06/10/2021
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The Sustainable Hour no 383:
SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DAY: REPLACING BLAH BLAH WITH ACTION
How to live well: The annual event in Australia called ‘Sustainable House Day’ is all about how we get cheaper bills and live healthier, happier lives. As Geelong Sustainability prepares for its 13th flagship Sustainable House Day event on the weekend of 16 and 17 October, we thought it timely to devote the majority of time in The Tunnel this week to this.
[14:38] We start off with Geelong Sustainability president Vicki Perrett talking about the event which will all be online because of Covid, in general terms.
Vicki then introduces Jenny and Malcolm Knox who will be opening up their newly built home on 17 October to virtual tours. They will also be part of a panel addressing sustainable new builds during the weekend. They speak enthusiastically about the process and are very satisfied with the finished product. Financially they see their investment in sustainability as a way of “Paying forward your savings” – but first of all it is about living their lives connected to nature and with a sense of well-being.
In contrast to this, Vicki then introduces us to Andrea Pape who no less enthusiastically tells us how she has retrofitted lots of sustainable initiatives to both her 1960s home and garden.
→ More details can be found at: www.geelongsustainability.org.au/shd-2021
People Pedal Power – ride with Jessie
[49:05] Vicki talks of a young English person who is cycling to Glasgow, while cycling teams match the miles from across the world. One team at least: The Bellarine Belles, a women’s cycle group, who were so impressed by Jessie’s plan and commitment and at the same time so frustrated that the Coalition Federal government in Australia has neither a policy, a plan nor commitment to combating climate change, that they decided to send a message of support by riding along with Jessie, collectively riding the equivalent of 570 miles around the Bellarine Peninsula.
“In the face of the Climate Emergency, we, the people, have power. Let’s cycle to COP26 to show this,” Vicki said.
Youth report – sustainable habits
[52:35] Our youth correspondent Ben Pocock talks about “Sustainable habits” today. This time Ben introduces us to his younger brother Bobby. They have become an integral part of our team and we always look forward to their reports.
[50:38] Leading up to Ben’s and Bobby’s report, we play an excerpt of the song ‘Where’s The Money At’ by Youth Vs Apocalypse feauring Rudy Kalma, Destiny Arts Center, and Warriors4Justice.
Global outlook
[02:40] Colin Mockett‘s World Roundup begins in Milan, Italy, the site of the pre-COP talks, the last and largest preparatory meeting before the COP26 conference, which starts on 31 October in Glasgow. The Milan talks focused on preparations for COP26 as well as input from youth participants, including Greta Thunberg, who opened the talks calling for major industrialised countries to “match their words with action”. Alok Sharma, president-designate of COP26, said that “the energy that came forward from the youth did galvanise the ministers.”
In the United States, Saul Griffith, President Joe Biden’s climate and energy adviser, (who is an Australian from Wollongong) told the president, “if you could make the perfect country with the perfect policies, it would be Australia for rooftop solar policy, Norway or California for its electric vehicle policies, and South Korea or Japan for their electric heating. And if that place could exist in one place, you’ve got the recipe for domestic climate success.” Australia is such a place, Griffith said. Australia could easily lead the world.
Colin then zooms us to Puerto Rico, where small businesses have opened up new tourism avenues by using what they termed ‘low-tech solutions to high-tech concerns’. The concerns are electric vehicle ‘range anxieties’, where EV owners or hirers are worried if they might not have enough range to visit distant destinations. The tourist destinations themselves are now installing free charging stations and their low-tech solutions are advertising, sign-posting and free parking, plus food and drink outlets and tourism information around the charging stations. The government has built 85 charging stations in Puerto Rica, while small businesses have now installed more than 250.
Back to our Pacific region, where Vanuatu said it has built a coalition with fellow Pacific islands and other vulnerable nations to lobby the UN delegates at COP26 talks in Glasgow. In April, tropical cyclone Harold hit Vanuatu and Tonga, wrecking tourist resorts across four island nations with more than two dozen people killed. Pre-Covid in 2019, Vanuatu considered legal action against big polluters thousands of kilometres away amid the effects of rising sea temperatures, intense cyclones, and erratic weather patterns.
NASA satellite analysis shows sea ice in the Arctic appears to have hit its lowest amount, after waning in the 2021 Northern hemisphere spring and summer. The summertime extent is the 12th lowest in the satellite record, according to scientists. This year, the minimum extent of Arctic sea ice dropped to its lowest ever.
Finally, for today, back to England with the results of the world’s only carbon-neutral football team, Gloustershire’s Forest Green Rovers. We hear about their game on the weekend and their current standing after 10 games in their 4th Tier league. This is a team Colin has taken a real liking to. It’s going to be interesting to see how they go over time and how far up the tier system their carbon-free success will take them.
[10:13] We round off Colin’s weekly Outlook with the powerful voice of Greta Thunberg as she addresses the pre-COP26 Climate Talks in Milan. Will her “Blah Blah Blah’ address finally help get us to where we need to be on climate? Only time will tell. One thing for sure is that it will go down in history as one of her powerful ones as we rapidly approach what is being called “The Endgame”.
Until next week, all roads are leading to COP26 in Glasgow – there are many opportunities to get involved in climate solutions between now and then. One of these launched this week is the Australian Conservation Foundation-led “Together We Can” campaign – you can find more about it at www.togetherwecanmovement.org.au – it is yet another way to join the climate revolution.
We’ll be back in seven days with stories of climate solution seekers. If you like what we do, please give us lotsa social media loving and sharing.
. . .
“The combination of the temperature and the light gives you a quality of life that you can’t quite explain to people until you have lived it. It impacts your mental health and your physical well-being. And our last electricity bill was $6.14 for the month, and that includes the connection fee.”
~ Jenny and Malcolm Knox, owners of a passive solar house
. . .
“This year, people will be able to log in from anywhere and because we’ll be recording the sessions, it does mean that if people miss any of the sessions, they’ll be able to access it through our website so there’s no need to miss anything.”
~ Vicki Perrett, Geelong Sustainability President, about Sustainable House Day 2021
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