Today I spent the day away from the computer (I got my wish!) attending gatherings of people from every part of the community wanting action on Climate Change. The first was a huge community consultation organised by Blue Mountains City Council which is part of The Cities For Climate Protection Programme.

It was to review the 25 Year Vision for the City – Towards a Sustainable Blue Mountains. What came out loud and clear was that the need to act is even more urgent now and that the gap between rich and poor is getting greater. Continue reading →

Oh Rose thou art sick

Continue reading →

We did it – around 30 or so parents, grandparents and an aunt, gathered in Springwood today with 16 of our children, to give Kerry Bartlett our Federal MP the message that we are very, very worried about Australia’s political response to climate change and how it impacts on our children’s futures. Lots more wanted to come but couldn’t because of work, sick children etc. Click here for the slideshow! After a few talks and speaking to lots of interested passersby, we moved into Mr Bartlett’s office and presented our letters which asked him to personally contact Prime Minister John Howard with our requests:

• Help Australia move away from coal, the primary cause of climate change, to clean affordable renewable energy such as wind and solar by supporting a 30% cut in greenhouse pollution by 2020.

• Join with the rest of the international community in dealing with climate change and, as a first step, ratify Kyoto.

More and more groups are springing up around the world highlighting how urgent it is to act immediately. Speaking about Darfur, probably the worst humanitarian disaster and genocide in the history of the world, Mia Farrow said today:

“Patience is not the virtue we need now.”

Much of what is happening in Darfur is linked to the damage we are doing to the environment by our inaction on climate change. Continue reading →

Leunig has done it again with this image

for The Age.

He also wrote a great piece on Hope for the paper last year. Continue reading →

Twelve years ago when my nephew Nicky was just a little older than my boys are now (nearly 7 years old) he dug out a bit of his favourite flower, the Japanese windflower, and gave it to me and Ian because he was so sad to be moving away from his garden in Katoomba. For twelve years I’ve doggedly tried to keep this struggling little plant alive, thinking of him every time I looked at it. It has moved house with us and, finally this year, it blossomed for the first time. I’m so glad I didn’t give up hope – it is so incredibly beautiful. Continue reading →