Regrow Qld 10 February 2021 Issue 6 Vol 2
Renewable energy, regenerative farming, and revitalising our communities. Unashamedly parochial. Unashamedly political. Let's Regrow Queensland.
It’s February, and the stores are filled with paper love hearts and beribboned chocolates. Why not give a gift that won’t require gym time? As a subscriber your loved one will get a jump on quality news and opinion, which will be delivered to their inbox on Wednesday, while everyone else will have to wait until Saturday. It’s only $5 a month (if you want to try before you buy) and a low $50 a year once you’re convinced of its awesome value! Of course, you can always be a supporter and pay a larger amount, which will help us keep our group running.
Get yourself some love credits by supporting a worthy cause.
Thanks in advance : )
Editorial
Anna Hitchcock
Well love is in the air, at least if you believe what’s in the stores. I’m not sure I’m keen on the whole Hallmark Holiday (TM) concept. It creates a lot of waste and isn’t especially socially useful. Shouldn’t we be doing good things for our loved ones every day as a matter of course?
I’ve written about a few lower impact gifts you can give this Valentine’s Day, but here are some things that cost almost nothing, are super low impact environmentally and will make the world a better place:
Make a family member a cup of tea or coffee
Do an extra chore or two for someone
Call a friend for a chat
Offer to help someone who is struggling (and accept their refusal if they do)
Donate to a local charity (cash is best)
Plant something
If someone has helped you in the past, pay it forward (some cafes will allow you to donate cups of coffee and meals to those who need it) but the personal touch is always best. Try giving a credit to the next person in line behind you. Trust me, it will make their day!
Let’s spread a little love and kindness this Valentine’s Day.
{Anna}
NEWS
Locals win against New Hope mine in Acland, Qld
This week the Oakey Coal Action Alliance won a High Court of Australia appeal against the New Hope Group's proposed expansion of the New Acland coal mine.
But the decades-long battle is set to continue, with the High Court sending the matter back to the Queensland Land Court for fresh hearings.
Here’s a couple of links to stories that explain what’s been going on:
ABC Southern Qld - http://ab.co/3jsX3GL
Environmental Defender’s Office - https://www.edo.org.au/2021/02/03/high-court-victory-as-acland-mine-sent-back-for-fresh-hearing/
This is really a David and Goliath story as the tiny group of landholders and community members keep pushing back against a large coal mine which threatens to swallow them.
Here’s the really fun bit: The High Court ordered that New Acland Coal pay OCAA’s legal costs of the High Court appeal, and struck out an earlier costs order of approximately $736,000 against OCAA.
This is a huge relief to the people involved.
When I rang some of the people involved to congratulate them, everyone was both thrilled and relieved. Yes, they are going back to the Land Court to start again, but at least the money issue isn’t hanging over their heads any more.
Great news!
Forward thinking -
Peter van Beek
Green aluminium - really?
Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay
No, not coloured green, it will keep its familiar silvery shine.
It means aluminium made with electricity from Renewable Energy, not with electricity from gas or coal. Gladstone is Queensland’s aluminium capital. And as far as Gladstone is concerned, green aluminium can’t come soon enough. Some 4,500 jobs could be at stake if the change to Renewable electricity does not come soon enough[1] as these jobs can easily be lost to overseas competitors such as Dubai.[2]
Other regions in Queensland are starting their conversion to the new era of cheap, clean and abundant energy. Western Queensland has its RAPAD plan (see issue Vol 2, issue 3, 20 Jan 2021), North Queensland will get pumped-hydroelectricity (see Vol,2, issue 5, 6 Feb 2021), but so far there is only silence about Gladstone’s future.
Gladstone has probably the highest electricity use in Queensland but it is all “in-house”. Gladstone Power Station, the refinery and the smelters are majority owned by Rio Tinto while other businesses buy directly from Rio. As a result, the amount of power used is often not recorded in official statistics, it is sort of “hidden”.
A change to Renewables would benefit four large current businesses and a number of future ones. But it is a mistake to assume that such big corporations will make sure that any change will happen soon. Their head-offices are overseas and their concern for locals and local conditions is often minor, to say it politely. They go to wherever in the world their profit prospects are easiest. Spending money on initiatives that also benefit others is normally not high on their priority list - that is “someone else’s job”.
Gladstone has a number of strengths such as world class solar and wind conditions, a deep-water port, a highly skilled labour force, existing infrastructure, and a renewable-friendly state government[3]. Gladstone Regional Council and the people of Gladstone have a vital interest in keeping the current jobs and creating conditions for new ones.
The Council has a window of opportunity to support or take the lead in initiating the change to Renewables as outlined by Clark Butler.[1]
But it won’t stay open for very long, others are moving fast. [2]
[1]https://ieefa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Aluminium-Led-Energy-Renewal-for-Central-Queensland_September-2020-.pdf
[2]https://reneweconomy.com.au/dubai-solar-park-says-it-has-started-powering-aluminium-production/
[3]https://www.repowergladstone.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Factsheet-Gladstones-future-a-renewable-.pdf
Eco Friendly Living:
Valentine’s Day special - gifts that don’t cost the Earth
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Living plants:
Try giving a living plant to your special someone. If their thumbs are green, a trip to a local native nursery could be a good date, and let them choose their own special plant - trust me, this will be better than giving them a tree that won’t work in their garden. Even the Bunnings nursery now has some reasonable quality natives!
If your special person is not so great with plants, a small succulent in a pot will give you many brownie points as they are harder to kill. I don’t recommend spiky cactii as you may give the impression that you think they are difficult! Plus, think carefully about pets, babies, and other assorted issues.
Image by LynnB from Pixabay
Spend some romantic time in an outdoor setting:
People, this does NOT mean a 3 day hike with a shovel as your only toilet facilities. Few things are as unromantic as blisters, sunburn and mosquito bites. Think a picnic in a pleasant park, or an outdoor terrace in a restaurant. Added bonus: these settings are much more COVID safe as well.
Lunch is OK, don’t think it has to be dinner. Sometimes it’s easier to get time out from the kids or other responsibilities in the middle of the day than at night when everyone is tired and cross.
Image by Walter Bichler from Pixabay
Cut Flowers - better choices:
If you really feel like you need to give cut flowers - make the effort to hunt down locally sourced ones from a farm or farmers’ market. In my region, it’s easy to find big bunches of sunflowers and lavender in season - but your own region will have its own options.
Do we really need to fly tulips in from Holland? If you buy local and at the farm gate you can be sure there are as few travel miles as possible on what is a perishable product.
What we’re watching:
In the first Boyer lecture, Andrew Forrest calls for an urgent move to green hydrogen "on a global scale". ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is best known as the former CEO (and current non-executive chairman) of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and has other interests in the mining industry and in cattle stations.
After several people contacted me to say how good this was, I found the time. It’s a very inspiring speech, although I feel it’s convenient timing given that green hydrogen is just around the corner so it’s hardly breaking new ground. Still it gives the issue some legitimacy and some more attention which can only be a good thing at this stage.
Plus it’s an easy 1/2 hour watch, handy for a time poor activist!
You can also watch this program on ABC iview - https://iview.abc.net.au/show/boyer-lecture-andrew-forrest
What we’re listening to:
The Boyer Lectures are delivered in a series, and only the first one is available in video format. Currently there are three episodes available on Radio National:
01 | Oil vs Water — Confessions of a carbon emitter
03 | The economics of inequality
More will be added as they are available here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/boyerlectures/
Upskilling:
Check it out at: https://www.climaterealitycheck.net/download
It’s fairly horrifying reading, but here’s all the current data about what’s happening with our climate.
You have the option of an online flip book, or download a .pdf or slides.
There’s a LOT of data in the 60 pages, so you will need to select the slides and information depending on your audience. But it should save you a heap of time and effort when doing your next climate presentation.
Opinion:
Image by Mikes-Photography from Pixabay
Folks, the one question people have about owning an Electric Vehicle (EV) is ‘How far will it go before I have to recharge?’
Manufacturers, salespeople and battery powered enthusiasts have nicknamed this ‘Range Anxiety’.
Basically, potential EV buyers are concerned about running out of power and being stranded on the side of the road in some remote part of the country… and in the silence they’ll hear the banjo’s a-twanging from the nearby bush just before their lives take a horrible turn for the worst.
Let me just make a couple of points:
Firstly, country folk are generally the nicest, most helpful people you’ll ever meet, and yes, while there is a small Nutjob Element wandering about most necks of the woods, I can personally vouch that the ‘Nutjob to Nice People Ratio’ is nowhere near as bad here in the sticks as it is in our concrete jungles.
Secondly, Range Anxiety has been a very real concern for Australian motorists since people saw the first petrol powered vehicles way back in the day, and scoffed.
The general consensus was, motorcars were simply smaller versions of trains; basically unable to leave main roads/tracks where there is a plentiful supply of fuel.
Why buy a car when a horse which, admittedly is much slower, but can go virtually anywhere as long as you have grass and water?
Plus, if you needed a new horse, you simply got a Mummy and Daddy Horse, who loved each other very much, to go on a quiet date in the back paddock.
Image by Graham Hobster from Pixabay
Anyway, motoring enthusiasts, kitted out in driving jackets, gloves, caps and goggles, soon proved even the staunchest horse fans wrong. They managed to take those early, heavy, wooden wheeled cars into and, most importantly, back out of, places many owners of expensive 4WD’s would fear to go today.
Within two decades the country’s horse population plummeted as cars took over our cities, towns and eventually, the planet.
Life without a car for most Australians these days is unimaginable. This probably has a lot to do with the way modern cities, towns and suburbs have been designed around the car, such is its’ domination of our modern lives.
So when I hear people proclaim they’d never own a fully electric vehicle because of Range Anxiety, I have a silent chuckle.
Because last week, I was at a car dealership where the sales team said Hybrid and EV sales are off the charts. New car buyers have seen the future and they want to be part of it.
Hell, I want to be part of it!
But not just yet, and not because I have Range Anxiety issues. I have ‘Inner Scotsman’ issues.
My canny, wee, ‘Internal Jock’ knows that very soon the price of EV’s will be lower, the battery range much longer and the recharging times much less. In fact it’s happening now, and at a pretty quick clip too: Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced | Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars | The Guardian
So, I’ll continue to wander life’s highways and byways in my 20 year old Camry, until the day comes when it finally putters off to Car Heaven.
Or, I may simply rip out the old ‘infernal combustion enjin’ and replace it with an electric motor? This is also on the cards as the big car manufacturers look into the viability of this option.
In the meantime, Jock and I will count our pennies while we wait.