*Climate **emergency - **renewables **now**!*

*Protest outside offices of Xstrata coal!*
*1 Macquarie Place** Sydney** CBD (off Loftus St, near Circular Quay) , **
5pm Thursday October 2nd*
***It's a climate emergency!** **Melting of the Arctic sea ice may be
complete by the northern summer of 2010. We must urgently decarbonise our
economy to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and existing greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere. Xtrata, NSW's biggest coal exporter, is about to
start work on the Mangoola mine in the Hunter Valley. The call for
renewables is more urgent than ever!*



The protest is organised by People for a Safe Climate (PSC), which brings
together people from climate action groups and other environmental, peace,
social justice and political organisations. We meet Thursdays, 6pm in the
UTS Students Association back room, level 3, UTS Broadway. All welcome. For
further info, contact Kamala, 0417 319662; Holly 0417 682 541; Alison 9818
6718

*How you can help out before **October 2nd:*

- Come along to the smaller stunts we're holding in the lead-up. The
first such action is on *Thursday Sept 25th 8-9am at Martin Place, *with
another on *Tuesday Sept 30th*.


- Help out at stalls or with leafleting. Please contact us or come along
to our next meeting. Posters and leaflets for the rally can be picked up
at the Resistance Centre (23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale) or outside the UTS
Students' Association (level 3, UTS Tower). *Or they can be downloaded at
*

http://safeclimate.wikispaces.com/poster and

http://safeclimate.wikispaces.com/leaflet+to+print.

- Help us cover the costs of the campaign by donating to:

People for a Safe Climate
Commonwealth Bank. BSB 06 2498 Account no 101 556 65

*
*

*The rally is calling for: *

· *100% electricity from renewables within 10 years*
Former US vice-president Al Gore has called for US power generation to be
100% carbon-free within 10 years. With abundant solar, wind and geothermal
resources, there's no reason why Australia couldn't be powered entirely by
renewables. We must go beyond the government's inadequate targets.

· *Keeping power in public hands*
We need maximum public accountability for the power industry. Full
electricity privatisation has been knocked on the head, but there is still a
danger that our new Premier will sell-off the electricity retailers, move
that would continue to sacrifice our environmental needs.

· *The phasing out of coal*
Burning coal for electricity accounts for over a third of Australia's
greenhouse gas emissions each year. In addition, when Australia's coal
exports are burnt, it causes more pollution than the total of Australia's
domestic economy.

· *The expansion of public transport
*Transport is responsible for 14% of Australia's carbon emissions, with the
largest contribution coming from passenger cars. We need to reverse the
priorities of Governments which fund for freeways while starving public
transport systems.

· *No carbon trading loopholes!*
The government is taking a business-as-usual approach to the climate
emergency. Carbon trading alone will be too slow; with free permits for the
big polluters it won't work at all. It must not be linked to international
"carbon offset" schemes; these do nothing to reduce domestic emissions and
often support environmentally damaging projects. Under its plan, the
government admits, emissions will rise for some years to come.



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