The Greening of Gavin

An Afternoon With Al Gore

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Sunday just past, I had the pleasure of being invited to an under-the-radar shindig hosted by the Climate Reality Project.  It was an amazing opportunity to be present.

The highlight, besides catching up with other Climate Reality Leaders, was that Al Gore presented for just over an hour to the 150 gathered invitees.

An Afternoon with Al Gore

Mr Al Gore presenting

Now besides being the inspiration for my green epiphany via his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, the man is a fantastic orator and motivator.  He gave us a message of hope regarding action on climate change.

The last time I had the opportunity to see him was at the Climate Reality Leadership training that I attended in June 2014.  His message has changed little since then.

It is one of hope and action against climate change of a global nature that will help us overcome this time of climate crisis.  The climate science only gets stronger year after year.

Anyway, he spent the hour telling us that change is happening for the better as individuals, businesses, and governments begin to kick lowering their greenhouse gas emissions into high gear.

Lets just say that the Afternoon with Al Gore relit the fire in my belly and gave me renewed hope that we will solve this crisis before it becomes too late.

I did manage to record the audio of the session so that I could bring you a special podcast episode, however I am still waiting permission to release it.

However, I will share this amazing quote with you that Mr Gore spoke of.  It was a quote by Rudiger Dornbusch, and economist, who said,

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.

Mr Gore continued to say that he believes we are now in the momentum phase of action on climate change the began with the historic agreement between China and the United States which will lead to an agreement at Paris and subsequent continued actions afterwards.  Time will tell, but I do believe he is right.

Examples he gave that momentum is building is with the use of solar, wind, and battery storage, energy efficiency, sustainability, agriculture, in every part of our lives.  It is going to happen.  We can see it happening.

Just think of this.  1 in 7 Australian homes now have rooftop solar, and in some suburbs 1 in 2 have it installed.  Thinking back to when I first got my PV system installed in September 2007, I never thought I would see the day that it was so prevalent in our town.  But as history shows, it is now the homes that don’t have solar PV that now stick out and are becoming the minority.

It is people like you and me that are moving the needle with our daily actions by demanding that products we purchase are green, and the energy we consume is renewable, and the food we eat is organically grown or grown in our very own backyards.

People like you and me are making a big difference.  Lets keep the momentum going, each and every day by living a little more sustainably and taking action with every dollar we spend on the good, and avoid spending it on the bad like our planet depended on it.

In fact our global civilisation does depend upon it!  Keep going.  Don’t stop now, as the momentum of change is happening.

Applying Pressure

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People PowerIt was a great day at the Peoples Climate march yesterday, but after some more water under the bridge, I had time to put things into perspective.

As I previously mentioned, over 30,000 concerned citizens marched yesterday in Melbourne as is their democratic right.  But it got me thinking.

Where was everyone else?  In a city that has a population of 4.35 million, that is just 0.6% who attended the call to action on climate change.  It doesn’t sound like a lot when you compare it to these other events that occurred on the same day;

  • The Royal Melbourne Show had about 80,000 people through the gates.
  • The Victorian Football League Grand Final at Etihad Stadium saw 23,816 raving fans attend the game.
  • Even the home renovation TV Show “The Block” open day saw approximately 20,000 fans walk through the set.

I am sure there were other events that I missed, but that is quite a turnout.

I realise too well that we are a free and democratic people here in Australia.  We can do whatever we like within the law during our own free time.  I am only comparing attendance at events, not judging.  Even Ben and I hope to go to the Royal Melbourne show this year as well.

However, the figures may indicate that concern about the effects of climate change is still not a mainstream issue or even on some people’s radar (yet).

So let me ask this.  What will it take to make the rest of the population show their concern if not with a climate march like yesterday?

Do we need another Angry Summer like the last few?  Do we need our reservoirs to nearly dry up again?  Do we need a repeat of the Black Saturday bushfires?

I hope not.  These events in themselves were terrible and horrible enough, but with the current climb in global greenhouse gas emissions, they are more than likely to occur again soon.

What will it take?

Archdruid John Michael Greer of the Archdruid Report observed that;

Until the people who claim to be concerned about climate change start showing a willingness to burn much less carbon, it’s unlikely that anyone else will do so, and so I think it’s a pretty safe bet that fossil fuels will continue to be extracted and burnt as long as geological and economic realities permit.

I tend to agree with him.

So whilst the Peoples Climate mobilisation was a brilliant way to raise awareness and beneficial to the wider cause, there is so much more to be done.

Lifestyles need to change to more sustainable ones.  Legislation needs to change to put a price on carbon emissions forcing business to change.  Governments need to stop talking about it – or start talking about it – as the case may be, and begin to embrace renewable energy technologies and strategies to reduce consumption and phase out fossil fuels.

These things are all still in front of us if we are to bring  the climate back to within a habitable range for our children and grandchildren.

Without such changes, our continued presence on this planet is indeed uncertain, as the climate science suggests.

So what can you and I do to keep the momentum going now that hundreds of thousands throughout the globe expressed their concern yesterday?  I suggest we set an example, lead from the front, and continue to place firm pressure on the gaping wound that masquerades as our federal governments.

Some people power is good, but a lot more is a whole lot better!  Keep applying pressure where necessary.

The Al Gore Effect

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Al Gore Effect

Source: guardian.com.au

I don’t know about you but todays events in our Australian Senate took me totally by surprise.

Our climate laws are still in place, for the moment anyway.  With a vote of 37 to 35 in favour of rejecting the repeal of the climate laws, it was tight.  And, it was amazing.

What surprised me most was that Clive Palmer has done a complete about-face since meeting Al Gore.  Hence the title of the post, The Al Gore Effect.

I even watched a clip of him today actually promoting a book about renewable energy and climate change science.  It sounded like he was channelling An Inconvenient Truth!

Have I just travelled to ‘Bizarro World’ or some alternative universe, because never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this series of event would have unfolded?

Our climate laws are safe for at least another few days until the House of Representatives amend and resubmit the laws to the Senate, so keep the pressure on people!

If you haven’t yet had the chance or time to write an email to your state’s senators, then this is your chance to shine.  Click through to the post that I wrote last week as it has a link with all the information you need to contact your Senate representative.  Ask them to keep our climate laws (which are working by the way, reducing electricity emissions by 10% during the two years they have been in force).

People power is working, and as someone famous once said;

“Decisions are made by people who turn up.”

Food for thought in our modern democracy, don’t you think?

So what are you waiting for?

If you value the future of ours and our children’s longevity on this planet, then hit those keyboards, and let our Senators know what you think.

Addendum: I have just finished sending passionate personal pleas to eight of my states Senators.  I believe that these actions count, and do make a difference.