Earth Day
Written by Tamsin Collins
Published April 2021
WA Members of RACI, welcome to our April Newsletter.
So, did you participate in Clean Up Australia Day? I was lucky enough to participate even whilst out on Prelude; we had what we call an ‘Emu Bob’. This is where we have a structured clean-up of the facility. Each team gets an area to clean up. These happen quite regularly but this one was in honor of Clean Up Australia Day.
What with having action plans to achieve being net Zero by 2050 on my mind, I recently spotted an article by Dr. Jonathan Foley from Project Drawdown on LinkedIn entitled ‘We need four waves of climate action’ which sets out an elegant plan of action for us all. According to the Carbon Law, to deliver net Zero by 2050, we need to halve emissions each decade from now until 2050. Hence, we can’t wait for the big technological fix, even though these will a have critical role to play in helping to get us over the finish line. Right now, we need to go for the Quick Wins to dramatically cut emissions, replace the current infrastructure with new low-emitting systems; and protect current natural carbon sinks and develop new ones to build carbon stocks in trees and soil. These can be achieved by each one of us being intentional with our actions in how we go about our daily lives.
For those interested in getting involved, the 20-22nd April 2021 celebrates the 51st Earth Day. The theme is, Restore Our Earth. The nerd in me is most drawn to their Global Earth Challenge, a crowdsourcing campaign using a mobile app to collect billions of observations in air quality, water quality, insect populations, climate change, plastic pollution and food sustainability. Like the Global Women’s Breakfast, Earth Day has a map with all of the locations where activities are being held. It is great to see that Perth is represented on the Earth Day Global map. The activity is a multisensory exhibition entitled ‘Earth Matters: Rethink the Future’ at SciTech.
If one day is not enough then there is another group, connected with Project Drawdown that sets an Earth Month Ecochallenge in April. Aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and building on 80 of the most substantive solutions to reduce green house gas emissions; there are over 100 suggested actions within eight challenge categories which provide participants with diverse options to do what they can, in the places where they can, to make our planet healthier, more equitable and more sustainable. As of 29th March there are 2830 participants registered and rising. The collective impact will be calculated and highlighted on the website from the 1st April.
Do you think that we RACI might like to get a dot or two on the map next year? What do you think we might like to celebrate?
A few ideas I came across over the last few months that have stuck with me– to be intentional with our actions, and to act at the highest levels open to us, whilst staying grounded within our community.
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