From Bass Coast CAN Newsletter Feb 20 [pdf]
To reflect the nation’s poor leadership in tackling the ravaging effects of climate change, over 250 community members gathered to bury their heads in the sand at Inverloch beach.
Lead by Southern Gippsland Extinction Rebellion, the aim was to bring attention to the attitude of political leaders and multinational corporations towards climate change.
Group Convenor and Foster local Lynn Atkinson said she was burying her head in the sand to highlight the behaviour of this country’s political leaders when facing climate change and the multinational corporations which profit from their inaction.
“It warmed my heart to see so many Gippslanders, plus people from as far away as Healesville, coming here today to demonstrate how important it is to address the climate emergency,” she said.
“At the start of these bushfires, our nation’s leader was literally on the sand, in Hawaii on holiday. Companies keep on opening up new coal mines and coal power plants without any consideration of their impact on our environment,” she said.
“Negligence from successive governments is killing people, and harming the health of many more, with disadvantaged communities the hardest hit. Whole ecosystems have been destroyed while extinction threatens many species.”
Miriam Riverlea from Mallacoota attended the action. Her family is staying at Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island until it is safe to return. “What is so amazing is to have no idea when we can go home, but to find a community of people here who totally get what our family is going through as a result of climate change.”