The Colac Otway Shire Climate Action Team are local citizens advocating for urgent action from govt leaders to improve the health of our environment & community, maintain ecological balance & protect the biodiversity of this pristine part of Australia. Our Climate Action Team is part of the citizens of the Colac Otway Shire concerned about the health of our environment and ecological balance impacting the biodiversity of this pristine part of Australia!
The Climate Action Team was established by a group of local citizens of the Colac Otway Shire in 2019 who are driven by their growing concern about the climate and biodiversity emergencies. The horrific Bushfire Summer of 2019-20 and the persistent reluctance of Australian governments to take urgent action in response to what the science was saying have galvanised us to come together to take local action ourselves. We are a group of 140 ordinary volunteer citizens from many backgrounds who are committed to advocating for and initiating climate action with the local council and community. We are not-for-profit, politically unaffiliated association, supported by donations and grants. CAT is managed entirely by volunteers with a Steering Committee which meets weekly.
OUR VISION
The Climate Action Team is motivated by the evidence of climate science. While we share a common fear about the consequences of ‘business as usual’, we believe that collaborative all-of-society urgent action is still possible to de-carbonize the atmosphere and prevent an environmental and social catastrophe. We work to empower people and to monitor, influence and encourage our local government to protect our local land, waterways and biodiversity to provide us all with a healthy and flourishing future.
OUR PURPOSE
Guided by the science, our purpose is to: encourage, support and facilitate the transition away from the fossil-fuel based status quo, and enhance biodiversity protection in our shire, in pursuit of a liveable environment into the future.
OUR VALUES
– Steadfast commitment – work hard in comradeship for non-violent, peaceful ways to accomplish the change needed
– Diversity and inclusion – welcome and respect the diversity of all people and opinions
– Responsibility – be accountable for decisions and actions, promote government accountability for its responsibilities
– Common good – use collective action to pursue and protect the common good for the whole community
– Stewardship – take care of and enhance the natural environment including its land, waterways, air and biodiversity for the benefit of all species and future generations
– Science and reason – use evidence-based science and reason to formulate policies and action
– Democracy – work and act with integrity in accord with democratic, moral and ethical principles.
The Climate Action Team was established by a group of local citizens of the Colac Otway Shire in 2019 driven by their growing concern about the climate and biodiversity emergencies. The horrific Bushfire Summer of 2019-20 and the persistent reluctance of Australian governments to take urgent action in response to what the science was saying have galvanised us to come together to take local action ourselves. At our first public event in 2019 participants called for a Climate and Biodiversity petition to Council. We subsequently gathered 3,249 individual signatures requesting acknowledgment of the climate emergency and need for action. When the then council voted against the petition, Team member, nurse Susan Langridge, stood as a candidate in the 2020 council elections to raise local climate awareness. CAT supported Susan’s campaign and she come within a few votes of election.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Since then, we have continued to advocate to council for climate action via meetings with individual councillors, submissions to the draft Council Plan, questions at council meetings, letters to Council, local media releases and regular mail-outs to our membership. In late 2021 we researched and submitted to Council, ‘A Call for Action for a Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan in the Colac Otway Shire’, a report on how our Council and community can move towards achieving 75% emissions cut by 2030. We have also maintained a ‘persistent presence’ through our ‘Fridays for the Future’ campaign in Colac’s Memorial Square. In 2021 the Climate Action Team incorporated as a not-for-profit association of 140 members governed by a constitution and rules of association. A Steering Committee of meets weekly. We are politically non-aligned, motivated by the science, not by any political ideology. While direct community and membership contact has been limited by two years of Covid pandemic restrictions, a general member meeting in December 2021 confirmed CAT’s direction and steadfast commitment to positive and urgent local action. There are many ideas, accelerating urgency, much to do and so little time. We welcome all who would like to work with us.