There has been news of a large backlog of ships full of Australian coal waiting in line to unload at Chinese ports. This has been mentioned in the news a while ago. It is now officially acknowledged, since Scott Morrison has spoken up with umbrage. What ever he said was not very interesting. The claim that other nations coal is "50% dirtier" than Australian coal could only come direct from the Minerals Council of Australia, who probably told the Prime Minister to appear to "do something".
In response to a recent article at "resilience.org" from Will Steffen, Emeritus Professor at Australia National University. How can we alter our future reality faster? By seeking new answers to it every day.
The momentum of global heating heating is a now fully activated threat. It has a predictive timetable, set by our rate of global heating that is getting worse. Effective survival responses are required now. For many nations and species, our fastest institutional responses will be too slow to survive. Our current wasteful way of life is as good as gone now. We are among so many dead systems still working without lasting purpose. Sad, because there our energy, transport and production systems seem to have started adapting. The rate of climate change is much faster.
Global heating continues to accelerate. We continue to add greenhouse gases to global solar radiation imbalance. We lose a little more ice every year. Permafrost systems thaw.
This is all so slowly incremental, the warming pot syndrome, that to refer to it becomes "alarmism". Too many of our conventional politicians and media can deny we have a global climate emergency. After all, all the people that matter to elites are mostly still here, and those falling off into the unemployment social abyss can still be ignored. Denial of slow social collapse is a national behavioral blind spot, only felt by those on the margins.
Overgrown global Humpty Dumpty is not ready for his big fall. He is much bigger after 3 decades of global growth since the first IPCC report of 1990. But everything I read adds up to more growth.
Above is the mission statement for "Climate for Change" - https://climateforchange.org.au -.
The need for political climate action is now much more dire than mentioned in media.
There are too many distractions in our everyday cares and concerns.
More people are needed to come together for review and talk, about successful political intervention.
The country of which I became an adopted citizen of, Australia, has a federal government which always claims that Australia "is a unique case" when negotiating in international forums for climate action. It is the most unique crime case. Like many selfish anti-social crimes justice must ensure hurt rebounds on the criminal more at the end. The uniqueness involves an extreme belligerent hard-nosed attitude with carbon accounting combined with public denial of climate change when it comes to action. This is very much opposite to the global behavior required to have a safe global climate system. This is being done on behalf of global fossil fuel corporations, that are totally into colonial exploitation, and our government is helping them every way it can, because - money.
After a record year in 2019 of drought, record temperatures, and record bush-fire damages, Australian government climate policy is still operates much as if it is the year 1970. Perhaps 1950 even, in the case of the Liberal - National Party coalition. Australia is still into expanding coal and gas exports like it is all the rage. Money still trumps science.
Dr Ye Tao, at "The Rowland Institute" at Harvard, is explicit about what we need to do in order to escape our near-term extinction. We need to reverse the temperature rise caused by our rapid production of greenhouse gases, and also negate the hidden part of its temperature rise that is currently masked by all of our transient aerosol pollution. The challenge and its difficulty is made clear in this you-tube presentation.
If the global reduction of fossil fuel burning goes down as fast as needs to, lack of demand for them should soon drop their selling price below their production cost floor. Everyone knows the target of 50% reduction by 2030, as required for even a two thirds chance of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees C. Many nations targets are being set by this.
Climate for Change news-letter reported the following news items in recognition and encouragement of those many already ahead of the rushing crowd. Don't be the last institution or the last laggard nation left holding stranded assets!
"The Conversation" has some detailed articles with strong criticisms of the recent Australian Governments Climate and Energy road map, and budget. I find these articles to be rather lame in their criticism. They do not scream out "climate emergency", which ought to be considered a rational response by now.
Again the enormous subsidies to Coal and Gas mining in Australia are mentioned.
Human states and cities have been trying grow bigger than their neighbours, since the discovery of metal technologies - the copper and bronze ages, for 5000 years. Domination by weaponized warriors became possible. Metal technology brought with it, mining, smelting and money, requiring states to exploit more energy, resources, and the sacrifice of forests.
States and Corporations co-evolved as a "Metallurgical complex" It became necessary for states to compete or be dominated. Since then we have been perfecting the technologies of exploitation, and war. Civilization for the next 5 millennium has tried to organize around four tyrannies: Military domination, Economic capitalism, Ideology and Linear thinking.
We are not good at fixing the problems that our Megamachine causes. Mining corporations and wealth accumulation systems now dominate the globe. States are struggling to manage the end of growth. Our world is becoming crippled by our many accumulating problems, while our institutions keep trying to maintain their roles in causing them.
The Megamachine is run using people, and people can change their views and choices, which is what is happening now.
This is an introduction to the online zoom session presentation, of the #StopAdani film "People vs Adani: The fight of our times".
Specially for Parramatta and Western Sydney, or where-ever your internet access point is.
Date: Sunday 25th October, 2:30 pm - ParraCAN Event Registration Link
The Adani Coal Mine is still being stalled, while various economic and political forces still want to start turning the Galilee Basin of Queensland into yet another quarry of Australia. This did not develop in a cultural vacuum. Who and what is behind it? What are the economic and political forces pushing it. What culture, life values and future for all of us are still at stake?
Many people are still absorbing the flurry of Australian Government climate, energy and "Big Gas" announcements. They make up a confusing and contradictory "wish list". Some of them relate to important ideas. Too much of the whole package relates to the wishful thinking of our mining industry biased government, manifest in statements which say that climate mitigation cannot be allowed to impact our "economy". Still telling the big economy lie.
This is ludicrous, because climate change is already impacting our economy. Too much of our economy is seriously tied up with green house gas emissions, including "Big Gas". We are not defining what is really important for our economy. Failure of sufficient action now dooms the economy later on. Damage and withdrawal of many parts of our economy cannot be avoided. What is missing are plans to have a climate safe economy. And this is entirely possible now.
We are the great Australian gas swindled. That is you and me, whether we have seen through it or not. The gas industry is still getting away with it. Their game pieces are all lined up. The gas lies have been building up thick and fast over the decade, backed by billions of dollars of conviction money from the banks. Dollars buy conviction. Mostly convinced are our conventional standard politicians in Australia, who allow the lies to be repeated wholesale. They also don't want to be seen opposing "progress". The mainstream media are professionally devoted to not joining the dots.
The lies start from the fossil fuel gas corporations, are echoed in every possible way by our domesticated Australian governments and their tame environment and planning departments. Gas industry lies have corralled the main political parties. The whole and entire aim is to produce profits from high exported gas prices, for the benefit of tax-dodging foreign corporations like Santos. For political brains, we have gas industry zombies. We have an overwhelming supply of self-important suckers for a government. We are the great Australia gas swindled because we keep electing them to high office.
All environment activists , last chance to add your opposition to the Narrabri Gas Project - please lodge a written submission with the IPC by 5pm, Monday 10 August.
Online assistance can be found at https://www.lockthegate.org.au/csg_around_narrabri. There are plenty of details and comment published, including most recent fossil fool bulletins, 21st and 28th July 2020.
Transcripts of the recent public hearings are available. There is plenty of evidence that this project is a money extraction operation for the proponents, including our Australia coal and gas oligarchy, with their "limited-liability". It is a high risk project for everyone else. Our civilization has a regressive fixation on "old energy", supported by corporations and governments. We have run out of easy fossil fuel resources. The proponents are into cooking their books, and the global climate. Now even the banks that lend out the money must be starting to feel the fossil fuelled heat.
The Independent Planning Commission is scheduled to hear public submissions on the Narrabri Gas Project. Speaker registration has already closed, and they have been numerous, and these will take all week, from five days from July 20 to July 24th, 2020. Written submissions are still being accepted, for about a week afterwards. It is good that the NSW state government has appointed a few commissioners, that seem well qualified for this task. Five days is a long time for a strenuous public hearing of all views, in front of the public. It will be video-streamed. It will seem like a long deliberative trial, only there is no random selected jury. All sorts of persons will have a lot to say, with some repetition, especially the public, and public organisations on behalf of nature. Below are links to watch or send a submission.
To the most hostile and fearful politicians of Australia,
The targeting of Mr Moselmane by police raids, for having expressed China appreciation sentiments, has been timed perfectly just before peak pre-poll voting period for the tight Eden-Monaro by-election. The media mud is likely to stick a while longer after failure of the spooks to disprove innocence, whilst the perpetrators will never be accused of lack of national security vigilance
Thank you to the insurance companies Liberty Mutual and HDI/Talanx. News by email was read today, 12th June 2020, that "Liberty Mutual" has categorically ruled out further insurance of Adani's coal project in Queensland. HDI/Talanx sent "Market Forces" at letter stating that they had "terminated the insurance cover for this project" and "have even excluded the Carmichael project from insurance coverage for significant suppliers." Thank you to many activists that supplied the ongoing social pressure who are still campaigning hard.
Now all we need is the Gas and Coal coalitions of conniving politicians in the Australian Federal Government, and State governments to be denied reserve bank and global finance and bonds for funding for their reckless promotions of new coal and gas projects in Australia. They are meeting and plotting with their culpable lobbyists everyday in the halls and desktops of money and power. The economic downtown has been deemed the perfect time for emergency powers and corporate ambush of democracy. Coalitions of conniving political units powered by fossil fuelled wealth are still plotting systemic ecosystems destruction. We need a loud and commensurate opposition, not a bunch of willing political collaborators.
Growth of large scale coal mining, and all fossil fuel powered economic development, is incompatible with global heating mitigation, as greenhouse gas emissions need to be falling rapidly now. No more to "OLD ENERGY".
Queensland now has "human rights" legislation. It remains to be seen how this legislation stands up in court against the huge money weight of vested interests.
Thank you to these young Queenslanders who are taking on Clive Palmers coal company
In a landmark case, 25 young people aged 13 to 30 are mounting a legal challenge to the massive, Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project. This will be the first time human rights arguments are used in a climate change case in Australia.
Palmer’s proposed Waratah Coal mine in the Galilee Basin will dwarf Adani’s operation, extracting four times as much coal per year.
Like heroin addicts, our politicians cannot smell their own climate bullshit.
The road to climate hell is paved with good intentions that use bad ideas, and we are nearly there now. Fossil fuel companies tell us that burning methane gas is step towards climate mitigation, also known as a bridge, or label it a transition fuel. There is no climate science research that supports such an assertion. It remains such an easy lie. Australian politicians love oversimplified lies. These are politically useful myths and misleading signs on the road to hell.
Even energy minister Angus Taylor can smugly say his lines. "Australian exports of gas help our neighbours reduce their carbon emissions". But how much help is that? More Australian water and land is to be sacrificed to toxic fracking gas fields so that its overseas neighbours (customers) will be able burn more gas to reduce their carbon emissions for us? It doesn't even make sense. What a big fat smug lies we get to tell ourselves. As if a country ranked as a fossil fuel addict can talk about its good climate intentions.
Abundant gas could be great for any number of things, but it is not going to solve the climate change problem - Haewon McJeon, for Scientific American
In recent virtual meetings of local activist groups, I heard cautions against publishing anything that compares, or contrasts the new viral epidemic, and economic shutdown responses to it, with our ever present global heating emergency. We are not even supposed to mention the latter, but are asked to spend more time building our resilience and social support networks. We are supposed to wait until things are back to normal. I know I am going to be very bad at heeding both admonitions. This was very effective reverse psychology. I throw my caution to the wind.
There some dangers in continuing to harp on our dangers of our very real growing long emergency, during this initial time of immediate danger, shutdown and global panic. It must be really annoying for some, to be told, that this sort of gradual economic shutdown is a great and good start towards a big decline in global GDP and linked greenhouse gas emissions. Panic buying shouts belief. This is the only real possible and necessary response to our long emergency. And we have only a short number years left in which to accomplish this in a permanent way. The faster this gets done, the better off future climate conditions will be for all of us. Talk of getting back to where we were with economic growth as normal is crazy money talk. We see fossil fuel extraction industry desperadoes that are still trying to "go for broke" in expanding production as part of our genocidal madness.