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In The Tunnel today, we start with a clip from the United Kingdom – it’s part of a twice daily bulletin about the reality of the climate crisis, but comes from a very unusual source: Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News. Discussion follows on why this isn’t happening in our country where Sky News has been feeding climate denial for a very long time. The UK head office has all of a sudden started to give new meaning to its name, delivering news both from and about what is happening with the sky above us.
Our two guests in The Tunnel this week are a case of two sciences: psychology and physics, intersecting.
[33:10] Firstly we have Kylie Harris who is a psychology researcher. She is very much attuned to indigenous wisdom and spirituality and reveals what her studies have shown her what needs to happen as we face up to the climate emergency.
[39:24] Retired teacher Keith Burrows covers the physics and why he chooses to educate his peers and others about the physical reality of the climate emergency. Part of Keith’s education is a website that he has developed. You can find it at: www.cs4s.net. He calls it ‘Climate Science for Sceptics’.
The fascinating discussion that follows looks at many issues – some of them being:
- Telling the truth on climate
- The influence of the Murdoch media in Australia
- The importance of calling out the fundamentalist religion that our Prime Minister follows and its negative influence on our federal government’s policies on climate and other important issues
- The value of validation: how it starts the healing process
- Together we can get there
[16:39] “Voters are being duped on climate”, says Independent member of Parliament Zali Steggall as she explains for networkers in the Mass Mailout for Climate campaign what the current status is for her proposed Climate Change Bill. We play two excerpts of her talk, where Zali also pinpoints that the Australian government stopped keeping track of what is happening with the climate in 2015. “We are flying blind,” she says.
[04:33] Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook starts off with the 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report. News about this, which was eight years in the making, has dominated world media this week. As expected, its language is even stronger as to the reality of the situation we face, as well as the dire need for emergency action to avoid the impending disasters. We also learn of the implications for our Australian government.
Colin then takes us to the cut-off date for scientific submissions of updated nationally determined contributions, NDCs, to be included in a United Nations synthesis report that will be issued later this year, ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. We hear that two nations were hindering this compilation process: Saudi Arabia and India slowed the negotiations – with the Saudis said to be challenging every line, and India insisting that historical emissions be emphasised over current ones. Australia apparently remained silent on the proposed report.
Next Colin brings news from Sweden proposing carbon capture of a different kind. This is not putting emissions into underground caves, it’s aimed at capturing carbon that’s already in the atmosphere by burning agricultural waste. This would theoretically suck carbon out of the sky when the product grows which would remain buried after the crop is burned. Colin adds that scientists rate this a good concept in theory, but is sceptical himself because it would divert media and political attention from the real issue of nations switching speedily to renewable energy. Let’s not make it another opportunity for the fossil fuel industry to prolong its existence, he says.
We zoom to Seattle in America with news that an air-cargo company based in that area has ordered 12 fully electric cargo planes from the Seattle-area based leading global manufacturer of all-electric aircraft Eviation. These herald a new age in aviation: zero emission flying! Expected to be delivered in 2024.
Finally for today, Colin issues a stark warning that in the wake of this year’s astonishing climate related extreme weather events, which – as you may have seen on your tv screen – include wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada, Russia, Siberia, Brazil, Turkey and Italy, and devastating floods and mudslides in northern Europe, North Korea and central China – came the news that America’s out-of-control wildfires – already the worst in history – are burning forests that were planted as a way of reducing carbon credits for multinational companies, most especially Microsoft and BP. The effect of this on the carbon market is yet to be assessed. One thing for sure is that it’s a ‘double hit’ in the not-so-good way.
[27:53] We pay tribute to a rap song that came out of the Juice Media stable seven years ago, in the days when Australia’s Prime Minister was Tony Abbott, wind turbines were labelled to be ‘utterly disgusting’, and the Liberals were dancing in Parliament, literally, on the day they scrapped the carbon tax. Dripping with sarcasm, the song is titled ‘The Second Heliographic Revolution’.
[70:45] We round off today’s extended podcast episode with a statement by Greta Thunberg, as she formulated it when we interviewed her on the third day of her historic ‘schoolstrike for climate’ in August 2018 – with advice on what politicians must do about the climate crisis. This is advice that is followed up in detail in the discussion with our two guests – such a rich discussion, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Many people have been emotionally disturbed or overwhelmed by the news about the new IPCC report and we allow ourselves to expand the hour to a Sustainable ‘Hour-and-a-quarter’ today to make room for it all. There is so much to cover, and sometimes – like, in an emergency for instance – we believe the business-as-usual time constraints of the old media world just need to be put aside.
We aim to tell the truth on climate, but not in a way that will lead you to despair. Rest assured that The Sustainable Hour consistently and continuously will be that place where you find hope and optimism based on reality and in spite of the dire situation we face.
Together we will get to do what is necessary, rather than to do what the mainstream considers “politically possible”. This is an entirely new journey which begins the moment you find your role in the climate revolution.
A reminder that we value feedback on the show. Thanks to our listeners who are suggesting future guests – being on Zoom, the world is our oyster. Till next week: go well, take care, and hey, if you feel you need a break from ‘being the difference’, this must be that week: consider yourself dismissed, at least until next Wednesday.
“This is code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. (…)
This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet.
Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy.
By 2030, solar and wind capacity should quadruple and renewable energy investments should triple to maintain a net zero trajectory by mid-century.
If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe.”
~ António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
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“Many now ask ‘What will it take for people in power to act?’ Well, it will take many things, but above all it will take: massive pressure from media and massive pressure from the public.”
~ Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist
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 disrespectful and unfair is that?
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Zali Steggall MP: “Voters are being duped on climate”
3:19 minutes – watch on Youtube
3:43 minutes – watch on Youtube
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The latest IPCC report explained in 7.5 minutes
“Today, the IPCC’s climate report was published, and strictly speaking, it does not say anything we have not known for a very long time. Namely that we have acted far too late and too little. Now the tv stations and the newspapers are all going out the tangent with death and disasters. But they forget that it is they themselves who for years have created a false balance in the dissemination of the climate crisis. (See definition below.)
This has postponed the readers ‘and viewers’ sense of the importance of action, and not least of voting for those politicians who have wanted the action. The media owes us a huge apology, right now!”
——— ‘False balance’ means that the journalist takes two conflicting statements from researchers or two scientific results that point in different directions and give them equal weight, even though one statement is far more substantiated than the other. ———
→ Sky News – 8 August 2021:
Climate change: World on the brink of ‘catastrophe’ as extreme weather events pile up, UK’s COP26 chief warns
“Urgent action is needed to address climate change or the world will soon face “catastrophe”, the UK’s COP26 chief has warned.”
→ BBC News – 9 August 2021:
Climate change: IPCC report is ‘code red for humanity’
→ The Conversation – 7 August 2021:
Monday’s IPCC report is a really big deal for climate change. So what is it? And why should we trust it?
→ SBS News – 9 August 2021:
‘Lagging at the back of the pack’: Australia’s energy transition among worst in OECD, research finds
“The government claims Australia’s carbon emissions fell faster than the OECD and G20 averages between 2005 and 2019. But new research has found the country is “not leading the race” and is instead at the “back of the pack”.”
→ ABC News – 10 August 2021:
Other world leaders have called a UN report on climate change a ‘wake-up call’, but Australia’s PM isn’t going to budge
“Scott Morrison again refuses to commit to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, as an international “code red” warning on climate change is issued by global leaders.”
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Rap News: ‘The Second Heliocentric Revolution’
Greta Thunberg: ‘Treat the climate crisis as a crisis’
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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 running petitions where we encourage you to 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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