The Sustainable Hour no 379

In The Tunnel on 8 September 2021, our first guest is friend of the show and long time campaigner for Friends of the Earth Melbourne, Leigh Ewbank. Leigh updates us on the broad cross-section of campaigns that FoE and their army of volunteers are working on. Not deterred by Covid, they have moved all their campaigns online and have carried on as normal protecting our atmosphere, our waterways, our forests, Koalas and working for a just transition to a post-carbon world.

Leigh points out the good things that are happening on these fronts in Victoria, as well as what they’ll be working on in the lead up to our country going to the Global Climate Summit COP26 in Scotland at the start of November. You can find out how you can help with this – using your social media accounts on 1 October by uploading a selfie – at: www.foe.org.au/dayofaction – or learn about FoE’s new community resistance to gas campaign Drill Watch on www.drillwatch.com.au.

Following Leigh, we have founder of The Sunflower Project, Zola Lawry and her young daughter Violet. Violet entertains herself, mostly in the background, as we find out all about Zola’s project. What started out as a form of self therapy in going out of her way to look for things to be grateful for when she was going through a dark period a few years ago, soon evolved into The Sunflower Project – a grassroots community project with the aim to spread a bit of joy and fun this spring: Plant and share some sunflower seeds with your neighbours, local primary school, community gardens or local verge gardens. Why? “Because for the last 18 months our world has been thrown into unpredictable, uncertain times, and sunflowers being such joy.” The project now appears as an open Facebook group with over 500 members. You can find them on Facebook – and you can buy seeds for your sunflowers with www.theseedcollection.com.au

Colin Mockett‘s jam packed Global Outlook begins with global accounting firm KPMG, which surveyed the world’s biggest companies and found that adapting to climate change now tops the list of action from the world’s CEOs.

Part of this report notes that Coca Cola USA has researched through its supply chain to find that each 1 litre bottle of Coke puts 771 grams of CO2 into the atmosphere. The company has started to reduce this with a target of reducing absolute emissions by 25 percent by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, and along with that to address its huge waste impact. They also set a target of using 50 percent recycled content in all its packaging by 2030.

Another global group, NRDC, released a report listing the primary sources of global warming. There are no surprises here as Colin itemises the Top 6.

Colin then zooms us to Afghanistan where an unreported ongoing drought is worrying climate scientists and environmentalists. Most worryingly in the country’s most important farmland, where droughts now are more frequent in vast swaths of this war torn country. It’s turned into a new type of international crisis, where the hazards of the Taliban takeover collide with the hazards of climate change and the Covid threat.