June 13, 2018: Author and Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter, has launched a scathing attack on the Australian coal industry, highlighting the substance’s deadly consequences in a new book published this week.One of the stories told by Ritter is that of pop singer Lynn Barnett who died alone in her apartment during Sydney’s worst ever heat wave. Ms Barnett’s body was not discovered for some weeks.
“My first thought when I heard about this lonely woman’s death is that she so easily could have been someone I knew; one of my family, or friends” Ritter said.
“We will never know for sure the exact connection between Lynn Barnett’s death and global warming. But what we do know is that here was a woman with the exact profile of someone at greatest risk from extreme temperatures, driven by global warming, that is itself driven by coal and other dirty fossil fuels – and who died in the middle of a record heat wave.”
Ritter spoke in depth with Ms Barnett’s nearest neighbor and with others who remembered the oppressive conditions around the time of her death.
In reaching an open finding, the coroner did not consider the role that record temperatures may have played in Ms Barnett’s death [1].
“The consequence of continuing to mine and burn coal is global warming and other forms of pollution and the results are deadly,” Ritter said.
Ritter’s analysis is supported by other contributors to the book, including Professor Hilary Bambrick, Head of the School of Public Health and Social Work at the Queensland University of Technology
According to Professor Bambrick “coal kills, it really is as simple as that”.
Ritter said his book was not only a chronicling of the impacts of coal but also a celebration of hundreds of thousands of Australians who had stepped up to challenge the destructive industry.
“The fight to stop the coal mining is one of the most important struggles in our national history,” Ritter said.
Other contributors to the book include authors Tara Moss and Berndt Sellheim, traditional owner Adrian Burragubba, climate councillors Lesley Hughes and Will Steffen, economist John Quiggin, academic researcher Ruchira Talukdar and businessman Geoffrey Cousins.
The book is also a personal journey, in which Ritter writes about life in Sydney in the age of global warming, reveals that his own father was a coal miner and reflects on the future facing his children.
“A flourishing future for our country depends on stopping the coal industry in its tracks and the book is intended to make that case,” Ritter said.
“And we need to make the transition together as a country – creating new opportunities for coal miners and impacted communities so nobody is left behind,” he added.
The Coal Truth: The fight to stop Adani, defeat the big polluters and reclaim our democracy will be launched in Sydney on June 13, 5pm at The University of Sydney Business School.
Author Tara Moss, Professor Lesley Hughes from the Climate Council, author Berndt Sellheim and David Ritter will all be speaking at the launch.
Notes for editors:
[1] https://bit.ly/2xb4qOf
For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / [email protected]
