Regrow Qld 13 April Issue 14 Vol 3
Winning a long running campaign, Native plant sale pre orders now open, Good News especially around energy transition in Europe, Arthur's Dream Car Blog and Greg reflects on the lessons of history.
Editorial
Anna Hitchcock
My friends,
this picture from the ABC article about the ceasing of logging in the South of WA brought back a sudden memory of a newly married self.
It was New Years Day 1999 and we were on our way back to Canberra after spending a year working in Western Australia. We really hadn’t taken root over there and it was time to go home.
We were travelling through the magnificent forests of the region and stopped at one of these forest blockades. As it was a public holiday, we were able to walk in and see the utter devastation of a clearfelled coup in these ancient forests. The blockaders had dug an old car into the earth and the camp looked very much like the one in the photo.
Such blockades weren’t ever my cup of tea, but I have other skills. After receiving the good news that the proposed coal mine near Bundaberg has been knocked back for a second time, it has put me in a reflective mood about the criteria for running a successful campaign.
You must have tenacity (otherwise known as stubbornness) as well as the expectation that you will lose. That’s an odd thing to say, but it helps to keep your mental health stable as you suffer setbacks. Dream big, but plan for failure as well as success.
When you do succeed, look carefully at the factors in your success. In our case recently it was a viral petition which caused the decision makers to sit up and take notice. After that, it was a matter of attacking the problem from many sides, with a loose alliance of people from all parts of the community.
We won, and we are celebrating. I could get used to this.
Anna
Project Update
Our corflutes for our community nursery pop up plant sales have arrived, and we’re just in love with how pretty they are. Our first plant sale is planned for mid May and we will be advertising details as we firm them up. Meanwhile you can pre-order and pay for native plants through gladconscouncil@gmail.com - we can access a large selection of native groundcovers, shrubs and trees for bird, butterfly or wildlife habitat at a very reasonable price. We will organise the plants for you and you can arrange collection of your plants at our plant sale.
Good News
Our selection of Good News comes courtesy of Future Crunch - Good news delivered free to your inbox every fortnight or you can become a paid subscriber.
Landmark legislation in Western Australia will end native logging and secure 400,000 hectares of one of the most diverse native forests on earth. Activists campaigned for 50 years to protect these forests, containing rare tingle, jarrah, karri, marri, tuart, and wandoo trees which have been radically depleted by logging since the 1800s. ABC
The Biden administration has protected three million acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, after striking down a Trump-era plan to open the area to logging. The owl’s population has been in serious decline for decades and with 70% of its habitat already lost, biologists feared further reduction would lead to extinction. Guardian
Image credit: NYT
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
Will Russia's invasion of Ukraine accelerate Europe's energy transition? You bet. Here's a running tally from the past two weeks:
The Netherlands will significantly ramp up the building of offshore wind farms in coming years, doubling the planned capacity by 2030.
Austria has set the goal of completely converting its electricity generation to renewables by 2030, announced an additional €250 million in funding. "Each solar power plant brings us closer to energy independence"
Germany has U-turned and will now support action to end sales of ICE vehicles within the next 13 years. "The new German government fully supports the end of the internal combustion engine by 2035." Clean Energy Wire
Italy says it will cease using Russian gas by 2025, and has approved six new windfarms instead. The country's largest utility Enel, will exit its Russia operations in a “matter of months."
France will end government subsidies for residential gas heaters and boost support for fossil fuel free heat pumps instead. France wants to end its imports of Russian gas and oil by 2027.
The UK government says a massive expansion of wind farms is now needed as a matter of national security, rather than a way of fighting climate change. The country's offshore wind pipeline is now 86GW, a 60% increase in the past 12 months, and more than eight times current operational capacity.
Belgium will extend the lifespan of its nuclear plants by another decade, and plans to spend €1.1 billion to finance its transition to climate neutrality. “This should strengthen our country’s independence from fossil fuels in a chaotic geopolitical context."
The European Commission has doubled its objective for home-grown biomethane production to 35 billion cubic metres per year by 2030 as part of efforts to bolster the bloc against future energy crises.
The EU will impose the world's first carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imports of steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity from 2026.
Also, Europe has a fair bit of that good ol' freedom energy up and running already.
Source: Dominic Reo
Tesla Dream Car blog #28
Arthur Hunt
Editor’s note: this article was written in 2021
There have been enormous improvements in the safety of motor vehicles over the years, often springing from motor racing, eg the introduction of disc brakes. The introduction of computers provided further improvements, eg ABS brakes. Tesla and other electric car companies are now making further progress with the use of artificial intelligence, cameras, radar and ultrasonics. During the past 12 months and 20,000km, we have appreciated the safety features of our Tesla Model 3.
In addition to pioneering battery storage and electric propulsion, Tesla claims that its vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. The unique combination of passive safety, active safety and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and passengers safe, but also other drivers and pedestrians. The rigid, fortified structure of the battery pack that is mounted under the car’s floor, provides exceptional strength and a low centre of gravity. This reduces the risk of rollover and occupant injury. Because of their strength, Tesla’s battery packs rarely incur serious damage in accidents and there is a very low risk of fire.
There is very little chance of the car rolling away, if the driver is distracted, since it remains stationary after coming to a halt and the parking brake is operated by an electric switch so it can never be partly engaged. The brake is automatically disengaged when the forward or reverse gear is selected.
Active safety features which come standard, at no additional cost, help to reduce impact severity or prevent accidents from happening altogether. The sensors fitted to the car provide far more understanding of the driving environment than a human driver has. Twelve ultrasonic sensors and eight cameras with 360 degrees of visibility and forward-facing radar can detect both hard and soft objects, including surrounding vehicles. Whether driving through heavy rain, fog or dust, the car provides exceptional environmental awareness. Forward Collision Warning provides visual and audible warnings of impending collisions with vehicles, pedestrians or obstacles. If necessary, the car applies the brakes to mitigate impact. Blind Spot Collision Warning warns when a possible collision is detected with an adjacent vehicle or obstacle. Lane Departure Avoidance applies corrective steering if an unintended lane departure is detected. If cruise control is selected, the car maintains a safe distance from the car ahead.
Because every Tesla in every country is connected to a mobile data network, the company engineers are able to use the billions of kilometres of real-world data from the global fleet – of which more than 1 billion have been driven with autopilot engaged - to understand the different ways accidents happen. They then develop improved features that can help Tesla drivers mitigate or avoid accidents. Through over-the-air software updates, new or updated safety features and enhancements are added to our car, that take into account real-world data collected from the Tesla fleet. Every kilometre we drive can help improve safety for ourselves and others. Following software updates, our car will now stop automatically at Stop signs or red traffic lights when on Cruise Control, although when we bought it 12 months ago, this was not possible. The car also now recognises speed limit signs and its speed is adjusted automatically when on Autopilot.
Tesla voluntarily releases accident statistics for its vehicles in the US. In the 4th quarter 2020, they registered:
· one accident for every 3.45 million miles driven with Autopilot engaged;
· one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven without Autopilot but with active safety features engaged;
· one accident for every 1.27 million miles driven without Autopilot and active safety features engaged.
In contrast, from NHTSA’s data, there was one automobile crash every 484,000 miles for all vehicles on average.
Arthur
Opinion
Greg Bray
History Lesson
Folks, last week, thanks to Operation ‘Let It Rip’ I finally caught Covid. It came to me courtesy of my granddaughter’s petri dish (aka: school).
Happily, I’ve survived the experience, but my energy level is still set to ‘Drained Sloth’.
On the plus side, in between numerous naps, I’ve had a bit of time to read, tap away at my novel and watch tele. Now, I’m one of the eight people living in a rural-ish area who doesn’t have pay tv, so I’ve been watching a lot of free to air tele.
This has bought me up to speed with too many black and white, pre-1960’s, British movies and far too many of the pre-mobile phone era murder mysteries I managed to avoid in the 1980’s.
Honestly, if you were booked on a cruise in 1988 and saw Angela Lansbury coming up the gang plank, you’d instantly get off that boat, even if it meant diving into a shark infested harbour.
Happily, those shows are pretty much history now (unless you’re watching free to air tele) and have been replaced by murder mysteries with a little more… well, pretty much more of the same, but with less shoulder pads, big hair, pastels, massive cars and cheesy music.
And there are more coloured and ethnic people in the current shows too, who aren’t exclusively all criminals.
And, speaking of criminal history, I also took a little time to watch what passes for political journalism these days and got to see the LNP’s Hon. Anne Ruston trying to white-wash it:
“I don’t believe Australia has a history of racism,” she brazenly claimed to a stunned audience.
I was already crook enough and didn’t need to add ‘Projectile Vomiting’ to my list ailments, so I switched off the tele.
My granddaughter is in Grade 3 and would have a better understanding of Australia’s racist past than a current minister of the crown. Especially as her Nana lived in a town (not too far from where I’m sitting right now), where she wasn’t allowed in certain shops because of her colour… in the 1980’s.
But the fun continued; not one to miss out when it comes to stretching the truth like a broken slinky, late last week I read our current PM cheerfully declare that thanks to his actions during the pandemic, he personally saved the lives of 40,000 Australians!
He said this with a straight face, and I honestly wondered if I’d had a stroke and suffered significant memory loss during the past two years. For some reason I thought, thanks to Dear Leaders’ gallant inaction, the state premiers stepped up and made the necessary calls which kept the populace safe until the majority were vaccinated?
Now, I’ve studied enough history to know that the winner (or the PR firm) in power, gets to write the facts of the day (as they see them), but sooner or later, the actual truth will come out.
And if history is any guide, future historians will look back at all the opportunities our country missed out on, or put on hold, and not treat the last 10-year period of government kindly.
With a bit of luck, like catching Covid, they will soon become another sad little footnote in our country’s history as we sail into a cleaner, healthier, more prosperous and progressive future.