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A little over a month ago an estimated 300,000 Australians ditched work and school to march in the one largest climate protests in the country’s history.
22,000 of those demonstrators rocked up to the Tasmanian leg of the protests in Hobart. Among them was 30-year-old english tutor Sam Campbell.
“I was there, marching around with the big crowds but something about it didn’t feel cathartic,” Campbell told The Feed.
I thought to myself, ‘We’re all gathered here but the people that we’re trying to address probably aren’t even looking out their window.’
So, Campbell decided to take the passion from the protests and send it right to the politicians inbox.
“It was a quiet desperation, the more I read and looked around, I realised that I’ve just got to do something a bit more tangible,” he said.
Documenting his journey on reddit, Campbell compiled a list of 54 local and state politicians in Tassie, bought $84 worth of postage supplies and sent them all letters containing three questions.
1. Would you commit to an acceleration of Australia's response to Climate Change?
Source: Reddit
2. Would you commit to supporting a public declaration we are in a Climate Emergency?
3. Will you personally declare we are in a Climate Crisis?
Leaders from 12 countries, including Canada and the UK, have officially declared a state of climate emergency.
Darebin, Victoria was the first council in the world to declare a climate emergency in 2016. Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide followed suit in 2019.
After waiting a month, Campbell received a total of eight responses to his letters. Three from Liberal Party, and five from Labor.
Not a single response made a commitment to declaring a climate emergency.
Most were sympathetic. Liberals touted the $3.5 billion Climate Solutions Package, which is planned to get Tasmania to the 2030 Paris Agreement target.
Multiple Labor responses mentioned their move to “review policies” after losing the 2018 Federal election.
“The responses I got, they kind of just spoke around it. Some had even copied and pasted the same answers and just changed a few words,” Campbell said.
Response excerpts from Labor Senators Catryna Bilyk, Helen Polley and Carol Brown Source: Supplied
I understand that to a point but no one really wanted to speak out of line, which was a bit disappointing. It makes it hard to see the person in a party.
Despite not receiving a single commitment, Campbell remains convinced that a combination of protest and direct action is the way forward for the climate crisis.
“It’s one of these big, tangled up issues that need a number of responses,” he said.
“The very lowest bar is simply saying 'Yes, there is a climate emergency. It needs to be addressed' Other countries have done it, our allies have done it. If we can’t even say that then Australia is in for a really hard time.”
