggravated by climate change (as per SDG13.3.1).
  • Calls on Governments to ensure that climate adaptation and mitigation plans address the unique needs of women and the barriers to women’s full participation in the economy, including:
    • Childcare and elder-care services.
    • Occupational segregation.
    • Informal work.
    • The gender pay gap.
    • Legal and social restrictions.
  • Calls on Governments to include women in the formation of disaster preparedness and response plans. These plans should:
    • Recognize the unique needs of women and girls.
    • Prioritize their health and safety.
    • Include responses to gender-based violence.

Zonta International calls on its members to:

  • Increase their own awareness of climate change and on its gender-related consequences and raise awareness locally.
  • Include gendered climate change advocacy actions in their advocacy plans.
  • Support the inclusion of women at the national and local tables of decision-makers on environmental sustainability.
  • Promote girls’ education and the inclusion of climate literacy in schools, as well as to promote girls’ science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies to increase gendered scientific and technical contributions to climate change mitigation.
  • Advocate for national policies that take into account women’s economic opportunities and ensures their full and equal participation in the economy.

The climate is changing and we need to change too.

Zonta Says NOW will develop tools to help members and supporters implement these actions.

Advocate

A landmark judgement on climate change – Minister must consider young people

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The Australian Federal Court heard a case this week that may have ripple effects around the world. The court found that the Environment Minister owes a duty of care to Australia’s young people not to cause them physical harm in the form of personal injury from climate change.

Eight young people had brought a class action on behalf of all Australian children and teenagers against the Environment Minister, Sussan Ley.

They argued that the Minister should not approve extensions to a coal mine as it would endanger their future. Whilst the young people were not able to stop the Minister from being able to approve the extension, they did make the case that climate change was reasonably foreseeable and could cause them catastrophic harm.

During the Federal Court’s live-streamed summary, the court found that one million of today’s Australian children are expected to be hospitalised because of a heat-stress episode, that substantial economic loss will be experienced, and that the Great Barrier Reef and most of Australia’s eucalypt forest won’t exist when they grow up.

The court concluded:

It is difficult to characterise in a single phrase the devastation that the plausible evidence presented in this proceeding forecasts for the children. As Australian adults know their country, Australia will be lost, and the world as we know it gone as well. The physical environment will be harsher, far more extreme and devastatingly brutal when angry.

As for the human experience – quality of life, opportunities to partake in nature’s treasures, the capacity to grow and prosper – all will be greatly diminished. Lives will be cut short. Trauma will be far more common and good health harder to hold and maintain.

None of this will be the fault of nature itself. It will largely be inflicted by the inaction of this generation of adults in what might fairly be described as the greatest inter-generational injustice ever inflicted by one generation of humans upon the next.

To say that the children are vulnerable is to understate their predicament.

Hon. Justice Mordecai Bromberg

Read the full article in The Conversation by Laura Schuijers, Research Fellow in Environmental Law, The University of Melbourne.

Facts, Article

Gender, Climate, and Parliament

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Did you know that the four most climate-resilient countries in the world are led by women? They are Norway, New Zealand, Finland and Denmark and congratulations go to their Prime Ministers Erna Solberg, Jacinda Adern, Sanna Marin and Mette Frederiksen on their nation’s achievements. Interestingly, the proportion of women in all of their parliaments is above 40%.

In contrast, the four least climate-resilient countries are led by men and have much lower numbers of women in their parliaments: Eritrea (22% women in parliament), Central African Republic (9%), Somalia (24%) and Chad (15%).

To give humanity the best chance of surviving the climate crisis, we need more women around decision-making tables in community groups, workplaces, and all levels of government.

How does Australia fare?

There are 16.7 million people on our nation’s electoral roll, and 51% of them are women. Australia’s Federal Parliament consists of 227 members, 86 of whom are women (38%). Women make up 51% of the Senate and 31% of the House of Representatives. Currently, there are 6 women in the 22-member decision-making Cabinet (27%).

Recent events in Parliament House will not help to make politics an attractive career choice for women. However, to get fairer representation, we must support more women to take on leadership roles at all levels of society and government.

Here are a few of the ways that you can help women take on leadership roles.

  • Acknowledge young girls for their leadership potential (replacing the language of bossiness with leadership).
  • Encourage young women to be informed and share their views openly and confidently.
  • Mentor women in your workplace, so they are prepared for leadership positions.
  • Champion women in their careers.
  • Learn how, through following a leader, you can create a movement.