Pages tagged "climate change"
Climate Strike
Get together with your friends or local Australian Parents for Climate Action group before the May 21 national Climate Strike, and make placards or banners to take along to the event. Here's how:
Get together
1. Invite your friends to your house or a community hall. Or reach out to your AP4CA local group, to make banners together. You can find out where our local groups are located here. If there’s not one near you, why not start one in your community? To find out how, email laura@ap4ca.org and we will give you all the information and support you need to get the ball rolling.
Then Get Crafty
2. Bring paints, pens, crayons, and large pieces of cardboard. You can gaffer tape a ruler to the back of your placard to help you hold onto it.
Choose your slogan
3. Design your banner to send a clear message to the Morrison Government that we want him to take climate action. You can find some inspiration here
And/or use our kit
4. We've also created a downloadable kit of printable materials, with easy to scan QR codes for parents you meet at the rally who want to take the next step towards climate action by signing onto our open letter to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Solar Our Schools, or joining Australian Parents for Climate Action.
See you there!
Don’t forget to take photos and video, and tag @ap4ca #ap4ca - or email them to [email protected] - or share them in Australian Parents for Climate Action FB group & School Strike 4 Climate FB page and socials using #ClimateStrike.
Transforming Climate Grief
YOU'RE INVITED!
Australian Parents for Climate Action, with support from School Strike 4 Climate, invites you to our Expert Panel Q&A
"Transforming Climate Grief"
Monday 10 May 2021 at 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
with special guests Author Jonica Newby, Climate Striker Jasmine Bowtell, and Psychologist Susie Burke.
This special online Zoom event is now taking limited registrations via Trybooking:
https://www.trybooking.com/BQZHH
ABOUT:
We know that many Australian parents are suffering from climate grief and anxiety - and we want to empower you to know how to parent in the face of climate grief, and to transform your grief into action. So we've invited three experts to provide practical tools, personal experience and good advice on how to deal with our fear and sadness about the impact of climate change on our world and our kids' future in a constructive way.
Featuring:
JONICA NEWBY
How do we find courage when climate change overwhelms us? "Beyond Climate Grief" is a personal story by award-winning science reporter Jonica Newby exploring how to navigate the emotional turmoil of climate change. Jonica is a science reporter, author, TV presenter and director best known for her two decades on ABC TV’s popular weekly science program, Catalyst. She has twice won the Eureka Award, Australia’s most prestigious science journalism prize, and is a recipient of a World TV Award. Originally trained as a veterinarian, her first book was The Animal Attraction.
JASMINE BOWTELL
Jasmine has been wanting to vote since she was 16 — and is excited to be able to exercise this right at the next election! She lives in Zali Stegall’s electorate, and whilst she says Zali has done so much for the Northern Beaches area, Jasmine and her community are still facing a proposed gas plant across the beaches from Manly to Newcastle.
"Gas isn’t the future and this proposal isn’t okay: our water systems will be polluted, tourist industries will be ruined, and it will impact the livelihood of so many people. I live 15 minutes away from Manly and it is one of my favourite places in the world — I cannot sit back and watch my childhood be shovelled away by a government invested in dirty fossil fuels like gas.
I'm both passionate about equality and the environment and I won't stop striking until someone speaks up and owns up to the action we want! If we pressurize the government I hope we can make transformative change. I'm also a big feminist and I believe that we all should be able to live a life free from oppression and imbalance. I'm 17 and I'm in my final year of school balancing it all, but I will always make sure the future is bright and that I inspire as many people as possible.
I joined the climate movement in 2020 and I've been hooked since, I love it soo much and I have a raging passion for life and social justice. One day I would love to be in a parliament and show that women are strong and powerful and that we don't need men to tell us our worth."
DR SUSIE BURKE
Her work examines how climate change impacts on people’s mental health, and how people across the country are coming to terms with the climate emergency and engaging with the problems and solutions.
Dr Burke specialises in pro-environmental behaviour, coping with climate change, talking with children about the environment, preparing for natural disasters, and psychosocial recovery in the aftermath of disasters. And she's also a parent of a school striker!
Reserve your place now: https://www.trybooking.com/BQZHH
Meet your local group!
We have local AP4CA groups across all Australian states and territories, where parents get together to support, inform and empower each on climate, take action and have fun!
Check out the locations below. They're welcoming and supportive, and would love to meet you online or in person!
If there is no local group near you listed here, please email us to see if we can connect you with local parents who want to take action on climate.
Or perhaps you'd like to start a group in your local area? We'd love to support you.
You can also post in our very active national Facebook group to find other parents in your area.
Join with us!
Join us in fighting for climate solutions!
We are 14,000 + concerned parents like you who want our government and big business to take more action on climate.
Together we advocate for positive solutions, aiming for a safer future for our children.
- Simple, parent-friendly actions you can do to make a difference on climate: personally, local and through widespread change.
- Invitations to join free events like the Climate Strike, Solar Our Schools actions and local climate action gatherings, including crafter-noons, climate related play dates and coffee meet ups!
- Support being a parent, carer or teacher in a changing climate.
- Be part of a community of parents who are actively pushing solutions to climate change!
Join with us!
Join us in fighting for climate solutions!
We are 14,000 + concerned parents like you who want our government and big business to take more action on climate.
Together we advocate for positive solutions, aiming for a safer future for our children.
We need your help to make a colourful, memorable impact on Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge to get him on board our Solar Our Schools campaign — to install solar panels and batteries at every school and preschool in Australia.
Australian Parents for Climate Action lodged a Pre-Budget Submission to the Federal government to include funding for Solar Our Schools in the upcoming May 2021 budget, and many of our supporters wrote a personal submission in support of Solar Our Schools — thank you, legends!
But so far our request for a meeting with Minister Tudge has fallen on deaf ears, so we need to make sure he can hear the voices of the 10,000-plus parents and children across Australia who support Solar Our Schools!
Insiders tell us that letters and artwork from children make it to the top of the pile of Ministers' correspondence — so your kids artwork will get noticed in a way that letters from us adults won't!
Here’s how you can help:
1. Make a Time to Shine artwork with your child (check out our inspiration board below)
Create a sun artwork with a “sun clock” theme to convey the message to Minister Tudge that the clock is ticking on the May budget and we need him to advocate for funding Solar Our Schools!
Older kids can write a letter — or make a TikTok video! — explaining why Solar Our Schools is a no-brainer. Here are some points they could mention:
- Solar and batteries on every school and preschool in Australia will lower school energy costs, create local jobs and lower carbon emissions!
- The Federal Government has fallen behind the states on renewable energy infrastructure investment. It’s time for the Federal Government to come to the party and shine on our schools!
- With a Federal election and the Glasgow COP26 conference both looming, now is the time for our Federal government to invest in renewable energy infrastructure that reduces our carbon emissions and creates green jobs across Australia!
2. Send your Time to Shine creations to Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge
Hon Alan Tudge MP
Minister for Education and Youth
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
(02) 6277 7350
NB: If you are sending Minister Tudge your Time to Shine artwork or letters in the mail, take a photo of them before you send them off.
3. Share your Time to Shine creations with us
Share photos of your artwork and letters and/or your videos on social media with the hashtags #SolarOurSchools and #TimetoShine, and our handle @ap4ca.
If you want to tag Minister Tudge, his handles are: @tudgeMP (Facebook), @alan_tudge (Instagram) and @AlanTudgeMP (Twitter).
Also, please email them to [email protected] for us to share with our supporters so we can encourage others to send a message to Minister Tudge!
Whilst the Australian federal government is yet to set a net zero target, we can all reduce our own carbon emissions by making Personal Change, but we must also push governments and businesses to act by working toward Local Change and Widespread Change.
Enter your email address here and we will send you our handy climate action checklist, which includes:
1. The Big Picture on Carbon
2. Goal: Personal Change
- Use less fossil fuels at home
- Cut your emissions from transport
- Move your money!
- Offset your carbon emissions
- Support climate justice
- Eat less meat
- Reduce food waste
3. Goal: Local Change
- Reduce your school or preschool’s carbon emissions
- Start more climate conversations
- Share your story
- Find your tribe
- Hit the streets
- Lobby your council
- Run for election, or support someone else to do so
4. Goal: Widespread Change
- Campaign for climate action at the Federal Election
- Help to Solar Our Schools
- Create your own petition
- Add your name to demand a national Climate Bill
5. Sources and Further Reading
Sign up
Come on, let's make some noise!
Here is some expert tips on writing a punchy and personal letter to the editor:
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
- Grab a copy of your local paper or read it online to get a feel for the letters section – how many are printed, average length, types of topics covered, tone.
MAKE IT PUNCHY
- Be considered and critical where necessary, but avoid ranting. You are trying to convince people, not shut them out.
- Keep your letter short and succinct: 150-250 words is a good guide. Less is more.
WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT SOLAR OUR SCHOOLS
-
Focus on the positives – Solar Our Schools is great for:
- Jobs and post-COVID economy
- Saving schools money in electricity bills
- Schools being able to re-allocate money saved from power bills into more teachers or educational resources
- Millions of tonnes per year carbon emission reduction
- While some schools/states have made progress with respect to solar, Solar Our Schools calls for every school and early childhood centre to receive solar and batteries – renewable power for all, not just a few.
- You could mention that you have signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister to Solar Our Schools and you would like other people in your community to sign the open letter too.
- Or you could mention how you've made a Pre-Budget Submission to the federal government so they will (hopefully!) include Solar Our Schools in the next budget. You care what your taxes are spent on!
MAKE IT LOCAL
-
Make it relevant to the readership – why should other locals care about the points you are making?
- Do schools in your area desperately need solar?
- Are classrooms too hot, and the best way to cool them would be air-conditioners powered by solar?
- Is there something else about Solar Our Schools or AP4CA that you think would interest your local Member of Parliament?
MAKE IT PERSONAL
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Mention your perspective as a parent:
- What kind of world would you like to see your children grow up in?
- What do you worry about as a parent when it comes to climate change?
- What does Solar Our Schools mean to you and your family personally?
- Sign your name rather than just your school/organisation.
SUBMITTING YOUR LETTER
- The paper (or online version) will provide contact details – a general editorial email address, contact details for the editor or instructions on how to submit a ‘letter to the editor’.
- Be sure to follow any specific instructions about your letter (format/word length/content).
‘No-Brainer’: Australian parents call for Federal Budget support to Solar Our Schools
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 JANUARY 2021
AUSTRALIAN PARENTS for Climate Action has renewed calls for the Federal Government to prioritise funding for solar panels on every school and early childhood education centre in Australia, ahead of the deadline for public submissions for the next Federal Budget.
Read more
Follow our guide and make a submission to get Solar Our Schools in the next Federal Budget.
The Australian Treasury is now accepting public submissions to advise the make up of the next Federal Government budget in May. This is our chance to show how much support there is across Australia for Solar Our Schools. The more people who make a submission, the louder our message is.
You can make a submission in 3 easy steps.
1. Download our guide here.
2. Make your submission through the government's public online submission portal here.
3. Please notify us that you have made a submission - email [email protected]
Pre-Budget Submissions close on 29 January 2021.
Background: In September 2020 Australian Parents for Climate Action delivered the Solar Our Schools open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, signed by more than 11,000 Australian parents, asking him to fund fund solar and batteries for every school and early childhood centre in Australia as part of the October COVID-19 recovery budget.
But PM Scott Morrison failed to respond to the 11,000 parents who signed the Solar Our Schools open letter; and the Federal Government failed to invest in renewable energy in the October COVID-19 recovery budget.
Australian Parents for Climate Action are now asking our supporters to formally submit to the Treasury to request funding for Solar Our Schools in the next federal budget.
Solar Our Schools is a shovel-ready initiative that will:
- Create at least 6,870 renewable energy jobs in all regions of Australia.
- Slash school energy bills which frees up more funds for learning resources and teaching wages, saving large schools $114,000 in energy bills per year and small schools $12,700 per year (Beyond Zero Emissions).
- Save millions of tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
By combining solar and batteries, Solar Our Schools also allows schools and early childhood centres to act as Virtual Power Plants, giving communities access to a local, de-centralised power source; providing resilience in the face of climate emergencies like extreme weather events. These virtual power plants would also help to stabilise our whole electricity grid.
If every school and early learning centre in Australia got solar and batteries, the battery systems alone would store enough power to replace the power generation provided by the Liddell coal-powered electricity station in NSW.