Thursday, 17 March 2016

Environmental Protests to Take Place in Port of Newcastle

The Port of Newcastle will play host to the Australian outlet of an international protest on climate change, focusing on asking the world to walk away from fossil fuels.

The peaceful protest  is under the banner Break Free and is being conducted in association with Greenpeace.

Hundreds of Australians are expected to attend the event running from May 7-8, with thousands expected to attend around the world, with peaceful protests taking place in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.

"We are in a climate crisis right now, there's no other way to put it" said Dr Nikola Casule from Greenpeace Australia.

"February was the hottest month on record, we've had places in the Arctic that effectively had no winter.

"There are certain parts of the Arctic that were 16 degrees above normal."

It comes after Environment Minister Greg Hunt attended the Paris climate conference late last year, signing the commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

"The Turnbull Government has so far maintained the policies of the Abbott Government" said Dr Casule.

He went on to say Break Free's goal is to force elective representatives to take real action on climate change, and calling on Parliament to implement policies that can make a change.

However, Dr Casule has said reducing carbon emissions needs to include the reduction of Australia's exportation of coal.

"Australian carbon emission is only a small part of what we really need to be talking about.

"It's our exports that are our biggest contribution to global warming, and to stop that we need to keep coal in the ground."

One of Australia's largest exports is coal, with millions of dollars coming in from nations across the world, including China.

"The debate you hear in Canberra kind of misses the point if it's not talking about a reduction in the Australian coal industry" said Dr Casule.

Image courtesy of The Australian (LINK).