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The Sustainable Hour no. 454 | Podcast notes
Our guest in The Sustainable Hour on 5 April 2023 is Rob McBride, a farmer from south-western New South Wales who runs grazing properties in far west New South Wales and South Australia. The Barka River flows past Rob’s station. He talks about the destruction of the Barka (Murray-Darling) river system that flows into the Menindee Lakes. He has fought for its protection against greed and corruption from bureaucrats, politicians and other vested interests for over a decade.
This article from the National Indigenous Times gives insight into what he and fellow indigenous Barka protectors have been up against: ‘Barka – The Forgotten River tells the extraordinary story of the Barka/Darling River’. See a range of tv reports, documentaries, a presentation and an animated video below.
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Once again we start today with a quote from United Nations head Antonio Guterres talking about the dire state of affairs we face with our climate – in talking about the absolute necessity for a transformation, he surprises with his plea for “Disruption to end the destruction” – words that have motivated climate activists like Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Declare Emergency, and environmental groups all over the world to do exactly that: disrupt, non-violently, in all sorts of ways to draw attention to what needs to happen on the climate front.
We hear Dan Cass, Executive Director of Rewiring Australia, explain on ABC News on 24 March 2023 how the money story is changing quickly now, because renewables are not only cleaner and safer, they are also saving us money.
And because we need innovative and responsible green business ideas, ClimateLaunchpad has now partnered with the City of Greater Geelong to attract breakthrough clean technology ideas from the Geelong region into their global program. They want to help aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs growing their ideas. In a media release, Geelong’s mayor is quoted as saying: “Geelong’s transformation to a Clever and Creative city will be driven by entrepreneurs that pursue environmentally responsible ideas.”
In a similar spirit of optimism, on Saturday, The New Daily put a good article out by geographer Simon Kuestenmacher about why young people should remain optimistic and focus on reshaping the future.
“In 100 years, humanity will be smaller, richer, healthier and run a more sustainable economy, and ecosystems will recover at scale. I want our young people to understand that the world is theirs for the taking, for reshaping, for the re-greening.”
The song we play is Global Citizen‘s ‘If Taylor Swift & Zayn Sang about Climate Change’.
We end up today’s podcast with a short excerpt from Missy Higgins‘ ‘The Difference’, a short clip with Greta Thunberg from when she spoke about that no matter how small you are, we can all make a difference, as she first formulated it at the United Nations Global Climate Summit in Poland in 2018, and Dan Miller‘s wise presentation at the Orange Coast TEDx about sea level rise and climate tipping points.
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Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook this week begins once more in New York at The United Nations where a resolution was proposed by Vanuatu for the United Nations International Court of Justice to provide an “advisory opinion” on the legal responsibility to fight the climate crisis. Vanuatu argued that climate change has become a human rights issue for Pacific Islanders, and their proposal was adopted in what is now regarded as a landmark resolution to establish for the first time each countries’ obligations to address the climate crisis, and establish the consequences for inaction.
What this means is that there is now a legal obligation for countries to do what they have committed to in non-binding treaties such as the Paris climate accord. It established the framework for those countries who fail to do so, to be challenged through litigation. What was interesting from our point of view was that Australia joined more than 120 nations as co-sponsor of Vanuatu’s resolution and the world’s two largest climate polluters, the US and China, did not express support but did not object either, meaning the measure passed by consensus. The resolution came a week after a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report called for all countries to stop all funding for coal and phase out its use by 2030 in developed countries.
Now to Pakistan where the influential Pakistani author, Fatima Bhutto, wrote this week that saving the planet was the greatest feminist cause today. This was published in an essay for the Guardian newspaper where she pointed to an aspect of climate justice that has not received the attention it deserves: gender. As the climate crisis accelerates, she wrote, worldwide it’s women and girls who increasingly bear the brunt of its impacts, including increased poverty, displacement, and sexual violence, a fact the UN International Panel on Climate Change scarcely referenced in last week’s landmark report.
Fatima Bhutto noted that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate impacts are women and girls. “The crisis will affect women more than everything else in the world — more than abortion rollbacks, more than oppressive governments, more than lower pay grades,” she said. Referencing the super-floods that submerged one-third of Pakistan last year, Bhutto included statistics that showed girls and women’s wildly disproportionate suffering with nearly 700,000 pregnant women in Pakistan lacked maternal healthcare – or any medical care – during the floods, and rapid deterioration in access to hygiene caused an estimated 70 per cent of women in those flooded regions to suffer urinary tract infections.
In a different, but related story from the United States where a recent report showed that fewer women were buying EVs, in part because they fear for their safety at public charging stations, which often are located in garages and other poorly lit places.
Also from the United States last week came an explanation why the state of Kentucky ranks dead last of all the US states in legislation to combat climate change. The state has a big coal industry which contributes heavily to government and political parties. And this is a direct quote from one of the legislators, Republican Richard White, who said that “When God created this earth, he provided us with natural resources – and coal is one of them.” He added that, “God intended coal for people to make a living to survive in this world.”
Well, the winds of change are swirling round Kentucky, because a second report showed that the state has the highest power prices in the U.S. and was now looking to catch up with solar and wind generation.
Now to Queensland, where an agreement was signed to produce Australia’s first ethanol biofuel refinery to produce sustainable aviation fuel. The parties were a new partnership between Qantas, Airbus and the Queensland government. Bio energy company Jet Zero Australia and sustainable aviation fuel technology group LanzaJet will develop the facility, which will convert agricultural by-products including sugarcane into sustainable aviation fuel. Construction of the site is expected to start in 2024, the companies announced yesterday. Made from crops, household waste, animal fat and other biomass, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produces about one-fifth of the emissions of conventional jet fuel. Qantas says it wants SAF to account for 10 per cent of its fuel use by 2030 and 60 per cent by 2050. The Queensland biofuel refinery will be the first project funded under the joint partnership.
Finally news from the world’s greenest sports club, Forest Green Rovers, who played Portsmouth at the weekend, and lost 1-0. They’re now almost certain to be relegated to the English second division which they left at the end of last season. Their Women’s Team didn’t play at the weekend – there are only 10 teams in their league, and they’re currently third, but in a hot run of form. When they next play, it’s against Warminster Town Ladies on 16 April 2023, and we’ll let you know the score. The last time the teams played each other, The Rovers won 9-0. And that’s our round-up for the week.
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How fortunate are we to have people like Kate and Rob McBride and many others including local First Nation people like Uncle Badger Bates who have seen their beloved Barka River get more and more degraded as people upstream steal water which has direct negative impacts on towns and farmers downstream. They are fighting for their very existence against greed. It is the very same fight to protect local environments which is being carried out all over the world right now. Courageous people are leading our charge to a post-carbon world – a world which isn’t dominated and destroyed by greedy and corrupt criminals.
We’ll be back next with some more courageous Earth protectors who realise that it doesn’t have to be like this and who are refusing to be bystanders to this evil. Until then, let’s connect and learn from each other. The climate revolution has many aspects to it and it is time to #FindYourRole in it. What will be yours?
Be the difference.
“Certainly over the last 10 years, there’s been terrible destruction of the environment. Last week we had the worst-in-200-years event. The worst criminals in Australia’s history found their way up the Barka over the last few decades. What those criminals understood is that there are no laws in New South Wales. The trouble is that this river system travels through six Australian states or territories. They knew that they had the perfect storm, because they could get away with murder. These fish kills are a direct result of this man-made destruction of this river system.”
~ Rob McBride, owner of Tolarno Station, in The Sustainable Hour no 454
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“The longer we wait, the harder it will become.”
~ Antonio Guterres, General-Secretary, United Nations
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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~ Denise O’Donnell, 21 March 2023
~ Barry Stone, Sunset Strip resident, on 23 March 2023
The video “reveals what’s wrong – and how to fix it.”
This isn’t a city problem, we’re on the front lines of this.”
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Entrepreneurs pursue environmentally responsible ideas
ClimateLaunchpad is looking for innovative ideas help tackle climate change from the Geelong Region.
Applications are now open for ClimateLaunchpad, the world’s biggest cleantech and green business ideas competition.
Aimed at innovators, founders, researchers and anyone else with an innovative green business idea, ClimateLaunchpad is set up to help aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs grow their ideas into global businesses.
For the first time, organisers have partnered with the City of Greater Geelong to attract breakthrough clean technology ideas from the Geelong region into the program. Greater Geelong Mayor Trent Sullivan said the program aligned with Council’s vision of supporting innovative and sustainable practices.
“Geelong’s transformation to a Clever and Creative city will be driven by entrepreneurs that pursue environmentally responsible ideas. Council wants to assist businesses to embrace clean technologies, and deliver reductions in carbon emissions, to progress our goal of being a net-zero community. Building the green business pipeline in the region will be vital in creating new economic opportunities and helping us address the challenge of a changing climate,” said Mayor Trent Sullivan.
Now in its eighth year, ClimateLaunchpad is responsible for more than 6,700 ideas that have resulted in the creation of more than 8,000 jobs within 1,900 new companies globally.
In Australia, the program is run by Climate-KIC Australia, a national not-for-profit organisation focused on enabling climate action through system-level innovation.
“We see enormous potential in the Geelong region for uncovering really impactful climate startups,” said Chris Lee, CEO of Climate-KIC Australia. “With its thriving innovation and education ecosystems, its leadership on sustainability and renewables, we see Geelong as uniquely positioned with the skills and creativity to build thriving startups for a net-zero economy.”
The program isn’t just for established start-ups. Lee encourages anybody with a green business idea to apply. “Even if your idea is still on the back of an napkin, you’ll get all the skills you need to turn it into a fully-fledged start-up through ClimateLaunchpad.”
Structured as a series of pitch competitions, the program also provides intensive training and coaching led by trainers with broad international real-world experience. The short program and competition is unique in the space, as it is completely free of charge and doesn’t take any equity or intellectual property from participants.
Applications for the ClimateLaunchpad program will be accepted until 26 April 2023.
Heading into its seventh year in Australia, the competition is an initiative of EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s climate innovation initiative and Climate-KIC Australia’s European partner organisation.
In the six previous editions held in Australia, over 200 start-ups have been able to grow their business ideas and develop an investor-ready pitch deck after passing through ClimateLaunchpad. Some of the alumni of the program are now at the forefront of climate-forward enterprises in Australia, including local cleantech gurus Capricorn Power, as well as Sunovate, Economical Energy, Coreo and Emmi.
“ClimateLaunchpad was a complete gamechanger for us, enabling us to commence our seed funding round with a really promising outlook”
~ Cesira Leigh, Founder of Sunovate (2018 ClimateLaunchpad Australia winner).
“A business school in disguise, that is how former participants refer to our competition. We transform people with green tech ideas into successful entrepreneurs. Climate change is solvable. Not with single cure, we need – and there will be – thousands of big and small cures. Green start-ups lead the charge in fixing this.”
~ Frans Nauta, ClimateLaunchpad founder
→ Information about ClimateLaunchpad, how to enter the competition and updates are available through the ClimateLaunchpad 2023 portal.
→ The New Daily – 21 March 2023:
Ocean waves and nuclear fusion behind new Australian technologies for green power
“Currently, 71 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation comes from fossil-fuel generators and only 29 per cent from renewables. However, to meet national commitments renewables will have to account for 82 per cent of generation by 2030.”
→ The New Daily – 20 March 2023:
Smart Australian technologies that will help us reach net-zero emissions by 2050
“Australia has signed up to the challenge of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, and to achieve that we will need to do a whole range of things differently. Many people think of massive wind farms or electric vehicles when it comes to achieving net zero. But technologies, not yet widely known, will be equally important as tools for change. Smart Australian companies are already making progress on getting us to this important goal.”
→ The New Daily – 20 March 2023:
The Innovators: Alan Kohler on Australia’s green entrepreneurs and the hidden cost of AUKUS
“X2M Connect, Hazer Group, Calix, RayGen, Vast Solar, and 1414 Degrees are even taking Australian technology to the world.”
#STORYCHANGE
“In 100 years, humanity will be smaller, richer, healthier and run a more sustainable economy, and ecosystems will recover at scale. (…) As we improve our society and planet, we often step sideways, we often step backwards too, but ultimately we’re moving forwards. I know it doesn’t always feel that way as we see suffering and destruction around us. I want our young people to understand that the world is theirs for the taking, for reshaping, for the re-greening.”
Simon Kuestenmacher, geographer based in Melbourne who researches demographic and societal trends
→ The New Daily – 1 April 2023:
Hey, Gen Z, why so glum? It’s your planet, so fix it
“You knew there was going to be a ‘but’, didn’t you? Well, here it is.”
Kickstarting the urban farming revolution
Two Melbourne-based companies, The Sustainable Landscape Company and Biofilta, are aiming to kickstart an urban farming revolution, by building compact water efficient urban farms that repurpose food waste into a resource for urban farming, unlocking the huge potential to grow food in our cities, and creating urban farms to tackle food bills head on across our cities and communities.
→ Eco-Voice – 18 January 2023:
Innovative Australian designed and manufactured urban farming system helps turn underused urban spaces into thriving farms to reduce food bills for families, schools, communities and charities
“With cost of living pressures and food prices hammering household budgets and placing our food charities under huge pressure, leading landscape design and construction company The Sustainable Landscape Company (TSLC) have partnered with their sister company Biofilta to design and install turnkey water efficient urban farms in backyards, workplaces, schools, charities, courtyards, rooftops, larger scale community farms, overseas aid projects and even student share houses to increase the supply of fresh food and reduce food bills for households, workplaces, communities and food charities.”
World’s top lawyers step up against fossil fuel interests
Some of the world’s top lawyers have come out and said they won’t prosecute peaceful climate protestors. It’s a bold move, and 18 barristers will now have to self-refer to the UK’s Bar Standards Board for breaking the industry’s “cab rank” rule (basically, you must take a case you’re qualified for).
→ The Guardian – 24 March 2023:
Top lawyers defy bar to declare they will not prosecute peaceful climate protesters
“Six KCs among more than 120 mostly English lawyers to sign pledge not to act for fossil fuel interests.”
Clive Palmer’s giant thermal coal mine plan squashed
The Department of Environment and Science confirmed it had decided to reject Waratah Coal’s environmental authority application for the proposed Galilee Coal Mine.
→ The New Daily – 3 April 2023:
Clive Palmer’s Waratah coal mine denied environmental licence
“A major coal mine that was the subject of a landmark court battle fought on climate change and human rights grounds has been denied an environmental licence.”
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Letter to The Sustainable Hour
On 6 April 2023, Alex Mungall wrote:
“Colin, I enjoy listening to the podcast but I am concerned you have recently taken aviation industry transition talking points at face value.
Improvements in airplanes are more than offset by 4% growth in passenger numbers year on year, while the recent Qantas announcement on a methanol plant is a tiny part of a big strategy to use only 10% of the carbon by 2030, while taking no obvious action on the much bigger problem of non-carbon emissions from aviation.
The aviation strategies look, to me, much more like delaying tactics such as all oil and gas industries are employing ie greenwashing than genuine good news. I hate to hear it being repeated as an example of “sustainability”. Rather it is a minimal deployment of some alternative technology which will make a minuscule change to what is now a 100% fossil fuel industry (ok maybe 99%).
Flightfree Australia’s recent complaint to the ACCC on Etihad’s alleged greenwashing could be helpful to you. There is a link in this article. https://theconversation.com/amp/capitalising-on-climate-anxiety-what-you-need-to-know-about-climate-washing-202507
Keep up the good work. I’m sorry to be writing in a negative fashion but I thoroughly enjoy your balanced approach in general. And go Forest Green Rovers which I would never know about without you.
Best regards
Alex Mungall”
We replied:
“Hi Alex,
Thank you very much for this information and comment.
And thank you for listening to The Sustainable Hour! 🙂
Colin’s reply is that we are aware – and wary – of greenwashing in both the aviation and fossil fuel industries and will keep checking the Queensland project.
Cheers
The Sustainable Hour team
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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 Wednesdays
The Sustainable Hour is streamed live on the Internet and broadcasted on FM airwaves in the Geelong region every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time).
» 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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