-
IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Global Warming
- Thread starter Disco08
- Start date
Thanks Spook, that was great. The first 1 minute summurised how I feel about the situation.
I have come across this channel before and enjoyed their videos. Will check out some more.
How wind energy could power Earth ... 18 times over
Over the last two decades, the wind power industry has grown at a dizzying pace. (Fun fact: a single rotation from one of the world's most powerful wind turbines can generate enough electricity to charge more than 1,400 cell phones.) Building off this exponential growth, Denmark's climate...
According to an ABC poll climate change is now clearly the most important issue voters are concerned about.
ALP is staying away from it though. Scooting around the edges but the two majors don 't seem to want to debate it. But that's good news for the Independents that are being backed by Climate 200.
The real fix needs massive drop in standard of living (IMO) at least while we transition which is basically political kryptonite I imagine. Fuel prices effect the price of everything so those already struggling aren’t going to vote for more of that.
I disagree. Well, if we had started taking it seriously when we should have it wouldn't have been a problem. At a minimum know we should be pumping every available cent into turning Australia into a renewable energy technology leader. We have ridiculous amounts of space and renewable energy sources (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Rare Earths for the batteries etc) but we've been too busy digging holes. By now we should not only be leading the world in renewable energy, but also exporting our technology globally.
The mining industry workforce would be the ideal people to retrain into this new industry. You can build these technology centres where the mining communities are now.
But the zero tax fossil fuel industry wouldn't fill the politicians coffers and have jobs waiting for them when they quit politics.
Too true, we should be exporting energy to SE Asia. We can make it so cheaply here and then just send it over via undersea cables or the like. Massive missed opportunities.
Mind you, we are the lucky country so we'll probably reap the rewards anyway despite woeful leadership, fits with the book's reasoning for calling us the lucky country.
DS
We will see. Eventually we will realise degrowth / reuse etc is the only solution along with a transition to a renewable / sustainable way of living. The massive ramp up in mining needed for all the materials to transition will cause it’s own wave of environmental devastation that gets accelerated as the price of those metals increase as a the price of carbon goes up.
All IMO of course. I’m influenced by some of this stuff and the charts / numbers contained within vs some of his historical and theological stuff. https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more
With that said, and given the current system, then I’m still supportive of the transitions you propose above. The effects of mining probably won’t be felt much in Australia.
Billionaire Climate Activist Mike Cannon-Brookes Invests $461 Million In AGL To Block Demerger
Grok Ventures has acquired an 11.3% stake in AGL Energy through derivative transactions for about A$650 million ($461 million), making the investment vehicle controlled by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes the Australian utility’s biggest shareholder.
www.forbes.com
This is already happening but lead by private investment not government. Mike Cannon Brookes and Andrew Forrest are in a number of ventures that aim to lead Australia into a lower carbon intensive economy. The problem they have is they have no government backing to really support what they are doing.
Cannon Brookes attempt to takeover AGL in March required government support but from what I understand neither the environment minister nor the resources minister bothered to even get involved. This was a guy (with overseas backing) that was willing to invest $20bn into our renewables sector but were ignored. Massive oversight from the coalition, who could have used that as propaganda running into the election of their credentials around the environment which appears to be very high at the top of most voters requirements. Massive missed opportunity for Labor too, who appear to have ignored it too, that with the coalition providing no focus on this investment, were given such an easy punch from labor to the coalition but have again remained out of this. Really poor from both sides of the political sphere.
Excellent article on why Labor would be mad not to increase the emissions reduction target from 43% to at least 60% by 2030:
johnmenadue.com
The new climate challenge: toughening targets, avoiding new conflicts - Pearls and Irritations
Labor will soon establish a new 2030 national mitigation target to formally increase its commitment under the Paris Agreement.
johnmenadue.com
I'm perplexed by the belief that people employed in coalmining somehow have a right to keep being paid, either in a coal mine or be retrained for new employment. This has been accepted by both sides of politics, although I'd suggest for the coalition its just for political purposes because it makes shifting from coal a bit harder.
To be clear I'm not against workers fighting for their rights and maximising their power. But why do coalminers, and its not a huge employer, get a free pass for assistance for technology change? Technologies change and occupations disappear all the time. I used to work in the printing industry, a bigger industry than coalmining. The compositing trade was wiped out by technology in 4 or 5 years due to advances in computers. A whole trade, poof, gone. Imagine all plumbers suddenly being redundant. There was no political debate at the time. All the compositors, and I knew a fair few, just got other jobs or retired.
I'm not against coalminers fighting for assistance if nobody wants to buy coal anymore, but why are they special?
To be clear I'm not against workers fighting for their rights and maximising their power. But why do coalminers, and its not a huge employer, get a free pass for assistance for technology change? Technologies change and occupations disappear all the time. I used to work in the printing industry, a bigger industry than coalmining. The compositing trade was wiped out by technology in 4 or 5 years due to advances in computers. A whole trade, poof, gone. Imagine all plumbers suddenly being redundant. There was no political debate at the time. All the compositors, and I knew a fair few, just got other jobs or retired.
I'm not against coalminers fighting for assistance if nobody wants to buy coal anymore, but why are they special?
the parties pick and choose when it is a "free market" economy, and when it is not.
1 thing about coal miners tho, is that often whole communities are reliant on them. if the mines shut, with no replacement jobs communities will find unemployment rates sky rocket.
so while changes in the printing industry may have directly made more people unemployed, those jobs losses would have been spread through major cities, and a few in regional areas, not 300 people in a town of 5000 (i made those numbers up but the point stands.)
Yes, and hence they have the power to influence who wins their local seat. And there's your answer.
The first sentence is the main one and agree. As for the rest, I take your point, but I think there is a fair bit of hype as a result of the Union PR campaign and firm murdoch and coalition support. The latter 2 have been all over it because its been a rich political vein to wedge the ALP, but when you peel back the layers, its not that clear. Some communities sure, Moranbah and Blackwater for example which have always been boom and bust, but the biggest coalmining region is the Hunter valley/ Newcastle area. Shitloads of alternative industries and economies, and there is quite a bit of local support to end coal from the wineries and racehorse studs and farms. Its an amazing area, dunno if you've been there, superb postcard country, with bloody great open cut mines in the middle of it!
I find the logic and tone of the coalminers a bit hard to take. I don't begrudge them earning good dough and setting themselves up while it continues, not at all, but they are not owed a living when its over. Its just like a Blockbuster video store attendant thinking their job should continue when DVDs were over, and thats putting aside the issue of environmental harm.
Last edited:
