Congratulations. We have (bar 1) reached our first goal of 500 votes. The need for a climate emergency declaration is stronger than ever, but still our local government does nothing towards a long-term solution. Climate change is not something our mayor acknowledges, evidenced by zero references to it in his address to Sustainable Living Armidale gathering last Thursday evening.

Our water supply continues to dwindle - Armidale and region has its very own emergency, impacting on all of us every day. We not very far away from another hot spring and summer, which will severely test our water supply.

Since the commencement of this petition, nations, states, councils and other jurisdictions across the world have declared climate emergencies. There are now 914 declarations across 18 countries, representing over 200 million people. Australia has 31 declarations, now including most of the capital cities (compare with Canada with 448 declarations). 

I know that many, many people are very concerned about the climate in our region and worldwide. Please reach out to as many people as you can to make them better informed and get them to sign this petition. Australia has been very slow (probably consistent with the attitude of our federal government) to take on emergency declarations, but is really beginning to pick up the pace now. 

We have to recognise the problem before we can solve it.

This morning I met with members of the Climate Action Armidale group.They are organising a screening of "2040 Join the Regeneration" as a fund-raiser, on Monday 12th August at 6:00 pm, Belgrave Cinema. Please come along and show your support. You can book now at Fan-Force.com/screenings.

Thanks for all your help so far. We need a really big push now to show our local government that we are very very concerned and want action.

Finally, please be aware of the student strike planned for 20th September. This is going to be a massive event across the country. Get all your friends to support our local students.