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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald

Southern Blast environmental campaign hits Newcastle shores

Emu Parade's vegetable-oil fuelled fire truck, which will be on hand on the night at Dixon Park, with marine scientist Annie Ford at far right.

Ice cream, music, surf and environmental education are all on the agenda at the Surfrider Foundation's Save the Southern Sea event at Dixon Park Surf Lifesaving Club on Friday, November 17.

The event features a new film, Southern Blast, that celebrates the beauty of Australia's coastlines and the potential devastating impacts of fossil fuel exploration.

The campaign aims to put pressure on the government to cancel a proposed seismic blasting permit searching for gas across the coastlines of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

The Birdman and Dusty Rusty will be playing on the night. The emcee is Surfrider national campaign manager Drew McPherson.

The 37-minute film was shot on location in the Southern Ocean and features iconic free-surfer Torren Martyn, interviews with environmental marine consultants such as Annie Ford.

Ford, a marine scientist based in Hobart, has more than 43,000 followers on Instagram.

The original soundtrack includes the likes of Will Coleman featuring Maanyung. The film is directed by ecologist and award-winning director Matty Hannon.

Hannon's most recent project was The Road to Patagonia.

And yes, there should be bucketloads of free ice cream on the night, courtesy of Ben & Jerry's.

Surfrider's Tour D' Ice Cream will be led by a vegetable-powered vintage fire truck that has been hand retrofitted by beach clean up organisation Emu Parade, run by Roland Davies.

Throughout the tour, Davies and his fire truck will be visiting towns and cities encouraging residents to take action in exchange for a scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The action will be simple, as Ben & Jerry's have created a digital petition which allows local residents and Australians everywhere to automatically send a letter to their local politician calling for the blasting permits to be revoked.

The tour will also hold events at the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Byron Bay, Bellingen and Bondi.

The event runs from 6 to 9pm, on Friday, November 17. Tickets are $10. Available at humantix.com

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