Two Weeks to go - Let's turn it up!!

Between Dec 7th and 18th, the world’s leaders are going to be gathering in Copenhagen to make some big decisions about the future of our planet. They’re talking Climate Change. As VGenner’s, we understand that Climate Change is increasingly threatening the livelihoods of the poor, so now is the time to speak out and tell our leaders just how important it is they take strong and urgent action to fight global warming!

We need to remind our leaders of children like Nway who are living in poor, vulnerable (and innocent!) communities which are already feeling the impacts of climate change. It's just not right.

Over the next few weeks we need VGenners to get out there and campaign hard - we've got some awesome strategic and aligned actions for you below - and then UNITE for a National Day of Action on December 12th as we rally around Walk Against Warming.

It's going to be amazing. The best part - we're going to maximise our impact.

WALK AGAINST WARMING

VGen is going to represent at this year’s Walk Against Warming!!
The walk unites thousands of people who care about our climate and every VGen state team will be uniting as well for a National Day of Action! Each state will be organising their own theme, costumes, props, signs, to walk in style and with a purpose – to represent World Vision and the poor at this climate change event.

Where the events are taking place:

SYDNEY 1pm, Martin Place
MELBOURNE 12pm, State Library, Swanston St

BRISBANE 10am, King George Square

ADELAIDE 11am, Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga

PERTH 11am, Perth Cultural Centre, Russell Square

HOBART Timbs Track, Upper Florentine, Gordon River

CANBERRA 11.30am, Federation Mall

IN THE LEAD UP

1. Schmooze with your MP
Get your Vision Group writing letters to your local MP, and set up a time to meet him/her. Tell your MP about Nway and make a passionate plea for stronger climate change action to help the poor!

You can find out who your local Federal Member of Parliament is here

You can find some good templates for letters to MPs at the Youth Decide website here. If you participated in the Youth Decide campaign you may like to retain some of that information, otherwise talk about your concern for climate change and use Nway's story as an example of how poor people are being hit hard - and it's only going to get worse.

2. Harass local Media
Call up you local paper and tell them all about your campaigning efforts in the lead up to Copenhagen. Articulate Nway’s story and share your desire help young people like yourself who are already feeling the impact of climate change.

Find the contact details for your local paper here

3. Host a Vegetarian BBQ
We’ve all learnt about how much energy the meat industry uses and its impact on our climate. If we all ate a little less meat we’d be doing our planet a big favour! Tell your friends about this truth and host a Vegetarian BBQ!

Find some recipes for Vego BBQs here

A good article on meat and climate change here
Watch The Silent Tsunami - particularly the 6min 40secs mark

RESOURCES: (more cool links!)

World Vision website
http://www.worldvision.com.au/Issues/Climate_Change.aspx

Make Poverty History website
Great report they’ve put together - scroll down to ‘Learn’.
http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/2009-Campaigns/Climate-Change.aspx

The Story of Stuff
Great animation that will make you think about our impact on the environment www.storyofstuff.com

Sisters on the Planet
A series of clips about women in developing countries dealing with the effects of Climate Change www.oxfam.org/sisters

You need to meet Nway - her story must be told

When World Vision first met nine-year-old Nway in the wake of Cyclone Nargis as she stumbled around the ruins of her cyclone-ravished school,she carried a blank look on her face – every member of her family had been killed.

Nway was with her aunt when the cyclone struck. The pair squeezed into the village headman's house along with 100 other people. After hours of lashing rain and 240km/h winds, night turned to day and revealed flattened rice crops, flooded roadways, houses reduced to rubble and an unprecedented death toll.

In Nway's village, located hours by boat from the nearest town, 120 people out of a population of 430 had lost their lives. Nway recalls: "When I walked to my Aunt's house that day I passed lots of dead bodies. I wanted to help, but I was too scared. I only helped clean up my Auntie's yard."

With a death toll of more than 140,000 people, Cyclone Nargis entered the history books as one of the deadliest cyclones of all times. Following the disaster were loud and strong calls for better "disaster preparedness."While disaster events cannot always be prevented, their risk can be significantly reduced. As the planet heats up, scientists warn that the occurrence of cyclones and other natural disasters will increase.

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that warming oceans could contribute to increasingly severe cyclones with stronger winds and heavier rains.

"While we can never pinpoint one disaster as the result of climate change, there is enough scientific evidence that climate change will lead to intensification of tropical cyclones," said Sunita Narain, director of the Indian environmental group Center for Science and Environment.
"Nargis is a sign of things to come," she said. "The victims of these cyclones are climate change victims, and their plight should remind the rich world that it is doing too little to contain its greenhouse gas emissions." (full article found here)

Developing communities are incredibly vulnerable to these catastrophic events and villages like Nway’s have little hope of protecting themselves from their devastating impact – or recovering for that matter. Fighting climate change and supporting communities to be better prepared is a must. It really is about life or death which Nway’s village know all too well.

Though Nway's loss has been unfathomable, one year after Cyclone Nargis struck, she can smile again at the future thanks to the support of those who have reached out to her and the work of World Vision. As the only survivor in her family nine-year-old Nway wants to become a doctor and "make this world a better place."

Over the next few weeks, at the onset of Copenhagen:
-> As you write letters to/meet with your MPs, tell them Nway’s story.
-> As you engage your local media and raise public awareness, tell them Nway’s story.
-> As you have conversations with your friends and family and seek their support, tell them Nway’s story.

Read more about Nway, climate change and disaster risk in:

"Reduce Risk and Raise Resilience", Part 2 of World Vision's Climate Change Series.
(It's brilliant)

VGenner Brett Woods and MP Kate Ellis' Indian adventure in pictures

Kate Ellis (Federal MP & VGen Ambassador) spent her parliamentary holidays this year in India with World Vision and VGen star Brett Woods. Here Brett tells us in pictures about their amazing trip...
Laugh out loud
At all the World Vision projects Kate visited, she met strong, empowered, generous women who were committed to generating opportunities for their own children to ensure they were able to attend school, access healthcare and also just enjoy the crazyness of being kids. Three women we met had purchased sewing machines with a loan from World Vision and had set up their own business to bring money into the family - meaning their children no longer needed to work and were free to go to school.

Read more »

Gettin' Hacked with Justin Dillion of Call and Response

Last week was really exciting. Justin Dillion, creator of the rockumentary about human slavery - Call + Response - was in Australia to launch his film.

Antoinette Chiha of Triple J's Hack team caught up with Justin and some of our VGen NSW crew: Matt Darvas, Luke Richmond, Leah Sawell and Cory Duker to talk about the making of the film and what we've been doing here in Australia.

Check out the clip here

Get down to your cinema and watch the film, then start taking action through the Don't Trade Lives campaign.