I’ve received the following invitation which I’m posting for the interest of LP readers who’ll be in Brisbane on the due date.
Your invitation to the launch of the 1 Million Women campaign – Inspiring Climate Change
We’d love you to join us on Thursday, June 18, to celebrate the Queensland launch of – 1 Million Women
Come and join the many Queensland women who are supporting this powerful national campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions.Date : Thursday 18th June
Time: 1pm (for a 1.15pm start) until 2.15pm
Venue: Speaker’s Green, Parliament House
enter via Parliamentary Annex off George StreetRSVP: By Wednesday 17th June
Natalie Isaacs (CEO, Climate Coolers)
natalie.isaacs@climatecoolers.com
0400 301 897Hope you can make it. We look forward to seeing you there.
I can’t help but think that creating social in and social out groups for issues like climate change is a fairly strange thing to do. Are men to have a separate march? Or what about “white men” or “black women” etc. for climate change. I realize that trying to focus certain groups on specific issues is not a bad idea, but somehow group definitions that include the majority of the population for issues which generally affect everybody seems a little bit odd to me.
Conrad, I suspect you didn’t check the link. It seems to be about making a personal commitment to reduce your “carbon footprint”, and sharing ideas about how to achieve that.
Does it also seem odd to you that even though women are the majority of the population, and this is an issue that affects us all, but the female voice seems strangely absent? A woman holds is in charge of the ministry, I know, but in the general population, and on blogs and in discussion forums etc, women’s voices seem to be in the minority.
Having said that, the site gives me the irrits and I didn’t stay long. For some reason I react really badly to moving images on web-pages – funnily I have always thought of this as a very blokey contrivance – so my initial reaction was surprise that the site should look so masculine. I like the idea, but dislike the implementation.
No, I must admit I didn’t check the link. I was just hoping that things like climate change would transcend these types of things.
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I imagine the female voice is strangely absent in Australia since there arn’t enough female shock jocks (although I don’t bother to read some female comentators in things like The Australian, who I assume talk about this stuff, so perhaps I’m just wrong), and most scientists actually spouting useful stuff on the matter are in high level positions and tend come from an era where females didn’t do science much. Ditto for economists. I imagine that this will change at least in terms of scientists (economics still seems like a pretty blokey field) as the baby boomers start dieing out. Indeed, last time I stuck my head in a university chemistry class, there were almost no males at all, so either Australia won’t have chemists or they will be female (or perhaps we will just important them from overseas). The same is true of biology. I guess that only leaves physics which I imagine has a more balanced distribution. As for blogs and stuff, well, if that’s an important gender issue, then it’s up to females to comment/post stuff more.
This group and campaign was discussed some time ago on another blog, Horden about Town probably, but I can’t find the specific thread. Like furious I have a vague sense of disquiet about it, and the site, partly due to the individualisation of a political issue approach. Its sorta like the save water by buying rainwater tanks scenario which is nice and all but an expensive drop in the ocean as far as solving the water issue is concerned and also in some respects distracting from the core causes.
But hey, if it gets people involved and develops public awareness then it can’t be all bad and deserves support.
Its all grist to the mill and from little acorns …..etc..
BTW furious we were going to be in Lake Eyre next week but we are hosting my grandson who is travelling to Adelaide for his intrastate schools hockey competition all week held down by the beach. Last year the wind was blowing straight out of Antartica and we stood with the mums and dads and grannies and others and watched kids run around in rain and freezing wind.
The joys of grandparenthood.
Guh, this campaign is so problematic. Fire Fly does a pretty good job of summarising why.
Hannah’s Dad, hockey seems to be a particularly masochistic sport, good luck to your grandson.
The water in Lake Eyre is very much dependent on the way the wind is blowing, so I would say this week would have been unpredictable anyway, unless you were planning a flight over, trying to see it from the track can be disappointing. Still the mound springs and the gibber are worth the trip in themselves. I’m hoping to find the time to go in the spring, because I think the Flinders Ranges will be a real picture this year.