Walk Against Warming

[rahli]

12 December is D-Day for the planet as world leaders meet in Copenhagen to do a global deal on climate change.

While they talk the talk, we're walking the walk all over the world, from New York to Tokyo, Mumbai to Paris and all over Australia. So get your walking shoes on and be part of the most important Walk Against Warming ever.

12 DECEMBER - Global day of action

Link

[Garbage]

Will they be bussing in their opposition?

Or you gotta pay to be the riff-raff depicted in the news?

Either way the march will be stolen and strawmen broadcast.

[rahli]

Will they be bussing in their opposition?

Or you gotta pay to be the riff-raff depicted in the news?

Either way the march will be stolen and strawmen broadcast.

 

The link is in reference to the Australian Walk Against Warming.

Not sure what they do in England.

[Chiral]

SOURCE

DISASTER can distract a man, fix images in the mind that force him to question his world. Veteran volunteer firefighter Vince Kylstra recalls the black sky above Marysville and the pinprick of car headlights in the gloom. Eucalyptus fires blazed in the sky when the order came for his Whanregarwen crew to flee to the local oval, while the town burned.

Ten months on, Mr Kylstra, 59, struggles to make sense of the fires. So his message was simple for the estimated 40,000 people who joined him at yesterday's Walk Against Warming in Melbourne, stopping traffic along Swanston Street: ''It's the kids who count, forget politics if you can.''

With divisions threatening to derail climate change talks in Copenhagen, that may prove a forlorn hope. In Melbourne, too, one of many cities around Australia and the world to stage events in support of action on climate change, the wonder was not that 40,000 people came but that they marched so well together - stretching from Flinders Street back beyond Little Bourke.

Under a light mist of rain, banners objected to climate change inaction, the Rudd Government's carbon trading scheme, refugee detention and Third World poverty. Possible solutions abounded to what ails the world. Down to shopping and four-wheel-drives. No more meat, no more milk.

One speaker, from the low-lying Pacific state of Tuvalu, called for people to grow their own food and consume less. ''And legalise marijuana,'' called a wag in the crowd.

Organiser Tricia Phelan said the 40,000-strong crowd, up from 15,000 last year, showed that people were re-energised by the debate. Among them was four-year-old Elanor Sutherland, of North Carlton, with a sign in childish scrawl: ''Don't be bad to the world.''

But there, too, was Greg Orfanidis, 23, of Yarraville, carrying a sign claiming that more than 31,000 scientists have debunked ''the man-made global warming myth''.

Professor David Karoly, a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said he was disappointed such ''nonsense and non-action is getting traction''.

Speaking to the media before addressing the crowd outside the State Library, he said: ''We will probably be coming back for the next 100 years walking against warming, to persuade governments, businesses and the community that continued action on climate change is needed.''

■ Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Copenhagen calling for negotiators to strike a deal to prevent global warming. The Danish capital was described as looking like a military zone as authorities prepared for the arrival of activists from all over the world. The six-kilometre march was masterminded by 515 organisations from 67 countries.

[rahli]

Up to 90,000 environmental campaigners turned out for the Walk Against Warming rallies in the nation's capital cities and regional centres today.

The Walk Against Warming was one of a number of events held across Australia and the world today, as part of a global day of action on climate change.

The biggest crowd by far was in Melbourne, where according to the Nature Conservation Council, 40,000 people took part in the march.

Activists marched through Melbourne's CBD to Princes Bridge, where they formed a human sign to call for more meaningful action on climate change.

Spokeswoman Tricia Phelan says contained a message for world leaders meeting in Copenhagen.

"It's vital that in the coming week our world leaders make a commitment on climate change," she said.

"We need a strong commitment and a commitment that looks like rich countries like Australia slashing our emissions, and helping to fund poorer countries to develop in a cleaner way, and avoid the mistake that we've made."

Crowds around the country heard from activists, union leaders and even schoolchildren.

It is the 5th time Walk Against Warming has been held, but co-ordinators say it is clear that this year was special.

Residents of the ACT turned Federation lawn, in front of Parliament House, into a sea of people.

Around 2,000 people joined in, including two colourfully dressed stilt walkers representing the birds affected by climate change.

Thousands filled Martin Place in Sydney before setting off for a march through the CBD, calling for action.

The crowd was a see of colour, with protesters carrying placards banners and even wearing costumes.

In Adelaide, thousands of people rallied at Adelaide's Rymill Park after marching through the city.

Adelaide spokesman James Dannenberg said the strong turnout proves Australians want serious action on climate change.

"They're all out here, walking against warming ... to coincide with of course, the Copenhagen Climate change conference," he said.

"To send a very strong message to the Federal Government and the elected representatives.

"We want them to bring home a treaty, we want them to stand by the Pacific and our neighbours there. And we want them to deliver and ensure a safe climate future for us all."

Organisers say as many as 10,000 people attended the march in Brisbane.

Tasmanians joined the international call for action at a rally in the Upper Florentine Valley, in the state's south.

Darwin's walk against warming was cancelled because of wild weather, which caused trees and power lines to fall and roads to flood.

Organisers say they are impressed with the turn-out and that this year's event has drawn in a broad cross-section of society.

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