A RALLY at Rosalind Park led by the Bendigo District Australian Conservation Foundation will protest against the coal industry on June 30.
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The event is part of a national day of action in which participants will wear red and highlight the need to “draw a red line through new coal projects”.
Bendigo District ACF facilitator Melissa Abel hopes to attract hundreds of people to the rally.
“We have had couple smaller rallies about the Adani (coal mine) but this is for No New Coal at all,” Ms Abel said.
“Hopefully the No New Coal Rally has a broader message (than Adani) that can reach more people.”
“Australia has been left behind and there are a lot of alternatives (to coal mining). Some smaller countries are already 100 per cent renewable.”
Ms Abel said the world had crossed a tipping point because of the actions of the fossil fuel industry.
“Ending coal and drastically cutting carbon emissions is a matter of urgency,” she said.
“Fossil fuel corporations continue to spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”
Some of the alternatives Ms Abel listed included wind and solar power options that had battery storage.
“Renewables are constantly coming down in price,” she said.
“We’ve got a lot of knowledgeable people (coming) with ties to the Bendigo Sustainability Group, who are co-hosting (the rally) with us and doing some amazing things with solar power.
“I have young children and really worry about what sort of future they have. The science is there but (Australia is) not moving in time with it. It’s worrying.”
The Bendigo District branch of the ACF was formed in September last year after Ms Abel attended a training weekend.
“They were trying to start some local community groups to have grass roots (action),” Ms Abel said.
“There is a lot of really important environmental groups in Bendigo like the Ironbark Gully Friends and the Bendigo Sustainability Group but there is not necessarily a more politcally-active group.
There is a lot of really important environmental groups but there is not necessarily a more politcally-active group.
- Melissa Abel, facilitator for Bendigo District ACF
“We are non-partisan and completely independent. It is important to remove political-ties.”
The Bendigo No New Coal Red Line rally is in Rosalind Park on June 30 from 11am.