Newsletters

Newsletter 7, Australia

2009-12-21T03:24:33Z

World Wide Views at Copenhagen
Where were Global citizen's views represented
How the news about World Wide Views has spread in Australia
Photos from Copenhagen
Want more info?
Participants spread the word

World Wide Views at Copenhagen!

Seasons greetings to everyone who’s been following World Wide Views Australia and globally! This is the last newsletter for 2009, and we’re wrapping up everything that has happened since the reports on the proceedings were released here and in Denmark.

Friday 18 Dec was the final day of the COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen. It was the biggest UN conference ever held, with over 15,000 delegates and many more non-government organisations, and civil society representatives. The main conference took place in the Bella Centre, an enormous complex on the outskirts of Copenhagen. After two weeks of intense negotiations, the Conference of the Parties released a "Copenhagen Accord". The full official text is available on the UNFCCC website. (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

Where were Global citizens’ views represented?

The World Wide Views project was represented at many levels in these historic talks.

To each country’s negotiator or representatives by their local organisers
At a dedicated side event at the Bella Centre, for official delegates, including high level- political representatives on December 10
At “Klimaforum”, the parallel people’s summit on climate in Copenhagen on December 9
At the UTS /UNSW Booth in the Bella exhibition centre
Presented by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore at the Mayor’s Summit, attended by more than 80 high profile Mayors from around the world

How news about World Wide Views has spread in Australia

Since November, the World Wide Views organising team held key meetings with three representatives of the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, including a member of the Copenhagen negotiating team; the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore; the Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne; the adviser on climate change to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese; and an adviser to the then Federal Opposition Spokesman on Emissions Trading, Andrew Robb. The response from most of these meetings was very encouraging. Clover Moore has since put out a media release about the results, urging more action here in Australia on the issue of climate change. Ms Moore then went on to present the results of the World Wide Views consultation at the Mayors Summit, and has kept keeping a Copenhagen Diary on the web at: http://cloveratcopenhagen.com.au. The communiqué from the summit has been released, also available at Clover Moore's site: http://clovermoore.com/. We also sent copies of the World Wide Views Australia report to every Senate representative, Federal Member of Parliament and many State Ministers MPs.

In Australia, the recent debates over a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, plus many and varied citizens’ movements have put the issues of climate very much on the front page. In the COP15 talks Australia operated as a “friend of the Chair” which was a position nominated by the Danish President to help countries reach agreement in the negotiations. By now you’ve probably read something about the outcomes from Copenhagen. It’s disappointing to have to conclude that the agreement reached in this round of talks does not yet represent citizens’ views as expressed through World Wide Views. However this is not the end of the story. Negotiations will continue over the coming years and the voice of global citizens expressed through World Wide Views and other vehicles can only grow in relevance and importance. Australia's involvement in World Wide Views still matters - the group here joined with over 4,000 others through World Wide Views plus many thousands more in caring about these negotiations. From all reports, the high level of concern came through loud and clear in Copenhagen and the final statements from leaders like US President Obama and Australian PM Kevin Rudd clearly acknowledge there is a lot more to do.

We are tracking all the places where World Wide Views is mentioned specifically in the news. If you have had a local paper print your story and it is not on the list on this site, it means we don’t know about it. Please email us a copy to wwviews@isf.uts.edu.au!

Photos from Copenhagen

A representative of UTS was at the summit, and sent back photos of talks and the exhibition stand. Click to go to the photo page.

Still want more info?

We followed the Copenhagen negotiations with keen interest, but couldn’t cover all the ins and outs of the negotiating process here. A good place for overview information is the ABC - there is a feature page on their website all about the latest developments in climate change. Sarah Clarke who interviewed some Australian participants was over in Copenhagen to send back reports on progress.

ABC News Feature Page

Official COP15 website (link)

Participants spread the word

Several people who came to the event in Sydney have since gone on to speak to their local papers, or spread the word in other ways. We’ve heard of two participants, Matthew and Christine, who have had other encounters in their communities. If you’ve got something to tell us, please email wwviews@isf.uts.edu.au

Matthew from Sydney spoke to a meeting of around 200 students on November 17, to explain how climate change was linked to his faith. His talk followed three women speakers from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, speaking on women, religion and peace. Being the only man on the panel, Matthew’s talk was more about how guardianship of the planet is an issue for lasting peace. His words promoted thoughtful questions from these final year school students about environmental responsibility and international aid which all the speakers had something to say about. A recurring theme was dialogue and breaking down the sense of ‘the other’ as a step towards compassion, and peace. From this point of view interfaith talks and a deliberative dialogue like World Wide Views have something in common – they seek to give everyone a say – to break down barriers between us. This was Matthew’s first public speaking experience but he was inspired by the experience of World Wide Views and he wanted to say his piece when invited. Jade Herriman from the organising team went along and said he did a great job. The students took every copy of the report home and the organisers didn’t have to do their usual clean up!

Christine from Ocean Grove contacted us to let us know that councillor John Doull from The City of Greater Geelong was going to Copenhagen t oattend the Mayors Summit, along with Clover Moore. Turns out, he had seen her photo in the Ocean Grove Echo, and has clipped it out to make sure he got in touch. They had a meeting over coffee and Christine was able to fill him in on the process, the results and also some web sites to follow up on. Christine reports that John was very interested in the World Wide Views project and the results. He also told her that local governments are concerned that Kyoto did not include considerations at the local government level, so there is an international move to rectify that. John plans to come back and share his experiences of Copenhagen, and continue the work on climate change in the local area.

Newsletter 6, Australia

2009-11-16T23:09:47Z

This is the last newsletter from the World Wide Views on Global Warming team before the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in early December. This week, the issues participants worked on are highly relevant, as the Australian Senate debates our own domestic climate change policy. The World Wide Views consultation was mentioned in two major newspapers on the weekend, Sydney Sun Herald and Melbourne’s Sunday Age, in relation to the Government’s current position and their future position for Copenhagen.

In this newsletter we have some major milestones to share with you - the fruits of the hard work of all the people involved in this global deliberative process.

Australian Video
Australian Reports
Global Report Release
Report Distribution
Citizens and Global Warming

Australian Video

To help show what it means to have 105 people take part in a deliberative process, we put together a short info video. This is free to use, to pass on to your networks, or embed on your own site, post to facebook, twitter, etc. It features footage of participants, facilitators and sponsors!

This week the video is featured on Australian Policy Online and will soon be on G Magazine sites.

For the direct link to watch the video on Youtube. Here, you can can get a code to place it on your website or blog.
Get the video files for downloading. This is where you can download the file, for example to take it to a meeting and show on your computer without an internet connection.

If you use this video, distribute it on the web, or you want some help with the above, please let us know at: newsletter@wwviews.org.au.

Australian Reports

The story of what took place, who attended, how the process worked and what people said are all available in the report and summary, both downloadable from the website, http://wwviews.org.au/results.

If you would like a hard copy of the report mailed to you, please email wwviews@isf.uts.edu.au and provide us with your details.

Global Report Release: November 19

The Danish Board of Technology is launching their international policy report on November 19, in the Danish parliament. They are tabling the report in a panel debate that will include ambassadors from China, Egypt, India, Uganda, Chile and Indonesia. The program for this event is available here: http://www.wwviews.org/node/224. Copies of the global report and a global video will be available from 20 November, Australian time.

Report Distribution

The World Wide Views team has been busy sharing the citizens’ messages. In November, we have had a series of face-to-face briefings with political advisers and politicians. We met with advisers to members of Australia’s negotiating team for the climate talks, the Lord Mayor of Sydney and others in the political sphere. As of Monday 16 November, copies of the summary report are in the post to all Federal Members of Parliament, the entire Senate, relevant State Government Ministers and senior civil servants dealing with climate change issues.

Citizens and Global Warming

Citizens who took part have remained very engaged with the issue. Since our last newsletter, more have spoken to their local papers, some were interviewed on ABC’s Radio Nationals Future Tense program and a few are giving talks in their community. It shows an event like this can have echoes outside of its immediate results. We wish all of you the best in your endeavours, and let us know how it goes! All the news stories we know of are up on the website

Newsletter 5, Australia

2009-10-08T23:56:15Z

World Wide View on Global Warming was a world first, a global citizen’s consultation on climate change. On one day, people from all walks of life in 38 countries got the chance to represent their communities, families and friends on an issue that effects us all.

World-wide results snap shot
Detailed reporting
In the news
Reflections on the day
Video and more
How is World Wide Views related to recent climate news?
Photo use

World-wide results snap shot

The world wide views results page is an interactive database showing how all countries voted on the day. The Danish Board of Technology have also created a pdf “snapshot of the global results”, which you can get a copy of by going to this link :

Global Results (will open a pdf in a new tab or window in your browser)

This is a pdf of the summary of all the voting and all the international recommendations made on the day. The international recommendations make very interesting reading.

Detailed reporting

The World Wide Views team is working towards two major milestones, one for our Australian event report and one is the global report. The plan is to put the results straight into the hands of our decision-makers, so they can see what ordinary people, without a pre-set agenda, think about how we should participate in climate action on the world stage. Both the detailed Australian report and the full-length world report are scheduled to be released around mid-November, so watch this space.

In the news

Our story in Australia got a run on the Saturday ABC news in all capitals, but it’s continued to travel since, through all the participants local areas. Links to the clippings we have from as far afield as, Bendigo, Pine Rivers, Brisbane, Newcastle and Castlemaine are on the “In the media” page on our website. You can also browse a selection of international media and view the ABC clip.

Reflections on the day:

Meg Corbett, one of our younger participants, from Victoria, at just 21, said about the negotiators going to Copenhagen, “I guess the main message is it’s urgent, because it does feel like an issue that has been swept under the carpet, and it would be nice to actually do something, and change what we do at home.”

Richard Overall, from Melbourne sends the message to political leaders that “there is pretty much a consensus that something has to be done, and hopefully they’ll realise that by acting on it they are acting on behalf of all of us, and we also support them in their desire to do something about this.”

Video and more

We took some footage before the event of participants and sponsors talking about World Wide Views on Global Warming and climate change, which you can see on the global media site, here and here.

We will use some of this as well as footage shot during the event to make a 5-minute clip about World Wide Views, that will be widely available for use by anyone involved. Please let us know at newsletter@wwviews.org.au if you would like to have access to the Australian event documentary. We will also provide some footage to the global project, who have funding to put together a documentary on the global process.

How Is World Wide Views related to recent climate news?

The UNFCCC meetings in Bangkok have run from 28 September - 9 October 2009, they are a key milestone heading towards a global climate deal in Copenhagen. Towards the end of the talks Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said "We are now in the eye of the storm... The bricks and mortar of a Copenhagen agreement are being worked on here" in an interview with AFP newswire. AFP reports that The European Union has pledged to cut its carbon dioxide pollution by 20 percent, and Japan by 25 percent if other countries follow suit. In the US, legislation wending its way through Congress would cut carbon output by the equivalent of about four percent from the 1990 mark.

Compare these figures to our group’s response, which was 89% of the whole group in favour of targets over 25%, in fact 31 % voted for 40% cuts or higher. The participants’ recommendation was also a legally binding global agreement to keep global warming at less than 2 degrees Celsius and to develop new technology in an ethical and accountable process.

The Australian Newspaper is regularly polling people on Australian climate change issue, and their latest poll of September 22, said that 67% voters support the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme. The World Wide Views on Global Warming deliberation didn’t delve into individual countries’ policies but it did explore the question “If a new climate deal is made at COP15, should the politicians in your country give high priority to joining it?”, and 90% of people in 38 countries were firmly in favour, voting an unequivocal “yes”. These results come from people being able to review information, deliberate with randomly-selected peers and hear other people's opinions, before making their vote.

Can I use photos in my reports or website?

Absolutely – the Australian photos are up online on the World Wide Views global media portal. If you need to download original files, please email newsletter@wwviews.org.au and we will give you a password to get the hi-resolution versions.

Newsletter 4, Australia

2009-09-29T04:01:08Z

Go here to get photos,a pdf snapshot of the Australian results, a press release and a link to the global site where all countries responses are comparable in one big, user-friendly database.

Australian results of WWViews

Highlights that may surprise you from our group of 100 randomly-selected Aussies:

* A full 99% said there should be reduction targets for Annex 1 countries for the short term.
* 89% said the targets should be 25% or higher, significantly more than what many countries have on the table.
* (92%) think that a global climate deal is urgent and should be made at COP15 in December 2009. If it happens, 94% believe Australian politicians should give high priority to joining it.
* Two-thirds believe countries that do not meet their commitments under a new climate deal be subjected to “severe” or “significant” punishment.
* 74 % say the price of fossil fuels should be increased to deal with climate change.

On the day, Australia was the first country to come on-line, because of our time zone. The group of 100 were selected completely at random and brought to Australia from all States and territories – as far afield as Humpty Doo, Broome, Launceston, Cairns and Kapunda.

The top line recommendation from the group for Australia’s climate negotiators going to Copenhagen was:

“Australia should act now to limit warming below 2 degrees C through a legally binding global agreement. Develop new technology in an ethical and accountable process. The need for leadership, education and technical advances is paramount.”

Global results of World Wide Views

During the day, over 4,000 citizens in 38 countries around the world deliberated on climate policy, using the same process, information materials and sets of questions. In countries as diverse as Canada, China, Uganda, Indonesia, and Chile, citizens with different backgrounds and in all ages discussed how politicians should handle global warming.

Around the world, 90% of over 4,000 participants think that climate change is urgent and a deal should be made at COP15. 82% think that emissions targets should be 25% or higher, with a large chunk sitting at over 40% cuts.

Use our data

We’ve attached a snapshot of the Australian event, but of course a more detailed report will be coming out soon. Please, use our resources in your own communications. We think these are very powerful statistics and the questions were quite deep topics of global significance.

Links

The Australian website results page: press release and the snapshot is downloadable
The global website (click through to results database for comparative data between any of the 38 participating countries)
Photos, video and audio around the word (click on the grey bars for more menus to appear)
FAQ’s about the process: see here for information such as what kind of process was this, why is it different from a poll?

Newsletter 3, Australia

2009-09-20T14:00:00Z

Welcome to our facilitation team!

Participants in their own words

Media and communications

Speakers confirmed

Event Sustainability

PricewaterhouseCoopers also seek citizens' views

Getting the results, live

Welcome to our facilitation team!

There are 32 professional people giving their time to the World Wide Views event to facilitate discussions between our participants and make sure everyone has a chance to have their say. Facilitators were trained on the WWViews process in Sydney and Melbourne last week. They are diverse bunch, with backgrounds in government, the private sector, communications, banking, journalism, environmental management, research, law and more. Click here to read all about the facilitators.

Participants in their own words

Chris, a property developer from Elwood in Victoria says "You see a lot about global warming in the media and it's hard to know what you can do, and this is one small way I could help."

Jonathan, a landscape gardener from Perth, says "Anyone else would have done the same thing if asked to. I'm just an average Aussie person and I'll get my views in."

James, a former school teacher from Dapto in NSW, says "Climate change is an issue that affects us all ... well business has a view, but we have our families, our livelihoods and our grandchildren to think about."

Andrew who works in the building industry in Kapunda SA says"I've always taken notice of the different seasons and how they've changed since I was a kid. I'd like to hear other people's opinions and get a broader view of what the scientists are thinking, and get the extra knowledge of what other people are thinking, and learn more."

Media and communications

We have done a press release this week that you are welcome to send on to professional networks or media contacts. Click here to get the statement.

If you want to use a media release that is specific to your state, please contact Rebecca Short: Rebecca.short@isf.uts.edu.au.

The global media platform is now live, where all the countries participating will be uploading photos, videos and more!

A big thanks to those who are already spreading the word.

Speakers confirmed

We have confirmed the following speakers at the WWViews event:

Patrick Woods, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), University of Technology, Sydney
Liza Maimone, Partner, Sustainability and Climate Change Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Video welcome by Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water
Louise Hand, Ambassador for Climate Change, Department of Climate Change

Event Sustainability

How do you minimise an event's impacts on the environment while maximising participation from around the country? We have tried to reduce our impact in a number of ways – see here for more information.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also seek citizens’ views

Our Platinum sponsor, PricewaterhouseCoopers has recently launched their website “What would you like to change?”. They say “Every action starts with a question. And to get things rolling, we're keen to know what you'd like to change.” Click here to check it out.

Getting the results, live

We will be linking to the the global results page on our webpage, under "results" and our wrap-up media release will go on the "Media" page.

"I've always taken notice of the different seasons and how they've changed since I was a kid. I'd like to hear other people's opinions and get a broader view of what the scientists are thinking, and get the extra knowledge of what other people are thinking, and learn more"

Newsletter 2, Australia

2009-09-06T14:00:00Z

Participants confirmed

Who's talking about World Wide Views

How the results will be released

The global connection - live video and blogs

Promoting the event

Participants confirmed

Participants are coming from all around Australia to take part in this event. We have recruited 100 people from all walks of life, who have agreed to take part in this exciting event. (See our our FAQS about process section for more information on how participants were selected to mirror the diversity of Australians). People are coming from as far afield as Cairns in QLD, Broome in WA, Kapunda in SA and Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. People with a range of occupations from nursing, teaching, landscape gardening and auto repairs are coming along to give their views. The feedback we have received from participants so far is that they really value the opportunity to have a say on climate change when everyone hears so much about it in the media but they don't get much chance to make a difference. The project team welcomes everyone and thanks them for making the commitment of time and effort. We look forward to meeting them in Sydney on the 25th of September!

Who’s talking about World Wide Views?

High profile members of the Australian Government and the business community are talking about world wide views. The Australian Ambassador to Denmark sent a letter of support saying “governments, scientists, and business people all have or have had access to formal mechanisms for putting forward their views on the crucial issue of climate change . . . so it is only fitting that the general public, though the WWViews project, also has an opportunity to channel opinions into the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December.” Environment Business Australia and Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum networks have recently profiled the event on their websites. Click here for more letters of endorsement and support statements.

How the results will be released

As soon as our group of citizens votes on each set of questions during the day, the tally will be entered to the global World Wide Views website. This raw data will be available for all to see. The summary of Australia and the World’s combined results and recommendations will be released on Sunday, 27th September. Following this, a full report on proceedings will be prepared by ISF and disseminated widely to decision-makers and other interested groups in the lead up to COP15 in December.

The global connection - live video and blogs

There are 39 confirmed nations taking part on the day, with a total of 44 WWViews events taking place in these countries Our colleagues in Denmark are assembling three expert panels to comment on the results. The panels will comprise internationally renowned high profile experts. During the day they will “meet” in a live videoconference, where they will discuss the results. Their blog and the videoconference will be accessible via the internet for the media and everyone else interested.

Many partner organisations are also producing video portraits of citizens from their own countries. These will be publicly available, to media and other interested parties, showing a wide range of different citizen perspectives on global warming, COP15 and the consultation event from around the world. Video footage will be available for downloading after the event.

Promoting the event

If you would like to help raise awareness about this important event feel free to pass the one-page brief to contacts or colleagues, or share at forums. The document is available on our “about” page. If you are involved in the event you may also like to start considering how you will help disseminate the results of the event after it takes place, through your organisation’s networks. For example, you might like to share the story of your involvement in company or industry association newsletters. Please send us copies of any articles you write, or links to places you’ve promoted it on your website.

Newsletter 1, Australia

2009-08-23T14:00:00Z

On the web

You can check in for all the latest here on the web: http://wwviews.org.au. We’ll be putting information for participants and facilitators on the site, plus media releases, and more.

We’re also embracing Web 2.0 for this event, so you can follow us on twitter to receive short messages leading up to the event www.twitter.com/wwviews_oz. This is an adjunct to the more traditional media relations and communications channels.

Circulate our news!

We will be sending you several updates between now and the big day, and using it to provide a wrap-up after the event. If you know someone else in your organisation or networks who you think might like to receive this update please send their name and email address to newsletter@wwviews.org.au. If you would like to stop receiving this newsletter please reply with the message “unsubscribe.”

Participant update

Recruitment of randomly selected citizens has been taking place over the past few weeks. Participant recruitment is nearly finished and has been very successful. From the pool of interested people, the project team will be making the final participant selection this week to reflect the diversity of the Australian population. Look out next week for news on the final numbers and where they’re coming from.

Global context

In December, Australia will join world leaders in Copenhagen at the biggest international summit on climate change yet, twelve years after the Kyoto Protocol was adopted worldwide to make a first attempt at emissions cuts. The decisions made by negotiators at this United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) will influence the everyday lives of people right across the world.

This is the first-ever global citizen engagement. Nations represented in World Wide Views include all the major players in climate change politics and many of the world’s more populous nations. The results of the discussions will consider the crucial decisions being taken in Copenhagen, forming a link between citizens and their negotiators.

World Wide Views on Global Warming is a global public consultation project initiated by the Danish Government to empower ordinary citizens to have a voice at the negotiations. We agree that ordinary citizens should get to have their say!

Government support

The World Wide Views Australia project has received a letter of support from Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water, saying that “the opportunity for community to find a voice in UNFCCC negotiation process is a valuable one” and that “through community consultations … national governments have a valuable opportunity to directly access the climate change concerns and aspirations of the communities they represent.” The Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment is also a supporting sponsor.

The team

The team members are listed below, phone numbers and emails are listed on our contacts page.

Participant Support	Nicole Thornton
Media	Rebecca Short
Sponsors Primary Contact	Jennifer Croes
Process, Research & Facilitation	Jade Herriman
Ethics	Emma Partridge
Project Manager	Alison Atherton
Project Director	Stuart White

Confirmed sponsors

Thank you for your generous support of this initiative. We are thrilled to see the private sector and NGO partners supporting the concept of giving citizens a say in the international climate negotiations.

Major Sponsor and Australian WWViews Partner: University of Technology, Sydney

Platinum Sponsor: PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Supporting Sponsors: National Australia Bank, WWF, Victorian Government

And with our thanks to Auspoll and Accor hotels for their support of the project.

Next newsletter

Stay tuned for updates on who has volunteered to facilitate the event; where our participants are coming from; which other countries world wide have signed up to run a WWViews event and how the results will shared.