Climate Matters: Hills Shire

  Readers this is going to be a longer post than we usually prefer to make.  But information on council candidates’ positions on climate can be hard to come by and Tuesday’s council meeting gave us some important clues about some of the sitting councillors. Councillors Ryan Tracey (Labor) and Tony Hay (Labor) brought a motion to join the Cities Power Partnership to council on Tuesday night.  Congratulations to both of them for that - and for speaking passionately in support and defence of the motion. (Refer to About the Cities Power Partnership near the bottom for more information about this nationwide partnership of diverse councils for a thriving, zero emissions future .) Three members of the community also spoke in support of the motion: Dr Kim Loo, a local GP and driving force in the medical community’s response to climate change; Dr Mila Kasby, Hills resident and veterinarian and an active climate advocate, who is also standing for Council in the North Ward for the Greens; And y

  These are a few things our council can do: Words: Climate Matters: Hills Shire elections 2021 (with apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II ) Music: Richard Rodgers If you need a reminder of the tune, listen here: My Favorite Things from The  Sound of Music Green trees on pavements Protect us from heating, Fifty degrees Is well worth defeating. Preserving the habitat our wild things depend These actions by council would reap dividends Electrify garbage And all council vehicles, Much less to landfill Consumption in circles Reuse and repair and recycle again So sad that our council has no kind of plan When the temps rise, When the fires burn, When it seems too late, I simply remember how little they do And then I feel so irate Bike paths and footpaths Will make us all leaner, Electrify everything Oh so much cleaner. Net zero emissions and turn off the gas Instead of this council just sits on their ass Water efficient No reason for new dams, Rainwater tanks And protecting the wetlands, I

  What a pathetic farce!  It would be funny if it wasn’t so damned serious! The antics of the federal Liberal and National Party caucuses over the bleeding obvious is no less than a disgraceful sham that surely renders them unfit to govern.  Net zero emissions is an absolute no-brainer (perhaps that’s where the problem lies) but 2050 is much, much too late and a recipe for further delay and obfuscation - exactly the intent - but they cannot even agree on that. OK this page is about our local government and we do not wish to dwell on matters outside that remit.  But there are several reasons that this utterly stupid futility is relevant to our up-coming Hills Shire elections: The Hills Shire Council is presently dominated, some may say owned (*), by the Liberal Party.  They hold a majority of 11-2.  This is typically not the case in neighbouring councils, even in conservative areas, that are taking significant action on climate.  For more on this refer to our earlier blog: Are all c

  The preceding is an extract from the August 2020 report Climate Leadership - It’s All Around Us .  Extracts from the report are reproduced here with the permission of the authors Hills 4 Climate Action (part of the Cattai Hills Environment Network ). This blog and our Facebook page and our administrators are not affiliated with any party or candidate standing in The Hills Shire Council elections in 2021.  Nor do we receive funding from any individual, party, institution or corporation.  Our very constrained expenditures are financed by the page administrators themselves acting in a personal capacity.  Our only interest is in a safe climate for current and future residents of the Hills Shire. Email: climate.matters.hills.2021@gmail.com Message: m.me/ClimateMattersHills2021 Facebook: facebook.com/ClimateMattersHills2021 .