PEP 11 Newcastle to Sydney is dead – now on to Victoria’s Otway Basin

The latest from Surfers For Climate: We all did it - the kids who waved signs at men in suits only concerned with short-term politics; the mums and dads who dipped their toes into campaign waters for the first times in their lives; the surfing community, who recognized they are the custodians of these great coastlines of ours and who stood up and took action when action was needed.

We all did it.

Grassroots Community Organisations like Save Our Coast and Living Ocean, larger international and national organisations like Surfrider Foundation and Surfers For Climate, surf media like Surfing World and Monster Children and onto the mainstream media too, and even businesses like Patagonia. All of these stakeholders came together and did what they each could do to build community awareness and opposition to PEP 11 and it worked.

We all did it.

Take a moment to enjoy that feeling. Winning and saving our backyard feels good, doesn’t it?

Want to have that feeling again?

The anti-gas party wave is rolling south, with Surfers For Climate and Surfrider Foundation (plus other local groups) gearing up to get another win against the expansion of gas extraction in the Otway Basin.

We’ve already started organising by  collecting petition signatures, getting local councils to officially oppose new gas, even popping into a couple of AGM’s recently to let gas polluters like Beach Energy know we’re coming for them, and also letting the big banks like Westpac, ANZ, CBA and NAB know that we won’t let them off the hook either for funding continued gas expansion in Australian waters.

We have some cool initiatives in the pipeline, but also some new approaches that are creative and a lot of fun for us all too. We are also in the final stages of recruiting a new campaigner to work alongside Belinda Baggs after we were awarded funding from Patagonia Australia.

It’s all very exciting and we would love to have you continue the fight with us.

How can you help keep the Otway Basin free of more gas extraction?

. You can fund our work

We are a very small team that is moving mountains - or in this case fossil fools out of the line-up. Campaigning takes passion and energy but also a bit of coin to ensure that we can get the right actions off the ground. Without adequate funding, we can’t get shit done the way we all need it to be done.

If donating isn’t possible right now, we are definitely interested in getting more people on board as volunteers. We have a number of opportunities for people to contribute, and if you’re interested and have some skills spare to put to a good cause, then please get in touch now.

Feel free to email our CEO Josh at: josh@surfersforclimate.org.au

 - NEWS RELEASE FROM SURFERS FOR CLIMATE