An introduction to the community event program
Yesterday I spent the day sea-kayaking – something I’ve never done before - with my 16 year old grandson visiting from Western Australia. We were in a group paddling along the beautiful D’Entrecasteaux Channel and the Derwent River. My shoulder muscles are really stiff today. The day was a poignant reminder for me of the beauties of the natural world and the vulnerability of the future that my grandson is entering.
‘Imagining a Different Future’ – that is the phrase that captured me when I became involved in helping to organise a community half day, as part of the Climate Justice conference. For years we (activists, scientists, technical experts and community folk) have been telling people about the reality of climate change with its future risks and climate-change impacted events in the here and now. And here we are in 2018 with frighteningly inadequate policies and deeply engrained avoidance behaviours.
It is easy (and quite therapeutic!) to rail against the powers that be and critically important to engage in the grassroots actions that are fencing in the likes of Adani , but we also need to have an energising vision of a climate-safe future and a pathway that we can follow now. What if we just got to it?
That is the motivation behind my involvement in the community workshops on the afternoon of Feb.10 as the final event of the conference. We will continue the conversation started with the speakers at the Conference and explore how Tasmanians can have a just and sustainable future, keeping the whole world in mind. We will discuss food, energy, economy, communication, work, and what we can learn from indigenous knowledge - with ‘Imagining a different future’ as the focus. Please join us. Register here for the community event
Margaret Steadman was the executive officer of Sustainable Living Tasmania for 13 years. Since retiring, she has continued as a community activist and is a member of Climate Action Hobart, administration support person for Climate Tasmania, a Tasmanian councillor for the Australian Conservation Council, board member of Sustainable Living Tasmania and a volunteer with the refugee settlement program of the Migrant Resource Centre, as well as turning her inner city garden into a food forest.
