By Tate Papworth
A group of environmentally-conscious residents are calling on Brimbank council to play a bigger role in the fight against climate change.
The Brimbank Climate Action group wants Brimbank to join 22 other Australian councils in declaring a climate ‘emergency’.
It’s part of a global online movement which has amassed the support of 597 councils.
Once a council declares an ‘emergency’, councils develop their own action plans, which are encouraged to identify local opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Conducting community outreach strategies, lobbying the state and federal governments to also declare an ‘emergency’ is also encouraged.
Brimbank Climate Action co-founder Julia Collin said someone needed to lead the charge in order to enact change.
“This all came about because a couple of us were chatting online about how we feel leadership is lacking at federal level on climate change.
“There’s a real need for urgency at every level of government across the community,” she said. “The Brimbank council has shown some leadership with things like greenhouse emission targets, which is great, but we need more – we’re calling on them to join the other 22 Australian councils.”
The action group already has 44 members and plans to table its petition to council at its June meeting.
“The council needs 20 signatures to accept a petition as valid, but we want to get 1000,” Ms Collin said. “It’s gone out on Facebook and we’re engaging the community with a few other initiatives to spread awareness. We’ll be collecting signatures from friends, neighbours, sporting clubs, businesses – anywhere.”
If the council declares a climate ‘emergency’, Ms Collin said meaningful action can then become a reality.
“The first step is getting the petition up, but after that we want the community to really pull together to develop a climate emergency response plan.
Residents can obtain further information about the petition at: www.facebook.com/groups/1051721178352458/
