Friends,

The climate crisis is biting hard. In a shocking article released over the weekend, WaterNSW is reporting that, unless significant rain comes soon, Sydney could run out of water by late October 2021! And towns like Dubbo could run dry as soon as November! [1] 

Join us on Friday to #ClimateStrike and build a climate justice movement with the power to confront this crisis. 

Even more shocking is that this is being reported in the Murdoch Press (Daily Telegraph), a media machine which prefers to deny than report on the climate crisis. This is a sign of just how serious the climate crisis is becoming. But sadly Scott Morrison isn’t hearing the alarm bells. Instead of stepping up to address this crisis, he is backing dangerous new coal and gas projects and skipping UN emergency climate summits.

And that's why it’s so inspiring to see so many Australians rising up to face this enormous challenge where our politicians are not. On Friday, #ClimateStrikes are taking place in over 105 cities and towns across Australia. Over 1600 Australian businesses are supporting their staff to attend. More than 30 trade unions have endorsed the Strike. The Victorian Government has even told public servants they can take leave to join us! [2]

History reminds us that politicians rarely lead major social change - it takes everyday people and  movements to push them. And that’s what we’re doing through this rapidly growing #ClimateStrike network.

Will you #ClimateStrike with millions of us around the world on Friday to build a movement capable of tackling the climate crisis?

Friday is not just another rally. It’s a "strike" - a form of peaceful non-cooperation with the systems that are hurting us all. It's a break from business as usual, to forge relationships, hope, and determination to find new ways of confronting this crisis. We are leaving school, workers are walking out of work, businesses are shutting up shop. This is not a normal rally, because there is nothing normal about what is happening to our world.

And whilst projections like Sydney going totally dry by 2021 are terrifying, they are not a reason to lose hope or give up. They’re the biggest invitation we’ve ever had to come together and fix this mess. Action is the greatest antidote to despair. Collective action is the way we confront what’s before us and support each other in the process.

See you on Friday.

With hope, 

The school strikers 4 climate

PS: Can you chip in to support the costs involved in organising #ClimateStrikes in over 100 cities and towns across Australia? 

References:

[1] Day zero: The dates rivers and dams that supply water are expected to run dry, The Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2019. *

[2] Andrews government gives public servants green light to skip work for protest, The Age, 17 September.​​

*Key Points:

• "In the worst-case scenario, assuming long-range forecasts are correct and there Is no significant rain on the horizon, parts of Sydney would run dry in October 2021 and the city would be completely dry by January 2022, without the desalination plant."
• "The news is worse for more than 170,000 rural residents in towns which could run out of all river and dam water between November this year and March 2021, and would rely on underground water from bores, or emergency supplies of bottled and trucked-in water."