Welcome to the November Dispatch, with updates on our recent events and news about upcoming community actions. The countdown to the State Election is on - vote climate!

Help us make climate a central issue in this election!

With only 2 weeks to the Victorian election, it’s a time when all DCAN supporters can try to get voters thinking about climate policies and using their vote wisely.

As usual, we are producing scorecards for both the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and Legislative Council (upper house) which rate all candidates/parties on their climate policies. Because nominations of candidates do not close until 11 November, the scorecards won’t be available till late next week. So then the rush will be on!

Can you help distribute scorecards – either by letter-boxing or handing them out at train stations or other places where people gather? If so, please let us know.

Fence/window signs still available

Now is also the critical time to get out our house/fence signs. If you would like one, please contact Katherine, who can arrange pick up or delivery to your address. Email Katherine or phone 0402 451 236

Standing room only for Northcote Election Forum

It was a full house for the candidates’ climate forum held at Span Community House on 3rd November! Five candidates vying for the seat of Northcote spoke with passion about their personal and political commitments to take action on climate. There were some excellent questions from the audience including questions about banning new gas exploration and logging native forests.

The five candidates were the current sitting Member for Northcote, Kat Theophanous from the Australian Labor Party, Kath Larkin from the Victorian Socialists, Tim Oseckas from the Animal Justice Party, Campbell Gome from the Greens, and Adrian Whitehead standing as an independent. 

The forum was moderated by Emeritus Professor Judith Brett, local resident, and political historian, and was organised by DCAN with the Darebin Climate Alliance. Missed the forum? Don’t worry - you can watch it here.

The sun shone and so did the electric vehicles on show

The Darebin/Northern Melbourne Show and Shine event at Bundoora last Sunday was a huge success. About 200 people attended to inspect the electric cars and vans and go for test drives. The Good Car Company provided an excellent presentation, answered lots of questions, and had many conversations throughout the day with people keen to find out how their bulk buy works and the savings to be made on purchases via the scheme. We also had lots of great conversations at the DCAN table. The campaign continues this month with test drives and info sessions on Zoom.

It’s not too late to be part of the special bulk buy offer which is open until the 6th December. Register for updates here.

Help clear the air of wood smoke pollution this state election 

Communities for Clean Air Network is a network of people from a diverse range of backgrounds concerned about air pollution and climate change. The network aims to raise awareness about the health and environmental impacts of air pollution, in particular wood smoke pollution.  

Please support the campaign by going to this link.

Did you see our Dotspace display?

We used Halloween as an opportunity to get our giant skeleton into the Clarke Street Dotspace gallery. Lots of our flyers there were taken, so hopefully a little more climate action is taking place.

We already have plans for our next installation! If you have a public facing space we can use, please get in touch.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Join us on Fridays, 5pm - 6pm

The Northcote Fridays for Future gang, a few DCANers and rebels from Extinction Rebellion Northside, all gather at the intersection of St George’s Rd and Merri Pde. We are now on the spring and summer timeslot of 5pm to 6pm on, naturally, Fridays.

It is working really well, with lots of friendly chats to pedestrians, bike riders, and even the occasional driver - the light sequence involves long waits! We also give out our Actions/Groups flyers. We communicate with each other through a Signal chat and would be happy to add you. Let us know if you’d like to be included. Or just turn up and check us out!

Chop the slots on Tuesday 15 November @ Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Join Flight Free Australia as they meet at the opening of the global fossil fuelled aviation industry's  151st International Air Transport Association (IATA) Slot Conference. This gathering to allocate airport landing & departure gates to airlines represents IATA continuing aviation emissions growth, and coincides with the second week of COP27.

For more information, go to the Facebook event page here.

For more information on events across Victoria, visit the Victorian Climate Action Network events page here.