climate change time capsule starts ticking

What better way to start Australia Day 2014 than to participate in a Climate Change Time Capsule event out at Birdsland.

Peter Cook and Cr Samantha Dunn, prepare to
'plant' the time capsule, this marked rock will make it
easier for the community to unearth the capsule in 2050.

Peter Cook, time capsule organiser and President of the Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association, said “On Australia Day politicians across Australia will be attending citizenship ceremonies and talking about our great country. Not many, we suspect, will touch on what governments could or should be doing to restore a ‘safe climate’.”

The day was an opportunity to think about climate change and our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. I continue to be concerned about the lack of action on climate change and the dismantling of the Climate Commission. Although on a positive note I am heartened by the crowdfunding of the new Climate Council.



I commend the groups who participated, who continue to
work to highlight the need for action to work to a safe climate,
 I was honoured to be able to turn the first sod.

Our current levels of Co2 emissions is 396ppm and we know that we are headed for  more extreme weather, the brunt of which is being felt in all corners of the earth. 2013 was the year of broken records, every single month climate heat records were broken in Australia.

The purpose of the time capsule was to answer for future generations what we knew about climate change and what we did to prevent it.

The time capsule intends to answer those questions. The time capsule included a plethora of information as well as seeds from local endangered acacia species and many community groups joined in the proceedings to bury the time capsule.

Local CFA brigades and emergency service volunteers and workers were especially recognised at the event as it is them who are in the frontline of dealing with the consequences of climate change and extreme weather.

So many groups contributed to the time capsule, on the day we were joined by representatives of the Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association, the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery, Selby CFA, Belgrave Heights and South CFA, the Shire of Yarra Ranges, The Victorian Greens - Dandenong Ranges branch, Emerald Community House, Southern Dandenongs Landcare, Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands, Friends of the Monbulk Creek (trestle bridge), Emerald for Sustainability and the Knox Environment Society.