This just in from Elsa Evers at the Climate Action Summit in Canberra:
As the bus from Sydney circled the first roundabout into Canberra this morning, I had a sudden feeling of dread: ‘What if nobody turns up to Climate Action Summit?’
Of course, Australia’s climate action leaders are not the types to cancel at the last minute. Soon after my panic attack, I walked into a 500-seat lecture theatre packed to the rafters with people concerned about our collective future.
There was an intense sense of motivation as the summit officially launched. Opening spokesperson, David Spratt, announced, ‘The climate emergency is on our doorstep. A solution is economically and scientifically possible, but we don’t have time to wait for politicians to act.’
On that note, we got to work.
The Summit is an Australian first. Over 150 grassroots climate groups are toiling together for three days, creating a national front of climate action. During this time, 500 registered individuals will attend workshops and planning sessions that will set the agenda for the year ahead. These include:
- Developing a national network of local climate action groups
- Policy and politics
- Skills workshops
- Developing a national unified campaign strategy for 2009
- Open space for summit participants to create their own groups and agenda.
Watch this spot for more updates from Australia’s first Climate Action Summit.
Join us for the Summit Day of Action on 3 February
‘The government is jogging on the spot’: Read David Spratt’s op ed in The Age newspaper
