What would you think is the most important aspect of living in the Moreton Bay region for most people? Cost of living? Safety and security? Access to vital services? Availability of recreational activities?
You’d be right in thinking that these are very important to most people, however according to Moreton Bay Regional Council’s recent Moreton Says Anchor survey, residents’ top concern is environmental preservation. According to the survey ratings, the natural beauty of the region is the most important attribute, regardless of where participants live in the region, their employment status or gender, 90% of residents indicating this is a ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ role for Council.
However, only 18% of residents indicated they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with Council’s performance in this area.
To add to the concern, reports from both Commonwealth and State governments have identified our area as particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Imagine what Caboolture would be like if temperatures increased by 4 degrees and rainfall decreased by over 20%. This is what one CSIRO report concludes will happen unless more action to combat climate change is taken immediately.
And what if, as State government modelling suggests, local sea levels rose by 0.8 metres, enough to swamp the beaches in our seaside communities and flood thousands of homes.
We are already experiencing more frequent, severe droughts, bushfires and floods. These will affect not just our families but also the 200,000 more residents expected to come to our region in the next 30 years.
Some of us think that what our Council is doing to combat the threat of climate change simply isn’t good enough. So late last year we kicked off the Moreton Climate Action Now campaign. Since then it has gained support from individuals, groups and businesses, all interested in ensuring the beauty and diversity that defines the local area are protected for future generations and the region thrives as a livable, sustainable environment for everyone.
From gardens to gum trees, lifestyles to lizards, and trash to turtles, MoretonCAN’s supporters are working to encourage and help Council to do more, urgently, to mitigate the impacts of climate change on more than 800 species of native animals, on the native vegetation that covers more than half of the region, on the 9,000 hectares of internationally significant wetlands – and on our families and all we cherish.
“But what can I do?”, you might say. Well, you can catch up for a friendly chat at one of MoretonCAN’s Sustainability Conversation Spots that pop up at local markets. The folk you’ll meet are all ears.
Discover more about the campaign on our website: www.moretoncan.net.
Join hundreds of other supporters in signing the online petition to Council: https://www.change.org/MoretonBayClimateEmergency.
As one of Dr Seuss’s creative creatures (who mostly said things better than we can) declared, ‘Unless someone like you does a whole awful lot, things aren’t going to get better. They’re not!’
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