The Sustainable Hour no 358

In The Tunnel on 14 April 2021 we focus on the sold out Geelong Energy Future Forum that is coming up next Wednesday at the West Geelong Town Hall, starting at 7pm. We have two of the speakers who will be giving their five-minute presentations there.

For anyone new to our show, this forum came about in response to Viva’s proposal to continue to build a floating gas hub in Corio Bay. The proposal caused a great amount of concern in Geelong and district residents who knew that the science is screaming out that we need to stop exploring for, extracting, transporting and burning fossil fuels. They turned this concern into action by coming up with a forum which aims at giving an alternative view to Viva’s of energy sources that won’t cost us the world literally.

First we have Colin Long who is the Victorian Trades Hall Just Transition Officer. Colin speaks of the importance of including the workers in any talks about how to do this transition correctly. The workers have to be actively involved in this decision making process and shown the benefits for them in making the necessary changes. This must involve retraining when and where necessary. Workers can’t just be left of the “scrap heap” like many other workers have been as a result of changes in the past. Colin optimistically predicts that this can result in a better, healthier world not only for these workers but also for their communities as a whole.

Simon Holmes à Court, Smart Energy Council board member and a senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University, then continues to paint an alternative picture to the one Viva Energy has presented so far in the local media of Geelong. He optimistically outlines how we can transition all of our current major carbon emitting processes into the decarbonised world that the science demands of us in a way that, rather than destroying our economy, will only enhance it and allow us to lead the world because of the abundance of renewable energy sources that Australia is blessed with. Indeed, there are much better alternatives to the energy future that Viva is currently proposing.

Will the Geelong community decide to embrace these alternatives? It would appears so, as tickets for the Geelong Energy Future Forum on in Geelong West Town Hall, where these and other alternatives will be presented, are already sold out. Fortunately the event is going to be streamed live on Facebook and will be recorded and made freely available after this important night.

Hamburg is where Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook start out this week. We hear what their Philharmonic Orchestra has done to honour the 200 anniversary of Vivaldi’s masterpiece ‘Four Seasons’. They have used the latest scientific climate modelling and high powered computers to compose a piece that reflects the change in weather patterns over those 200 years. In addition to this they have sent the score to all the major international philharmonic orchestras.

Colin then zooms us to Sweden, with news of a major car company’s plans for true climate neutral electric vehicles. They are aiming to achieve this without relying on offset programs like so many other companies are.

Next we go to the United Kingdom with news from a prestigious report that their net zero target won’t be achieved without big changes at all levels. Staying in the UK, Colin next reveals Prince Charles’