Walk Against Global Warming in Melbourne and Sydney, sending message to Rudd



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVsGLBzogxs


A huge crowd estimated in news reports at 40,000 people, participated in the Walk against Warming in Melbourne to send a message to Australian Climate Change Minister Senator Penny Wong and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the Copenhagen COP15 UN Climate Change conference. Around the globe (350.org) people protested for an ambitious , fair and binding climate treaty, many calling for higher emission reduction targets to stabilise carbon in the atmosphere at 350ppm to avoid dangerous climate change.

Photos: Melbourne (Flickr) | Youtube videos Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide
100,000 Protest in Copenhagen, Police Make Mass Arrests

In Sydney an estimated 15,000 people marched from Martin Place to the Botanical Gardens. They chanted "Climate Treaty Now - Don't Ditch Kyoto" for a video screened in Copenhagen.

Brisbane's King George Square was a sea of banners and protest slogans with an estimated 10,000 people. Organisers extended the route at the last minute to accommodate the large turnout.

Thousands of people rallied at Adelaide's Rymill Park after marching through the city.

Rallies were also held in Tasmania's Upper Florentine Valley, Perth, and many regional towns such as Geelong, Newcastle and Wollongong.

In Melbourne Spokeswoman Tricia Phelan said "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." she told ABC news.

Two Firefighters who were involved in fighting the Black Saturday (Feb 7, 2009) devastating fires that killed 173 people spoke at the rally at the Melbourne State Library, linking the extreme catastrophic fires to extreme fire weather conditions and climate change.

The rally in Melbourne heard from Leah, a 24 year old Australian citizen from Tuvalu who gave a an account of the frontline of climate change on the atolls of Tuvalu which supports a population of 12,000 people with the highest point above sea level at 1 metre.

Her speech in full at this link:  http://indymedia.org.au/2009/12/12/australians-send-a-climate-message-to-prime-minister-kevin-rudd