Darebin Council is developing a new climate emergency plan for our community and they want to hear from you! Please fill in the survey and keep an eye out for workshops and other events where you can put forward your ideas. Don't miss out! Community input will form a key part of the new plan through to the year 2030. To complete the survey and find out more, click here.

Forests – how you can help

Every day the damage continues in the carbon-dense forests that are home to so much endangered wildlife. Want to help stop the destruction of the precious ecosystems on which we depend?

• Help make forests and climate an issue in the November state by hosting a ‘Logging is criminal in a climate emergency’ house sign. Email DCAN to order one.
• Letter-boxers are needed in coming weeks to distribute anti-logging flyers in Northcote and Richmond for our friends at the Victorian Forests Alliance. Please let us know if you have an hour or two to assist with these flyers, or with our Vote Climate scorecards at election time.
• Most weeks there are banner drops with Extinction Rebellion Darebin and actions that halt logging in coupes near Melbourne. This year, Extinction Rebellion’s Spring Rebellion will be focused on stopping logging and will run from 9 - 22 October. If you are interested in forest protests – before or during Spring Rebellion - sign up here for updates.

DCAN receives a Darebin Community Grant for an Electric Vehicle (EV) Project

DCAN is delighted to have been awarded a Community Development Grant from Darebin Council. This will allow us to partner with the Good Car Company which works to help build a cleaner, safer and healthier Australia through bulk-buys of EVs which they then sell at discounted rates.

The project aims to educate our community about the benefits of EVs and provide an opportunity for people to buy one. Darebin Council, along with Yarra and Moreland Councils, is also engaged with this project, which will end with a “Show and Shine” in early November. People who attend this event will be able to test-drive an EV and discuss the ‘ins and outs’ of owning one with experts. More details in the October Dispatch, but contact Kay Wennagel if you are interested in being involved.

Big climate win!

In a great (and well overdue) move, state and federal energy ministers have agreed to put an emissions goal into the National Electricity Objective as the first action under the new National Energy Transformation Partnership. This means regulators will have to consider emissions when they make decisions about how to run our electricity system. This is very important as more than 30% of our emissions come from electricity. The new goal will see more clean, low-cost renewable energy - like wind and solar - in our electricity network, and that means cheaper power bills for all of us. It's wonderful to see state and federal governments working together on this critical issue. 

Geo-engineering whale poo

Some more good news! Sir David King, former climate advisor to the UK government, and the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University are looking into safe ways of replacing the vital function of fertilising the oceans, previously carried out by whales (before we killed nearly all of them). There is a chance that such processes could make a large contribution to drawing down the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by restoring damaged ocean ecosystems. Watch this fascinating video here. It summarises the latest science on tipping points and the proposal for marine biomass regeneration.

Our DCAN T-shirts went to Adelaide!

A team from Darebin Council participated in the 2022 Australasian Local Government Management Challenge in Adelaide last week, having won the Victorian Division in May. As part of their team introduction, they talked about supporting community advocacy and throughout the three-day event, they wore T-shirts and badges to back these causes. This included the fabulous DCAN elephant-in-the-room T-shirt! If you’d like one of these conversation starters, please get in touch.

Thursday chalk, clean, and coffee

Our regular moveable action on the St George’s Rd bike path is still happening at 10am on Thursdays. Each week we chalk messages and tidy a different part while also giving our Groups/Actions/Events flyer to interested passers-by. Often we go for a well-deserved coffee after. If you’d like to join us please email Lesley.