Canberrans rally on climate change
October 08, 2006
ORGANISERS of a peaceful rally on grass outside Old Parliament House in Canberra today were hoping to attract 10,000 people to make a stand against climate change. But only about 2,000 people turned up.
The centrepiece of the rally was a sign spelling out the words "clean energy for eternity", formed by humans standing in formation.
But the shortage of protesters meant organisers had to use ingenuity to make their message clear.
Nevertheless, helicopters and planes could clearly make out the words from the sky, although a large map of Australia forming part of the sign had to be abandoned, due to the lack of Australians to form it.
The idea for the rally and sign came from orthopaedic surgeon, Matthew Nott. It followed a similar rally on Tathra beach on the NSW far south coast.
Dr Nott said his environmental passion came alive on New Year's Day this year when he was on surf lifesaving patrol at Tathra.
"On that particular day, a hot westerly wind came through which heated the beach up to 42 degrees Celsius, which was the hottest temperature ever recorded at Tathra beach by four degrees," he said.
At the same time, Dr Nott was reading a book on climate change and it struck a chord.
"I had a decision to make at that stage, whether I dig a little hole in the sand and put my head in it, or keep reading," he said.
"I kept reading and, ever since then, I have been really devoting as much energy as I can to raising awareness about climate change and also finding real solutions."
Dr Nott believes climate change is no longer just an environmental issue.
"This is about sustainability and anyone with kids should be really fired up about climate change because I think we only have a limited amount of time to make a significant difference."
Dr Nott is planning similar rallies at 25 locations across Australia. The next most likely will be at a Sydney beach.
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