Writing Letters to the Editor

Writing Letters to the Editor

Writing letters to the editor is a really important way of getting youth’s views on climate heard in the general public. There are a few tips to getting your letter in the newspaper:

They must be short. 200 words max.
Stick to one or two points!
Use your youthful perspective - people are interested in young people's views
Use short, easy-to-read sentences
You must include your full name, address and phone number
Always checkyour letter forrepetition; flow; spelling and grammar; facts
Remember your audience: if you’re writing for a rural newspaper use more colloquialisms, compared to writing for The Australian be more academic
Get your friends to write letters as well - the more letters the paper receives on one issue, the more likely they are to print them

Overall Points:

I am part of Australia’s youth and I am worried about climate change
Taking action on climate change is very urgent
International Cooperation is vital: we need progress at Poznan (COP14)
Will Australia’s targets be strong enough to protect our future? (The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends cuts of 25-40% by 2020)
Will Australia’s government be leaders in the upcoming international negotiations in Poznan?
Twenty of Australia’s youth are going to Poznan
Agreement on tough, ambitious emission targets at Copenhagen is out last chance to get it right – we have twelve months to save the world!
Climate change is about more than climate: it’s a health, agricultural, water and migration issue, it threatens our economy, cultures and biodiversity
Australia invests around $10 billion per year in protecting the coal industry – this should be used to develop renewable energy and clean transport technologies
Deforestation and forest degradation contribute 20% of global emissions, Australia should stop deforestation and degradation and help developing countries do the same

Articles related to Forests:

Globally deforestation accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions
An ANU study, The Green Carbon Report, found that Australia’s forests store up to ten times more carbon than previously thought – meaning they are valuable carbon banks and when we log them we cause more emissions than previously recognised
The Green Carbon Report also found that if we were to stop logging native forests in South-East Australia alone, the carbon dioxide they draw from the atmosphere would be enough to offset 25% of Australia’s emissions for the next 100 years (based on 2005 emissions)
Forests are valuable for reasons aside from mitigating climate change: they protect biodiversity, are our water catchments and provide recreation value
The Green Carbon Report found native forests store far more carbon than plantations and are more reliable stores as they are bio-diverse and resilient to changes such as climate change, disease and fire
Helping developing countries reduce deforestation and degradation emissions is vital to reduce global emissions
The Stern Review found that reducing deforestation is a very cost-effective way of mitigation
Australia must reduce domestic deforestation and degradation, help developing countries and lead in global negotiations

Articles on Water:

In the past 50 years rain fall has changed across Australia, South-East Australia is getting drier whilst North-West Australia is getting wetter.

Changes in rainfall pattern is just one of the effects of climate change
Changes in rainfall pattern are going to have massive effects on agriculture in Australia as well as water availability to our South-East Australian cities and can patterns also cause huge biodiversity losses in wetlands and river systems. For example, the Murray River Red Gum Wetlands are home to over 300 threatened species:
Link this back to climate change by saying that the way to stop the ‘drought’ in South-Eastern Australia is to mitigate climate change and this must be done through effective global negotiations in Poznan.

Articles on Emission Trading Scheme:

Emissions trading scheme will only be valuable if we make deep cuts
Revenue should not be used to continue to support coal-fired power stations
Revenue should be used to: help low-income households, invest in renewable energies (at least $3 billion per year as recommended by Garnaut) and investing in public transport
Fuel tax cuts as recommended by the government is not an efficient way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removes the incentives to switch to lower emission technology – instead the funding should go towards expanding public transport and assisting those in rural areas where public transport is not feasible
An emission trading scheme in isolation is going to have little global mitigation capacity, we must ensure Australia leads in global negotiations, link back to Poznan.

Also:

Articles on immigration, agriculture, fisheries, skiing, oceans, threatened species etc etc can all be tied into the issue of climate change and then back to the international negotiations. Feel free to gather your own information on these topics or send us an email as we’ve got some volunteers with special interest in some of these areas.

Someextra little things you could say:

Nations of the world are currently bickering like kids in a school yard, saying 'I won't reduce my emissions unless you go first,' 'No, you go first,' 'Yo, you go first!'. Someone just has to be the responsible one, the leader, and say 'Ok, I'm ready, will you come with me?'

The Australian government has a responsibility to act on climate change, and the Australian people a responsibility to tell the government what they want. We can't let them make a bad decision on our behalf.
Developed countries are primarily responsible for existing emissions, and hence have a responsibility to take leadership in fixing the problem.
We are all in the same boat; we need to wake up and realise the value of cooperation.
Our generation is the one that will oversee the transition to the sustainable society we hope to build by 2050. We are ready and willing to work hard to solve climate change.