Pittwater Online News

School Strike 4 Climate Change Millions May Not Shift Australian Governments Pursuit Of Intergenerational Inequity 

Over 4 million on #ClimateStrike today. In 163 countries. And counting... ‬Thank you all!! - September 21, AEST, 2019,  - Greta Thunberg

There are NO pictures to do this justice. Early numbers say 400, 000 across Australia. 100, 000 in Berlin. 100, 000 in London. 50, 000 in Hamburg. And preliminary number in Germany is 1.4 million people!!! But it’s beyond huge everywhere!!!! In every city. Every town. This picture is Sydney, Australia. Together we are changing the world. - Greta Thunberg, September 20, 2019

Greta Thunberg: ‪School strike. Week 57. ‬ ‪New York City. photo from her page, Facebook post

The Domain, Sydney, on Friday - photo by School Strike 4 Climate Change

Although Australia is a signatory to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the global deal to combat climate change, and pledged to reduce the country's emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, figures released in August showed Australia's carbon emissions are continuing to climb. Data released in June showed Australia's pollution was at an all-time high across most sectors.

In Australia Australian strikers are calling on Governments to commit to:

1. No new coal, oil and gas projects, including the Adani mine.
2. 100% renewable energy generation & exports by 2030
3. Fund a just transition & job creation for all fossil-fuel industry workers & communities. 

On Thursday America's foremost bird authority released a report showing North America has lost three billion birds since 1970 due to habitat loss and the effects of climate change. This follows on from a report last week found that habitat loss is a major concern for hundreds of Australian bird species, and south-eastern Australia have been the worst affected. Scientists found that half of all native bird species have each lost almost two-thirds of their natural habitat across Victoria, parts of South Australia and New South Wales. That's all our shorebirds, forest birds and plains birds - gone - the 'canaries in the coal mine' in terms of showing we are witnessing the collapse of our eco-systems.

The School Strikes 4 Climate Change have caused controversy in Australia, with teachers being accused of bias and bringing politics into the classroom, and the Federal Government linking the demonstrations to flagging test results, although here, test results are proving the opposite. Despite this, in a statement, Education Minister Dan Tehan drew a link between the global strike movement and flagging test results around the country.

"The true test of the protesters' commitment would be how many turned up for a protest held on a Saturday afternoon," he said.

The true test of the strikes was, in fact, to stop traffic on a weekday and allow those marching past the NSW Parliament House to ensure those inside heard, undeniably, what was going on in the street outside. 

MORE HERE

Australia SailGP Team Win One Million First Prize In Grand Final Of Season 1 SailGP Championship

MARSEILLE, France – September 22, 2019 – Tom Slingsby has lead the Australia SailGP team to a stunning victory and secured their place in history, after beating Team Japan during the final championship match race, to be crowned the SailGP Champion of Season 1.

Slingsby went head to head with long standing season rival Nathan Outteridge from Team Japan on the Rade Nord racecourse, proving the team’s superior tactical prowess and brute strength in the most dramatic race the sport has ever seen.

The victory for Slingsby at the final match race also reflects the team’s consistent performance during the SailGP Season 1, having won three out of the four previous events.

“I like to think that Australia has some of the best sailors in the world; to be able to cement our country as the champions in the first inaugural season SailGP season is a huge honour.

“Throughout the race we were behind after we received a penalty at the pre-start, but we kept fighting as only Aussies can and when we got the opportunity to overtake Japan we took it and sailed away for the win.”

“We have worked hard all year. I’m proud to be Australian, a part of this team and I feel we got the result we deserved,” said Slingsby.

Australia team mate and wing trimmer Kyle Langford shared in the honour of the win saying, “It’s the first series where an entire season of work comes down to one race and we were fighting for every centimeter on the race course today and to be able to come out on top is such an awesome feeling. I said we were the team to beat at the beginning of the season and we proved that today.”

In addition to the victory, Slingsby and the team walked away with the grand Thomas Lyte-designed SailGP Championship trophy and the most substantial monetary prize in the sport, US$1 million. Slingsby plans to distribute the prize money amongst both sailors and shore crew, who he credits as being instrumental in the success of the team on the water.

Slingsby said, “we are going to split the money amongst the team. It’s a huge effort from everyone and I can say with confidence that we wouldn’t have been standing on that podium today without the support of our shore crew and other team members.

MORE HERE