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“Melbourne is leading the way in sustainable fashion. Take that, Paris!”
Creative visions for the future as Fast Fashun meets social enterprise in the Sustainable Hour no. 448 | Podcast notes
Cultivating innovation, creativity and positivity in a time of climate chaos and cost-of-living crisis: Our guests in The Sustainable Hour on 22 February 2023 are Sebastian Berto from Fast Fashun and Jamileh Hargreaves from Moral Fairground.
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[12:16] Sebastian Berto (they/them pronouns) is founder of the queer group Fast Fashun, which highlights the incredible waste that the fashion industry leaves in its wake. As well as a variety of ways of attaching the various materials with safety pins and sewing machines, they use one tonne piles of discarded material and second hand clothes in their workshops. These are then paraded by the creators on a “catwalk”.
In Sebastian’s words: “Fast Fashun provides interactive, educational fashion art projects. Our motto is ‘DIY or DIE!’. We create spaces and events where people can contemplate the perils and intricacies of the fast fashion industry through creative empowerment and agency, coming face to face with the fabric.”
They have an event coming up called ‘The Metric Tonne of Waste Gala’ on 2 May 2023 in Market Square, 391 Queen St in Melbourne.
→ If you’d like to know more about Fast Fashun, check their website and online magazine on www.fastfashun.com
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[30:30] Jamileh Hargreaves is Moral Fairground’s communications advisor, always on the lookout for ways to engage with innovative and creative people and enterprises, providing opportunities all year round for individuals and ethical enterprises to connect, engage and advocate sustainable business practices and exposure.
Moral Fairground has built a reputation for its unique events and programs, and its annual major conference for ethical and social enterprises, The Big Shift, is being held today and tomorrow – Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 February 2023. Note that there are still tickets available for Thursday.
A social enterprise is an enterprise which provides a social or environmental good based on sustainable practices which does not have to rely on charity or philanthropy for its on-going sustainability. The intention is generally to trade in order to make a surplus, enough to increase social impact for people and the environment. It is innovative in that it can be applied to multiple causes through different enterprise models and is a growing industry for employing people. Its version of sustainability isn’t limited to environmentalism, but rather extends to social and community causes as a part of a broader social impact.
The conference includes speakers, workshops, panels as well as an award for Early Ethical Pitch Nominees and an Awards dinner. → More info on this on Moral Fairground’s website at www.moralfairground.com.au
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[01:30] Mik Aidt starts us off today by referring to a recent survey that the local newspaper Geelong Advertiser conducted with 22 of Geelong’s leaders. He is justifiably disappointed that such a golden opportunity to chart a positive post-carbon world for Geelong, with a couple of exceptions, threw up a growth-based business-as-usual approach. The plea then went out for Geelong citizens to contact The Addy with their vision for a future that won’t cost us the Earth. Mik’s notes on this can be found further down on this page.
This lack of a clear post carbon vision from our community’s leaders certainly does emphasise the importance of the Real Deal project which is rolling out in Geelong at the moment. You can still sign up for the table talk event at The Deck Hotel in Gheringhap Street in Geelong on Sunday 26 February. More info below.
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[26:40] After a Course Language Warning, we play a video clip from Juice Media: their latest Honest Government Ad about The Safeguard Mechanism.
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[05:07] Three weather-related reports lead this week’s Global Outlook from Colin Mockett.
The first, published in the scientific magazine Nature, shows global warming is spiking in one of the world’s coldest places, atop the 2-mile thick ice sheet in central Greenland. There, new research shows that the first decade of the 2000s was clearly the warmest 10 years recorded in at least 1,000 years. The findings are based on some of the most detailed ice core sampling ever done. It showed that the temperature in the study area is now 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century average.
This was confirmed by a separate report published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which provides climate information to the European Union. Their research shows that 2022 was the eighth year in a row with temperatures more than 1°C above the preindustrial level.
The warmest eight years have all been since 2015, with 2016, 2019 and 2020 constituting the top three. An exceptionally strong El Nino event occurred in 2016, which contributed to record global temperatures.
The third report was in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Their research shows that the world’s oceans were also the hottest ever in 2022, beating records set in 2021, 2020 and 2019. As excess heat in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans, ocean temperatures are considered a key climate change indicator. And all this equates to the world’s average temperature having already risen by 1.2°C degrees higher than the period 1850-1900, the accepted baseline norm.
Another new paper, “The Global Canopy’s Forest 500 Report”, tracks the policies and performance of the 350 most influential companies and 150 financial institutions most exposed to deforestation risk in their supply chains and investments. It looked at those companies and found that none are deforestation-free, and 40 per cent – 201 companies and financial institutions – haven’t set a single policy on deforestation. The Canopy report warns that we are three years past the 2020 deadline which those organisations set themselves to halt deforestation, and just two years away from the UN’s deadline of 2025 for companies to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation.
From Sweden comes the news that the retail giant IKEA has added ten new markets into its programmes to support suppliers to switch to renewable electricity. This should save 0.27 million tonnes CO2-equivalents, or 13 per cent of the climate footprint from IKEA’s production. The rollout starts this year, 2023. This is truly significant in that, so far, very few large companies have committed to reducing emissions in their supply chains. Ikea is going that step further by actually helping them switch to renewable energy.
Our vegan carbon-free football team Forest Green Rovers lost 4-0 to Ipswich at the weekend, so our final uplifting report comes from Europe, where they are much more serious about taking climate change measures. In particular, from France, where the government has brought in a new law mandating that all car parks with more than 80 spaces must build solar-panel canopies over at least 50 per cent of its area. The power generated would provide charging stations for electric vehicles, while the rest would go to local businesses and/or the national grid. What’s more, the canopies would counter what’s called the ‘swelter effect’ of heat in their cities. It’s been estimated that this new law could generate power throughout France to the equivalent of 10 nuclear power plants. If ever there was another nation that would benefit from such a simple measure, it would be Australia. Are you listening, federal members of parliament? Because that’s our global roundup for the week.
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[45:57] Towards the end of the show today we have a fascinating discussion featuring Colin outlining how he and his wife Shirley have managed to live as a carbon free household for decades. Jamileh encourages him to write this out in book format as a possible guide for others. We’ve posted the transcript further below on this page.
[56:10] We end today with a song from Baba Brinkman: ‘Making Waves’, plus some wise climate advice from our climate oracle Greta Thunberg.
We’ll be back next week with a couple more guests to inform, educate and inspire. Until then find your way of getting involved in the Climate Revolution – and the Fashion Revolution – if you aren’t already. That will be your way of “Being The Difference”
“It would be wonderful to integrate some of the indigenous practices on how to look after this particular climate here [in Australia], and what kinds of things we might choose to farm in a particular climate like ours. That actually is probably one of the things that… if you want to talk about success: imagine the unique grains, products and things that could come out of this landscape if we tend for it in the way that people, who understand it, have done for so long. I would love to see a future where we all work together to honour those practices.”
~ Sebastion Berto, founder of Fast Fashun, when asked what would be his ‘big future vision’
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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 millennia before they were invaded. Their land was then stolen from them – it wasn’t ceded. 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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Honest Government Ad from Juice Media: The Safeguard Mechanism
“I’m an economist, so I can tell you that every million dollars Australia spends on offsets is a million dollars that we didn’t spend on something useful. The fact that we’re spending money on low integrity offsets rather than decarbonisation is about the most economically inefficient thing I can think of. Rather than investing in renewable energy or electric buses or First Nations-led, community owned renewable energy projects, we’re spending money helping to companies to greenwash their pollution. But to be clear, this is a choice. And it’s a choice that will soon be before the Senate.”
Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute
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“Less than 1 per cent of used clothing is recycled into new garments. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that every year some US$500 billion in value is lost due to clothing that is barely worn, not donated, recycled, or ends up in a landfill. “
World Bank: How much do our wardrobes cost to the environment?
“The garment industry is one of the most polluting in the world, but some clothing makers and consumers are calling for a more sustainable industry”
💲 Five. hundred. billion. This is deluded – imagine the amount of people who could be lifted out of systemic poverty with that wasted money 🙄
Susan Wanmer wrote on Linkedin:
“Since learning about slow fashion, and the impact (and existence) of fast fashion, I have managed to dress almost entirely from second hand shops. Amy Powney’s inspiring documentary into truly sustainable fashion showed me just how difficult it is to create a ‘pure’ range. It has inspired me to do everything I can to help shift the business model – www.fashionreimaginedfilm.com
We the Makers Sustainable Fashion Prize 2023
is a Geelong UNESCO City of Design Project
$10,000 awarded for the Designer of the Year
The National Wool Museum and the City of Greater Geelong are challenging emerging designers to create one original outfit that represents their personal design aesthetic, showcasing their commitment to sustainable fashion.
All entries to the Sustainable Fashion Prize go in the running to win the following major prizes:
• National Wool Museum Designer of the Year Award ($10,000)
• UNESCO City of Design, People’s Choice Award ($2,000)
Entries open 22 February and is eligible to designers both in Australia and abroad with less than ten years industry experience. Outfits are judged by a panel of industry professionals against their ability to design and redefine sustainable and ethical textiles with entries responding to the following categories: Material innovation, Circular process innovation, Design innovation or Business innovation.
→ City of Greater Geelong – 24 February 2023:
Textile triage (part 1): How to recycle clothing and textiles
“According to the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre, the average Victorian generates 28 kilograms of textile waste each year, only seven percent of which is recycled!”
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EDITORIAL
Our leaders still live in a climate-ignoring dream-bubble
By Mik Aidt
The Geelong Advertiser asked 22 of our region’s leaders to share “their big vision for the city”, 22 politicians and business CEOs at a “Future Geelong roundtable discussion” held at… of all places – Avalon’s international terminal. These days you’d almost have to be a climate denier to think that an airport would be a great place to be meeting for a discussion about our future.
My summary, after having read through them all, is that our local leaders live in some kind of a climate-ignoring dream bubble with fantasies of growth and expansion, and Geelong becoming a “world class” city of either tourism or sport, or turning Market Square into a Guggenheim Gallery. They live in a rosy bubble of ‘business-as-usual’ where words like climate or emissions or energy transition simply doesn’t exist. They just want more, more, more – bigger, bigger, bigger. More airplanes, more ships, bigger roads, more houses, more manufacturing and commerce.
Just two out of 22 leaders seem to have any concern for the real challenges that we are facing in Geelong, with transport and with energy – the leaders of Barwon Water and Geelong Port:
SUPERCHARGE A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
“We are uniquely positioned in the Geelong region to leverage our credentials as Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design and rise to the major challenges of climate change. With our region’s skilled talent base and culture of creativity and entrepreneurship, we can supercharge a circular economy that continuously re-purposes waste into valuable resources, creates renewable energy, and generates jobs for the future. We’re already on the way: from 2025, Geelong’s Regional Renewable Organics Network will transform 40,000 tonnes of kerbside organic waste into biochar annually, supporting sustainable agriculture, sequestering CO2, and reducing equivalent emissions by more than 10,000 tonnes each year.”
~ Tracey Slatter, Barwon Water managing director
A RENEWABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY CENTRE
“As the world pivots towards a cleaner energy future, our region has an opportunity to become a renewables and clean energy centre that helps to power Victoria.
With a proud history of manufacturing and innovation, Geelong is uniquely positioned with skilled and creative people who can tackle the energy challenges facing the region, the state, and the nation.
A renewables and clean energy centre will create thousands of jobs for local communities in the Barwon region, as well as generating significant investment in our much-loved part of the world.”
~ Brett Winter, Geelong Port CEO
→ Read more on Geelong Advertiser’s home page
This certainly does emphasise the importance of the Real Deal project which is rolling out in Geelong in these weeks. Read more about this project below.
quietly continues to approve more new fossil fuel projects.
REALITYCHECK
The confronting reality our leaders completely ignore
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil: “When Home Affairs was created, the discussion about climate change and national security was largely academic. Indeed, it was derided by the former government. Just five years on, climate change is a recognised, growing part of Australia’s national security picture.”
Such a grave threat requires a flexible, nuanced and comprehensive national response. It should recognise the complex risks associated with cascading natural disasters, and draw on the knowledge and experience of all Australians.
In her address at the National Press Club, O’Neil said climate change posed a number of threats to the region. In particular, she said Australia and its neighbours were vulnerable to “massive movements of people that may become unmanageable” – especially if they occur alongside food and energy shortages.
The increased frequency of natural disasters were, O’Neil said, “a hugely consuming exercise for government and the community” which, in itself, posed a national security risk.
The Albanese government has sought to better understand the security threats posed by the climate crisis. One of its first acts of government was to commission a climate risk assessment from the Office of National Intelligence.
The findings are classified. But recent analyses, including by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggest the content is likely to be deeply confronting.
→ ANU – 22 December 2022:
Every Australian will be touched by climate change. So let’s start a national conversation about how we’ll cope
“Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil expressed deep concern about the national security implications of climate change.”
→ RenewEconomy – 20 February 2023:
Australian states among world’s most at risk from climate change, extreme weather
“Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are among the top 10 per cent of global jurisdictions most at risk from the physical impacts of climate change, according to XDI’s Gross Domestic Climate Risk report.”
→ Nature Climate Change – 20 February 2023:
CSIRO: Stronger El Niño could cause irreversible melting of Antarctica
“Antarctic shelf ocean warming and sea ice melt affected by projected El Niño changes”
→ The Guardian – 20 February 2023:
After Cyclone Gabrielle, New Zealand wonders how – and if – to rebuild
“As people dig their houses from the silt, the country faces questions over where to rebuild, as the climate crisis heralds more and more extreme weather.”
→ The Guardian – 16 February 2023:
World risks descending into a climate ‘doom loop’, warn thinktanks
“Report says simply coping with escalating impacts of climate crisis could override tackling root cause.”
A Real Deal table talk in Geelong on 26 February
Tired of politicians not acting on what you want? When we each go to our local members and ask for something, we are just one isolated voice. To achieve change and create a sustainable and equitable society, we need to go to as a united and diverse collective. The “Real Deal” process we are engaging with aims to create this kind of action.
If you want to help us kick-off this community driven action, we’d love for you to join us at the Pub for a Trivia night and Table Talk on Sunday the 26th of February from 6pm-9pm at the Deck Hotel.
Click here to RSVP and read more about the event.
 Where: Upstairs at The Deck Hotel, 2-4 Gheringhap St, Geelong, 3220 When: 26th of February 5:45pm for a 6:00pm start 9pm finish RSVP: CLICK HERE |
A “Table Talk” is a way to capture your recollections of past challenges, present thoughts and what you’d like to see in the future. There is no right answer and you don’t have to be an expert, the process is designed to be understandable, easy and based on your personal experiences. You don’t need to prepare nor provide an answer for each question. If you want some context you can find the three questions that form the Table Talk here. The themes that come out of these table talks will inform research that we can then take to our politicians to ask for change. The key steps of the Real Deal are explained below.
The Real Deal is a coalition of community groups, unions, environment groups and faith groups; that are finding our common ground so we can go to our politicians with a request that they can’t refuse – can you help us in determining what you want for the Geelong + Bellarine + Surfcoast community?
See you at the pub,
Darcy
This group is part of a network of independently organised, volunteer-run groups in the ACF Community.
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→ Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/moralfairground
→ Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MoralFairground
→ Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/moralfairground
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Colin Mockett: Our fun, happy life without the carbon
Towards the end of the show today we have a fascinating discussion featuring Colin outlining how he and his wife Shirley have managed to live as a carbon free household for decades.
Colin: “When I married my wife Shirley 31 years ago, we decided that all of the decisions that we would be making during our marriage would include the planet and the environment in them, and as such, we really turned our back on the capitalist system, Sebastian, to make your point.
I can’t remember the last time I went into a standard shop like Kmart or Myers or anywhere like that. All of our clothes come from op-shops. They are all recycled and have been for 30 years.
I choose to cycle – we do have a car, it is an electric one, and we have panels on a roof and a battery – so our car runs on sunshine.
And the reason that we could afford to buy an electric car and the panels and the battery was because we don’t support the capitalist system. So to answer your initial question, Sebastian, it IS possible to live sustainably. We have a carbon-free household. We don’t have gas appliances at all. We do have solar appliances, and we do have electrical appliances that work off our panels. And, you know, we walk and we cycle, and we live a really rich life, I have to say, we thoroughly do enjoy ourselves. I was telling Mik before the program that we are preparing for a rock’n’roll show which is on the 7th of March, a carbon-free rock’n’roll show with a really good rock’n’roll band. So yes, we do live a really fun, happy life without the capitalistic coppings, but I don’t like bringing it up, because it sounds like I’m preaching.
Jamileh: “Do you have a book about how you created that life?”
Colin: “No. Simple as that.”
Jamileh: “So how are we supposed to learn?”
Colin: “Yeah, I’ll tell you, Jamileh – I will answer any of your questions, but it all came from that initial ‘declaration’, if you like, when we decided to get married, that we include the planet in every decision. So when for example our [gas-fired] hot water service blew up, we didn’t replace it with like-for-like. We looked for the most efficient replacement. And when the fridge gave way after maybe 20 years of marriage, we replaced it with the most efficient, rather than the best looking one. So we don’t get ice cubes from our fridge door, but we do have a six star fridge which sips electricity rather than guzzles it. And therefore when we put the solar panels on our roof – our first panels we put on in 1999 – so we have been creating energy for the planet for the last 20-odd years, and it was just that initial decision to – whenever you make a decision or you are forced into making a decision, you include the planet and do the the most effective solution for… not only for yourself, but also for the planet.
Sebastian: “That is so awesome and inspiring and I wish I could afford all of those things.”
Colin: “Well, we found that we could afford things when we stopped spending money on insignificant things. We stopped going around Kmart, and we just started living more frugally.
Mik: “I guess one can save a lot of money by not going to the international airport and not going around the world as we used to.”
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even with a just small amount in superannuation savings.
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Report: The breakthrough effect
Jesper Løvenbalk Hansen from the Danish newspaper information wrote in a newsletter:
“In this report, the researchers use the term tipping point to describe a situation where development in one area – for example electrification of transport – leads to rapid development in other areas, for example battery development, which in turn will speed up other sectors in transition.
“A tipping point in this context occurs when a CO₂-free solution to a problem gets so far in its development that it can compete with the old solutions. If that happens, self-reinforcing mechanisms will arise which create an exponential development of the new CO₂-free solution, while the old solutions are completely displaced.”
The researchers point to three areas where the development in the near future may occur with such force that it is a definite paradigm shift that will also have major positive consequences for other parts of the green transition.
The three areas are respectively the sale of electric cars, the use of green ammonia as fertiliser in agriculture and the investment in the development of plant-based proteins.
“Changes within those areas can set in motion a whole cascade of tipping points,” write the researchers, who mention as examples that the development of the electric car market will also benefit the electrification of society in general, because we are getting more and better batteries, just like the political pressure for the use of green ammonia as fertiliser will also benefit the development of green hydrogen, as it is the same electrolysis process, and therefore it will also cause a boost to the development that is necessary to restructure air and ship traffic as well as heavy industry.
The researchers behind the report believe that the development within an area can reach a point from which it will become the dominant solution. And when that point is reached, it will lead to positive developments in other areas. As when wind and solar energy become the preferred solution for producing electricity (instead of coal power), and this enables the development of other areas – for example heat pumps.
“One tipping point that has already been passed is within the electricity sector, where solar and wind accounted for 75 percent of all new energy in 2022,” the report states.
Another and completely new example of a politically created tipping point could be the EU’s new requirement for zero sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2035. This will mean an almost definitive phasing out of the internal combustion engine.
So hopefully we can expect sudden accelerations in the green transition, as the new technologies and solutions take over.”
An excerpt from the report:
“The world is heading towards a series of climatic tipping points that risk causing irreversible damage to our planetary life-support systems. It is a hard reality that the world remains off-track for meeting our climate targets, with global temperatures already 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels and no credible pathway to limiting temperature increase to below 1.5°C based on current national commitments. As recent evidence shows, we are now approaching thresholds – or tipping points – in multiple bio-physical systems that risk locking us into self-perpetuating climate change, i.e., change that will no longer be driven solely by our emissions, but also by irreversible processes we have set in motion. Five of these tipping points are possible at the current level of warming, including the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet and abrupt permafrost thaw. It is therefore crucial to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible to stay within safe planetary boundaries. Progress to date has been limited, with annual global emissions increasing again in 2022 to their highest levels ever.
Yet in the face of these negative climatic tipping points, positive socio-economic tipping points offer
an opportunity to rapidly increase the deployment of zero-emission solutions and drastically cut global
emissions. Socio-economic tipping points arise when a set of conditions are reached that allow new technologies or practices to out-compete incumbents.
After a tipping point is crossed, reinforcing feedback loops that drive self-accelerating progress are strengthened, and balancing feedback loops that resist change are weakened. Greater deployment of the solution brings improvements, prompting even more deployment. Learning by doing improves performance, economies of scale reduce costs, and the spread of new social norms increase acceptability. Producers, consumers, and investors move decisively towards the new solution, whose market share grows exponentially (up the slope of the ‘S-curve’ of adoption). Across many sectors of the economy, there is potential to cross tipping points, accelerating the deployment of zero-emission solutions. Triggering socioeconomic tipping points alone will not be sufficient to reach global climate objectives, but it offers a powerful lever to accelerate the transition to a lowcarbon economy and limit global warming.
Multiple historical examples of rapid technological transitions prove that new solutions can take over
a market in just a few decades. In several cases, a rapid increase in deployment took place after
some threshold of relative affordability was passed (e.g., UK coal to gas switch). The switch is also
often supported by the new solution being more attractive to customers for non-cost reasons (e.g.,
household central heating systems offering benefits in health/safety and convenience in the US; cultural
attitudes towards eating meat prompting the rise of vegetarian/flexitarian diets in Europe) or if accessibility is widespread (e.g., public charging station build out supported EV adoption in Norway).
A first tipping point has already been
crossed in the electricity sector and
one is very close in road transport
In 2021, solar and wind were the cheapest sources of new power in countries representing 90% of electricity generation. The clear cost competitiveness of renewables has led to a large ramp up in deployment, with solar and wind accounting for >75% of total new capacity additions globally last year. Similarly, electric vehicle sales are scaling up rapidly in leading markets, even while still 2-4 years ahead of sticker price parity with internal combustion vehicles. The market is already adjusting to this future reality and in some geographies, such as Norway, the tipping point has been brought forward by electric vehicle subsidies.
While reaching a tipping point results in reinforcing feedback loops becoming the core driver of the system’s behaviour, the pace of the transition cannot be taken for granted. For example, in the power sector the transition can be slowed by obstacles in planning and permitting for renewable power and electricity network build-out, continued opposition from vested interests, legitimate concerns about the socio-economic consequences of the transition, and temporary constraints in the supply chains of critical minerals or components. These can be thought of as dampeners that can reduce the slope of the S-curve. Crossing the tipping point is vital as beyond this point incentives re-align behind the new solution, but enablers are still required after it is crossed to achieve a rapid transition. In this report we focus on elements required to reach the tipping points, flip the incentives in favour of the low-carbon solution, and unlock reinforcing feedback loops as a dominant market force.”
→ Read the report: The Breakthrough Effect: how tipping points can accelerate net zero
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“The climate crisis is the greatest existential threat to face humankind. It represents our failure as a species to be cognizant our place in the Universe. It’s solutions are highly complicated and require everyone’s undivided participation. Don’t ignore this issue.”
“Common levels of traffic pollution can impair human brain function in only a matter of hours”.
→ The New Daily – 18 February 2023:
Exposure to traffic pollution proven to impair brain function
“Researchers have, for the first time, demonstrated the effect of exposure to traffic pollution on the brain’s functioning.”
This week it approved 116 new gas wells approved to operate until 2077
“Gas is a fossil fuel that is driving the climate crisis. To think the world will still be burning fossil gas by 2077 – the approval end date for this project – is totally inconsistent with the International Energy Agency’s 2021 recommendation that there must be no new fossil fuel projects if the world is to keep global warming to as far below two degrees as possible. It’s also particularly galling that Minister Plibersek’s department appears to have made this approval late on a Friday afternoon, and suggests the government was attempting to avoid public scrutiny over a very poor decision.”
~ Ellen Roberts, Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator
“We will rise up to fight this. Join us.”
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Events we have talked about in The Sustainable Hour
| Simon Holmes a Court’s Annual Energy Update event is fully booked – but join us online The event is now fully booked. You can watch it live on the Lighter Footprints Facebook page. You will be able to participate in the Q&A through Slido. A recording will also be uploaded to the Lighter Footprints YouTube channel a few days after the event. Here is the online Agenda for the meeting with handy links. If you have already booked to attend in person, we look forward to seeing you tonight at the Chandelier Room in the Hawthorn Arts Centre at 7pm for a 7:30 start. |
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
Write to Climate Minister Chris Bowen: Don’t give Beetaloo frackers a free pass to pollute | GetUp!
We can’t let polluting gas corporations write our climate laws – and get a free pass. Your email will copy in Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Industry Minister Ed Husic, Resources Minister Madeleine King, and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King. Read more
→ List of running petitions where we encourage you to add your name
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Sharing solutions that make the climate safer and our cities more liveable