Watch: Island Home
Don’t know about you, but it feels like Australia is waking from a slumber. During the last decade our public life has been a minefield of bad politics and lost opportunities, and our reflex is to blame the politicians for the malaise. It’s a default reaction. It feels good to indulge that anger. But it’s a cop out.
“In a democracy, people get the leaders they deserve,” wrote Joseph de Maistre, and in that sentence de Maistre puts the responsibility squarely back on us, the populace. Ten years of mismanagement was, ultimately, our failing. But it feels like it’s coming to an end. After years of torpidity, of national conversations falling silent, foreign interests beating domestic concerns, human rights attacked by culture war, and a big fucking elephant that can’t be discussed in an adult manner, a tipping point has been reached. It’s too soon to say that change is in the air, but at least now the conversations are being had.
Gary Parker and Matty Hannon are two friends originally from southern Victoria. They once lived together in a share house in Warnambool, and now, many years later, they’re living near each other on the NSW north coast. Between those two places they’ve walked many paths: Gary as filmmaker on various projects, Matty as artist and producer. Both of their work has appeared on Swellnet at various times: Gary via his film work with Need Essentials, while Matty rode a motorbike and horse from Canada to Patagonia, his words and images appearing in a 2015 feature.
‘Island Home’ is their joint effort to add to the growing conversation around energy use. “The film” says Matty, “is just a tiny facet of a much bigger movement that we’re seeing around the world.” Clearly I’m not the only one sensing a rising tide of people power. “I mean, when have you ever seen tens of thousands of surfers mobilise like this?”
He’s referring to the Fight for the Bight campaign of course, that began as a homegrown murmur in Elliston town hall and grew into a full-blooded cry across each surf town in Southern Australia. The other flash point is the proposed Adani mine in the Galilee Basin, where Matty travelled last year to see for himself.
“Hanging out with Uncle Kenny for a few days left a lasting impression on me,” says Matty, “the way he lives, what he stands for, and the things he said really stuck with me: wise, old messages that are missing from mainstream dialogue in Australia.” When the media story gets bogged down in minutiae, it helps to step back and take an expansive view. Open up to other possibilities.
It’s no coincidence that the fellas are releasing this on the eve of the federal election. "Perhaps this little vid might help a surfer stop and think before they cast their vote on Saturday,” explains Matty. “Further than that, maybe there’s even people who’ll see this and consider taking things a step further, and realise that it’s a good thing to join a rally, or a group, or just be a bit more aware about what’s happening in our community.”
https://act.greenpeace.org.au/climateemergency
Comments
What a load of emotive based propaganda! One sided statements and pretty pictures with narrations clearly intended to grab your emotions rather than educate you.
There is no clear solution or message in this video besides that oil and coal are bad. Yet somehow riding boards and using wetsuits made from petrochemical materials is fine.
Fully agree that non-renewables need to be phased out in the future but there needs to be a proper solution to make it happen. This video makes no contribution to that eventual solution.
This video is pretty extreme left, even for Swellnet.
Don't you just hate emotive based propaganda.......
Yes I do, whether its made by either side of politics. But I mostly hate it when its posted by a surf forecasting website that shouldn't assume what side of politics its subscribers are on just because they surf.
I cant see that Equinor video posted anywhere on Swellnet? Maybe Stu will do a favourable write up of that one too.
Just gotta pull you up a moment, Smorto.
You're a subscriber, and I thank you for that, however you're paid up because of the surf forecasting/info services we provide, not the editorial, as that's free, anyone can read it.
And as far as I can see I've passed no judgement on the 'other' side of politics.
When Gaz and Matt submitted the film I told them there'd be criticism, but I also told them that the criticism was necessary if they wanted to take part in the conversation alluded to in the opening intro.
No worries Stu, not saying you have picked a side in this instance and I was pleasantly surprised that you haven't weighed in on the obvious disagreements in the comments section.
However, I think that it is fair to say that this is an example of Swellnet posting an extreme left wing view without the same scrutiny that would be applied if you had been asked to post an Equinor that involved surfers, traditional land owners and farmers giving opinions in support of drilling in the bight.
Would you be prepared post it in the same unbiased manner that you have posted the Greenpeace sponsored video, including a free plug of the Equinor website at the bottom of the article?
Or would you dismiss it as oil sponsored propaganda and not post it? If so then why is Greenpeace propaganda treated differently?
You are free to post whatever you want but you have a comments section so if I think it stinks I'm going to say so. Just like I'm sure many of your subscribers would express outrage if you posted the Equinor video that old mate decide to point out to me.
You're very welcome to say if something stinks, however the implication of controlling editorial via your subscription is a bit much.
Might even be construed as a threat of censorship.
Swellnet does have a particular worldview, it's a synthesis between myself, Ben, Craig, and Jono. We'll often bat things around to see where we're all at, though the last say tends to be mine 'cos I've got the microphone (though it doesn't overpower your comment section)
As for posting an opposing video: That would be advertorial wouldn't it? You know, furthering business interests. If Equinor want that then they can call me and we'll talk.
But the 'organic' editorial tends to follow our beliefs, and that's to defer to the side of people, not business, so if that's left wing...well, so be it. That said, I wouldn't classify the above as extreme left.
As long as externalities such as pollution and waste are kept out of the economic system then change will only ever come via public agitation. Without an economic signal, industry will keep chugging along, yet we all know something has to change soon. Therefore I encourage people to jump up and down and ask questions, and maybe even make videos. It's not always rational, it might be ahead of the curve, but it's a requisite if we're to make the world a better place.
Hey I never suggested that I should control anything and you are able to post what you like. My comments were mostly based around you giving free plugs to a certain political agenda on a website that I help fund.
If its purely an editorial with your opinion only that's fine but you seemed to be plugging Greenpeace by posting their link. Does that mean you were paid to post the Greenpeace link? If so then no issues but maybe there should be a 'sponsored content' in the title.
Again you can do what you like and if I'm not forced to renew my subscription. My suggestion is that you make it clear when its an advertisement otherwise I would prefer to subscribe to a website that is politically neutral.
There was a Greenpeace link at the base because Gary and Matt requested it.
The nature of the link wasn't hidden, it was written in the text, and we recieved no money from it.
What are you after Smorto? A solution which leaves nobody a hypocrite? I suspect you are going to be waiting a while.
This argument that people keep bringing up about surfers protesting on surfboards and in wetsuits made from oil, or driving to the protest - it's very shallow.
There is no clear solution full stop mate.
But maybe part of the solution is contributing to the conversation. The more people who support the cause to promote renewables and phase out fossil fuels, the harder it will be for political parties to fund their election campaigns with fossil fuel industry kick backs and donations.
Why is that argument shallow? Sorry but I have to throw out the cliches of 'practice what you preach' and 'you cant have your cake and eat it too'. You cant be so vocally negative on coal and oil but then rely on their benefits for your pleasure on a daily basis.
Seeing you asked, what I'm after is a balanced, considered and educated conversation which acknowledges that we will still be reliant on oil/coal for at least a few more decades and we need to work towards a slow phase out. I'm sorry but preparing these propaganda videos and screaming 'no' to anything new isn't a realistic contribution to the conversation.
"You cant be so vocally negative on coal and oil but then rely on their benefits for your pleasure on a daily basis."
Well yes, you can. You might not like it in principle, but the situation we have is one where large corporations who derive their profit from these industries have incredible and unfair access to decision makers, and those decision makers shape the kind of world we live in. They decide which industries get subsidies, how laws are drafted and for what purpose (shock horror, our enviro laws don't protect the environment), and in almost all instances they are favored towards those with money and for a very long time it has been those dealing in extractice fossil fuel industries that have had the bulk of it. To expect those people sticking their neck out to agitate for the change that is so urgently needed to forego wetsuits and unleaded petrol for the sake of purity is completely unfair.
The balanced, considered and educated conversation is a policy conversation, not a political one. Those conversations don't have to happen in the public eye, not for the masses anyway. What does need to happen is the kind of emotive, urgent conversation that makes space for the kinds of conversation you want to happen in the first place.
The Tas Forestry Agreement is a perfect example. A 3 year long, collaborative, science driven agreement between government, industry and conservationists delivered some good outcomes. That was only made possible after decades and decades of campaigning, blockades, direct action, films, books, flyers, rallies, protests and lobbying created the political impetus for decision makers to sit down at the table.
This!
This is such a well articulated appraisal of our current dilemma with fossil fuels.
I understand so well the stasis brought on by the 'don't speak on the topic till your surfboards are timber and your wetsuits are cotton' argument that Smorto is pushing. I think all of us feel this way from time to time but the way dandandan has put into perspective the current structural climate impacting our ability make meaningful choices with regards to fuel etc is really inspiring.
We need to keep making these films, keep going to the paddle outs, keep rocking the bumper stickers. Some statements will hit the mark, some won't. Keep pushing back too Smorto.
Like dan and stunet have already said, these conversations among us regular people need to gather steam before the real policy decision makers take those with empty pockets but big ideas into account.
Totally agree Smorto a lot of this stuff is just idealistic but not realistic.
The Green peace link is even worse, even misleading in it's wording etc
The reality is Australia is on the right path.
Per capita we have the highest uptake of household solar in the world already over 2 million of 9 million households have solar panels and surprisingly if current trends continue we will actually possibly reach 75% renewables by 2030
https://reneweconomy.com.au/forget-50-australia-on-track-to-reach-78-ren...
The Adani thing is interesting putting the local environment concerns aside, i don't understand the opposition to coal exports, China and India etc want our coal because its quality black coal, if we tell then to go elsewhere they will and the coal they buy and use will most likely be brown coal that has much higher C20 emissions, meaning high global C20 emissions.
So how is that a good thing?
BTW. Many people dont know, but Adani is not just a Coal company they are an energy company that owns one of the biggest solar farms in the world (in India) and has one of the biggest solar farms in Australia with another of similar size planned.
https://www.adaniaustralia.com/projects-businesses/renewables
Thanks Indo dreaming.
What people don't understand is that if Adani doesn't go ahead then global emissions will increase.
Indian people have a right to electricity and if they don't get high quality coal from us then they'll buy the low quality brown coal from Indonesia which burns at a far less efficient rate. If they can't get it from Indonesia then they'll keep burning cow dung in their own homes, which is even worse for emissions.
But hey who cares about the living standards of the third world because you care about the environment whilst you are tweeting Stop Adani on a phone containing rare earth minerals after you've surfed on your board made from petrochemicals that was transported to the beach by your gas guzzling SUV.
You sound like that fuckwit on the box selling Aussie beef. Patriotic about our products right down to the loin chop!
Fact: the coal from Galilee Basin ain't that great, and the better stuff wont even go to India anyway. Look it up you pork chop.
Next time you accuse someone of "sentimental propaganda" you should leave out the crocodile tears about poor Indians and their right to electricity unless someone accuses you of hypocrisy
Fair call on my sentiment toward the Indians, I should have just left their needs out of the discussion. However, I still stand by my call that if Australia doesn't sell them coal global emissions will no doubt increase for the various reasons we described above.
Wow, where do I start with that! And ID.
Adani have a documented history of corruption. Political, environmental, social.
They are absolutely corrupt.
And you're happy with them raping and pillaging OUR country to send ALL profit overseas? Anyone who thinks Australia will see any money from Adani is naive beyond belief. Do some research.
OK, my board is made from petrochemicals. But I've had only a dozen boards in my 40+years of surfing. I don't fly much. I take public transport. (I'm not a vegan).
I do care about the world environment.
Climate change is real. It will affect every single person on earth. Little things we do help. But big things like new coal mines by corrupt Indians backed by corrupt pollies in the LNP negate all the little things we do to help.
Im not here to protect Adani, but this kind of retric is just clear BS.
Jobs, tax's, royalties would obviously be created, but yeah it would be much better if an Australian company built and ran the mine and sold to India or China, after all we have about a 25-50 year window or even less where coal is still worth money, one day it might be worth nothing more than dirt.
In regard to coal quality, the quality is much better than Indian coal, do you really think a company is going to set up in Australia and go through all the crap needed in a developing country like Australia, with higher set up and operating cost when they can get the same quality coal from there own country?
The problem with you people is you have this delusional mindset that if we don't allow mines like this to happen that China and India etc will just stop burning coal, which is obviously not true.
As we know they will be forced to go elsewhere, we get zero, our coal will one day be worthless and world C20 emissions will be higher.
It's basically irrational thinking.
You're wrong on the issue of coal quality, Indo.
Lignite (brown coal) from the proposed Adani mine will be shipped to India. That's been the plan since the first proposal.
Quote 'putting the local environment concerns aside'
Theres a problem though!
There's nothing left/right about the fact that we cannot afford to extract and burn the remaining reserves of fossil fuels.
High school students and scientists around the world know that the whole economy has to change, but there remains a stubborn focus to make short-term financial gains rather than plan for a sustainable future.
"...putting the local environment concerns aside"
You're not the first person to type that sentence.
Adani are also involved in logistics, agribusiness, real estate, financial services, defence, and aerospace. I'm not sure what your point, if any, is.
The point is many see coal mining companies as the bad guys and those who build renewables as the good guys, but the thing is in this case they are both.
I think people just see good projects or bad projects. If protestors yell "down with Adani" its obvious they're talking about this project and not everything Adani does.
Blimey, more brainless propaganda no doubt from those who own diesel cars and travel the world pulluting our airways with Jet A1 fuel.
And here they are complaining about Adani - who are merely trying to keep the lights on for a population half of which live on less than $1 per day.
If Adani didn’t go ahead, they would merely extract Brown coal from Conservative Brazil - and exacerbate the problem of human-induced Climate Change!
Vote with your heads and not your hearts.
I guarantee the Adani family do not give a flaming piece of cow shit about the population in India living on less that $1 a day.
On water use alone the Adani mine proposal should be halted. There's no ethical basis for a company to access to groundwater in the volumes they're proposing. The effects will be felt far and wide.
Right or wrong, what Adani and others are doing. Its all of our efforts(or lack of) which is attributing to climate change and ultimately irreversible devastation of our planet.
The earth simply cannot withstand the atrocities we are subjecting it to.
This is as little as dropping your smoke butt on the ground, to a multinational digging the fuck out of it.
Really, what it is all for? So you can have more material possessions? Fill our homes with more crap you are struggling to pay on your credit card?
Allowing our situation to be where it is currently. Where your insatiable want for shit that has no true meaning for what life should be about. The lust for greed by those who spoon feed your gluttony, and blind you with marketing to have you believe you fucking need the shit they offer.
It was once quoted "When all the land is poisoned and the rivers are dry. See how much of your money you can eat"
The sooner we are gone and big green vines grow up the side of our buildings. The better off the joint will be.
Good clip well done there !
And the beat goes on
La de da de de
La de da de da
Hahaha, I shouldn’t be so so cynical. I too can see the change coming, but from where I’m observing, it’s still one whole generation away. Set your clock to it. Tick tick tick
It's a paradox - we all consume fossil fuels, and its a difficult thing to say others can't have what we've got (we are so affluent/privileged) but the fact is we have to stop new extraction projects, and move towards as much non carbon energy sources as quickly as possible, otherwise were all screwed. From what I'm hearing, its now cheaper to develop wind and solar at least for new electricity generation, and the more we take up these technologies the cheaper they get.
Catastrophic climate change will not be reversible,
it will run away on us.
We all need to do whatever we can to reduce our carbon emissions
I just found on youtube these 2 very feasible solutions for generating electricity through wave and river energy:
Shoredump, that clock you hear ticking is the time bomb that you walk past without notice.
La de da da-ing as you go.
I know its a song we all hear about mother earth on constant rotation, but that doesn't mean we should switch off.
I dont know about you, but I plan to be here upright, for as long as I can.
I believe I expect to enjoy and have the best living conditions (fauna and flora) wise as I should deserve.
Not have it short lived by the likes of greedy corporate and governments who seem to care nothing of the common man it seems.
You remind me of what typifies one of my favorite life mantras. This is.
"When all is said and done. More is said than done"
Glad you picked up on that DBEARINDARE
I regret to inform all you detractors that it's not the job of advocates/activists/community groups to come up with solutions. It's our job to put the political pressure on those who actually get paid to set the frameworks, laws, and regulations that guide how we interact with the environment. There's people out there earning handsome six figure salaries who ought to be coming up with the solutions, not those of us who make all kinds of sacrifices to agitate for a fairer world.
The voting masses haven't been swayed by facts or education for a very long time. It is 100% about connecting with people, and for most people, though clearly not you, it's about an emotive connection. Every single National Park or WHA I can think of in this country was won in part because we connected emotionally with voters.
Bloody oath.
Ahh the north coast of nsw once the home to the gold amex hippy now home to the gold amex activists.
I don't claim to be, nor do I profess to be any kind of activist.
I also know that my existence here attributes to the problems we face. Yes I do own a car. Yes I do buy shit wrapped in plastic.
The point I am making is that to this point we have just moved along with everything being dandy.
It's when you see data that shows that through our normal existence we are being complaisant and attributing to the facts of things like climate change.
Only the stupid and ignorant would try to do nothing and continue without trying to change something. That is not the work of an activist. That is being of sound mind.
I love how we all get mired down in arguing the details of whether Adani is an ok company or not, whether our coal is better quality or not, or be concerned that another country is going to buy coal anyway so it might as well be ours.
It's exactly what they want, divide and conquer. Whilst we're sitting on our high and mighty platforms either side of the fence, the decision makers are all on the take, lining their pockets with our hard earned cash and selling it back to us as tax cuts to buy our votes cheaply whilst we're distracted by the vanity of our argument.
An election which could have a clear promise that yes - whilst we have coal as an ongoing revenue source, we as a nation will say no right now to further investment in fossil fuels. We will transition into renewables from this point now, not when foreign multinationals have finished gauging our precious country until it's barren of prospective revenue.
Instead, we worry about left and right ideology, who drives a car, buys surfboards and whether the guy next door who earns more than me will get a bigger tax cut than me.
Laughable.
Now we're talkin' crg - you win the golden ticket for a bit of critical thinking. Look over here at the pretty thing whilst I just produce this pidgeon from up my sleeve !!!.
Now we're talkin' crg - you win the golden ticket for a bit of critical thinking. Look over here at the pretty thing whilst I just produce this pidgeon from up my sleeve !!!.
It's interesting judging by comments that people cant seperate the two issues of:
1. Australia's transition to renewables and phase out of coal powered energy.
2. Coal exports to countries like China and India.
IMHO this is the fault of groups like Green peace and just our media in general who often lump it all in together.
They are not the same issue.
That makes sense to a degree.
I feel most Australians also think more in terms of the worlds transition to renewables and in the context of Adani, it’s thermal coal that’s still getting burned for power generation, just in another country.
If it were high grade-bituminous coking coal being exported for steel production then maybe a different story and people would find the capacity to reason. Myself included.
Seems there is a new taboo we don't speak of.
1. Religion
2. Politics, and now..........
3. Climate change
We can and should speak of all 3; but the myth buster that unifies them all is our consumption rate. The most simple wake-up call of all is if you take the consumption rate of USA citizens (which is not to blame them) and multiply that by the rest of the people on the planet - or just focus on the subset middle class of China and India if you like - there just aren't enough resources on earth to allow that level of consumption to continue. You can argue about the source of the fuel that funnels the consumption - but its a subset to this much greater paradigm - that humans have created over our 220,00 years of existence and any which way you argue the toss, we - the connected planet - don't have 220,000 years to fix it. Having said that - I firmly believe working the system and making it change is better than pissing on the car tyre's from the outside in a shrill voice - because no-one can really hear what your saying. And any argument for change that doesn't start with the pre-text "transition" isn't worthy of consideration as it won't be based on facts in an emerging world where artificial intelligence can calculate and present data without political bias.
Thanks Swellnet for posting the piece, both Gary and myself are proud of it, and standby the message it's putting out there. It's great to see there's a bit of discussion going on here...
Unfortunately, someone in a place of power has seen Island Home, does not agree with it's message, and has given a top-down directive for me to remove it from the internet. My hand was forced here, due to the fact the small amount of funding we received was from the NSW government (not from Greenpeace, as alleged above).
Just for the record, Gaz and I had full approvals and sign off on the final video from all the funding bodies associated with this - and we are unaware who has made this request to delete.
For now, I have it password protected... updates soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Farrrk me. Speaking of China....
Maybe someone is not happy about the drone footage above the train, power station etc?
Fuck that! Go rogue brother and let it fly free!
Was wondering about that. I came late and can't see either video.
I was hoping to see Stu's elephant that can't be talked about in an adult manner.
Guys i have no doubt we are impacting our environment and we must change our ways.
However for the time been, stop and think about the people, the families and small coastal communities that will be impacted if the equinor project goes sideways. How many of those towns on the southern coastlines generate an income from ocean based economies. The tuna farms, oyster, abalone, mussells and other industry. Throw in fishing, tourism ( the great ocean road region alone generates $795 million every year contributes close to 10 000 jobs). How many families rely on these industry as their source of income. Then theres the flow ons from indirect associated small business. The economical scale of a disaster is huge. Hundreds of thousands of peoples life would be impacted by a major spill. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and your livlehood was gone or majorly impacted and you couldn't provide for your family.
The social/ human impact would be huge.
All for the sake of 1000 jobs in SA and the politicians getting their pockets lined and their Knobs polished. Somethings not right.
Fight to stop it, the risk is far too high.
well said brainiac - local focus is very important and appropriate
Agree with this.
Am I missing something. What is the password?
See comment above from Ontheroad
The filmmakers been gagged.
Brainiac,
Imagine we wake up tomorrow and even only one kilometer of coastline in SA or anywhere in oz was thick black crude oil mess.
What then.......?
What if it it was one hundred kilometers?
Everybody. Do you run towards it? Or do run away?
There shouldn't be a drill here in the first place.
A small spill, fuck we run to it.
A large spill yes too.
The problem is the risk factor. Its like asking a great white to nibble on your toe , when the reality is it most likely going to rip your leg off.
i am sure you would have seen equinors own worst case scenario projections.
Hang on, what the fucjk is going on here?
The film was govt sponsored and they've pulled it ?
Who fucjking owns the copyright?
Is this a case of biting the hand that feeds? Is this a perfect example of the Ying & Yang of social media and the internet of a whole? A bunch of polies have lost their jobs recently for sharing their views in the past that they believed in (right or wrong) and we yell horray, but someone else shares their view that they believe in (right or wrong) and they get shut down and we scream blue murder. Maybe its the Libran in me but its gotta work both ways.
There may have been a win in the Timber industry of Tassie but the $ involved there would be lucky to beat the stationary bill of a multinational oil company,
If you look back in history the wars that have been waged and the manipulation of Governments ( forget India small fry) for the control of the crude oil reserves, is up there with religion. Try the US back to the 19th & 20th Centuries.
There is a much bigger engine turning in the background.
Video can be still seen here it seems
https://www.facebook.com/thunderboxfilmhouse/videos/417959508995723/
Not any more.
Adani's Galilee Basin proposed mine will do the following: It’s a dirty business!
- Impact on the health of workers who will suffer from Black lung disease, 20 diagnosed Qld. cases this year already, incurable! I have stayed in caravan parks travelling through these coal towns and the amount of men and women coughing their lungs up was real and revealing what this substance can do. These people were affected by the disease through working in and around this industry.
- Silt, fine dust travels, its light it gets airborne, we breathe it. It affects the health to flora and fauna and people to surrounding areas for 100's kilometres in all directions, this dust can be deposited anywhere around the world as evidenced in Tassie where pristine lakes are polluted from mining dust activities in South Africa.
- Deface land which belongs to Indigenous communities, stolen by successive and current governments from the Wangan and Jagalingou’s people, these people tell story and identify directly with the land, they have ancestral spiritual connections to the place, their land, respect to beauty, to life which is intact! They have an understanding of land and know how to preserve and respect it for their own survival, and ours!
- Pollute the water ways. Ground water is pristine here. Water here plays a huge role in the quality of water in the GBR, as it gets filtered via streams to the ocean. The Great Barrier Reef corals rely on a healthy land for clean filtered water and transference of rich nutrients, without it the corals cannot survive. The corals are already diseased due to toxicity by fertiliser run off from agriculture and land erosion through land clearing for grazing cattle. Can we stop this practice and start making corrections please? The Galilee Basin is just that, a dispensary of a massive fresh water collection system. Look up’ Galilee basin’ and see for yourself the amazing complex system.
- Make extinct the Black throated finch – a small bird the right sided bright sparks in Canberra thought to relocate them, sure, as if this endangered vulnerable bird will respond well to that!
- Excavate the sea bed in pristine waters in the GBR to allow clear passage of umpteen coal ships, every hour, day in day out, year in year out!!! Imagine the disturbance, fine silt clouding the surrounding waters affecting water quality to sea grasses, fish, corals, all ocean living creatures will be impacted, thrashed, killed! Dolphins, dugongs, a waste land created for what! Greed!
Any suggestion made “We better sell our coal because if we don’t some other country will” is a poor and reckless suggestion! Look what’s at stake to this beautiful land if it becomes industrialised! Expound for nature being left intact and not destroyed! It’s already landscaped, this country of ours is so amazing, it has been formed in a way that everything has reason and everything is connected, As if we haven’t defaced the earth enough already!
In the Qld regions above Noosa there are currently giant bill boards firmly planted along the highway of Hanson and Palmer trying to outdo each other with their enormous signage showing off their smiling dials stretching metres into the air! Turn the corner and there’s another one, I had the uneasy feeling that this is backwater country, that I wasn’t welcome there, evidence of the white supremacy dictatorship that has taken over this land, consumed! A once magnificent country enjoyed and beautifully managed by the Indigenous peoples, One day I hope they get it back. Because the likes of Hanson and Palmer together with the 2 major parties, Liberal- National govts. are the worst body of individuals we want in power for maintaining our rights, our freedoms, our dignity and our survival.
Thats just a typical not in my backyard attitude, every single mine anywhere has negative effects, if it was up to Green Peace or the Greens we wouldn't have a single mine, you wouldn't have that phone or PC in front of you, you wouldn't have solar panels etc
Reality is as pointed out many times, by not allowing our coal to be used in China or India, you are not helping reduce global C20 emissions you are actually allowing them to increase.
It sounds crazy, but the reality is by allowing our coal to be used we are actually helping China and India (two of the biggest C20 emitters) to reduce C20 emissions compared to what they would be if they used their own coal or sourced elsewhere.
And if you sell a Japanese knife to an ice addict in Parramatta, you can reduce the pain for the victim when he’s killed for his Reebok’s
Wrong.
I've already told you that lignite (brown coal) will be mined there and sold to the Indians - which it will - so that makes your argument dust. They want Galilee because of the quantity and ease of removal, not its quality.
Change only ever came from the agitators who were ridiculed and told they were too idealistic every step of the way.
More power to them.
Okay Stunet....truth is actually halfway between both our views.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/fact-check-is-australian-coal-really-cleaner...
If this is the case and we really want to be responsible, we should be saying ok no mining here, but give alternatives to our highest quality coal possible.
Bing! Wow mate that took you a while. That is exactly what needs to be happening. We all understand a move away from oil and coal is not an overnight change by any means. But putting in one of the biggest coal mines in the world in at this point in time seems like a massive step backwards. Just one more wont hurt right? Well what about the one after that and the one after that? The Adani mine is more than just another mine. If it does go ahead it is basically our government saying a big fuck you to the people and a move away from our goal to being 100% renewable. If it is stopped then its a massive step forward. No one wants our economy to collapse by any means but I think with the right strategy it could actually be much better off in the long run.
Can you explain how not allowing our coal to be used actually helps Australia or anywhere transition to 100% renewables?
Do you actually think it means India or China, will go oh shit we cant use their coal for all our new or recently built coal power plants we will now have to not use them?
Off course not...all it means is we lose income and jobs etc for something that in 50 years will most likely be worthless and it just means they will source coal elsewhere and in most cases the coal will be of worse quality creating higher global C20 emissions, and possibly faster climate change.
So how is this a good thing again?
Oh thats right because its not in your backyard.
stuff coal, its destroying our worlds climate and ecology
the time for change is now
soon we will be exporting hydrogen, from wind and sun energy,
no more carbon, and hopefully a brighter future
for our children and healthy living planet
Even if there wouldn’t be an alternative the world wide economies would be poorly advised to hold on to either coal or any of the like finite resources, just for the polluting and ruin of our environments alone.
The reason for phasing out a dirty industry is not because you know there is an alternative.
The reason for phasing out a dirty industry is because it’s dirty!
If you close down coal, you open doors to an alternative way of energy supply and an alternative way that reduces impact on the living environment and possibly even keep the Koala in place.
It’s the same with petrol filled cars, as long as they are there the alternative of transportation will not take hold, if oil would dry up overnight we would have hydro powered cars and public transport in 72 hrs flat! It’s the same thing.
So many industries that have once been thought indispensable have proven to be replaceable ie plastic products can easily be replaced with plant based materials across the board. It’s just not happening quickly because the industry is so lobbied by the multi nationals.
Every voice, every little bit of hope for a clean future we put out there is a step closer to swamping /changing the wrong attitudes of advocates for dirty coal.
At current rates Australia is on track to be as high as 75% renewables by 2030.
Coal generated electricity will be phased out in Australia as renewables increase and as the life of current coal power stations come to an end.
But thats only Australia....it's not China and India etc who have large numbers of recently built power stations with some still being built even still planned.
They are also in a transition to renewables, but their transition is going to take a lot lot longer than ours, hence why they want our coal.
Similar deal with oil.
Thats just reality of the world.
Indo Dreaming
Whats your thoughts on the traditional land owners opposition to this mine.
Also the massive amount of ground water to be extracted. Is this the best use of this precious resource ?
Adani claimed 10000 jobs and in the end this was complete bullshit.
Destruction of sacred land. Massive use of water a finite and precious commodity and putting the GBR at risk.
This is a good project because ?
Yeeew, let’s get cracking on Adani. Can’t wait. I want a job onsite. How much will they pay me? I’m keen on some fucking money aye
Just skimmed the comment section. Couldn't watch it because I don't subscribe. However I must say I admire your measured response. Climate change is real. We need to discuss it. If it can be done via this site that's good. Keep up your good work Swellnet and Stunet.
Dan Ross has made the video available again (see above).
Just saw it. Not sure what all the fuss is about. I thought it was pretty valid and raised some key points.
I would like to see the Bight left untouched. Not every bit of oil needs to come out of the ground.
Forgot to mention the result of land clearing and burning of fossil fuels in general but in reference to the Great Adani Mine:
This process releases CO2 into the atmosphere, In turn the oceans absorb it, this creates acidification to the oceans meaning all life becomes sick that lives within it and all that take from it! Yes - Surfers too
The Pollies are gearing up to approve this mine. If it goes ahead it will be a catastrophe for life on earth as we know it and especially the GBR!
Lobby your local MP, Queensland Premier etc to make you view known:
Sign the petition by the Australian Conservation Foundation
https://www.acf.org.au/mp_adani_brief