Afternoon Tea for the Future

Climate change: as Senate ETS vote approaches, ERC group calls for action from politicians".

18^th   November, 2009

Community members concerned about the impact of climate change have presented a petition to the Member for Lowe, John Murphy, calling on the Australian Government to lead a campaign of strong and effective action at the upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

Members of a group that meets regularly at the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education at Homebush West organised the petition and collected more than 800 signatures in just over one month.

ERC worker and group co- ordinator Leonie Cornell said the response to the petition in such a short time from ordinary people in churches, businesses, families and neighbourhood communities shows that voters are looking for strong leadership from all sides of politics.

“As well as advocating for a collective emissions reduction target for rich countries of at least 40%, we believe Australia and other developed nations need to compensate developing countries for the devastating impacts of climate change,” Leonie Cornell said.

A policy report from the Global Carbon Project released this month states that Carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in 2008 were 8.7 Gt C, 41% higher than in 1990 (Kyoto Protocol base year).   Developed countries are still leading carbon emissions on a per capita basis, and Australia is the highest emitter on a per capita level.   http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget



 “We’ve delivered this petition to the Member for Lowe, the Hon John Murphy, but we are aware the signatures represent many more members of the Australian community across many electorates.

As Parliament resumes for its last session before Copenhagen, we hope that the wishes of this large section of the community are taken into account before compromising on any targets or carbon trading schemes.

“There should be no more waiting for others to come onboard.  We call on the Australian Government to act now and take a leadership role at the negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen.”

For further information contact

Leonie Cornell   leoniec@erc.org.au <mailto:leoniec@erc.org.au>

We had an excellent response to our petition on averting Dangerous 
C.limate Change.
Overall we have collected 813 signatures and are presenting our petition 
to the local member for the ERC, the Hon John Murphy, who is also on the 
Parliamentary committe for climate change, water, environment and the arts.

As I speak we are about to leave to deliver this petition to Mr Murphy 
and will have 6 people present. at the handover.   This is an enourmous 
achievment and I want to thank each and every one of you who assisted in 
this good result, whether you were able to collect one signature or a 
hundred. We also recieved  full pages of signatures from Churches, 
schools and members of the Pacific Calling.

our next meeting will be our last for 2009 and the formal part of the 
meeting will be short followed by a Christmas celebration. please try 
and join us.

the topic will be a follow on, looking at community attitudes to Climate 
Change based on news articles and advertisements proclaiming the "good" 
things that companies do for the environment or want us to belive that  
they do.

I apologise for the rather short announcement. I am time short with 
organising the MP visit and media release and also have done some damage 
to my knee and so I will not be in the centre next week to do a longer 
report.


hope to see you on Dec 1

Leonie Cornell

In the meantime if anyone has some clothes which they wish to give 
away,there is a movement involved in Clothes swapping who are holding 
clothes swapping events throughout Australia during  National Recylcing 
Week for Planet Ark. .  The idea is that rather than donate clothes 
which are then replaced by new clothes. we attempt to reuse , and take 
our good clothes to be swapped for the same number of garments at a 
large gathering of the community. this is the website  www.planetark.org.

I know that Manly council are conducting a clothes swap meet on Saturday 
Nov 15th, why dont you see what your council or local area are 
organising?  The Big Aussie Swap Party is being held in Martin Place as 
well. this is the link. http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/WhatsOn

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Upcoming Event: ERC Invites You To Join Us On October 27th

The next meeting of the Afternoon Tea For The Future will be held on Tuesday October 27th at the Edmund Rice Centre 15 Henley St Homebush West, which is near Flemington Station .

Activities:

• We continue the discussion on the important upcoming talks in Copenhagen in December.  
• How willing is our community to make the changes required?
• What signs are there in the media or elsewhere to show this?
• Relaxed small group discussion.
  

Cost: We suggest a donation to assist in covering costs - $5 or $2 depending on your ability to pay. Other donations are welcome and assist in defraying our basic expenses and in expanding this programme.

Enquiries to Leonie Cornell leoniec@erc.org.au

 

Click here to download a copy of a past newsletter for 'Afternoon Tea For the Future'

 

Avert Irreversible Climate Change Petition

As a result of discussions and readings the Afternoon Tea For The Future have decided to present a petition to the Australian Parliament. We ask them to take a stand and deliver commitments to assisting developing nations, especially our small Island Pacific neighbors, and  carbon emission reduction goals that show leadership and willingness to take the important and necessary but difficult steps to avert irreversible climate change.

Print out the petition and get is signed by as many people as possible

Thank you and kindly post the pages back to the Edmund Rice Centre, care of Leonie Cornell by October 27th. . The address is:

Leonie Cornell

Edmund Rice Centre

PO Box 2219

Homebush West NSW 2140

 
Each page must have handwritten signatures underneath the preamble. There can be no signatures on the back of the page or on blank pages.

Petition form can be download here

Afternoon Tea for the Future - Some History

The Afternoon Tea for the Future had its first gathering on Tuesday September 13 2005.

The gathering brought together a range of people: Christian Brothers, Sisters from several orders, grandparents, members of a social justice group, and a villa social justice group, a local sustainability educator and so on.

The basis for the group was the principles of the Earth Charter, and everyone was given a copy.

The inspiration for this group came from an extract taken from an Earth Charter video A Quiet Revolution. It told of a story of a 75 year old Indian man who, after going to a wedding in a neighbouring village, brought back to his village information about rainwater harvesting - thus transforming the whole village.

There was tremendous enthusiasm about making a contribution to combating climate change. Most encouraging was the feeling of hope that the members of the group gave each other and that they took away with them.

Since that date, there have been gatherings held about every six weeks or so, and emphasis of the gatherings is to learn, to follow the principles of the Earth Charter, and to find ways that members can influence or combat climate change in their daily lives.

The focus members of the group have shifted from just those who belong to the "baby-boomer" generation, to anyone who shares a passion for combating climate change and who can join us on a regular or casual basis.

Topics discussed over the years since September 2005, have covered the gamut of climate change issues. These include:

• Loss of connection to the Earth;
• Use or abuse of Nuclear power;
• Imaginative Solutions towards Sustainability;
• Public Transport
• Joining in the Walk Against Warming. November 2006
• Water Solutions
• Letter Writing to politicians and to newspapers
• The role of Corporations in fighting or sustaining climate change.
• Sustainable Living and how we work towards attaining this for ourselves and our communities.
• Alternative energy and fuels.

One of the topics and issues which have taken root and developed into a whole new direction is the plight of Pacific Nations who are finding the rises in global temperatures and consequent rises in sea levels, have terminal consequences for their island nations.

In March of 2006, Jill Finnane visited the island nation of Kirabati. This nation is low-lying and one of Australia’s closest neighbours. Community leaders and officials gave her some strong messages for the Australian people including a 10 minute film; Kirabati and Global Warming- a Message for the World. This was first discussed and shown at the April 20006 gathering.

From this beginning, statements by the I-Kirabati people were taken to the Australian Parliament to be presented to the Minister for the Environment. A joint collaboration between various groups was formed and the Pacific Calling Partnership was born.

This Partnership has seen delegations of young people go to Kirabati, and then with the help of funding from Oxfam and the Wollongong Diocese Education Office, a group of young I-Kirabati, Torres Strait, and Australian members joined the world in Bali in October 2007 to effectively bring their message to the world. Today, there are school resources for primary and Secondary schools, groups of letter writers, and much more, all impassioned to support the people who produce little carbon emissions, but suffer because of the large amounts emitted by Australia and other western nations. For further information on the Pacific Calling see www.erc.org.au/pcp.

In 2007, Jill Finnane handed over the general running of the Afternoon Tea for the Future to Leonie Cornell, to concentrate on fulfilling the needs of the Eco Justice movement and the Pacific Calling Partnership.

In August 2008 the Edmund Rice Centre including the Eco-Justice section and the Afternoon Tea for the Future moved to new premises in Flemington/Homebush West. This move has meant among other things that we are now much better located for using public transport, as the centre is very close to Flemington station.

Leonie Cornell

ERC Invites You To Join Us On October 27th

The next meeting of the Afternoon Tea For The Future will be held on Tuesday October 27th at the Edmund Rice Centre 15 Henley St Homebush West, which is near Flemington Statio, See more detail here

ERC Invites You To Join Us On October 27th

The next meeting of the Afternoon Tea For The Future will be held on Tuesday October 27th at the Edmund Rice Centre 15 Henley St Homebush West, which is near Flemington Station.

More Detail Here