Bathurst Community Climate Action Network

Last Wednesday evening, BCCAN held function which might turn into a regular event.
The occasion had two guests to entertain us with presentations. Dr. Bruce Fell, a lecturer from the School of Communications at Charles Sturt University and Dr. Andrew Rawson, who also lectureres at Charles Sturt University, at the Orange Campus.
As it turned out, Bruce's talk generated such interest amongst the 20 or so attendees, that Andrew, generously offered to deter his presentation till another date. That will be much looked forward to as Andrew is a geomorphologist and has many valuable insights into the current plight facing the world with water and that is a topic of great interest to our community. Andrew also has vast knowledge and experience of the science behind the debate in climate change and that is something every concerned citizen needs to examine closely.
The reason Bruce Fell's talk captured our imagination was that it caught us by surprise. Bruce's topic, reflecting the title of his recently published book, "Television and Climate Change". I don't think any of us expected to have our preconceptions juggled.

A couple of points will give you a gist of his thesis. 

• Product placement has been happening since the dawn of television.
• Product placement is a more powerful inducement to consume than the actual advertisemtns themselves.
• Contemporary tv series have contracts signed for product placement in the series prior to writing the script.
• For an activist it is far more effective to pursuade a "star" to act "green" on television than lobbying a politician or company CEO.
• For a great many of the voting public, the "actors" in soaps become a member of their family and the television is always in.
• For people in their twenties, the vast majority will not remember when they first saw television or saw a computer screen - it has been part of their world when they first opened their eyes after birth.
• Young people are seriously disadvantaged in their social networks if they are not up to date whith what is happening in the latest screening of a reality tv show or soap series.

This was a shock because as a general rule,  BCCAN members come from a quite different demographich, in age and in tv viewing habits.
We all had plenty of questions to ask Bruce and when it was time to go, the discussion was still alive.
In some ways it was a difficult medicine to swallow as our assumption had been that if we were able to influence politicians with our blinding logic of the solid science we knew to be dripping like acid onto metal, corroding our very world.
On the other hand, it was an exhilarating experience to be part of a discussion where nearly eveyone in the room had made a contribution. The feedback I got from those persent was that it was a very enjoyable evening and the format is one they would like to participate in again.
We are hoping that we can get Dr. Andrew Rawson back again later in May and as soon as that has been settled, I will let readers know here and in other media outlets. We are certainly hoping that we can reach out to others in our community to come along to these events and be part of the discussion which could shape our community in the future.
A silly name I came up with without a great deal of pondering for these nights is, "Chewing the Fat at Cafe Kai" - if you can come up with a better on, let me know via the comments to this blog.
Other topics which we could broach in future "Chews" could be;

• Electric Cars
• Renewable Energy
• Food Scarcity
• Water Crisis
•  Bathurst a Bicycle Friendly City
• 50,000 people in Bathurst
• Rehabilitation of our creeks and streams
• Restoration for a Future

Let us know your topics and we will add them to the list, but most of all let us know of your interest and we can put you on a mailing list to let you know of each event as it approaches.
The format will be that we share a meal together first and then after dinner we allow our guest to inspire, beguile, antagonise us and then the floor is open for discussion, questions and observations.
This will  be the public's chance to have a say and what better way can we have of reinforcing democracy.