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The Sustainable Hour no 352
Once again we are cramped for room in The Tunnel today.
Our first guest is Masters of Environmental Law student Sonya McKay who has serious concerns about the world we are leaving the children we decided to have. However this hasn’t dented her determination to use her studies to be an active climate solution seeker. We hear of the ambitious plans she has to be a driving force behind the first Protect Our Future From Fossil Fuels Global Day Of Action on 26 June 2021.
The Sustainable Hour will be right beside her and part of the official launch for that day on Saturday 27 March 2021. To find out more about both these days go to Fridays4FutureOnline on Facebook.
Our next guest is Simon Copland from Green Agenda. We learn how this publication focuses on green ideas in the broadest and deepest possible context. Each of the four editions each year focuses on a particular theme, the most recent being “Fire”. These can be freely accessed at www.greenagenda.org.au. They are always looking for fresh content and people to engage in discussions on the topics.
We start out today’s podcast with a part of Sir David Attenborough‘s acclaimed speech to the UN Security Council meeting last week, something Colin Mockett also comments on in this week’s Global Outlook. In fact he starts his report today by taking us to the same meeting. He quotes from two of the speakers, veteran film maker and conservationist Sir David and English Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show just how serious the security situation is as we face up to the climate crisis.
Staying in England, we then hear what the British Climate Commission has recommended should happen. A recommendation that will have huge ramifications for the international aviation and shipping industries.
Our roving reporter Rusty gives us two items he has come across as he travels from farm to farm in the Hunter Valley while he enables farmers to have some time off. He starts off with the person he calls the “Social Commentator” who gives us a wise suggestion on climate. This takes the shape of a simple challenge to us all. How can it be so simple? Rusty then introduces Rod Mitchell who heads up Australia’s chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, a group which over the last five years has concentrated on the lobbying of federal politicians to get a carbon price introduced in Australia. They are always looking for new members and participants in their various online conferences.
We are so grateful for our guests who, week after week, give us freely of their time and inspire hope. We welcome feed back on any of the issues we raise and the people we speak to. We sincerely hope that you, our listeners, get as much out of the show as we did in producing.
Until next week, let’s all work towards the safer, more just, inclusive and healthy world that is possible if enough of us want it to be so. Join the climate revolution with us.
“If we want a liveable – at the very least: a liveable planet for our children which we decided to have and to protect, then we need to think differently about what we are doing. We know that we need to change, and it’s up to us whether we do or we don’t. We know that if we don’t, it’s going to have major consequences on our children.”
~ Sonya McKay, law graduate, current Masters of Environmental Law student, and lead organiser of the #ProtectOurFutureFromFossilFuels Global Day Of Action.
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Acknowledgement
We at The Sustainable Hour would like to pay our respect to the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wathaurong People, and pay our respect to their elders, past, present and future.
The traditional owners lived in harmony with the land. They nurtured it and thrived in often harsh conditions for millenia before they were invaded. Their land was then stolen from them – it wasn’t ceeded. It is becoming more and more obvious that, if we are to survive the climate emergency we are facing, we have much to learn from their land management practices.
Our battle for climate justice won’t be won until our First Nations brothers and sisters have their true justice. When we talk about the future, it means extending our respect to those children not yet born, the generations of the future – remembering the old saying that…
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.”
The decisions currently being made around Australia to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t be around by the time the worst effects hit home. How utterly disgusting, disrespectful and unfair is that?
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Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN
Eli wrote in Extinction Rebellion Victoria’s newsletter on 1 March 2021:
“David Attenborough spoke truth to power last week in a speech to the UN Security Council: ‘It is too late to avoid climate change,’ he said. ‘If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security.’
In this brutal reality, however, comes hope for a truly decent future. A future that is not simply a ‘greener’ version of today’s deeply unjust world, minus the coal, oil and gas. Forced for the first time to act together as a single species, humans may just transcend our long history of conflict, poverty and pain.
‘Through global cooperation we may achieve far more than tackling climate change. We may finally create a stable, healthy world where resources are equally shared. We may for the first time in the entire history of humanity, come to know what it feels like to be secure.’
This is the future we are fighting for and which our movement embodies. Rage for the planet we are losing. Love for the future we want.”
UN Security Council Debate on 23 February 2021
“Climate change is making the world a more dangerous place.”
After decades of political procrastination, it is encouraging to finally see the UN, UK and US along with numerous other countries and organisations stand together on this issue as they did when the UN Security Council met on 23 February 2021 to discuss the security threat which the climate emergency represents.
Many countries have started initiating and implementing better legislation and regulation to address the dire security crisis these leaders themselves have contributed to cause by year after year allowing unregulated and uncontrolled human and industrial carbon emissions to rise, currently amounting to over 50 gigatonnes of planet-warming gasses spewed into the atmosphere annually.
These emissions “will not spare anyone,” as Tunisia’s president Kaïs Saïed formulated it.
“Climate change is a threat to peace and security,” agreed Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini.
Misguided, immoral and shortsighted politicians associated with business leaders in industries profiting from the procrastination, as well as their small army of ‘fossil trolls’ in both mass media and social media, have held the international community paralysed for much too long. But as Greta Thunberg has proclaimed, ‘change is coming’ now.
“Australians are not allowed to cause harm beyond our borders. That is international customary law – and why there is an interest in the International Court of Justice, and seeing what can be done there.”
See the facts about what Shell and Exxon knew – and published – 40 years ago:
~ Sonya McKay, law graduate, current Masters of Environmental Law student, interviewed in The Sustainable Hour no 352
www.climatesafety.info/history.
→ Sydney Morning Herald – 28 February 2021:
Climate campaign teens prepare for court battle with minister over coal expansion
“A group of eight teenagers from across Australia driving a landmark class action that begins in the Federal Court in Melbourne on 2 March 2021. The teenagers are supported by 86-year-old Brigidine nun Sister Brigid Arthur, who is acting as their “litigation guardian” because they are under 18. They are challenging the federal Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, to protect young people from climate change and the future harms of coal mining.”
→ SBS News – 9 September 2020:
Eight Australian teenagers have launched legal action to stop the expansion of a NSW coal mine
“Fifteen-year-old Ambrose Hayes is one of eight young Australians behind a class action calling on the federal government to stop an expansion of Whitehaven’s Vickery coal mine in northern NSW.”
→ Sydney Morning Herald – 28 February 2021:
Strong climate targets make strong friendships, Fiji tells Australia
“Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has called on Australia to increase its emissions reductions goals after a United Nations report showing that despite new commitments the world is still on track for devastating global warming.”
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→ New Scientist – 26 February 2021:
We are nowhere near keeping warming below 1.5°C despite climate plans
“The world is wildly off track meeting the Paris Agreement goal of holding temperature rises to 1.5°C, despite a recent series of more ambitious national climate plans by the European Union, the UK and other countries, a United Nations assessment has found. The consequences are termed as ‘devastating’.”
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Community group in Geelong calls on planning minister to reject corio bay gas terminal
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Reset – Restoring Australia After the Pandemic Recession
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Events we have talked about in The Sustainable Hour
Events in Victoria
The following is a collation of Victorian climate change events, activities, seminars, exhibitions, meetings and protests. Most are free, many ask for RSVP (which lets the organising group know how many to expect), some ask for donations to cover expenses, and a few require registration and fees. This calendar is provided as a free service by volunteers of the Victorian Climate Action Network. Information is as accurate as possible, but changes may occur.
Petitions
→ List of petitions where you can add your name
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Live-streaming on pause
The Sustainable Hour is normally streamed live on the Internet every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time), but due to the corona lockdown, the radio station has been closed.
» To listen to the program on your computer or phone, click here – or go to www.947thepulse.com where you then click on ‘Listen Live’ on the right.
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Podcast archive
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