Bathurst Community Climate Action Network

On Facebook, your relationship status is on permanent display. You 
get to tick boxes like "married", "single", "in a relationship" or if 
none of those fits precisely, you can click on "it's complicated."

"It's complicated" is also a good description of just about 
everything to do with climate change. The science is complicated, the 
effects are complicated and attempts to manage it are very, very 
complicated. In fact, the government's proposed emissions trading 
scheme is so complicated that very few of us have managed to get our 
heads around it.

Yes, it's all very complicated but it's also crucially important. 
With politicians bogged down in trying to appease the fossil fuels 
lobby, it's up to us, at a grassroots level, to educate ourselves 
about the issue and demand decisive action.

So, where to begin? One place is our local library, which, advised by 
BCCAN, is developing a set of resources on climate change. Their 
collection includes The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery and Carbon 
Grazing by Alan Lauder (who argues the case for paying farmers to 
keep carbon in the ground). There are DVDs as well, including the 
documentary The 11th Hour produced by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The 
library will also shortly have a copy of the DVD Climate Change Goes 
Bush, a short documentary by Yours Truly based on interviews with 
participants in the 2007 Managing Landscapes for Climate Change 
conference held at CSU.

Another good place to become acquainted with the issues and join 
local discussion is the BCCAN website (address below). Our webmaster, 
Patrick Forman, has been working on the Public Forum section which 
includes (fledgling) local discussion threads about issues like local 
gardening, energy and building materials. If these discussion forums 
take off, they will be a great way for people to join the debate from 
the comfort of their own computer desks.

Of course, there's nothing like face to face discussion of the 
issues, which you'll get if you come along to any of BCCAN's regular 
meetings. The next meeting is the Community Awareness Action Planning 
Team meeting upstairs in the Bathurst Council building at 5pm on 
Tuesday, February 23. All welcome.