Australian climate change protests

Australians put heads in the sand for Bondi Beach climate protest

The unique protest idea to make a stand against climate change by sticking heads in the sand has spread to Australia's most famous beach

Mashable,

23 November, 2014

On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered on Bondi Beach, Sydney, to do a #headsinthesandsalute, which first happened on a Queensland beach in September. With a loud speaker saying: "Tony Abbott's been doing it for years, you should be right." The crowd dug a hole and shoved their heads in it for two minutes as the sun went down.

George Hirst from Cranky Curlew, who organised the first protest on Townsville's Strand Beach in September, said he hopes this event gets even more attention — and perhaps a world record.

"I'm hoping the Bondi event will send a huge message to our government and the G20 that they can no longer hide their heads in the sand over the climate change planetary emergency," he told Mashable.

Leaders of the G20 nations are meeting in Brisbane, Australia starting this weekend, and it is the first such meeting in years not to include climate change on the agenda. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he wants the meeting to focus on other topics, such as "economic growth," instead. Abbott's government scrapped Australia's carbon tax, and has replaced it with a grants system to encourage companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Abbott has expressed doubts about mainstream climate science findings, which has made him a target of environmental activists in Australia and abroad.

Eden Tehan organised the Bondi event after seeing Hirst's incredible protest that received international attention.

Bondi local Bonnie Perris and Coogee local Rachel Raymond, both 23, toldMashable they came down to the beach to join the protests to draw attention to climate change as "any awareness is good for Australia."

"Australians have a big reliance on fossil fuels and our government is doing very little to change that," Perris said.

"It's a disgrace," Raymond added.