Will I still call Australia home?

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Above: Our summer 09/10 TBS staff t-shirt unveiled at National Conference yesterday has a crucial message we all need to send to our MPs.

We just had another really successful National Manager's Conference where each of our Values Partners (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, Amnesty International and World Society for the Protection of Animals) had half an hour each to update and educate us on the progress of different justice issues we are partnering with them to address. They also briefed us on upcoming campaigns.

In July this year I had the privilege of being one of a handful of passionate activists to be trained by Al Gore as part of his Climate Project leadership program. Our other Values Partner Australian Conservation Foundation and I, decided the time was right to give my version of the presentation to our assembled store managers.

Phew. It went well, although fitting 180 slides in 45 minutes was a challenge. Amnesty and WSPA expressed interested in getting me to give the presentation to their staff. I'm also planning to give the presentation at the Mulgrave Farmer's Market (located at our TBS HQ).

If anyone out there is interested in organising an audience and a data projector, I'm more than happy to come and show your group / org the presentation too. You can host a presentation / request me through The Climate Project website.

According to ACF, Australia has been put on the map for all the wrong reasons. It's the one world first that Australia did not want to win - the title of world's biggest polluter.

A report by British risk analysis company Maplecroft has found that Australia has overtaken the United States as the world's largest polluter and is now leading the world in per capita emissions of CO2, topping a list of 185 countries. read more...

Below is a great satirical video by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) which underlines the importance of acting on taking leadership on Climate Change now! AYCC recently teamed up with World Vision for YouthDecide '09 - Australia's first national youth climate vote.

Here are the results:

• 330 local voting events
• 37,432 votes by young Australians aged 12 - 29
• 91.5% voted for world three - 40+ emissions reduction targets
• 5.9% voted for world two - 25 - 40% emissions reduction targets
• 2.5% voted for world one - Government’s current emissions reduction target of 4-24%

Hello Mr Rudd? Mr Turnbull? Are you listening?