And it is not something councillors have blindly rushed into as over the past few weeks they have heard from locals with a powerful interest in the idea and a handful of people with specialised knowledge.
First of all, it was from four locals led by Bunbartha climate activist, John Pettigrew, who has been talking with people locally and around the district for nearly 15 years about what our disrupted climate system will mean to their lives.
With him at the first of those council briefings were Executive Officer of the Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project Lisa McKenzie, Shepparton businessman John Anderson, and the leader of the Shepparton School Strike for Climate movement Emily Minotti-Watson.
The following week they heard, via video link-up, from the leader of the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub with the CSIRO, Professor David Karoly, and the Department of Agriculture’s climate services department's Graeme Anderson, who is a specialist in seasonal climate.
Council staff have studied changes to our climate system and the impacts they will have on the Goulburn Valley and how the City of Greater Shepparton should prepare itself to not only survive in these changing circumstances, but thrive.
Of course Shepparton would not be a leader in declaring a climate emergency as the City of Darebin in Melbourne became the first municipality in the world to declare a climate emergency when it acted in 2017.
On its website, the City of Darebin says:
“We recognise that we are in a state of climate emergency, and we urgently need to take action to avoid dangerous climate change and provide maximum protection for people and nature.”
It goes on to say: “Darebin’s Climate Emergency Plan outlines the leadership, advocacy and mobilisation directions this Council is taking to respond urgently, and at the scale required to address the climate emergency.”
Shepparton council staff have liaised with their counterparts from Darebin, and other places, and so even though council has not formally declared a climate emergency, much of what it has already been doing in its day-to-day operations have been in keeping with how a climate-aware council would behave. That deserves applause.
In encouraging the City of Greater Shepparton's council to act and for people illustrate their support by being in the gallery on March 17, John Pettigrew pointed out that more than 30 per cent of Australia’s population is now under a climate emergency.
Councils operating under a climate emergency are dotted throughout Melbourne and he felt councillors here could also identify with Ballarat City Council and Indigo, Hepburn and Mount Alexander Shire councils.
The adage of “think globally, act locally” is relevant for while any climate emergency declaration needs to be in accord with what is happening internationally, it must be about needs specific to the Goulburn Valley.
Any declaration must lead to emissions reductions, that’s critical, and the adoption of adaptation ideas that reflect and yet don’t impact unnecessarily on the lives of Greater Shepparton people.
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