Saturday 27th of July 2024
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decarbonising somewhat.....

 

ON THE OCCASION OF UNCOP28 IN DUBAI, ONE HAS TO REFLECT ON ANOTHER EVENT IN THIS MODERN CITY.

THE DUBAI SAILGP IS ON AND THE RACES WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY 9TH AND SUNDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2023…

 

ONE HAS TO ADMIRE THE TECHNOLOGY WHICH A FEW YEARS AGO WAS NOT AVAILABLE — NOT EVEN DREAMED OF... 

THERE IS A BIT OF BITTER/SWEET TASTE ABOUT SAILGP — IN RELATION TO CARBON NEUTRAL. 

WHILE THE FORMULA ONE (F1) RACES ALL OVER THE WORLD CELEBRATE THE BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS AND GETTING DRUNK ON OCTANES AND CHAMPAGNE... SAILGP TRIES HARD TO MINIMISE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF RACING AND PARTICIPATES IN CLEAN UP OF THE ENVIRONMENT. YET THE WHOLE PROCESS ISN’T CARBON NEUTRAL. 

 

STILL CAUGHT IN THE DAYS OF HORSE RACING, THE WHOLE INDUSTRY OF ENTERTAINMENT AND GAMBLING, IS NOT CARBON NEUTRAL, FROM BREEDING HORSES, ORGANISING EVENTS, SPONSORSHIPS AND SPECTATOR ASSEMBLIES DEMANDING CARBON HUNGRY MODE OF TRANSPORT, INCLUDING FERRYING THE HORSES (OR BOATS, OR CARS) FROM ONE END OF THE WORLD TO THE OTHER… EVEN ELECTRIC CARS STILL DEMAND CARBON INTENSIVE GENERATION OF ENERGY.

 

AND THIS IS WHY WE HAVE PROPOSED THE SEAGLIDER PROJECT. I HAVE HEARD OF SOME PEOPLE PUSHING FOR CREATING SOME SMALLER DERIVATIVES. 

EXCELLENT, BUT STILL TOO LITTLE FOR NOTHING MUCH.

 

YET EVEN SUCH A PROJECT IS CARBON INTENSIVE AT THE BEGINNING — AS INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURE, TRANSPORT AND ENERGY SUPPLIES ARE BUMMERS ON THE NO EMISSION FRONT.

 

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

WE NEED TO DO MORE….

 

MEANWHILE THERE’S ALSO THE AC40s MOSTLY FLYING IN SPAIN, ALSO RACING IN JEDDAH. THEY ARE PREPARING FOR THE NEXT AMERICA’S CUP. NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE TWO EVENTS, AC AND SAILGP, ARE LINKED BY THEIR HIGHLY SKILLED, THE BEST IN THE WORLD, SKIPPERS/DRIVERS — AND CREWS.

TOM SLINGSBY, JIMMY SPITHILL, NATHAN OUTTERIDGE, BEN AINSLIE, PETER BURLING, PHIL ROBERTSON, ETC…  MOST OF THEM COMMUTE BETWEEN THE TWO EVENTS...

ALL THESE RACES DEMAND A GREAT AMOUNT OF SUPPORT STAFF, GOFFERS, ORGANISATION LOGISTICS WITH CEOs AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE. AS WELL, THERE IS A TEAM OF EMPIRES, A PLETHORA OF COMMENTATORS AND MANY SPONSORS WITH THE CASH TO OIL THE WHOLE LOT WITH FRIENDLY RIVALRY. IT’S CASH INCENTIVE, NOT UNLIKE THE F1 CIRCUS.

 

NOW BECAUSE TOM SLINGSBY WILL BE BY THE SIDE OF HIS WIFE GIVING BIRTH TO THEIR FIRST CHILD, JIMMY SPITHILL WILL DRIVE THE AUSSIE BOAT. 

 

JIMMY AND TOM GO A LONG WAY —BOTH FROM THE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, REGION. THEY WON THE AMERICA’S CUP TOGETHER, WITH SPITHILL AT THE HELM, AND GOT DEFEATED BY PETER BURLING AT THE NEXT ONE.

 

ALL OF THE SAILORS HAVE OLYMPICS AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS UNDER THEIR BELT. THEY PUSH HARD TO CREATE THEIR CHANCES. SO FAR SLINGSBY IS THE MASTER OF ALL....

_____________________

 

So, let's congratulate SAILGP for its effort in providing racing entertainment using the wind... MOSTLY. THINK OF THE SEAGLIDER FOR TRANSPORT...

 

 

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zero chances....

 

UNCOP28 at a time of international stress and vivid suffering      By Philip Huggins

 

At UNCOP28, clear-eyed, we persist. And not without hope. There is a saying; ‘Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will.’ The time to have an influence comes and goes. Like life itself… Therefore it is best to live by the highest one can conceive when one has the opportunity!

I am at the UNCOP28 in Dubai.

This is the second COP I have attended. The other was in Madrid, transferred from Chile and prior to the global pandemic.

This one is much bigger, as are the stakes. Being in a very hot place, even in Dubai’s winter should focus minds!

Bigger but it is also a quite lovingly benign international community. As one wanders about, my association is with the Camino pilgrimage towards Santiago de Compostela!

This pilgrimage community is better dressed. Speaking points more than rosary’s falling out of pockets.

It was a bleak experience for an Australian in Madrid. The then Government was disputing the need for targets. Not even ‘net zero by the end of time’ would have been acceptable.

Subsequently the Prime Minister of that time was drawn into target-land by international pressure, around the time of the COP in Glasgow.

‘Net zero by 2050’.

The purpose of this COP, consistent with the Paris Agreement, is to encourage the highest possible political ambitions. The quality of co-operation, which led to the Paris Agreement, envisaged this time in 2023 when nations would again come together and scale up their ambitions.

Hopefully, transparently, so that, together as a global family, we do all that is necessary to achieve the envisaged goals: containing the rise in temperatures to that 1.5 degrees target by cutting carbon emissions as fast as possible; reaching net zero asap; offering practical help to those facing ‘loss and damage’ from the current consequences of climate change and doing all this with fair-minded support for those facing issues of adaptation and mitigation.

It is a huge agenda at a time of international stress and vivid suffering, some of it not far from Dubai.

Yesterday I listened, for hours, to the negotiations as regards the inclusion of language and details for a ‘just transition’ in the ‘global stocktake’. This too was part of what the Paris Agreement envisaged for COP 28.

It is a complex process to achieve the necessary consensus and we are still in the first week of COP.

Of encouragement were the positive provisions introduced by the Australian negotiators.

For me personally, even that is such a relief, given past experiences.

Australia is trying to be a beneficial presence at COP. Our team of diplomats and negotiators, as in Madrid and as I have listened to this team, prior to COP28, are all so capable and conscientious. The Minister, Chris Bowen, whom some of us faith leaders met in Canberra in mid November, is encouraging and is himself modelling the necessary ambitious leadership.

An example, this first week of COP, is the announcement regarding a scaling up of ambitions on renewables.

Of course this comes with political risk, as the Opposition’s responses demonstrate.

A lot has happened since the last Federal Election and the entrance into Parliament of the ‘Teals’ with their commitment to preventing catastrophic climate change.

There is much real anxiety now, provoked by domestic cost of living pressures and by the suffering of terrible new wars. Our social cohesion is challenged, unexpectedly, in the aftermath of the referendum and the events since October 7.

In this context, it seems the Opposition is gaining traction as they raise doubts, including about our transition to renewables.

I was reminded this week of the sanguine comment of a European politician, a few years back, regarding the necessary policies that will accomplish the Paris Agreement.

Jean Claude Juncker, former European Commission president’s comment was: “We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we do it!”

As has also been said, long term in democracies is the time to the next election!

One related and concluding reflection in this context.

Given my vocation, I have obviously listened to many funeral eulogies. These funerals have included former politicians. I remember former Victorian Premier John Cain’s advice, remembered at his funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral.

It was about the ephemeral nature of political leadership. The time to have an influence comes and goes. Like life itself… Therefore it is best to live by the highest one can conceive when one has the opportunity!

It seems unlikely but we can still hope that we will have bipartisan cooperation on climate change ahead of the next election. In my case, I yearn for this every time I look at my grandchildren and their friends, all under ten.

There is a saying; ‘Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will.’

Clear-eyed, we persist.

And not without hope.

So, two cameos to close.

I listened to the Leader of the Opposition at a November Prayer Breakfast in Parliament. He spoke softly and compassionately, after we had listened to the testimony of Danny and Leila Abdullah.

This beautiful couple have practiced sustained forgiveness towards the driver who’s mistake led to the death of their precious children.

On the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, ahead of a recent funeral, I had the opportunity to thank our Prime Minister for his leadership. I had in mind this matter as well as the referendum; better relationships with nations, near and far… just the general effort he was giving to a positive future for all.

His face softened… There was a glimpse, here too, into a beauty of soul.

If we all, including our political leaders, live from our truest self and try to say and do only that which we genuinely believe is beneficial, what a nation we can still be…!

In that spirit, we persist!

https://johnmenadue.com/uncop28-at-a-time-of-international-stress-and-vivid-suffering/

 

GUS LEONISKY IS A FIERCE ATHEIST, FORMER SAILOR, FAILED ENGINEER — AND CARTOONIST SINCE 1951....

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/33287

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/27924

 

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