Rasta, Dan Ross and the North Coast Surf Community Need Our Help
COASTALWATCH | ENVIRONMENT
Above is quite a beautiful and important clip made by soul-surf-filmmaker Nathan Oldfield. It's about the impending danger the Clarence River is facing from the threat of mining, and the call to action by Dan Ross and David Rastovich, Hayley Talbot (the first person to paddle the full length of the Clarence), and the local community to help save it.
(Heard enough? Print this off, get it signed, and send it.)
The Clarence River, of course, meets the ocean at the Iluka rivermouth, an iconic region of incredible surf on Australia's east coast. Any surfer who's been lucky enough to surf around there, or any surfer who's seen Morning of the Earth for that matter, doesn't need to be told twice what a special part of the world it is and how important it is to our culture.
There is curently a new copper mine proposal underway for Cangai, directly adjacent to the Mann river, a main tributatary of the Clarence. As seen in 2018 with the Walsh River and Jamie Creed disaster, copper mining has an extremely dangerous history in Australia, and this could pose a serious threat to the ecological health of this pristine region.
Dan and Hayley, old mates from the downriver town of Yamba, are embarking on a 2-week river journey paddling the entire length of the river to raise awareness of this issue.
But the rest of us can start helping now:
The local MP for the region has guaranteed to Dan and Hayley that if they can get 10,000 signatures, the issue will be taken to parliament to ask the legislative council to stop exploration or mining within the Clarence Valley and surrounding area. Let's get it done!
10,000 signatures, should be a piece of piss. However, this petition is going take a little bit more energy from us than usual. We need to print off this petition here, physically sign it, and then post it on.
But it only takes one person to get that happening, to take it down to their local boardriders or wherever, fill it up and send it on. Why not be that person?
Dan, Hayley, Rasta, Nathan, the greater north coast surfing community, and the greater Australian surfing community at large will be ever-thankful for your efforts.
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