Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

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Australia has been largely oblivious to the external effects of our highly consumptive lifestyles and carbon intensive economic system that has earned us the place as being amongst the highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters in the world. The external effects of climate change are often far removed from us, with a general perception that climate change is a phenomena that we have yet to experience – however there are threats to health, home, and culture that rising seas and fossil fuel consumption pose. THE CHALLENGE OF ENERGY In countries like Tuvalu the geography is challenging: in many places you can stand at the lagoon side of the island and see what is happening in the sea on the opposite side of the islands. In this context and similarly for many small island states, resources to adapt to climate change are limited and in particular the energy poverty that means communication is scarce and often unreliable, and health and education services are difficult to maintain. This is a double bind as energy (electricity) is an important means of addressing poverty and infrastructure strength, yet electricity from the combustion of fossil fuels (such as diesel generators which dominate on island states) is the major local source of greenhouse gas emissions. Let there be no doubt, it is the unabated greed of the enriched industrial nations of the world that now threatens the sovereignty ................................................................................................................................................................................................... When sometimes when you ask them [about oil spills] as they want to claim responsible corporate citizens, they will tell you that they clean the spills. And how do they do it They use the highest technology available using bucket, spades and shovels. When they are tired of scooping and shoveling, they set the very crude on fire. That way you have the forest set on fire, we got even rivers set on fire. So when you come to the Niger Delta and you see a fire – do not run into the river! Nnimmo Bassey (Nigeria) of the people of Tuvalu, not the excessive use of air-conditioners and cars in Pacific Island nations. In Nigeria, almost the opposite side of the world to Tuvalu, the oil that goes into products and fuels much of the world’s energy needs is extracted from one of the most energy impoverished and conflict stricken continents on earth. Yet Nigeria was not always like this. Nnimmo Bassey explained clearly that corruption, environmental degradation, exploitation, violence and murder is a result of oil extraction at the hands of multinational corporations including Shell, Chevron Texaco and Exxon Mobil. Social, economic and environmental impoverishment has befallen the people of Nigeria since the first well was sunk in 1956. Since then the soil of the Niger Delta has been literally soaked with spilt oil and the blood of the Nigerian people. Gas flares are a common occurrence in the Niger Delta as the oil corporations burn the associated gas that is extracted during the drilling process. Estimates are that gas flares from oil extraction create more greenhouse gas emissions than all other sources combined from Sub Saharan Africa. The air has been ripped by the noise of gas flaring wasted by the oil transnational corporations, lighting up the night skies for over 40 years. The promise of riches brought by the transnational corporations has turned to ashes in the mouths and lungs of the Nigerian people. Literally thousands of lives have been lost. FoE 30 Years 94
“Climate change is our business…. Most development in many developed countries is undertaken at the costs of the environment. These countries are clearly denying the fact that it is our business to address climate change. I say it is our business! The small low lying island states dotting the major oceans of the Pacific, the Indian and the Atlantic are affected by adverse impacts of climate change. These small island states such as Tuvalu, contribute insignificantly to global emissions but suffers the most.” Siuila Toloa (Tuvalu)
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Up to a few decades ago, many peopl
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It seemed like a simple idea: to pr
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The optimism, courage and creativit
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Over thirty years, FoE has develope
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decades. In Australia, FoE is commi
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This group acted as an inspiration
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In the 1970s, a handful of key issu
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Apart from working on the direct im
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In the mid ‘70s I was studying en
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In 1976, there was a strong campaig
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egan to jostle for access to Antarc
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Keith Suter The future is never as
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I first became aware of FoE via Pet
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I remember the attempts of the nucl
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I grew up with the threat of global
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In late 1980 a couple of people who
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In the 1980s, there was a shift to
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The Australian Mining Journal noted
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sense that these issues formed a pa
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was (and remains to this day) the o
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Ila Marks Dave Sweeney talking at t
Page 49 and 50: from a community radio background,
Page 51 and 52: FoE 30 Years 45
Page 53 and 54: In the early 1990s, the nuclear ind
Page 55: With the Gulf War and the Dili mass
Page 58 and 59: What makes these comments sadder in
Page 60 and 61: FoE 30 Years 54 ...................
Page 62 and 63: Action outside the state government
Page 64 and 65: a month. Perhaps the seminal moment
Page 68 and 69: The first meeting of the Dharnya Al
Page 72 and 73: From 1985 until 1992, undercover of
Page 74 and 75: Kathleen McCann In 1996 I was in Ja
Page 78 and 79: Dave Sweeney From its earliest days
Page 80 and 81: March at the Jabiluka mine site, NT
Page 82 and 83: The camp’s office was located wit
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Page 90 and 91: Gillian Walker ....................
Page 92 and 93: When it was announced that Melbourn
Page 96 and 97: Greens Senator, Bob Brown, 2004 ...
Page 98 and 99: Steph Long, Kim Stewart Friends of
Page 102: Fossil fuels have not bought wealth
Page 105 and 106: Roman Orzanski Possibly the first F
Page 107 and 108: Everyone helped make the procession
Page 109 and 110: In 1996, Consolidated Rutile Ltd ga
Page 111 and 112: Melia Bugeja, FoE Melbourne Food Co
Page 113 and 114: genetic engineering and techno-indu
Page 115 and 116: East Gippsland (CROEG) to launch th
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Page 119 and 120: 1994. VicRoads was planning to wide
Page 121 and 122: Lee Tan “Let’s chuck in some co
Page 123 and 124: Friends of the Earth in Sydney (FoE
Page 125 and 126: Herald Sun Columnist, Andrew Bolt P
Page 127 and 128: change. Mark Carter, co-founder of
Page 129 and 130: Australia given Indigenous manageme
Page 131 and 132: Their final edition, in the year th
Page 134 and 135: FoEA is a federation rather than an
Page 136 and 137: input to national decision making f
Page 138: are independent. A secretariat base
Page 141 and 142: lead to some form of wisdom: a know
Page 149 and 150: Anon (1987); Know your FoE; the Coe
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Page 5 • ‘U Mines’ - Through
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1990s Page 46 • Image from Chain
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• The march that followed the ‘
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Page 116 • FoE ran a food stall a
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Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

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