You are invited to the launch of The Transition Decade, a mass convergence and public meeting presenting a bold new shared plan to restore a safe climate.
When: 12 noon, Sunday 14 February, 2010
Where: Melbourne Town Hall, corner Swanston & Collins Streets
Who: Prominent political, academic and community leaders will
- present the case to restore a safe climate,
- promote a shared time frame for action,
- demonstate the power of collaboration.
The opening address will be by the
Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, AC.
Web: The latest details on speakers are at http://www.t10.net.au/
Seats: Please reserve your free tickets at http://t10launch.eventbrite.com
WHY COME TO THE LAUNCH?
At both the state and national levels, local leadership has failed to deliver even very small cuts in carbon emissions. Not surprisingly at the international level, the recent Copenhagen negotiations have produced no meaningful outcome either. We have to face it, conventional political change methods have not worked.
We have run out of time for half-measures. It is now imperative that a safe climate is restored as fast as humanly possible. This will require zero emissions, and more, at emergency speed.
It seems that what is essential to accomplish is impossible to achieve. Clearly a breakthrough is needed.
The Transition Decade campaign has been designed to meet this dual challenge of going for the goals that are really needed and getting effective change too. The strategy is to harness the power of collaboration. An alliance of committed groups has been formed to drive a collaborative framework through a decade of structural and social change. The launch will create the opportunity to take the size and effectiveness of this alliance to a whole new level.
Already a growing cluster of groups has been working together to define how the safe climate goal can be achieved through technical and lifestyle change. This alliance is also working on how the whole of society can be engaged with such commitment and passion that governments and corporations realise that taking effective action is the only viable course.
The launch of the Transition Decade will showcase leading work by groups that are using this shared time frame and scale of change, and will set out the many ways that thousands of organisations and millions of people can join the alliance.
Can we do it together? Will a shared plan work? Come along and decide for yourself!
This is the Transition Decade, a shared time frame for action to restore a safe climate and sustainable world - for all people, all species, all generations.
WHY 10 YEARS?
The next 10 years are critical for our planet. Global indicators show we are on the verge of committing to catastrophic climate change. Human activity continues to affect the earth’s ecological systems at an alarming rate, increasing the threats to life as we know it on our planet. Serious damage to the climate system continues to escalate as evidenced by accelerating thinning of the Arctic sea ice, glacier melt, and the spread of coral bleaching.
We now stand on the edge of major ecological tipping points that could manifest in the next ten years. These impacts potentially include the loss of all Arctic summer sea ice, and the destruction of 70-80 percent of the Great Barrier Reef. Appropriate risk management would demand the need for immediate action. To protect environmental systems and to avoid further tipping points it will be necessary to act as fast as possible to lower the earth’s temperature to within the safe climate range.
To make this possible we need to create a commitment from the community and build the political will to adopt and implement the necessary actions to avoid further tipping points.
WHAT IS A SAFE CLIMATE?
The “safe climate” approach identifies a band of environmental conditions (pre-industrial) known from experience to be safe for civilisation and all forms of life. This is a very different approach to speculating about the maximum climate damage that civilisation and the earth system can tolerate.
The task ahead requires management to keep the climate within this safe band, or if the earth system has breached the safe band, to restore the earth to the safe zone as quickly as possible.
HOW DOES THE CAMPAIGN WORK?
We need a different approach, an approach that recognizes the full scale, scope and speed of change necessary to match the climate emergency we face.
The Transition Decade creates a platform from which to promote a shared plan to build a mass civil movement. Given the huge scale of what needs to be done to restore a safe climate, it will be impossible to get everything done in a decade, or even two decades, if we continue to approach the transition in a business-as-usual way.
We know that our society can be focused and organised in a highly collaborative way. Our whole human history has depended upon our ability to cooperate in the face of great adversity. With this great strength and our capacity to work together we can empower ourselves to achieve our vision.
It will take a determined effort from all levels of the community to remain committed to effective action until the task is completed. When a significant proportion of the community accepts the climate emergency, we can build the political will to enable governments and business to respond to the shared goals of the Transition Decade. Our political leaders need to hear a clear message from the community that we must invest in policies and projects to achieve a social and structural transition.
To achieve the Transition Decade goals we will need to build a mass alliance engaging all parts of society. This is a vast job that no one group can do alone.
Many of the solutions are well within our reach. Now is the time to engage everyone, everywhere. Together we can work to restore a safe climate.
See who the speakers will be on the Transition Decade Website http://www.t10.net.au
Tickets are free, but you need to reserve yours at http://t10launch.eventbrite.com
