Last fortnight I went to the Environment Victoria Community Environmental Recognition Awards
ceremony. It was a terrific event, featuring the comical musical
stylings of Tripod. Adam Bandt was there, along with numerous other
movers and shakers in the environment sphere. There were a dozen or so
awards given out to recognise the achievements of people working on
various projects to protect the environment, from Ian Penrose, the River Keeper, to the 'Knitting Nannas of Toolangi' who are currently facing
court for, well, subversive knitting. The thing that struck me is just
now many people are getting busy doing so many things. There are groups
working to save the Leadbeaters Possum and oppose coal seam gas mining
and dozens of other projects ranging from very small local actions, to
statewide movements like Quite Coal. There was a good panel discussion
beforehand where
people talked about the process of community organising - the highs,
the lows, the frustrations and the triumphs. Kelly O'Shannassy, the EV
CEO, made the point that the enviroment is suffering 'death by thousand
cuts' and what is needed is thousands of remedies - large and small.
They all add up. Like water dripping on a stone, eventually the stone
cannot remain unchanged.
We can't all sit around, wringing our
hands, or fulminating on Facebook, or waiting for the government to 'fix
it'. People need to become more active and more organised and begin to
take matters into our own hands. There have been some great wins for
people power in the past couple of years, locally and internationally.
Sure there have been some failures too, but that's never an excuse to
give up the struggle, or to lose hope or become apathetic in face of the
many issues that need to be addressed urgently. The Greens are a
political party of course, and we aim to make
change at the government level, but support of community activism is
also an important part of the mix. In the face of massive community
actions, politicians of all stripes must begin to pay attention, and
indeed they are. Adam Bandt made the point in a speech a while back that when
locked in some windowless room somewhere making decisions it's
enormously helpful if there are thousands of people outside
demonstrating, signing petitions and writing letters to their MPs.
Politicians are in the business of getting elected and then re-elected.
To do this they need votes. To get votes, they need to give people what
they want. The more people get out there, into the streets, into the
newspapers, on the interwebs, into the public eye and make a noise and
let them know what the public wants, the more politicians will begin to
realise that the environment is no longer some kind of fringe issue only
of concern to hippies and 'drop outs'. Politicians can count. It's one
of their best things.
There are so many things you can do. So many groups you can join. So many actions you can take. Pick one thing, get your posse together and turn up!
It is working. It might seem painfully slow, but as the point was made
the other night, if you look back only 10 years, you can see how much
things have changed in the public discourse. Think back only to 2006
when Al Gore made 'The Inconvenient Truth' and consider how much the
issue of climate change is now centre stage in Australian and global
politics compared to then, to name just one issue. Now, in the USA a gubernatorial election campaign has just been won by the Democrats,
mainly on climate change, as well as marriage equality and women's
rights. Ken Cuccinelli, a notorious climate 'skeptic' has just been sent
packing by the voters. That's something of a landmark and one that
should give progressive policians much
encouragement and hopefully cause the GOP to have a bit of a rethink.
So, take heart. What are you waiting for? There will never be a better
time to become part of the solution.
