A clear message that change is coming - a podcast by Anthony Gleeson, Jackie Matthews, Colin Mockett, Mik Aidt

The Sustainable Hour no 374







HISTORIC DECISION BY WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL [01:13–05:22 and 41:25–53:38] We start the show today with Mik Aidt telling us about a very significant recent event coming out of a county in Washington State in the United States: in order “to address the risks of public health, safety, and the environment”, Whatcom County council voted unanimously to ban fossil fuel projects in their jurisdiction – we hear historic speeches given on the night the motion was passed, by councillors, business leaders, local residents and by two of the co-ordinators of local climate groups who campaigned for more than six years behind the scenes for this decision.







CHURCHES REACHING OUT TO CANBERRA [11:10] In The Tunnel on 4 August 2021, we start off with Philip Huggins, the president of the National Council of Churches Australia (NCCA) and a former Anglican Bishop. He talks about his work right now being entirely informed by his concerns about the lack of real action by our federal government on climate. His strong Christian faith shines through as he outlines why he is doing what he does. At a time when he could be taking it easy in retirement, his real concern for a better world keeps him going. You can see his what he has to say on climate in the NCCA’s most recent newsletter here: President’s reflection







WASTE TO ENERGY: NO THANKS, SAYS COMMUNITY [29:25] Following Philip, we have Ryan Dew and Les Dew, two Lara locals who tell us why they are concerned about the proposed Prospect Hill National waste-to-energy plant which is planned to be built near them. They feel strongly that once people know the facts on this proposed project they’ll be against. As well as coming on The Sustainable Hour to let people know these concerns, they have also started a Facebook page titled Say NO to Prospect Hill International Waste to Energy Plant.







Accompanying them is Charles Street who shares their concerns and provides another perspective on why this project they all view as toxic shouldn’t go ahead. Similar plants are being banned and closed down in the United States and Europe, while a number of them are now being proposed for Australia.















GLOBAL OUTLOOK [04:16]Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook starts with the Whatcom County’s restrictions on fossil fuel companies. Then Colin zooms us to Canada, where Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart is appealing a court decision to stop her company from mining coal in the Rocky Mountains.







Next we head even further north to Alaska and Siberia where they are battling wildfires amid unprecedented drought. Greenland’s ice sheet is experiencing a ‘massive melting event’ with temperatures averaging 10 degrees above normal. Fires are also still burning out of control in western US, Canada, Brazil and now central Turkey.Colin then reports on yet another extreme weather event. In the wake of recent floods in China which inundated an underground train station, metro companies around the world are reviewing ...

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