Australia Grumbles From Down Under

Are Australians Too Proud?

Australians have the biggest ecological footprint out of any people on the planet, cause the extinction of more mammals than any other country.

Recently overheard a loud whining response from an Australian when asked why they celebrate Australia Day – (note it’s interesting that there is no reference to the landing of the British near Sydney)

We have pride in our nation, we have pride in our sporting teams, we have significantly better hospitals, government, court system, safety net, pension system, banking system than the UK. We never went into recession our unemployment only rose to 5.6%. political correctness does not rule here, plus we have the best two major citys in the universe Sydney and Melbourne. And surrounded by the warm blue pacific ocean as we are sinking to nothing our tiny carbon footprint we are the lucky country, none better. We pity you Brits having to shell out loads of money for flights to Australia just to grab a few weeks of paradise.

Don’t listen to the Aussies talking themselves up – it’s what they do best. In reality their country is likely to be seeing environmental refugees fleeing the place before long: for ’sun-drenched’ read dangerously high UV readings with the highest skin cancer rate in the world’. 80% of the country is inhospitable and its economic strength is built on digging huge wounds out of the earth and selling the rocks to the Chinese.

G’day

Economic Growth Vs Climate Change

One of the main arguments in politics about climate change is the potential cost of acting to prevent it. Changing the way we get our power, the way we travel and the way we build and manufacture things is far from cheap. Thanks to some of the richest people in the world trying to get richer at our expense, our economies are not exactly rolling in money right now.

For politicians, the appeal of spending billions on acting on climate change is not great at a time when most of their economies are still shrinking. This is perhaps the key subtext as to why the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference was a complete failure. Now the New Economics Foundation (Nef) has released a new report claiming that global economic growth “is not possible” if nations are to tackle climate change. The report also claims that only “unprecedented and probably impossible” carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2C.

“We urgently need to change our economy to live within its environmental budget. There is no global, environmental central bank to bail us out if we become ecologically bankrupt.”

As bleak as it sounds, it does not mean we are all doomed. It simply means that if we carry on as the way things are, we are doomed. This is a fact. Western economies are built on a lie, that you can consume the worlds recourse as much as you like for as long as you like. The blueprints of our economies are unsustainable: fact. Continuing to ignore this fact will be the end of us, but seems to be the number one priority for politicians and business leaders. Our economies simply cannot keep growing forever. We are trapped in a cycle of boom and bust and sooner or later the busts will become too big to fix.

The report concluded that for a economic growth rate of just 3%, the carbon emissions of the global economy would need to fall by 95% by 2050 from 2002 levels. This would require an average annual reduction of 6.5%. “Magic bullets – such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear or even geo-engineering – are potentially dangerous distractions from more human-scale solutions”

The only way to prevent dangerous climate change is to fix our broken economic system. We could have economic growth whilst preventing climate change, but with the current system we can have only neither. It may well be in most individuals personal interests to continue to ignore these facts but it is in humanities best interest that we go back to the drawing board and design a system that works for everybody and our planet.

Move Your Money

Happy New Year. 2009 was a difficult year for a lot of people and a pretty glum one all round. What do you want from 2010? What would you change? The power is in your hands to change anything, you just have to try. Don’t let 2010 pass you buy without fighting for something. 2009 promised a lot, but the “time for change” Barack Obama hailed never came. It’s time to realize that change will never come from the top. The political system is broken and the politicians know it. Change must come from you.

The political system is not the only broken part of your country. The banking system collapsed in 2008 and what has changed? Nothing. Change must come from you.

Don’t fear change. Without change there is no progress. Don’t let people tell you that the way things are is OK. Don’t forget that we live in a world where trillions of dollars are given to millionaires who gambled all of your money away, when there are millions of people dying of starvation and curable illnesses because they can’t afford to live. A charity could have ended world hunger tens of times over with a fraction of the money used in the bailouts of the banks. What are you going to do about it?

Climate Change: the Cause Behind the Cause

You have all heard about the threat of climate change by now. It’s constantly in the news and rightfully so, it is likely to be on of the biggest threats to just about everything over the coming century. Governments are now all fully aware of the causes of climate change and what must be done to prevent it. In a matter of weeks the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (COP15) will host representatives of the worlds biggest polluters in a effort to reach a deal on taking actions on emissions over the next 50 years.

But what will be achieved? There are two sides to the conference. Developed Nations and Developing Nations. Developed Nations are those such as USA, Britain and rich western nations, that essentially became developed threw their mass consumption of fossil fuels over the past 2 centuries. Developing Nations are countries such as China and India and many other poorer nations that historically have emitted much less climate warming gasses emitted from burning fossil fuels. But these developing nations need to continue to use fossil fuels to power their economies to bring their people out of poverty. Whereas developed nations already have a much higher percentage of their population living a better quality of life.

Only a deal on a global scale will do, Developing countries like China and India are already fast becoming the worlds largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. But these countries argue that they are less historically responsible for climate change, having emitted less over time than developed countries such as the USA. As a result China and India will not sign a deal that prevents them from continuing to grow over the coming decades, claiming the USA and other developed countries should make up for their historical responsibility and face harsher restrictions. Naturally the USA will not sign any agreement that will damage themselves economically such as capping emissions from their businesses. Which brings us to what this conference will really be about: Money.

The problem with the political system is money. Money is power. Politicians will not make any decisions without putting their economy first. Over half the world still lives in poverty. Millions don’t even have food to eat or clean water to drink. Yet world leaders spent Trillions of Dollars, Pounds and Euro’s propping up failed businesses in fear their collapse would damage their economies, there for damaging their power. A tiny fraction of the money spent bailing out the banks could have ended world hunger. The grand sum could have ended poverty for Millions if not Billions of people. So we now live in a world where out banks, full of stuff that doesn’t really exist, are put before people. But not only people, the planet and everything on it.

The reason a deal (or at least a deal that actually meets the recommendations of climate scientists) is unlikely is simply because the decisions are up to politicians. Politicians who care only about how damaging a emissions cap may be to their economies. But if by some miracle a appropriate deal is achieved, money lost from damages economies will likely be recouped by increasing taxes, so it is us the people who really pay the price, at a time where we will be also be paying off the debt of the banking system that failed us. Which leads me on to the real cause of climate change.

Over-consumption is all around us and exists with nearly everything we do. Over-consumption is the simple fact that most of the worlds resources are finite. The fact of the matter is we consumer far more than we give back to the world. The society we live in is unsustainable, just like the banking system, when we carry on consuming more than is created. So that is essentially the biggest problem we face, so why aren’t politicians doing anything about it? Because it is consumption that is the fuel that drives their economies and gives them more power. When asked what the American people should do the day after the September 11th attacks, G.W Bush replied simply “Shop”.

99% of everything purchased in the United States is consumed or thrown away within 6 months. These things need resources to make, and massive amounts of power to manufacture, power that comes from fossil fuels that in turn further warm the climate.

The problem of Over-consumption is a problem that simply has to be solved, now or when its too late. A small step to reduce over-consumption could in reality eclipse any actions on reducing emissions that are likely to come out of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. But it wont happen. Why? Because Over-Consumption makes the resources we use in every day life finite. If its finite you can regulate the cost of it, simply supply and demand. If there is less of something and more people want/need it, it is worth more than if its plentiful.

This is why oil companies purposely do not dig for new oil until their reserve levels are very low, because they less they have available, the more its worth.

Unless there is a drastic change in politics over the next 5 years, I expect our environment and the people of this world will be prioritised below our economies. So long as that is the case its a very sad world we live in. One that might not be around much longer.

Marks & Spencer Target Climate Change

British Retailer Marks & Spencer have launched campaign calling for action on climate change at the Copenhagen summit in December.

The campaign is part of their Plan A website, which launched in 2007 with 100 commitments to achieve within 5 years. Targets include combating climate change, reducing waste, the use of sustainable materials, ethical trade and helping customers lead healthier lifestyles.

Part of the new climate change campaign includes a virtual patchwork quilt, where users can each design and add their own patch and the final piece will be presented to downing street shortly before the Copenhagen Climate change Conference.

M&S, perhaps best known for their lingerie and Christmas hampers, have pledged to make all their UK & Irish operations carbon neutral by 2012, aiming to rely entirely on renewable energy and resorting to carbon offsetting only as a last resort. They are also tackling the issue of Un-sustainability and Over-consumption head on, promoting people to recycle old furniture and electricals. They are also transforming the way they source their food, moving all their duck, turkey and geese to free range farming and have also introduced clothing ranges made from organic linen and cotton.

“Copenhagen is a unique opportunity to do the right thing. Doing nothing is not an option” Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose claims.

We’re doing this because it’s what you want us to do. It’s also the right thing to do. We’re calling it Plan A because we believe it’s now the only way to do business. There is no Plan B.

Dubai Rising

Dubai has seen some of the most rapid and huge changes in the history of modern civilisation. In less than 20 years, was was a barren wasteland has transformed into the most rapidly developed city on the planet.

Dubai in 1990

The United Arab Emirates has become one of the fastest growing economies on the planet, and based on based on various socioeconomic indicators it is now one of the most developed countries in the world. Much of their wealth and economic power has come from years of booming export of natural resources like petroleum and natural gas. Although Dubai has become much less dependant for income from these resources, they still play a vital role in the economy for Abu Dhabi.

This is Dubai 2007, the same road pictured above

UAE has an estimated population of 6 million people. To put that into perspective, New York alone has a population of 8 million. Nearly 2.5 million people now live in Dubai, but a mere 17% is thought to be Emirati. Temporary construction workers outnumber residents by 8 to 1.

Construction in Dubai is simply massive. It’s estimated that they are using 15-25% of the worlds cranes in Dubai alone. The city has become not only a playground for the rich and famous, but for architects too. Every building is unique and interesting. Everyone by now will recognise the The Burj al-Arab Hotel, the world first and only 7 star hotel, that has been built on a man made island off the shore of Dubai.

This is the year to book your flights to Dubai as construction nears completion on the worlds tallest ever constructed building. So big in fact that it broke the record over 2 years ago way before it was even completed. The Burj Dubai is 40% taller than anything ever constructed by man before and has taken only 5 years to build. It is 818 meters tall and has 162 floors. It will be completed on December 20th.

Here is a picture taken just a few days ago after the removal of the last remaining crane.

But Dubai is not the only booming city. Abu Dhabi is also developing at an astonishing rate. Its estimated that Abu Dhabi will make $800 Billion from its oils surplus between 2005 and 2020. It’s already attracting some big names. The first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will take place in less than 2 weeks, bringing an end what has been a strange season in formula 1 with the first half day/half night grand prix.

Make no mistake that Dubai and Abu Dhabi is where the worlds wealth is moving to… and who can blame them.