{"id":5175,"date":"2018-08-23T14:57:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T04:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/350.org.au\/?p=5175"},"modified":"2018-08-23T15:25:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T05:25:35","slug":"jo-dodds-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.350.org\/australia\/jo-dodds-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"If not now, when?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real climate leadership rises from the grassroots up.<\/em><\/p>\n

On September 8, 350 Australia is helping organise rallies in cities and towns around Australia as part of a global day of action\u00a0\u2013 #RiseForClimate<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to demand our local leaders commit to building a fossil free world that puts people and justice before profit. No more stalling, no more delays: it\u2019s time for a fast and fair transition to 100% renewable energy for all. Find\u00a0an event near you at www.350.org\/rise<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Having watched her community of Tathra lose more than 69 homes, 30 cabins and caravans, community buildings and public facilities to an unseasonably late bushfire, Bega Valley Shire Councillor Jo Dodds is no longer prepared to be silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not now, when?\u201d she demanded of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, when he suggested hours after the devastation that \u201cthis is is not the time to politicise a disaster like this\u201d by talking about climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired. And I\u2019m pissed off,\u201d Dodds said. \u201cI\u2019m tired of leaders who don\u2019t care enough about us and about this planet, to risk their jobs. I\u2019ve had enough of waiting, had enough of being quiet, had enough of watching the temperature go up and up and up and not hearing sirens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the sirens Tathra heard were fire trucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t I talk about climate change, right now, while my boots are covered with ash and my clothes smell of smoke?\u201d said Dodds. \u201cWhen you stand in front of the terrible reality of a hotter, drier, windier Australia, when you see it consume the homes of your friends \u2013 I don\u2019t think you have a right, I think you have a moral responsibility to speak up.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike the federal government, the Tathra community has been modelling what leadership should look like.<\/p>\n

Twelve years ago, to declare their intent and inspire the wider world, the Tathra community gathered to make a human sign on the beach. Tathra\u2019s population is 1200, but more than 3000 people rallied to create two signs: \u201cClean Energy for Eternity\u201d and \u201cIMAGINE\u201d. Then they built IMAGINE out of solar panels which now power the sewage treatment works.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted the government to take notice, to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to invest in renewable energies so that the production of CO2 emitting fossil fuels would be supplanted by things like solar, wind, geothermal, wave energy,\u201d said Dodds. \u201cAnd we formed the community group, Clean Energy For Eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, Clean Energy For Eternity has raised tens of thousands of dollars and installed solar panels on surf lifesaving clubs throughout NSW and beyond. We\u2019ve also put solar onto every community building in Tathra – schools, community halls, Rural Fire Service sheds and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve encouraged other communities to join in, to make their own human signs, to raise awareness and money and solar energy to their rooftops.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town was well on the way to achieving its goal of achieving a 50% reduction in consumption of energy and 50% production of energy from renewable resources by the year 2020 when disaster struck on March 18.<\/p>\n

At around 12.30pm, a bushfire started on a hill at the end of the road where the Dodds live. By 6pm, 69 homes were gone.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

\u201cIt was a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions for our town. It was also a miracle in that no human lives were lost. But whole streets are gone and my community is still in shock,\u201d said Dodds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat night I watched the PM on the telly, speaking during his visit to the Evacuation Centre. Here\u2019s what he said, partly in response to Greens Leader, Richard Di Natale\u2019s observation that the Tathra fire was a climate change related event:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the time to politicise a disaster like this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t attribute any particular event, whether it\u2019s a flood, or fire, or it\u2019s a drought, or a storm \u2013 to climate change. We are the land of droughts and flooding rains, we\u2019re the land of bushfires. Nature hurls her worst at Australians and has \u2013 for always, and always will, and always has.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to bed. At a quarter to five, I woke up with the words \u201c… and always will,\u201d ringing in my head. What the hell did the PM think he was doing, coming to Tathra, to my town, to a town that has fought so hard and given so much already to fighting climate change – what did he think he was doing to come here and say that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PM had not just joined the queue of people who quote Dorothea Mackellar as if she\u2019s some kind of anti-climate science clairvoyant, but he had condemned us to doing nothing to prevent the next fire and the one after that \u2013 to preventing the fires that will come hotter and harder and more frequently, and that will surely kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about climate change, not bush poetry. Because our fire did not happen in mid summer. It happened in mid March. There were 10 other fires in the Bega Valley on that day. Sydney and Bega broke the records with their hottest ever March day.\u201d<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

A month later, more records fell with the hottest April day recorded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have asked, and will keep asking for meetings with government leaders of all stripes,\u201d said Dodds. \u201cI will bring them news from the front line of climate change. I will tell them how it feels when it\u2019s your home in the firing line or your grandkids running from the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just one small person. But I will offer to stand by any leader who realises that good leadership is not about popularity \u2013 it is about figuring out what is the right thing to do, then doing everything in your power to make it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaise your voices, my friends. Speak up. Contact your representatives and tell them what you want and what you don\u2019t want. We live in a democracy \u2013 so let\u2019s use it.\u201d<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Real climate leadership rises from the grassroots up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On September 8, 350 Australia is helping organise rallies in cities and towns around Australia as part of a global day of action\u00a0\u2013 #RiseForClimate<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to demand our local leaders commit to building a fossil free world that puts people and justice before profit. No more stalling, no more delays: it\u2019s time for a fast and fair transition to 100% renewable energy for all. Find\u00a0an event near you at www.350.org\/rise<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

350 Australia will also be launching our Heroes of the Low-Carbon Economy report, showcasing the leaders in different fields who are already creating the clean energy future Australia needs.<\/em><\/p>\n

RISE FOR CLIMATE ><\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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