Comments geopology has made

  • Australians have spoken

    Firstly I thought I'd better clear up that our new government is hardly left wing. They could be more accurately described as centrist. Our new leader has called himself a fiscal conservative and leads the parliamentary prayer group (though he does read and quote Dietrich Bonheoffer)

    My point being that climate change is very much a main stream issue here that is not owned by the left - even people on the right have claimed we should have signed Kyoto long ago.

    The pressure on political parties to get serious about climate change leading up to this election came from all parts of our society. There were some very well organised campaigns by grass roots movements, NGO's, religious groups, independent think tanks and of course the Green Party. We even had a party called the Climate Change Coalition, which was headed by a high profile scientist, running purely with the intention of getting strong climate change policies passed.

    The Howard government paid the price for not heeding their calls. I think the USA can be encouraged by our success.

    Here is a short list of some of the campaigns and groups that pushed for a change on climate change

    NGO's
    Australian conservation foundation
    WWF
    The Big Switch
    Green Peace
    Conservation councils of Australia
    Climate Action Network Australia

    Independent Think Tanks
    The Climate Institute

    Grass Roots
    Get Up
    Clean energy for eternity
    Numerous local climate action groups
    The Australian Youth Climate Coalition
    Rising Tide

    Religious
    Project Green Church
    Social Action Alliance
    Queensland Sustainable Energy
    Green Cathedral Project
    Common Belief
    Angligreen
    Al ghazzali
    Catholic Earth Care
    JECO
    Sisters of the Good Samaritan
    Anglican Communion Environmental Network
    Earth Ministries
    Faith Ecology Network

    Actually Australia owes Grist some thanks. After perusing your list of 15 greenest religious leaders The Climate Institute decided to bring Rev Sally Bingham out to Australia to help galvanize the religious response to climate change. It was a very successful tour and received a lot of good media coverage. She has inspired us to set up an Australian version of her Interfaith Power and Light.

    Here's hoping that concerned citizens of the USA are greatly encouraged by what has happened here in Australia and that they feel emboldened to push for change in 08 with even greater zeal.

    Take care,

    GeopologyOn Australian prime minister goes down to decisive defeat posted 2 years ago 14 Responses