Cr Cox said for some people, playing weekend sport was "their mental health outlet".

"It is something that anchors people's lives," Cr Cox said.

"It's a thing they look forward to on the weekend and when an entire season is wiped out like that it actually has a really big impact on people."

Cr Cox's motion said grounds like Roy Johanson Park in Figtree or Nicholson Park in Woonona could be used on a temporary basis and the council could work towards access to grounds owned by the University of Wollongong and the Department of Education. "It's a question as to whether there's anything we can do to explore saving this season by opening up, maybe a few extra grounds." Cr Cox said.

"To the question about cricket being interrupted, I think it's the reason I said 'community sport'," she said.

"My heart is with soccer, but it applies to all sports and you can easily foresee a future where it is 40 degrees every day for a lot of the summer weekends and it's not safe for the cricketers to play and they need to extend their season.

"I think this equally applies across those codes and especially cricket, which is out there in the hot sun."

"It's about planning now knowing that we're going to have droughts and we're going to have wet years again," Cr Cox said.

"What can we do to be hedging these things? I know a lot of clubs immediately look to synthetic pitches as the answer and it could be that it's part of the picture.

"But the one synthetic pitch that we already do have has provided no relief really for washed-out games because it's already 100 per cent in use."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 30 July 2024.

Wollongong City Council Greens candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker is calling for a new tax on profits from fossil fuel companies to help local governments recover from increasing natural disasters.

Renewable energy sources like wind farms were "the quickest and easiest ways" to reduce emissions linked to electricity use, Wollongong councillor Mithra Cox said.

The Greens councillor was speaking on the decision to adopt a plan for Wollongong City Council to address the issue of climate change through to the end of the decade. The Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-30 followed on from the 2020-22 plan and sets a target of zero emissions for council operations by 2030 and net zero emissions for the city by 2050.

Cr Cox said those targets were dependent on the decarbonisation of the electricity grid. "It's the quickest and easiest way to make fast reductions but this is dependent on state and federal targets being met to reduce emissions from electricity."

"Then that is largely dependent on large-scale renewable being built for which there is a proposal for an offshore wind zone here in Wollongong. I'm really proud of the position and leadership council has shown in supporting that and I hope we're able to continue to advocate for that because without those sort of projects happening we've got no chance of meeting the big reductions in electricity decarbonisation."

Cr Cox also spoke of the problems around transportation emissions and, as the move to electric vehicles continued, that more charging options needed to be included in both residential spaces and council car parks.

"It's not going to be enough to have one or two in car parks, especially in multi-unit apartments where parking might be underground."

"It's really, really important that the electricity infrastructure is put in at the time those apartments are being built and that they are delivered to every single parking space, otherwise those car parks will be there for 100 years and won't have the infrastructure in place."

"Similarly our own parking stations, as we upgrade them, will need an electricity connection to every parking space."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 28 November 2023.

The Greens Mithra Cox said climate change was a mammoth task to solve and needed fast action, involving many forms of renewable energy if future generations were to have a livable planet.

"It's going to require a major economic and industrial transformation within our lifetimes and ideally within the next decade," she said.

"But the alternative does not bear thinking about. The sea level rise predictions for Wollongong, if we remain on the current emissions trajectory that we're currently on is three metres by 2100. My kids will still be alive."

She also took aim at the behaviour of people at the Thirroul forum saying she would not engage with people who "heckle an Aboriginal elder... shouts over the top of anyone with a different opinion, or sends fake information mocked up in Microsoft paint and claim it as evidence".

"If you don't care about the impacts of climate change on my generation and the generations to come, then don't expect me to engage on a deep level," she said.

Story by Kate McIlwain in the Illawarra Mercury, 9 October 2023.

The council had an important role to play in reducing community emissions, Cr Mithra Cox said, through empowering people rather than telling them what to do.

"There is a really big role for council in ensuring that we can have all-electric homes, making sure that the electricity connections that they have in the kitchens are good enough that they have induction stoves," Cr Cox said.

"It's also ensuring that new buildings, particularly apartments, have electricity in the car parks in basements should people want to switch to electric vehicles.
"When you build an apartment, it's going to be there for the next 50, 70 or 80 years. The decisions we're going to be making are going to be with us for a long time."

Cr Cox also noted that the Whyte's Gully tip was the biggest source of the council emissions and that she didn't feel they could capture 100 per cent of them by 2030.

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 18 September 2023.

Greens candidate for Heathcote Cooper Riach joins Jo Ryan on Enterprise as part of 2SSR's NSW State Election Interview Series.

Interview with Jo Ryan on Enterprise at 2SSR, 20 March 2023.

Dr Tonia Gray, Greens candidate for Kiama in the 2023 NSW State Election.

With Lindsay McDougall on ABC Illawarra Drive, 20 March 2023.

A NSW election candidates' forum - complete with notable climate and environmental advocates - will be held at Coledale on Sunday.
Dr Saul Griffiths, of the Electrify2515 project will speak at the event which will be emceed by author of Together We Can, Claire O'Rourke.

Expected to be joining the forum to front debate on policies being taken to the state election, will be Heathcote candidates for The Greens, Cooper Riarc

Story in the Illawarra Mercury, 17 March 2023.

Wollongong City Councillor Mithra Cox is calling for council to update its emissions target in line with that of the federal government.

The council has had the net zero by 2050 target for years but Cr Cox believes the council does not hold all policy levers to achieve it.

Cr Cox said when the council adopted the 2050 target, it was a net zero target for 2050 for the whole city with no set midway mark they had to meet to show their progress.

"Since then the government has announced an ambitious interim target on the way to 2050, which is a 43 per cent emissions cut by 2030," she said.

The councillor said the move by the federal government while ambitious, is logical and significant given that it'll ensure that the country's on the right track. "It makes sense for all three levels of government to harmonise and be on the same track to net zero emissions."

Cr Cox believes it will be easier for a country as a whole to be moving at the same pace. "Our community has told us how deeply they care about they environment especially after already feeling the severe impacts of climate change in the form of floods and bushfires," she said. Cr Cox believes the community is sensing the urgency of the situation and urging the government to act quickly. The council, Cr Cox said, is looking to work with other levels of government to achieve the target. "The steelworks is the biggest carbon emitter in Wollongong but we don't have the jurisdiction to change that so all levels of government need to work together to do what's good for the environment," she said. There is also a 80 per cent renewable energy target to be achieved by 2030.

"If we are involved in supporting that target and having all of our electricity use switched to renewables in that time, that would get us a really significant way to achieving that target, even though Council itself is not able to do it alone," she said.

Cr Cox said it is not just the government that needs to work as a whole but the community and businesses.

Story by Zaina A Sayeda at the Illawarra Mercury, 14 October 2022.