Climate Crisis - National Day of Action - Melbourne

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This afternoon the forecourt of the State Library Victoria was packed as protestors from all over the state met to demand government action on the climate crisis.

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As the newly formed Climate Justice Alliance, which organised the event, put it:

2019 was the year the climate crisis became impossible to ignore for millions.
Now savage fires are devastating peoples' lives, water shortages are pushing many towns to crisis point, millions have endured weeks or months of hazardous air quality, and over a billion native animals have been killed.
Yet Morrison still refuses to accept the reality of climate change, wrecked the global climate negotiations in December 2019, and doesn't want to pay the people fighting the fires or expand resources for fire fighting.

Even 'quiet Australians' are speaking out, as was evidenced by the numbers at this protest. And on a glorious afternoon, as we listened to the speakers, many participants took the opportunity to display signage highlighting their particular preoccupations:

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There were some surprises for me today. The presence of vegans and others concerned about the impact of what we eat on our climate emergency was much more substantial than I had ever noticed before at a rally. I suspect that wildly popular documentaries like The Game Changers and George Monboit's Apocolypse Cow are making a huge impact, encouraging many of us to seriously rethink the environmental impact of our food choices.

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Another surprise was from a speaker for the Unions, whom I believe might have been Luke Hilakari, Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council. (I am sorry, but I didn't catch his name and have been unable to track the speaker down). Luke made the point that the unions are completely onboard with the climate struggle and appreciate that they might have to break new draconian laws in the process. He also emphasised that climate justice and workers rights are 'one struggle, one fight'. Finally he stressed that the union movement is utterly opposed to the substitution of nuclear power for coal, which I hadn't realised and was very pleased to hear.

The final surprise made me laugh. I was taking pictures of the Grandmothers for Climate Action, and admiring their fine yellow corflutes, when Felicia (below left), said that there was a story behind those signs. Apparently after Clive Palmer's expensive yellow 'Make Australia Great' billboards did not win him a singe seat in the last election, he abandoned them in the street. Felicia's daughter, obviously an ardent recycler, collected them and presented them to her mother. Felicia and her team-mates have transformed them into signs for a campaign that really does have merit. So thank you, Clive Palmer, for helping the cause! 

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There were lots of rebels, young and not-so-young at this event, all lending their weight to this terrific Australia-wide initiative.

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