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Byron Shire
October 5, 2026

Angelic sendoff for climate paddler

Latest News

Rotunda reopens after restoration

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Golden egg

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Guardian Angel Anne Thompson waves off kayaker Steve Posselt. (Photo Sue Vader)
Guardian Angel Anne Thompson waves off kayaker Steve Posselt. (Photo Sue Vader)

Guardian Angel Anne Thompson waved off kayaker and environmental activist Steve Posselt from Ballina on New Years Day on the final leg of his Connecting Climate Chaos trip around the world.

Mr Posselt intends to deliver thousands of signatures to Canberra politicians on his climate emergency petition climateemergencydeclaration.org/sign.

On his website kayak4earth.com Mr Posselt noted: ‘A small flotilla came down the river to the rescue tower and a couple of hardy souls came out into the sea for a kilometre where a gusty northerly blew me down to Evans Head.

‘The conditions were a great confidence booster as it was a bit breezy and there were plenty of white caps. Both sides of the English Channel and Chesapeake Bay had shown me far worse.’

Mr Posselt will paddle 1,200km to Moruya on the NSW south coast and then drag his canoe Old Yella inland to the nation’s capital, a distance of about 175km via the Kings Highway.

‘I thought my journey was over at Paris but it’s not,’ he said on his website. ‘If absolutely everything promised at the Climate Summit is achieved we might limit global warming to three degrees.

‘Three degrees means no Arctic or Antarctic ice, no glaciers and very likely no humans. This is real, happening at present and for people under 20 now the effects could be catastrophic, not just the wild weather we are experiencing with just one degree of warming.’



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David Shoebridge takes the helm at a time of crisis

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