The phrase ‘climate change’ is increasingly playing on everybody’s lips as the world continues to experience extreme weather phenomenons.
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A report released by the Bureau of Meteorology in January stated that 2018 was Australia’s third hottest year on record since 1910. The report highlighted that nine out of Australia’s 10 warmest ever years occurred after 2005. But climate change is nothing new. Dallas Kinnear has been passionately campaigning for climate action for more than 30 years.
THE BEGINNING
Ms Kinnear grew up in Melbourne and had adopted the same mindset as her parents. But that was until her marriage broke down with former television producer Rod Kinnear, at which point she changed her way of thinking.
“I fell into [activism] by accident. I was of a privileged background - private schools, wealthy family, house at Metung, university and college paid for, overseas trip paid for for two years,” she said.
“It had a huge impact on me. I dropped the Liberal way of thinking I had been brought up with and decided to follow the values and lifestyles that resonated in my heart – freedom to choose how to live and what to believe, so I became alternative in very many ways,” she said.
After travelling around Australia with her children for six and a half months, camping all the way on a coastal bus, she returned to Melbourne, where she embraced activism about issues such as water and gas being privatised. She also planted many trees.
AWARENESS
Ms Kinnear first learnt about ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect at a Commission for the Future in the mid 1980’s. The commission was established to focus on issues of the future such as youth, health, sustainable environment and population.
In 1987, the United Nations drew up a Montreal Protocol to limit chloroflueocarbon’s (CFC’s). This was due to CFC’s and heylons, commonly found in fire extinguishers and aerosols, were found to be a leading cause of ozone depletion.
After this, a bill to begin to recycle CFC’s in fridges to stop them going to landfill was drawn up by the Australian Democrats and subsequently put to the federal parliament, but it was voted down by the major parties.
This spurred Ms Kinnear to take action: “I was so incensed at that because I had grandchildren and knew these politicians were not going to do anything.”
THE BOOK
So, armed with teaching qualifications and an idea that the younger generations were the key to a better future, she came up with an idea for a project which would outline all the problems with the environment and pathways to action.
“I had the idea to write the information into every subject in the curriculum – art, English, languages, psychology, maths, science, physics, chemistry – then the students could take actions in the areas they were interested in, to do something about ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.”
She approached the head of the Australian Conservation Foundation and began to write hundreds of letters lobbying for support and funding.
“I wrote to education and environment departments, philanthropic trusts. I don’t know how many I wrote, but I wrote a lot – outlining the whole goal of the project and what it would look like. The idea was to send it free to every public high school, tafe, university, education and environment department.”
She raised $110,000, a large sum in 1987, with the idea embraced by schools across the nation. By educating young people about the issue and offering pathways to solutions, Ms Kinnear hoped the word would spread to older generations.
The Ozone Message was launched by Premier Joan Kirner at Ringwood Tech in April 1988. It was extremely successful, with more than 5500 teachers signed up to the database.
UNITED NATIONS
The Montreal Protocol was set to be re-negotiated in 1990. But it took a lot of lobbying to the United Nations to allow her to bring a delegation of youth to the forum.
“I said it was a matter of inter-generational equity – you cannot re-negotiate a Montreal Protocol to limit ozone depletion without having a youth delegation there to put their point of view to the industry and diplomats.”
After a nationwide radio program on World Environment Day, during which youth could engage and ask questions, she organised for one young person from each state to travel to London with her.
The students and their colourful, handmade ‘Save Ozone’ banner hanging off London Bridge made international headlines, with photographers capturing the perfect shot of the young activists hanging off the bridge, adjacent to the houses of Parliament.
But despite speeches from the youth delegation, change was not effected and another hole in the ozone opened up in the Arctic.
“We have known about climate change since 1960. The science was always there but politicians have done nothing about it,” she said.
HOW TO HELP
She urges youth in the western world to lobby for action and make their voices heard before the full effect of climate change is felt in 2030.
If youth can agitate for change, it may influence older generations to as well.
Ms Kinnear believes personal actions, like giving your vote to a party with a strong climate policy is the beginning, but the most substantial change comes with oneself.
“We need the young people of the western world to start to live simply, so that others may simply live.
“Don’t be hooked in by the lies of the PR system that if you buy something, you will be happy. Buying something to make you happy is all a lie.
“Rich relationships are what make you happy and will replace the goods you will no longer have to buy. Don’t rely on the pollies – find something you are passionate about, educated yourself and tell everybody.”