Thank you for your service to our community.

Last week, you deferred the development of a climate policy or plan until required by legislation.

If you understood what experts are predicting on our current course, you could not accept making or deferring a 'plan for a plan' as an appropriate response to the emergency we face.

According to experts, if we continue business as usual, my 15 month old daughter and your grandchildren will live in an Australia characterised by widespread famine (1), more and more infectious disease (2), more intense and more frequent natural disasters (fire and flood) (3), and civil unrest from tens of millions of climate refugees sharing our land and already limited food and water resources (4).

Perhaps you think our community can't handle the truth and isn't ready for the necessary climate action. But our community's understanding of the climate emergency, like the rest of the world, is expanding astronomically.

'No Beer on a Dead Planet' was the headline run by a leading beer industry magazine (5).

Shane Warne spoke to the Guardian urging climate action after a the 'Hit for Six' report on the impact of climate change on cricket playing nations (6).

Friday's Global Climate Strike engaged four million people across the world (7), and close to one thousand just in Port Macquarie (my estimate from counting photos).

Fifty-three local governments representing over 22 per cent of Australia's population have declared a climate emergency (8).

On Wednesday night the South Australian Upper House declared a climate emergency (9).

Mainstream and conservative organisations have been jumping on the bandwagon to support climate emergency action; the Australian Medical Association (10); the Uniting Church NSW and ACT Synods (11); associations for teachers (12), nurses and midwives (13). The Pope declared a climate emergency in 2015 (14), and in the last two months has publicly prayed for worlds leaders to take action (15).

The Hastings just had our driest 6 months in 178 years of recorded history (16). Our farmers can't pump from the river to water stock or grow feed (17). Smoke is everywhere from the fires.

Our community's awareness of the climate emergency has sharpened rapidly. Please don't get left behind.

Our willingness and resolve to take action to protect our children's future has sky rocketed. It will not abate.

I urge you to properly inform yourselves of the nature of the climate emergency we face and the solutions that exist.

I urge you to direct council resources to bring you and keep you up to speed on this dynamic and rapidly changing space.

The evidence-based solutions and technology we need to address climate change already exist (18, 19, 20, 21, 22).

We simply need your political will to create and implement a plan commensurate to the emergency we face.

Rachel Sheppard

Port Macquarie

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