Tracy's Column October - December 2009
Issue 17th December 2009
In the early hours of the morning I woke to the soft sound of rain. It was soothing, relaxing and so it was hard to get out of bed to enjoy the sight. When I did, I was bitterly disappointed.
The day before a friend and I had driven up to Orange to the Walk Against Warming. A helicopter with its tangling bucket flew overhead. Volunteers were still out there checking the smouldering logs and the roots under the ground. Life and property have been badly affected by the fires.
My certainty that rain was falling I put down to wishful thinking. I believe it’s the way many people are dealing with the reality of Climate Change. We can be thankful that our firefighters don’t indulge in wishful thinking.
Our planet Earth needs us to face reality.
This is my last Column. Tracey is back after Christmas. It’s my chance for a last blast. So, down with nuclear power and carbon capture and up with renewable energy!
Australia doesn’t need nuclear power with its attendant dangers and climate warming aspects. Australia has access to the biggest nuclear plant, the Sun.
Carbon capture technology is a pipe dream – no, a pipe nightmare How many of our coal powered electricity generators are build in areas suitable for storing CO2? Will we pipe or truck CO2 around the countryside? If CO2 escapes it kills. It’s time our electricity generators started to diversify and the coal industry looked at other uses for its chemically complex product.
With Christmas just around the corner preparations and social engagements dominate our time. Some people bemoan the fact that the religious significance of Christmas has been lost. Yet it is a celebration that is recognized in many non-Christian parts of the world. Japan has the shopping spree. Malaysian hotels that have just finished celebrating Ramadan put up Christmas decorations. Our Buddhist friends in Thailand send us presents and cards. Is it just the power of consumerism?
I think Christmas retains significance because it has a message of goodwill, hope and renewal. This is my Christmas and New Year wish for you and for the entire world as it faces the reality of Climate Change.
Issue 10th December 2009
I worry about the repercussions of the defeat of the Federal government’s CPRS?
There was certainly plenty of room for improvement in the Scheme.
However, a possible double dissolution in 2010 may or may not lead to more effective emissions reduction legislation. Meanwhile, the hot air released by electioneering politicians will do nothing for lowering temperatures. The money spent on campaigning and lobbying by vested interests will not build one solar collector or wind turbine, or sequester any carbon dioxide.
When Liberal politicians promised measures that will lower emissions with “no new taxes”, I remembered the saying “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”.
When the Labor Party gave increasing amounts of free permits to the coal mining, electricity generation and trade exposed industries, I thought that’s less incentive for these industries to change and less money available to switch to new technologies.
Meanwhile in NSW the State government’s plans for new infrastructure feature rail lines from the expanding coal mines to the expanded coal loading facilities and the probability of two new coal powered electricity generators.
This coming Saturday, 12th December, is your chance to join people the world over to say “We must Change because of Climate Change”.
This year BCCAN is taking part in Orange’s “Walk against Warming”.
All wishing to show their concern about Climate Change, will meet at the corner of Sale and Summer Streets in the car park opposite Newey’s Drycleaners at noon. The Walk will proceed down Summer St to Robertson Park. Wear red and bring along colourful banners and placards. There will be a short rally in Robertson Park.
How many times have you heard this argument: Why should we cut our CO2e emissions when China is building a new coal fired power station each month and becoming a manufacturing giant? Here’s another way to think about it.
- How many of the consumer products we Australians purchase, are made in China?
- China is one of Australia’s biggest customers for raw materials.
Therefore isn’t China just doing our dirty work? Shouldn’t we be responsible for the emissions involved in these goods and resources we Australians consume? Our role should be to develop technologies to reduce our emissions and China’s and those of other developing countries as well.
Issue 3rd December 2009
Congratulations to Patrick Forman who rode his bike from Perth home to Bathurst.
BCCAN claims Patrick as one of its own. Not only is he an active member of our group, but also, he inspires us by the way he embraces an emissions-low lifestyle. Did, I say “inspire”. I better be careful. If I know Patrick, he’ll be lining me up to cycle back on my coming holiday to Perth. Then again, if I wait a year or so I just might be able to do it. A company in Bologna, Italy, has stated that in a year it will be manufacturing bicycles that store the energy from braking in a battery so that when you need the energy you don’t have to pedal. The cost of such a bicycle will be cheaper than existing electric bikes. As petrol prices rise in the future such a bike will provide economic alternative private transport. There are cities in Europe, for example Bern and Copenhagen, where commuter biking is popular already. Perhaps in the future our councils will be building bike paths and facilities for commuting to work, school and shopping.
If you are talking with someone who states that Australia should not lead the way in reducing CO2e emissions, or if you wonder about this yourself, here are some arguments for you.
If Australia allows other countries in the world to go ahead in low emissions technology, our country will be the poorer in the future.
- Australia’s energy industry is dominated by coal, gas and petroleum. It is in the interests of the coal, gas and petroleum companies to rip out as much of these resources as quickly as they can, before their profits are reduced.
- At present coal, gas and petroleum are the cheapest sources of energy. It is in the interests of multinational companies for Australia to keep producing energy this way so that the multinational’s production costs stay low. Meanwhile, these companies can take their profits overseas and use them to develop more efficient industries there, based on the new energy technology. When the crunch comes, the multinational companies won’t stay around to give Australia a helping hand.
Judy Walker is the Convenor of Community Awareness APT for Bathurst Community Climate Action Network. Visit www.bccan.org
Issue 26th November 2009
Carbon Pollution Confusion.
After last week’s weather, the hot topic has been whether or not the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill (CPRS) would pass the Senate.
Now, when I talk with others about this, it is clear that most people, including myself, are pretty confused about the CPRS. So I decided to do some research.
First I wanted to know what the difference is between the CPRS and the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Well, I found out they are the same thing. In fact it seems to me it would make more sense to call the Bill the ETS Bill for two reasons. The pollution is not from carbon but from carbon dioxide. The Bill also covers pollution from other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide. However because these other gases react at different rates on the atmosphere, their effects are calculated as equivalent to carbon dioxide.
Now if you really want to get confused, ask a group of people how the CPRS is supposed to work.
These are the basics as I understand them. The Government decides how much CO2e (i.e. carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases) it will allow to be released into the atmosphere over a certain time period. Australia’s Bill says the government has decided that by 2020 Australia will be releasing 5% less CO2e than it was in 2000, if global agreement is not reached; or, if global agreement is reached, by 2020 Australia will be releasing 25% less CO2e than it was in 2000.
For each five year period the government sets the number of permits. Each permit is worth 1 tonne of CO2e. The permits are auctioned by the government but initially some companies will get a lot of permits for free. At the end of each year the approximately 900 companies covered by the scheme will have to give back to the government regulator permits to cover the CO2e pollution they have emitted during the year.
There’s more to it than this, of course. BCCAN can provide informed speakers for a discussion at your organisation’s meeting. Contact John Kellett through the BCCAN website: www.bccan.org.au
Judy Walker is the Convenor of Community Awareness APT for Bathurst Community Climate Action Network..
Issue 19th November 2009
Well, it appears we are being softened up for the blow. Any agreement
made by international leaders in Copenhagen is likely to be demoted
to "preparatory" rather than one that binds signatories to any real
targets. The first official sign of this came at the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore the other day,
attended by Kevin Rudd. The summit's final declaration called for "an
ambitious outcome in Copenhagen" but dropped a proposal included in
earlier drafts to slash their greenhouse gas emissions to half their
1990 levels by 2050.
Getting the whole world to agree on anything is, almost by
definition, a tall order. But we saw it happen only a year ago, when
the global financial crisis hit. Almost immediately, world leaders
had stitched up plans to bail out big banks and pour money into
various economies. When the whole financial system appeared to be in
peril, there was no shortage of fast and decisive action. Too bad the
same value is not applied to the planet that houses the world
financial system, along with everything else.
Still, it's not all gloom and doom. The fact that world leaders are
going to get together and make lots of sweeping, pro-environment
statements (even if they turn out to be hot air) means that things
have moved on from the development-at-all-costs era of the past. And
on the ground, all over the world, people are voting with their feet
on climate change, either at the ballot box or in small-scale
community activities.
The new $7.5 million green skills training centre here in Bathurst is
a case in point. The building of the new centre, initiated by Central
West Group Apprentices and funded by the Federal Government, is an
example of how people are just getting on with it, moving towards a
green economy despite the foot dragging on a world scale.
,,,
By the time you read this I'll be in Santiago de Chile, ready to head
north into Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. While I'm away (until
Christmas), the convener of BCCAN's community awareness committee,
Judy Walker, will be writing these columns. So, even though it's
early, Season's Greetings and I'll see you next year!
Issue 12th November 2009
While university student Elysha Hickey stole the show with her
question about asylum seekers at the community meeting with the PM on
Monday (and good on her for being so feisty), the other issue that
produced a warm response from the crowd was on climate change. Lately
the polls have shown the issue slipping down the list of priorities
for voters as they grapple with the global financial crisis, but it
is certainly not going to go away, no matter how much opposition
politicians like Nick Minchin wish it would. Coalition Senate leader
Nick Minchin's comments on Four Corners on Monday night, in which he
said he didn't "believe in" man-made climate change, were quite
extraordinary. In other words: "I don't like it, it doesn't suit me,
so it doesn't exist." In rhetoric, the Rudd government is light years
from the climate change sceptics, but its endless mantra of "clean
coal" puts it in the same league as Nick Minchin's wishful thinking.
Instead of fast-tracking renewable energy, creating jobs and new
opportunities for investment, Rudd is banking on a coal-cleaning
technology that doesn't exist. While all this wishing and hoping is
going on – a process being repeated all over the world – the window
for taking effective action based on real scientific evidence is
closing.
,,,
Judy Walker from BCCAN reports that the kitchen garden conference
held at the end of last month was a great success, with about 50
people involved in workshops and discussions. One of the highlights
was a presentation called "Earth Cake" by Meg Leathart from the
Warrumbungle National Park Environmental Education Centre. As she
made a carrot cake, she took each ingredient in turn, pointing out
where it had come from and the issues surrounding its production and
transportation. The cinnamon, for example, is made from the bark of a
small tree that grows in India and Sri Lanka. The person with the
arduous and dangerous job of peeling the bark from the tree is paid
about as much for a week’s work as we pay for a packet of cinnamon.
The conference was a great example of grass-roots action to create a
more sustainable, thoughtful world, rather than one in which we
mindlessly consume the planet's resources.
Issue 5th November 2009
After work on Monday afternoon I jumped into the car, drove to
Sydney, saw Liza Minnelli live at the Entertainment Centre, slept on
a friend's couch until 5am, jumped back in the car and managed to
turn up for work again at 9am on Tuesday. As I drove down through the
Blue Mountains, I did spare a thought for Blaxland, Lawson and
Wentworth who toiled so hard so that I might one day whip down to
enjoy a concert. Liza was utterly spectacular, giving everything she
had. At times she seemed to be channelling her mother, Judy Garland.
When she sang Alexander's Ragtime Band we were witnessing a living
connection to the history of American entertainment going back to
vaudeville. It was also clear – in the nicest possible way – that
Liza will not be with us forever. Like Elsie in Cabaret, there have
been a lot of pills and liquor. The breathless patter between songs
was occasionally alarmingly breathless.
A bit like coal mining, really (you may have been wondering how I was
going to segue from Liza to climate change). It has given us so much,
from the lights in the entertainment centre to the Welsh male voice
choirs, but we are going to have to give it up. We can do it now,
before carbon emissions reach the tipping point, or we can do it
later, when it eventually runs out. Even clean coal, if it ever
materialises, will only buy time. Fossil fuels are, like Liza, finite.
The maddening thing about our addiction to coal is that there are
healthy, viable, job-creating alternatives. Unlike coal, renewable
energy is forever (well, at least until the sun implodes). In last
Friday's Advocate there was a full-page advertisement placed by the
Australian Coal Association with a battler Mum and her pigtailed
daughter staring at us with reproachful eyes. How could we even think
of taking away jobs in the coalmines? But let's sit down over a cup
of tea with that woman. What if her husband was given an even better-
paying job in a company installing wind farms? What that family needs
is a job, not a particular job.
But the coal lobby has its money tied up in a particular investment.
That's why they'd rather we keep up our addiction to coal, partying,
like Elsie, as if there were no tomorrow.
Issue 29th October 2009
We all know how our earliest years are our formative years. That's
when time is slow and certain things we hear and see stay with us for
the rest of our lives. I remember planting a packet of mixed flower
seeds and being astonished and delighted when they actually turned
into flowers. There were zinnias and petunias among them and to this
day, I do like a zinnia and a petunia.
The celebrated cookbook writer Stephanie Alexander took a look at
kids today – eating junk food, getting fat in front of the television
– and decided that they needed imprinting with some healthier and
more pleasurable experiences. She persuaded one school to try a
planting a vegetable garden in the school grounds, tended by the
kids, who would then be involved in cooking and eating the produce.
That worked, and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation
was born.
Schools involved in the program use the garden to help kids learn not
just about gardening, cooking and food but about science, maths,
literacy and all elements of the curriculum.
An emissary from the SAKGF, Ange Barry, will be in Bathurst this
Friday (October 30) to speak at the Education For Sustainability
Conference at Charles Sturt University. She'll explain that the
kitchen garden movement is not just for schools, kids and parents but
for the wider community. Often a school's neighbours will be involved
in helping to set up the garden, provide advice, and keep an eye on it.
The conference, which includes visits to local sustainable gardens
and farms on Saturday, will also be a chance for people from the
kitchen garden movement across the central west to share experiences
and ideas and discuss the general theme of bringing environmental
education to the next generation. If you are interested in going
along, call Jan Page on 6338 4367.
,,,
Thanks to all those who took part in the photo opportunity at the
Farmers Markets on Saturday, on the same day as 4000 groups from
around the world. Our photo, complete with the words "Bathurst,
Australia" was up on the big screen in Times Square, New York, over
the weekend. The visual petition has been prepared to put pressure on
world leaders in the lead-up to the UN climate conference in
Copenhagen in December.
Issue 22nd October 2009
Like millions of others around the globe, I was transfixed by the
saga of the little boy who climbed into a home-made air balloon and
sailed through the air over Colorado while the police and military
frantically tried to save him. The internet video clip of rescuers
running towards the silver balloon as it crashed is compelling. The
boy wasn't there. Then suspicions of a hoax set off a new act in the
media circus.
But for those hours before we realised we'd been manipulated by a
strange, publicity-hungry family, it was pure poetry. It brought to
mind the story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to sun, melting
the wax in his home-made wings and plunging down into the sea.
On a planetary scale, humanity is like Icarus. Our progress has made
us giddy. Like Icarus, we're over-reaching ourselves, and the wax in
our wings is starting to melt. But we're still not getting the
message; still, we go flying into the heat. Are we going to have to
crash before we get the message? Will it be too late?
Well, that's enough of silver balloons and waxen wings. Coming back
down to earth, we have an opportunity here in Bathurst to express our
concerns to members of the Rudd cabinet when it comes to town on
November 9. Members of Bathurst Community Climate Action Network are
seeking meetings with ministers to advocate for renewable energy and
to urge a stronger emissions reduction policy in the lead-up to the
UN sponsored Copenhagen climate change summit in December.
This Saturday at the Farmers Markets 10am, we welcome supporters to
be part of a colourful photo that we'll be sending in as part of a
"visual petition" to world leaders. The more the merrier! For details
check www.350.org.
On Friday and Saturday, October 30-31, the CSU School of Teacher
Education and BCCAN will be presenting a conference on kitchen
gardens in schools to promote health and sustainability. Registration
can be downloaded from the BCCAN website.
There will be a meeting of those interested in sustainable building
and energy practices at the Bathurst Agricultural Research Station on
Tuesday November 3 at 5pm. All welcome. For details, call Bob Hill on
6338 4470.
Issue 15th October 2009
Are you handy with a needle, thread or paintbrush? This Saturday
(October 17) a small group of us will gather to paint a colourful
banner and attempt to make mermaid costumes for our photo opportunity
at the Farmers Markets the following Saturday (October 24). So if
you're a bit arty/crafty and you're also interested in doing
something about climate change, this could be a good day to get
involved! The idea is to create a colourful photo to send off to
Copenhagen ahead of the United Nations convention in December.
When we snap our photo at 10am on Saturday October 24, we'll be
joining a worldwide Day of Action to urge world leaders to aim for
350 parts per million as the upper limit of carbon concentration in
the atmosphere. The scientific consensus is that beyond this
concentration, we are in danger of human and natural disaster. The
planet's current concentration of atmospheric is 390ppm, so we need
to act fast.
According to the www.350.org website, October 24 is expected to be
the most widespread day of environmental action in history, with
actions taking place in almost every country in the world.
Participants will take photos of their activities and send them in to
create a giant "visual petition." If you'd like to be involved in
creating the banner or costumes this Saturday, call me on 0414 955
049 or 6331 7332. Otherwise, you can make something at home, or just
turn up as your "normal" self at the Farmers Markets at about 10am on
October 24 to join our photo.
Why mermaid costumes? We thought that would be a good tie-in to one
of Copenhagen's famous landmarks, the Little Mermaid statue. Mermaids
are also a good reminder of rising sea levels!
,,,
Coming up at the end of the month (October 30-31), we have the
Education For Sustainability conference at Charles Sturt University,
where the focus will be on promoting kitchen gardens in schools. The
guest speaker will be Ange Barry, the CEO of the Stephanie Alexander
Kitchen Garden Foundation. There will also be speakers from schools
around the central west that have set up kitchen gardens. Anyone
interested in this concept is welcome, whether or not you are
connected to a particular school. For details check our website or
call Jan Page on 6338 4367.
Issue 8th October 2009
Skippy, Skippy, Skippy the bush kanga – BANG! See ya later, Skip! On
Tuesday I and a couple of reporters from the local television
stations spent some time talking to local ecologist Ray Mjadwesch
about a dead kangaroo. The roo was lying in state in the back of his
work vehicle, a visual reminder of the fate of many of its fellows in
the lead up to this year's car race. Ray picked up its feet to show
how its toenails had been worn down by a frantic long run. It had
escaped the immediate danger, only to die of myopathy – extreme stress.
Meanwhile, the carnival atmosphere continued to build. The chequered
flags decorating the light posts flapped in the wind. Campervans
streamed up William Street ready for the big party. I asked a couple
of racegoers what they thought of the shooting of kangaroos ahead of
this year's race. They said it wasn't a nice thing to do, but
ultimately a kangaroo's life couldn't be compared to the life of a
driver.
Put like that, there's no contest. But that's not the only way to put
it. The larger question raised by the kangaroo cull is our attitude
to the environment we live in. For centuries we (that is, the post-
Captain Cook arrivals) have altered the environment to suit
ourselves. We have acted as though the environment were somehow
infinite and that our actions couldn't possibly do any harm. With the
threat of climate change and large-scale catastrophes like the
collapse of the Murray Darling, we're now starting to see things
differently. Increasingly, everything we do is coming under
environmental scrutiny.
In this case, because the car race is globally televised and the
kangaroo is our national emblem, the scrutiny has gone international.
Was shooting them the only way to keep the kangaroos off the track?
What is a reasonable level of risk when undertaking an inherently
dangerous activity like driving around a mountain at speeds of up to
250 kilometres an hour? It was unfortunate, given the scale of the
cull and the symbolic value of both Mt Panorama and kangaroos, that
we didn't get a chance to have this discussion beforehand. Well –
we're having it now.
Issue 1st October 2009
It's probably not a virtue, but every now and then one feels tempted
to say, "I told you so!" Actually, the temptation is too great, so I
think I'll say it: "I told you so!" Good to get that off my chest.
I'm talking about the swimming pool and the news that the Council is
now seriously investigating a cogeneration plant for the facility.
When the new pool was built, the fledgling BCCAN took a keen
interest. At the time, we asked why this building, with its huge
expanse of roof space, didn't have a gleaming set of solar panels on
top? We said it would make a lot of sense not just on environmental
grounds but as a big cost saving over the life of the facility. We
were told that the upfront cost of doing this would have been
prohibitive. We also learned that it would not be possible to
retrofit with solar panels because the building was not designed to
support their weight.
Now that the cost of heating the centre in a cold climate has emerged
as a barrier to commercial success for its managers, it's worth
making the point again: perhaps we should have gone for the big
upfront costs. Having a sparkling new facility run on renewable
energy would have been a great showcase and eventually – possibly in
the rather long term, but what's wrong with thinking long term? – it
might have represented a cost-saving.
Anyway, all that is now beside the point because it didn't happen and
won't happen. So we now turn our attention to the issue of
cogeneration. Under this scheme, the pool would have its own gas-
fuelled power plant to generate electricity, with heat produced by
the engine used to heat the water in the pool. Great idea! And, I
can't help but add, one that we suggested at the time.
,,,
National Ride to Work Day is coming up on Wednesday, October 14. So
if your bike is out in the shed gathering dust and cobwebs, this
could be a good day to get it out and have a go at riding to work.
Hopefully it'll be a glorious spring day for the ride!