Kayak adventurer and ecowarrior, Steve Posselt, has set off on the last leg of his Connecting Climate Chaos journey that has taken him around the world.
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On New Years Day 2017 he brought out his kayak ‘Old Yella’ for the last time and set off from Ballina to collect 100,000 signatures for the Climate Emergency Declaration petition.
His journey is 1200 kilometres down the coast to Moruya and then 180km dragging the kayak up the mountains to Canberra.
Steve will paddle in to Port Macquarie at 9am on Friday January 13 where a Welcome to Biripi Country ceremony will take place.
At 6pm that evening he will address a public meeting in the CWA rooms, Horton Street Port Macquarie and give a lively presentation about his campaigning.
Posselt said that paddling into New York past the Statue of Liberty, paddling past Big Ben in London, and paddling to the steps at the Eiffel Tower in Paris were the emotional highs on his journey but that nothing beats paddling in his own country.
The ecowarrior said that if everything promised at Paris is delivered, the planet will likely see global warming exceed a three degree rise above pre-industrial temperatures.
“Three degrees means no Arctic or Antarctic ice, no glaciers, and very likely no humans,” he said.
Co-author of Climate Code Red, Philip Sutton, said countries needed to understand the accelerating catastrophic impacts of climate change.
“In World War 2, faced with an extreme threat, countries mobilised their economies for action in years not decades,” he said.
“Now, faced with the accelerating catastrophic impacts of climate change we need to act equally decisively and at the same huge scale - to deliver 'victory', that is the restoration of a safe climate.
“The Climate Emergency Declaration petition is putting this approach on the agenda for the community and governments.”
There are around a dozen events organized at cities and towns on the way, including Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, and finally Canberra.
The petition Posselt will deliver to Canberra asks Parliament to declare a climate emergency and mobilise resources to restore a safe climate. It can be signed at http://climateemergencydeclaration.org/sign.
Read more about Steve and his kayaking campaigning at: http://kayak4earth.com/
