Contact Rising Tide
Rising Tide Newcastle
Ph: (+61) 0437 275 119
Mail: PO Box 290 Newcastle, 2300
Email: risingtide AT risingtide DOT org DOT au
About us. Rising Tide Australia is a grassroots Newcastle group taking action against the causes of anthropogenic climate change and for equitable, just, effective, and sustainable solutions to the crisis. We are committed to the principals of Non-violent Direct Action. We are part of the global Rising Tide climate justice movement. We live in the biggest coal port in the cosmos.
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international day of action
HI ALL,
HAS ANYONE ORGANISED ANY SORT OF RALLY FOR THE COAL INDUSTRY AT GLADSTONE,QLD.
OR ANYTHING FOR THE ROCKHAMPTON AREA?
THANKS CHRYSSY
Hi Chryssy
coal protests
Actually, mse, the coal
Actually, mse, the coal ships go in and out of Newcastle Harbour all day. Check it out: http://www.newportcorp.com.au/page_shipping.aspx?pageID=58
I live here, and trust me, those ships are always going. This protest will disrupt coal exports, there is no doubt it.
cheerio
Steve
Rising Tide
You are both right
Some ships are in fact restricted in their movements by the tide. The very large ships that come to Newcastle to load coal can only depart on the high tide due to the depth of the channel. When I say large, I'm talking about vessels which load about 120,000 tonnes and over.
The smaller classed vessels which load about 80,000 tonnes on average can move through the channel on all tides.
Based on the latest shipping schedules (which are subject to change up until the eleventh hour) this protest may disrupt the departure of one coal vessel and maybe the vessel that will enter the port to replace it. The ships actually have right of way over all other craft in the harbour, but will obviously not be so callous as to run over protestors in kayaks. Technically, the protestors will be defying martime law.
But my main concern with a protest of this kind is that it will also block the harbour of other non-coal related ships and so these industries suffer for no reason. The biggest impact will not be felt by the Rio Tinto's or BHP's, but will actually be felt by the dock workers of all affected industries who will be turned away for the day and go home without pay. I recall that there were complaints from non-coal workers the last time a blockade was organised.
I understand why you are protesting but can't support disrupting perfectly legitimate and legal business and hurting honest workers. Surely you can make your voice heard in another way.
Disruption by direct action
Thanks for commenting Simon.
It's true that disrupting the activities of people unrelated to the coal industry is a risk during a harbour blockade; we try and avoid such risks whenever we plan to take action in the public domain. I guess on the balance of things we have decided that five hours of minor inconvenience is diminshed by the enormity of climate change, and the disruption it will cause to our community. Direct action of this sort is always a last resort for the reasons you outlined, but it is important too that Newcastle sees how serious this issue is. We have no illusions that the Government will wind back the coal industry without a strong demonstration of public outrage.
As it turned out, no other boats tried to get through, and if they had, nobody would have tried to prevent them. Why would we?
The thing about climate change is that none of us are really "perfectly legitimate" when it comes honestly down to it. We are all the beneficiaries of the greenhouse effect, and all have a responsibility to act to make it right.
thanks again
George (Rising Tide Newcastle)
You people are a joke I bet
You people are a joke I bet you all use power, drive cars looks like you use computers thats good for the enviroment. Block the harbour that will be good for the economy the same economy that supports you people and pays your dull check.
Will you be driving your
Will you be driving your petrol guzzling, steel made cars to your protest ?
Had you perhaps considered that consumer demand for steel drives the coal industry ?
sigh. More vegetarians wearing leather.
Hello again Anonymous, you
Hello again Anonymous, you do leave a lot of comments on this website. A surprising number of them are as spiteful, ill-informed, and presumptuous as this one too.
For your info:
- we're not driving to our next protest, because there are buses to the shopping centre we're protesting at. Some protests we need to drive to, as much as we try to avoid it, but we figure the amount of petrol we use is worth the amount of coal we're trying to stop. As for the steel, as if impecunious activists like us could afford a NEW car. We feel bad about it, when we drive, if that helps.
- we try and consider the full life-cycle greenhouse impact of all decisions, both our own, and those of governments and corporations. That's why we're protesting about climate change at a shopping centre tomorrow. (like, did you do ANY research before venting your spleen all over our website?).
- yep, we're vegetarians (I think we all are anyway, haven't done a survey). If any of us ever wear leather, it is almost certainly second hand. And in any case, the leather industry is a by-product of the meat industry. Cows aren't bred for their leather.
I really wish all you spiteful Anonymouses out there would stop being so presumptuous. Do something about climate change yourselves if you think we're doing it all wrong.
Climate change
Most people i speak too think that Climate change is a load of rubbish. So when your group says that evey australian is wanting Rudd to do something, Could you please speak on behalf of your group and not myself and the millions of other non believers.
cheers
I used to support the Greens
I used to support the Greens but after reading the article on news.com.au this morning and finding out about Rising Tide I will no longer support the Greens.
Your "efforts" to promote climate change awareness is just going to anger people. Do you think angry people will want to listen to your ideas? No.
I also found the majority of things on the list to be extremely childish, throwing pies for example and letting down the tyres of four wheel drives.
Are you aware that some people in this country NEED a four wheel drive? Farmers, people living in country or flood prone areas are just some examples.
You are going the wrong way about drawing attention to climate change, inconveniencing people is NOT going to make them listen to your views. It will do the opposite.