Melbourne-based climate activist Ben Courtice toured Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong from May 10 to 12 to report back from the World People鈥檚 Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which took place in Bolivia in April.
The conference was held in Cochabamba and attracted about 35,000 activists. Bolivia鈥檚 radical indigenous President Evo Morales convened the summit. Organisers said people from more than 140 countries attended.
In Sydney, 45 people attended a reportback meeting on May 11, sponsored by 91自拍论坛 Weekly.
Earlier that day, Courtice spoke at a meeting organised by Resistance at the University of Western Sydney in Bankstown.
Courtice said the summit鈥檚 final declaration called for world governments to agree to cut atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to under 300 parts per million and aim to limit the average global temperature to a maximum 1掳C of warming.
He also said the summit identified the capitalist system as the root cause of dangerous climate change. It called for activists to strive for a new kind of system not based on unlimited growth and consumerism, but designed to restore harmony with nature and between human beings.
This vision was summed up by Morales as 鈥渓iving well, not better鈥.
In Newcastle, 15 people attended a May 10 meeting with Courtice, organised by the Socialist Alliance. Discussion ranged from how best to show solidarity with developing countries, to the Bolivian government鈥檚 policies on coca leaf cultivation.
Courtice said the Australian climate movement was right to argue that Australia, a wealthy country, should lead the way in emissions cuts and provide cash and technology to allow less developed countries to cut their emissions while still improving their standard of living.
He said one of the best ways the Australian climate movement could demonstrate its solidarity with developing countries was to campaign for the elimination of racist anti-refugee policies.
Courtice also addressed two meetings in Wollongong on May 12.