Ryde Council agrees to declare climate change emergency

Ryde Council has declared the area is in a state of emergency as it plays its part in tackling global warming.

Warragamba Dam’s water level has dropped to 54.5 per cent, as stage-one water restrictions come into effect across Sydney. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

• Minister's 'impressed' with Metro despite hiccups
• Plans unveiled for Civic Centre site revamp

Ryde Council has ramped up its green-eyed vision to tackle global warming after agreeing to declare a climate-change emergency.

As water restrictions kick in amid a big dry across Sydney, Ryde last week joined Newcastle and Inner West as the latest NSW councils to make a bold environmental statement.

Councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of declaring a climate emergency, adding to an earlier commitment to the use of 60 per cent renewables by 2030.

“We are facing an emergency with our climate — and, much like an ocean liner, it will take a long time to put on the brakes,” Greens councillor Christopher Gordon said.

Climate crusader: Cr Christopher Gordon.

“But we need to set a good example for the state and federal governments to follow.

“We have scientists telling that us in the next 20 years, we’ll be facing even more extreme climate problems as rising sea levels are estimated to displace tens of millions of people around the world.”

Cr Gordon lamented the lack of rainfall that has seen Sydney’s dam levels plummet since water restrictions were last enforced a decade ago.

The Harbour City entered level-one water restrictions on Saturday after dam storages dropped from 95 per cent to 53.3 per cent in two years. It’s the equivalent of the city losing an Olympic-size swimming pool every two minutes.

As the drought continues to impact NSW, water levels at Warragamba Dam have dropped to 54.3 per cent. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

“First day of winter and we’re getting water restrictions; how strange is that?” Cr Gordon said.

“I’ve lived in Sydney since 1989 and this sort of weather is unusual with the dryness, the trend of higher temperatures across the seasons, and more freak weather events.

“And there’s been one other significant announcement in the past week where for the first time, since before the dawn of humanity, we’ve topped 415 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere.

“This means that the carbon emissions are so extreme that humanity has never seen it. This shows the environmental crisis we’re in.”

Last week’s council vote on declaring a climate-change emergency was not without its dissenters.

Liberal councillor Jordan Lane said he was “disappointed” the Labor/Green bloc voted for a ratepayer-funded report on the issue, “instead of my plan to share in $150,000 worth of federal funding to improve our local environment”.

“It reinforces their long-term unwillingness for bipartisan collaboration — only now residents are missing out,” Cr Lane said.

In another green initiative, Ryde Council will later this month vote on whether to buy two electric vehicles and install charging stations at Meadowbank, Top Ryde and Macquarie Park.