October up-coming events

STAND UP Perth

5:30pm, Friday 17 October 2008
Forrest Place, Perth

STAND UP Against Poverty is a worldwide call to take action against poverty and inequality and for the Millennium Development Goals.   It is a unique global mobilisation which calls on civil society, schools, businesses and NGOs and every day people to band together with the same message – that we must MAKE POVERTY HISTORY.

So if you are in town tomorrow night… join in to put your voice behind this call (there are other Perth STAND UP events too and also, check out more about Anti-poverty week 12-18 October).

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Labor Readers’ Club

6.30pm, Tuesday 21st October 2008
The Velvet Lounge – in the back section of the Flying Scotsman Cnr Walcott and Beaufort Streets, Mt Lawley

The next Labor Readers’ event will discuss the latest Quarterly Essay by Tim Flannery: ‘Now or Never: A Sustainable Future for Australia?‘ (Quarterly Essay, Issue 31).

Flannery, the 2007 Australian of the Year, outlines the threat that global warming poses to humanity. His essay is a passionate plea for both citizens and policy-makers alike to act now and adopt sustainability as a key organising principle.

David Hodgkinson, a climate change and aviation law specialist (see www.hodgkinsongroup.com and www.ecocarbon.org.au) will provide an introduction to the discussion.

Come along and join in the discussion, all are warmly welcomed. The only prerequisite to being a Reader is an open, critical mind and an interest in the future of Australia.

your bus, in your pocket

Just got an email from Transperth telling me that I can now plug 136213.mobi into my mobile’s browser for access to timetables, SmartRider balances and Transperth news.

Looks pretty good!

You’ll need to know the 5-digit number of the bus-stop you want to catch a bus from (which you can look up before hand), or, if you get to the stop and can’t see the bus coming, you can use the service to figure out exactly how long you have to to browse Facebook ’til it gets there.

The train departure times feature is pretty handy too — especially if you’re halfway to the station and wondering whether you can afford to keep strolling or should do some butt-wiggling power-walking so you don’t miss your ride.

To save your mobile browing quota, you can check out the feature online first.

Kudos to Transperth. While their SmartRider system had delays and stuff, they were part of the national launch for Google Transit and little-by-little they’re making using public transport a lot easier by embracing the capabilities of new technology.

Now, if only they could get a few more buses and trains on at peak times, we might be able to shrink our Fair City’s carbon footprint and say goodbye to the St Georges Terrace gridlock.

Or does Darryl Kerrigan need to tell me I’m dreaming?

old news, but just as serious

Just found this amazing video on backinskinnyjeansand I just had to reblog it in the hope just a few more people get to see it.

At the age of 12 Severn Cullis-Suzuki, David Suzuki‘s daughter, gave this truly inspirational speech at the UN Earth Summit in 1992.

I love that she was 12 and so fricking gutsy to get up there and say this stuff (obviously her family connections helped, but that was still her up there. Go girl). The thing that worries me is that she said it SIXTEEN years ago and no one listened to her.

All the things 12-year-old Servern was worried about haven’t resulted in Armageddon, sure, but we’re “fighting inflation” caused by rises in petrol prises caused by continued rising thirst for oil that hasn’t let up over the past decade and a half.

When I was growing up, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and Wiget the World Watcher were educating us about the perils of pollution and environmental degradation. My parents brought me and my brother up knowing that recycling and turning off lights and electrical equipment at the wall was what we HAD TO DO long before it became cool to be climate conscious.

It wasn’t optional for us then, as Servern pointed out, but the most important thing to realise now that it’s even LESS optional.

I just hope it’s not too late.

The video in this post from GenPink is also very interesting on this point.