Pages tagged "climate change"
Australian parents: Stop fossil fuels from polluting our education
The Australian curriculum must be protected from fossil fuel lobby groups seeking to rewrite facts in our children’s education, says Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA).
A review of the national curriculum is currently open for public consultation and has received a submission from Australia’s chief fossil fuels lobby group, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA).
AP4CA, which represents over 14,000 parents and carers, welcomes revisions proposed by The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to the National School Curriculum’s existing sustainability cross-curriculum priority, which highlight the impact of human behavior on climate change and the potential for human innovation to ensure a safe climate for future generations.
Parents head to the climate strike – to fight for their kids’ future
21 May 2021
Thousands of parents and grandparents around Australia are being schooled by student Climate Strikers, at colourful local events calling for climate action.
Suzie Brown, mother and National Director of Australian Parents for Climate Action said: “Australian parents are joining their kids to take the day off work and school to attend the Climate Strikes today. The School Strike 4 Climate leaders are still teenagers, but they are showing Australian adults what leadership on climate change looks like.”
“As parents we have to be there in solidarity with our kids who, let’s face it, are going to be the ones to really bear the brunt of more droughts, storms and fires if we don’t act on the dire science warnings about climate change,” said Brown.
Read more
Whilst the Australian federal government has set a net zero target for 2050, we can all reduce our own carbon emissions now by making Personal Change. But we must also push governments and businesses to act by working toward Local Change and Widespread Change.
Enter your email address here and we will send you our handy climate action checklist, which includes:
1. The Big Picture on Carbon
2. Goal: Personal Change
- Use less fossil fuels at home
- Cut your emissions from transport
- Move your money!
- Offset your carbon emissions
- Support climate justice
- Eat less meat
- Reduce food waste
3. Goal: Local Change
- Reduce your school or preschool’s carbon emissions
- Start more climate conversations
- Share your story
- Find your tribe
- Hit the streets
- Lobby your council
- Run for election, or support someone else to do so
4. Goal: Widespread Change
- Campaign for climate action at the Federal Election
- Help to Solar Our Schools
- Create your own petition
- Add your name to demand a national Climate Bill
5. Sources and Further Reading
Sign up
‘No-Brainer’: Australian parents call for Federal Budget support to Solar Our Schools
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 JANUARY 2021
AUSTRALIAN PARENTS for Climate Action has renewed calls for the Federal Government to prioritise funding for solar panels on every school and early childhood education centre in Australia, ahead of the deadline for public submissions for the next Federal Budget.
Read moreSolar Our Schools: State of Play - NT
Write to the Northern Territory Minister for Education asking her to work in partnership with the federal government to support funding and remove barriers to Solar Our Schools.
You can cut and paste the template below and customise it where indicated. Or write your own letter.
Email your letter to: [email protected]
Please also bcc our Volunteer Director [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
The Hon Lauren Moss MP Minister for Education
GPO Box 3146 Darwin NT 0801
Dear Minister,
RE Solar Infrastructure for Schools & Early Learning Centres
INSERT: Brief specific info — how many children you have, where you live and why you are worried about their future due to climate change.
I am writing to ask the Northern Territory State Government to work in partnership with the Federal Government to support Solar Our Schools: a COVID-19 recovery initiative that would see solar panels and batteries in all schools and early childhood centres across Australia.
This excellent economic investment will:
- Create many thousands of regional and local jobs
- Save schools and early childhood centres thousands of dollars per year to put towards educational resources
- Immediately reduce carbon emissions
I am one of more than 11,000 parents nationwide who have signed Australian Parents for Climate Action's open letter to the Prime Minister calling for Federal support for Solar Our Schools.
In the past the Northern Territory Government has funded some state schools to get solar panels, however there are still many state schools without solar or with insufficient solar, and very few with batteries.
In addition, many early childhood centres and small independent schools across the Northern Territory do not have solar or batteries, and find the financial and administrative burden too great to access solar.
Installing solar panels in a distributed way across the rooftops of early childhood centres and schools allows them to generate solar for their operations, saving them many thousands of dollars in electricity bills, which can be put towards teaching and learning resources.
INSERT: Brief information about your own kids' school/preschools and whether they have solar. Why would solar (or more solar) and batteries be good for your school/preschool?
What's exciting about coupling solar with batteries is that it unlocks the ability of schools and early childhood centres to become Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) — allowing them to trade their excess solar power with the community via an energy market operator.
Homes like mine in the surrounding area can choose to buy dispatchable energy from school VPPs, enabling the school to earn money to put towards learning resources. This will also stabilize the grid during peak demand events. Schools are closed during most peak demand events — weekends, evenings and school holidays.
Enabling every Australian school and early childhood centre to act as VPPs would provide also 1000 megawatts of dispatchable power into the electricity grid — the equivalent of the Liddell coal-fired power plant.
Importantly, allowing schools to act as VPPs also enables their surrounding communities to have a resilient local power source and emergency safe haven, which is increasingly important in regional areas as we face climate-related big weather events.
I ask that you commit to working with the Federal Government to:
- Fund solar panels for state schools, who do not yet have solar or who have an insufficiently small syste
- Fund a roll-out of batteries in all state schools
- Support solar panels and batteries for NT early childhood centres and independent schools
- Support schools operating as Virtual Power Plants
INSERT: Brief personal message about why this is so important to you.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
(Your full name and address)
-------------------------------------------------------
What else can you do to progress Solar Our Schools?
Sign and share the Open Letter.
Sign up as a Solar Our Schools Champion to get involved at a state and local level.
Donate to the campaign to Solar Our Schools.
Northern Territory White Outline Map Australia from Vector.me
Solar Our Schools: State of Play - WA
Write to the Western Australia Minister for Education and Training asking her to work in partnership with the federal government to support funding and remove barriers to Solar Our Schools.
You can cut and paste the templates below and customise it where indicated. Or write your own letter.
Email your letter to: [email protected]
Please also bcc our Volunteer Director [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
The Hon Sue Ellery MP, Minister for Education and Training
Level 13, Dumas House, 2 Havelock Street,
WEST PERTH WA 6005
Dear Minister,
RE Solar Infrastructure for Schools & Early Learning Centres
INSERT: Brief specific info — how many children you have, where you live and why you are worried about their future due to climate change.
I am writing to you to congratulate your government's recent pre-election announcement to fund a $44.6 million Schools Clean Energy Technology package, and further ask the Western Australian State Government to work in partnership with the Federal Government to support Solar Our Schools: a COVID-19 recovery initiative that would see solar panels and batteries in all schools and early childhood centres across Australia.
This excellent economic investment will:
- Create many thousands of regional and local jobs
- Save schools and early childhood centres thousands of dollars per year to put towards educational resources
- Immediately reduce carbon emissions
I am one of more than 11,000 parents nationwide who have signed Australian Parents for Climate Action's open letter to the Prime Minister calling for Federal support for Solar Our Schools.
Western Australia has made good progress in installing solar and batteries on some state schools, but there is still a large number of schools without solar or with insufficient solar, and many more without batteries. Many Western Australian early childhood centres and independent schools find the financial and administrative burden too great to access solar or batteries.
Installing solar panels in a distributed way across the rooftops of early childhood centres and schools allows them to generate solar for their operations, saving them many thousands of dollars in electricity bills, which can be put towards teaching and learning resources.
INSERT: Brief information about your own kids' school/preschools and whether they have solar. Why would solar (or more solar) and batteries be good for your school/preschool?
What's exciting about coupling solar with batteries is that it unlocks the ability of schools and early childhood centres to become Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) — allowing them to trade their excess solar power with the community via an energy market operator.
Homes like mine in the surrounding area can choose to buy dispatchable energy from school VPPs, enabling the school to earn money to put towards learning resources. This will also stabilize the grid during peak demand events. Schools are closed during most peak demand events — weekends, evenings and school holidays.
Enabling every Australian school and early childhood centre to act as VPPs would provide also 1000 megawatts of dispatchable power into the electricity grid — the equivalent of the Liddell coal-fired power plant.
Importantly, allowing schools to act as VPPs also enables their surrounding communities to have a resilient local power source and emergency safe haven, which is increasingly important in regional areas as we face climate-related big weather events.
I ask that you commit to working with the Federal Government to:
- Fund solar panels for state schools, who do not yet have solar or who have an insufficiently small system
- Fund a roll-out of batteries in all state schools
- Support solar panels and batteries for WA early childhood centres and independent schools
- Support schools operating as Virtual Power Plants
INSERT: Brief personal message about why this is so important to you.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
(Your full name and address)
-------------------------------------------------------
What else can you do to progress Solar Our Schools?
Sign and share the Open Letter.
Sign up as a Solar Our Schools Champion to get involved at a state and local level.
Donate to the campaign to Solar Our Schools.
Solar Our Schools: State of Play - Vic
Write to the Victorian Minister for Education asking him to work in partnership with the federal government to support funding and remove barriers to Solar Our Schools.
You can cut and paste the template below and customise it where indicated. Or write your own letter.
Email your letter to: [email protected]
Please also bcc our Volunteer Director [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
The Hon James Merlino MP Minister for Education
GPO Box 4367 Melbourne Vic 3001
Dear Minister,
RE Solar Infrastructure for Schools & Early Learning Centres
INSERT: Brief specific info — how many children you have, where you live and why you are worried about their future due to climate change.
I am writing to ask the Victorian State Government to work in partnership with the Federal Government to support Solar Our Schools: a COVID-19 recovery initiative that would see solar panels and batteries in all schools and early childhood centres across Australia.
This excellent economic investment will:
- Create many thousands of regional and local jobs
- Save schools and early childhood centres thousands of dollars per year to put towards educational resources
- Immediately reduce carbon emissions
I am one of more than 11,000 parents nationwide who have signed Australian Parents for Climate Action's open letter to the Prime Minister calling for Federal support for Solar Our Schools.
We welcome the Victorian Government’s recent announcement of 600MW of renewable energy to be sourced from wind and solar farms in order to power Victoria’s state schools, hospitals and trains.
Providing solar and batteries to schools directly is a great opportunity to further bolster renewable energy take-up. There are still many Victorian state schools without solar or with insufficient solar, and none with batteries. Many Victorian early childhood centres and independent schools find the financial and administrative burden too great to access solar or batteries. Installing solar panels in a distributed way across the rooftops of early childhood centres and schools allows them to generate solar for their operations, saving them many thousands of dollars in electricity bills, which can be put towards teaching and learning resources.
INSERT: Brief information about your own kids' school/preschools and whether they have solar. Why would solar (or more solar) and batteries be good for your school/preschool?
What's exciting about coupling solar with batteries is that it unlocks the ability of schools and early childhood centres to become Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) — allowing them to trade their excess solar power with the community via an energy market operator.
Homes like mine in the surrounding area can choose to buy dispatchable energy from school VPPs, enabling the school to earn money to put towards learning resources. This will also stabilize the grid during peak demand events. Schools are closed during most peak demand events — weekends, evenings and school holidays.
Enabling every Australian school and early childhood centre to act as VPPs would provide also 1000 megawatts of dispatchable power into the electricity grid — the equivalent of the Liddell coal-fired power plant.
Importantly, allowing schools to act as VPPs also enables their surrounding communities to have a resilient local power source and emergency safe haven, which is increasingly important in regional areas as we face climate-related big weather events.
I ask that you commit to working with the Federal Government to:
- Fund solar panels for state schools, who do not yet have solar or who have an insufficiently small system
- Fund a roll-out of batteries in all state schools
- Support solar panels and batteries for Victorian early childhood centres and independent schools
- Support schools operating as Virtual Power Plants
INSERT: Brief personal message about why this is so important to you.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
(Your full name and address)
-------------------------------------------------------
What else can you do to progress Solar Our Schools?
Sign and share the Open Letter.
Sign up as a Solar Our Schools Champion to get involved at a state and local level.
Donate to the campaign to Solar Our Schools.