BHP Boss Announces $US400m Plan To Combat 'Indisputable' Climate Crisis

The Guardian - Australian Associated Press

The mining giant’s chief executive Andrew Mackenzie endorses drastic action to tackle global warming

BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie says carbon pricing is not enough to combat the looming threat of mass extinctions and major sea rises. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP 

The chief executive of the world’s largest mining company has endorsed drastic action to combat global warming, which he calls “indisputable”, and an emerging crisis.
“The planet will survive. Many species may not,” the BHP chief executive officer, Andrew Mackenzie, told a business breakfast in London on Tuesday. “This is a confronting conclusion but as a veteran geologist once said, ‘you can’t argue with a rock’.”
Mackenzie endorsed carbon pricing but said it was not enough to combat the looming threat of mass extinctions and major sea rises.
He announced BHP was spending $US400m ($A570m) to create a climate investment program to reduce emissions from its own operations as well as those generated from its resources.
BHP has been working to reduce its emissions since the 1990s but still directly produced 16.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions in the 2017/18 fiscal year, mostly from energy and diesel use at its operations.
That’s the equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 3.5m cars or 4.2 coal-fired power stations for a year, according to a calculator on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website.
But when one adds to the equation customers’ use of BHP’s products – most notably the processing of iron ore and the burning of coal and crude oil – BHP’s indirect emissions dwarfed that, totalling 596.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide for the fiscal year.
That’s equivalent of the emissions produced in a year by 126m cars or 153 coal-fired power plants, according to the EPA calculator.
“Use of emissions-intensive products from the resource industry have contributed significantly to global warming,” Mackenzie said, while noting that BHP’s emissions in 2017 were less than those in 2006.
BHP has a short-term goal to cap 2022 emissions at 2017 levels, and a long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.
It is also strengthening the link between emissions performance and executive renumeration from 2021, and has invested $6m in Carbon Engineering Limited, a Canadian company focused on developing ways to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Mackenzie said that “like most scientists” he believes that global warming will tend to the upper end of forecasts, while conceding there was a chance it would not. But he said prudent risk management meant BHP was planning to protect against the downside.
Global warming required a “coordinated global response” and no single solution could combat it, Mackenzie said . “While we endorse a carbon price this is not enough in isolation.”
Electric vehicles, renewables, reforestation and replacing single-use plastics all have trade-offs, such as simply moving fossil fuel emissions up the chain if energy production is not also decarbonised.
“An ‘all of the above’ solution barely gets us there,” Mackenzie said. “All emitters, resource companies, customers, consumers must play their part together with governments to meet the climate challenge.”

Links

• BHP warns investors coal could be phased out 'sooner than expected'
• BHP boss warns climate change escalating towards crisis point
• BHP's half-year profit drops 8 per cent to $5.66b
• BHP set to leave World Coal Association, threatens Minerals Council withdrawal
• BHP to push customers on emissions
• BHP tackles customer emissions challenge
• BHP plans $400m climate change fund and greener pay for executives
• In climate first, BHP pledges to invest $400m to reduce emissions
• Miners have a role to play in fighting climate change
• Banks increasing exposure to fossil fuels despite promises to fight climate change: report
• Whitehaven Coal: activist shareholders to force vote on climate strategy

I’m An Ordinary Person Who Joined An Extinction Rebellion Blockade. Here's Why You Should Too

The Guardian - Anonymous*

It was way out of my comfort zone, but as a scientist I can tell you that the climate emergency is much more terrifying

‘We need to wake people up, fast. This requires massive, sustained media attention. Disruption is very effective at creating this, especially by blockading major urban centres.’  Photograph: Darren England/AAP 

I am an ordinary mid-career professional. I work a nine-to-five job in the city, and I’m well respected and growing in my career. I have never broken the law. And recently, I joined Extinction Rebellion, blockading traffic.
I have never done anything like this before. It was way out of my comfort zone, and I felt like vomiting at the idea. But climate change makes me want to vomit even more. I am a scientist, and I can say with confidence: the science is absolutely terrifying. So I went.
Here’s my reflections on the experience: I found it surprisingly calm, peaceful and friendly. The heavy media and police presence was intense, but I felt safe, and I didn’t feel like I was at risk of being arrested at any point. I just followed clear instructions from organisers and the police. Those who were arrested chose to be arrested, and even that was very calm. I’d genuinely feel safe bringing a child, just like to any other peaceful rally.
Also, it was fun! There was lots of chanting, and it felt positive and upbeat. I’m really glad I had courage and went, despite feeling so nervous. I don’t intend to get arrested, but there are a hundred other ways to support and contribute, and I intend to do them.
Until recently, I thought that these sorts of tactics are ridiculous and just irritate people and lead to more divisiveness. I thought blocking traffic was no way to develop consensus and get things done.
But then I saw the news on Extinction Rebellion blockading London for more than a week, with more than 1,000 arrests. Soon after, the UK government adopted a climate emergency resolution.
I started reading about Extinction Rebellion. I found out that it’s been carefully and deliberately constructed, drawing upon the best research on how to create massive social change, of the kind we need to address the climate emergency.

Let me tell you a story. Many of us already know the climate catastrophe story, so let me tell you a different one

I found out that the suffragettes got women the vote by smashing windows and chaining themselves to railings, facing hate and ridicule in the media. And how Martin Luther King combated racial inequality by rallying people to violate laws and provoke mass arrests, and was arrested 29 times. And this was deliberate, carefully orchestrated and inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.
I learned how the research shows nonviolent civil disobedience can bring rapid and sweeping changes, and that we’ve never seen an example fail once 3.5% of the population becomes actively involved.
I started to hope.
Let me tell you a story. Many of us already know the climate catastrophe story, so let me tell you a different one.
Right now, we are sleepwalking. We go about our daily lives assuming that buying a house and putting money in our superannuation are appropriate ways to plan for the future. If we hear about the climate crisis, we tell ourselves, surely it can’t be that urgent if no one is doing anything?
We need to wake people up, fast. This requires massive, sustained media attention. Disruption is very effective at creating this, especially by blockading major urban centres. The aim is to make people pay attention, and they’re much more likely to do so when it impacts their daily lives. If there are arrests, that’s great too, because that’s also newsworthy.
Most people will hate the disruption tactics, and get irritated or angry. They’ll ridicule the people involved and say negative things in the media. A small percentage will join the movement. It’s OK that this is only a small percentage. Remember that we only need 3.5% of people to get active.
We do, however, need most people to be sympathetic.
People start by discussing tactics (with lots of hate), but then move on to the issue (“but we really should be doing something about climate, it’s actually quite scary”). More people start to realise that this is an actual emergency.
Proper debate starts happening, and people are talking about it everywhere. As more people wake up, more of them join the protests. And there’s safety in numbers, so as it gets bigger, more people feel they can join.
Politicians can no longer ignore the issue. More and more people are getting arrested for nonviolent and relatively harmless activities, and they have growing public support for their sentiments. Grandfathers are glueing themselves to roads because they want a safe future for their grandchildren. Economic activity is suffering from longer blockades, and businesses are demanding that the government does something.
Politicians are forced to address the issue. And now, we finally start working together in collaboration with other countries. People all around the world have been inspired to rebellion.
I have no idea if this story will ever happen but I think there’s a chance. It depends entirely on how many of us get on board. It’s uncomfortable to disrupt people’s lives, but the courageous folks doing it are putting themselves on the line to save us all.
I still benefit from the sacrifices of those suffragettes and all the others who’ve fought so hard, at great personal cost. Now it’s my turn.

*The author of this article is a scientist living in Australia

Links

• Extinction Rebellion
• The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
• Extinction Rebellion protesters aren’t anarchists – we just want to save our world
• Politicians’ reluctance on climate change is bizarre – action would not only be right but popular
• Young Climate Activists ‘Most At Risk’ Of Being Spied On By AFP
• US Philanthropists Vow To Raise Millions For Climate Activists
• This Is The Only Way To Tackle The Climate Emergency
• Good News For Climate Activists: Marching Might Work
• Environment Leaders Reflect On Their Role In The 'Climate Election'
• Kids Suing The US Over Climate Change Are Getting Global Support
• Students From 1,600 Cities Just Walked Out Of School To Protest Climate Change. It Could Be Greta Thunberg's Biggest Strike Yet

'No Limits': Victoria's Biggest Solar Farm Paves Way For More

Sydney Morning Herald - Peter Hannam

Victoria's largest solar farm has reached full-capacity, with its French owner Neoen declaring the plant to be operating "slightly above" expectations as it eyes 3 gigawatts of new renewable developments in Australia.
The $198-million Numurkah solar farm in the state's north took just a year to build and employed about 300 people in the construction phase.
The plant's 128 megawatt-capacity includes 373,839 photovoltaic panels spread over 515 hectares, and it will partly power Melbourne's tram network.

Victoria's biggest solar farm, Neoen's Numurkah plant, brings 128 megawatts of capacity to the grid, and was constructed in just a year. Credit: Neoen

Louis de Sambucy, who took over as managing director of Neoen Australia this month, said technology costs were continuing to fall, making Australia increasingly attractive as an investment location because of its "incredible" wind and solar resources.
"We don't see the limits – things are continuously improving, delivering better and better results," Mr de Sambucy told The Age.
"We are at the very beginning of the energy transition.
"We look at projects where we can be 20 per cent up to 40 per cent lower than the current [wholesale electricity] price."
Energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, who was expected to attend Friday's formal opening of the plant, said the project would supply about 255,000 megawatt-hours to the grid each year.
"The Numurkah solar farm will play an important role in supporting the transformation of our energy system towards clean, renewable energy and reaching our renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030," she said.
The avoided greenhouse gas emissions from the solar farm amount to the equivalent of taking 75,000 cars off the road or planting 390,000 trees.
Support for the plant included a 38 megawatt green certificate purchase agreement from the government, and $56 million in loans from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Also underpinning the project was a 15-year power purchase agreement with SIMEC ZEN Energy to supply electricity to the Laverton Steelworks in Melbourne's west, which helped to almost quadruple the original size of the plant.

Neoen's Numurkah solar farm will partly power a steel works and Melbourne's tram network. Credit: Neoen

The Victorian government's renewable energy target (VRET) is expected to draw in $7.2 billion to meet its 2025 goal of supplying 40 per cent of the state's electricity from renewables by 2025.
Some 10,000 jobs will also be spurred by those projects, according to government estimates.
Neoen is also developing a $350 million, 200MW wind farm, including 56 turbines, on an old gold mine site at Bulgana, near Stawell in western Victoria.
The company also operates the successful Hornsdale battery in South Australia, which has been helping to stabilise the grid for almost two years.
Despite that project's success, Neoen is wary of building additional capacity for now given "the shallow market" that currently exists for such projects, Mr de Sambucy said.

Links

• 'Vital development': Market to pay big users to cut power gets green lightMelbourne's trams to be solar powered
• Australia To Achieve 50% Renewables By 2030 Without Government Intervention, Analysis Finds
• Analysis: $130 Billion Per Year Benefit To Australia's GDP By Avoiding Climate Change
• Jump In Renewable Energy Jobs As Solar Farms Overtake Hydro Power
• Device Could Bring Both Solar Power And Clean Water To Millions
• Act Now On Emissions Says Farmers For Climate Action
• Sydney Opera House Turns To Wind And Solar, May Add Battery For Perfect Match

40 Years Ago, Scientists Predicted Climate Change. And Hey, They Were Right

The Conversation - Neville Nicholls

It’s been four decades since the first credible, global report on the effect of carbon dioxide on the global climate.Shutterstock

This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this week sees another scientific anniversary, perhaps just as important for the future of civilisation.
Forty years ago, a group of climate scientists sat down at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts for the first meeting of the “Ad Hoc Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate”. It led to the preparation of what became known as the Charney Report – the first comprehensive assessment of global climate change due to carbon dioxide.
It doesn’t sound as impressive as landing on the Moon, and there certainly weren’t millions waiting with bated breath for the deliberations of the meeting.
But the Charney Report is an exemplar of good science, and the success of its predictions over the past 40 years has firmly established the science of global warming.


Why reducing our carbon emissions matters (a little story about climate change)

What is this ‘greenhouse gas’ you speak of?
Other scientists, starting in the 19th century, had already demonstrated that carbon dioxide was what we now call a “greenhouse gas”. By the 1950s, scientists were predicting warming of several degrees from the burning of fossil fuels. In 1972 John Sawyer, the head of research at the UK Meteorological Office, wrote a four-page paper published in Nature summarising what was known at the time, and predicting warming of about 0.6℃ by the end of the 20th century.
But these predictions were still controversial in the 1970s. The world had, if anything, cooled since the middle of the 20th century, and there was even some speculation in the media that perhaps we were headed for an ice age.
The meeting at Woods Hole gathered together about 10 distinguished climate scientists, who also sought advice from other scientists from across the world. The group was led by Jule Charney from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most respected atmospheric scientists of the 20th century.
The Report lays out clearly what was known about the likely effects of increasing carbon dioxide on the climate, as well as the uncertainties. The main conclusion of the Report was direct:

We estimate the most probable warming for a doubling of CO₂ to be near 3℃ with a probable error of 1.5℃.

In the 40 years since their meeting, the annual average CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere, as measured at Mauna Loa in Hawaii, has increased by about 21%. Over the same period, global average surface temperature has increased by about 0.66℃, almost exactly what could have been expected if a doubling of CO₂ produces about 2.5℃ warming – just a bit below their best estimate. A remarkably prescient prediction.

Reception of the article
Despite the high regard in which the authors of the Charney Report were held by their scientific peers at the time, the report certainly didn’t lead to immediate changes in behaviour, by the public or politicians.
But over time, as the world has continued to warm as they predicted, the report has become accepted as a major milestone in our understanding of the consequences our actions have for the climate. The current crop of climate scientists revere Charney and his co-authors for their insight and clarity.

Strong science
The report exemplifies how good science works: establish an hypothesis after examining the physics and chemistry, then based on your assessment of the science make strong predictions. Here, “strong predictions” means something that would be unlikely to come true if your hypothesis and science were incorrect.
In this case, their very specific prediction was that warming of between 1.5℃ and 4.5℃ would accompany a doubling of atmospheric CO₂. At the time, global temperatures, in the absence of their hypothesis and science, might have been expected to stay pretty much the same over the ensuing 40 years, cooled a bit, possibly even cooled a lot, or warmed a lot (or a little).
In the absence of global warming science any of these outcomes could have been feasible, so their very specific prediction made for a very stringent test of their science.
The Charney Report’s authors didn’t just uncritically summarise the science. They also acted sceptically, trying to find factors that might invalidate their conclusions. They concluded:

We have tried but have been unable to find any overlooked or underestimated physical effects that could reduce the currently estimated global warmings due to a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ to negligible proportions or to reverse them altogether.

The report, and the successful verification of its prediction, provides a firm scientific basis for the discussion of what we should do about global warming.
Over the ensuing 40 years, as the world warmed pretty much as Charney and his colleagues expected, climate change science improved, with better models that included some of the factors missing from their 1979 deliberations.
This subsequent science has, however, only confirmed the conclusions of the Charney Report, although much more detailed predictions of climate change are now possible.

Links

• 1979 Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment (pdf)
• 1972 Man-made Carbon Dioxide and the “Greenhouse” Effect
• What is a pre-industrial climate and why does it matter?
• Climate change or climate crisis? To really engage people, the media should talk about solutions
• New wave of smart cities has arrived - and they’re nothing like science fiction
• Using language to make the world of fossil fuels strange and ugly
• Adapting cities to a hotter world: 3 essential reads
• Heat stroke: A doctor offers tips to stay safe as temperatures soar

Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Wins France's First Freedom Prize

SBS - AFP

A 16-year-old Swedish climate champion has received the first Freedom Prize in France, and has urged people to recognise the link between climate change and "mass migration, famine and war."



Swedish teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg, whose Friday school strikes protesting government inaction over climate change helped spark a worldwide movement, has received the first Freedom Prize in France.
Flanked by two WWII veterans who sponsor the prize, the 16-year-old accepted the award at a ceremony in the northwestern city of Caen, Normandy, on Sunday.
"This prize is not only for me," Greta said. "This is for the whole Fridays for Future movement because this we have achieved together."

Greta Thunberg with D-Day veteran Charles Norman Shay at the 2019 Freedom Award Ceremony. Getty

She said she would donate the AU$28,000 prize money to four organisations working for climate justice and helping areas already affected by climate change.
The prize was awarded before an audience of several hundred people and in the presence of several D-Day veterans, including France's Leon Gautier and US native American Charles Norman Shay.
Greta said she had spent an unforgettable day with Mr Shay on Omaha Beach, one of the sites of the 1944 Normandy landings that launched the Allied offensive that helped end World War II.

These are the most powerful words on the climate and ecological emergency I’ve ever heard.

Listen to Charles Norman Shay, a Native American D-Day veteran who was in the first wave and landed on Omaha Beach 06.30h June 6th 1944.#PrixLiberte #ClimateBreakdown #EcologicalBreakdown pic.twitter.com/M28dxeWvu0

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 21, 2019

Paying tribute to their sacrifice, she said: "the least we can do to honour them is to stop destroying that same world that Charles, Leon and their friends and colleagues fought so hard to save for us."
Mr Shay said that young people should be prepared to "defend what they believe in."
"As a soldier, I fought for freedom and to liberate Europe and the world from Nazism 75 years ago."
"I'm deeply happy that you and the young generation fight for this noble cause," he told Greta.

Greta backs D-Day veteran call to fight "silent war"
Describing the challenges posed by climate change, Greta said seven million people died from illness related to toxic air pollution every year.
"This is a silent war going on," she said.
"We are currently on track for a world that could displace billions of people from their homes, taking away even the most basic living conditions from countless people, making areas of the world uninhabitable from some part of the year."

At just 16 years old, Greta Thunberg started an international youth movement against climate change. Getty

She said the "link between climate and ecological emergency and mass migration, famine and war was still not clear to many people" and urged change.
The Freedom Prize was set up to honour the values embodied by the Normandy landings. Its winner is chosen by a worldwide online poll of respondents aged between 15 and 25.
Greta beat out two other finalists, Saudi blogger and dissident Raif Badawi and Chinese photojournalist Lu Guang, to become the winner.

Links

• Greta Thunberg: ‘They See Us As A Threat Because We’re Having An Impact’
• Greta Thunberg Thanks OPEC Chief For Complaining About ‘Threat’ Of Climate Activists
• When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope Is Contagious'
• Students From 1,600 Cities Just Walked Out Of School To Protest Climate Change. It Could Be Greta Thunberg's Biggest Strike Yet
• ‘Now I Am Speaking To The Whole World.’ How Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Got Everyone To Listen
• Greta Thunberg Became A Climate Activist Not In Spite Of Her Autism, But Because Of It
• The Uncanny Power Of Greta Thunberg’s Climate-Change Rhetoric
• The Guardian View On Greta Thunberg: Seizing The Future
• Greta Thunberg Backs Climate General Strike To Force Leaders To Act
• Additional Links

Endangered Destinations

Washington Post - John Briley

Five forces that are changing the travel landscape

Travelers with bucket lists tend to see the challenge as limited by their schedule, budget and life span. Increasingly, though, there’s a fourth dimension: how much longer a destination or experience, as advertised, will be around for a tourist to enjoy.
Many places are disappearing or transforming before our eyes: Pacific islands succumbing to sea-level rise; the Amazon rainforest withering because of unchecked development; the Gulf of California losing the vaquita porpoise to extinction by poaching.
To be fair, not all factors altering the travel landscape are bad. The modernity that nostalgic backpackers have decried in the Himalaya, for example, also brought first-world medical care to isolated communities. But right now the tourism world is facing a suite of mostly negative transformative influences. Here we highlight five — climate change, deforestation, erosion, wildlife poaching and gentrification — and offer examples of places and experiences that may soon go the way of the traveler’s check.
As a tourist, you can help by choosing hotels, tour operators and guides that work to solve some of these problems, not contribute to them, and by interacting with locals to appreciate the challenges they face. The last thing any of us wants is to check off a bucket-list destination only to realize that we’re part of the reason it’s disappearing.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Rising seas and melting glaciers have obvious implications for residents and travelers, but so do some events less often tied to climate change, including drought, mudslides, wildfires and shifts in species’ range that might, for example, bring mosquitoes — and the diseases they carry — to some regions for the first time in human history.

Due in large part to major coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, average hard coral cover is down in all three regions of the 133,000-square-mile Great Barrier Reef for the first time since the Australian Institute of Marine Science began long-term monitoring. As of mid-2018, coral cover in the north region was half of what it was in 2013. (Shutterstock)

The number of glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park declined from nearly 150 in 1910, when the park was established, to 26 in 2015, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. More glaciers are likely to disappear in the next few decades. This stunning park offers more than just ancient ice, but the loss has serious implications for the ecosystem and the species that depend on it. (Shutterstock)

While recent restoration efforts are helping reverse decades of poor water management decisions upstream, the Florida Everglades faces a multipronged threat of drought, excessive air temperatures and elevated salinity from sea-level rise, which not only kills the saw grass prairie but causes the underlying peat soil to collapse — foreshadowing a bleak future for the grasses, fish and other species in the Everglades. (iStock)

POACHING

Poaching, which feeds a multibillion-dollar illegal wildlife trade, also affects non-target species, says William Laurance, a distinguished professor at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. The arrival of predatory humans in a formerly pristine area creates “landscapes of fear” among wildlife so that even species that aren’t directly targeted bolt at the slightest indication that people are nearby.

Although the mountain gorilla population in central Africa has risen from an estimated 230 in the 1980s to 1,000 today, the species remains critically endangered, says Craig Sholley, senior vice president at the African Wildlife Foundation. “The area has changed dramatically. You’re now visiting an island forest surrounded by a sea of people. I’m optimistic about the [gorilla’s] future, but 1,000 individuals is a small number, and climate change and disease could wipe them out.” (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

The number of Malayan tigers has dropped from an estimated 3,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 200 today, says Kae Kawanishi, head of conservation for the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers. Poachers use cable snares to target the critically endangered felines, which can reach 250 pounds. Globally, tigers have lost 93 percent of their habitat. (iStock)

The black rhino population has risen from a low of 2,300 in 1992 to about 5,500, but the status of the species remains precarious, says CeCe Sieffert, deputy director of the International Rhino Foundation. Travelers have a good chance of seeing wild black rhinos in the Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, through the Malilangwe Trust in Zimbabwe or through Swaziland’s big game parks. (iStock)

DEFORESTATION

An estimated 18 million acres of forest — an area the size of Panama — is felled to make room for development every year, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. At that rate, the world’s rainforests could be wiped out in 100 years.

Across the Congo Basin in Africa, new roads are dicing up ecosystems and opening once-pristine woodlands to slash-and-burn farmers and poachers. “This is bad development,” says Laurance, in part because widespread corruption prevents any benefit from reaching the local people. The effects are most severe in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, the Congo Republic, eastern Congo. “A lot of sub-Saharan Africa is changing at an incredible pace. If you want to see natural Africa, you’d better go now.” (Amaury Hauchard/AFP/Getty Images)

In Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland at 70,000 square miles, the conversion of forest to soy fields and other farms, coupled with other activity, such as diverting rivers and streams that feed the vast river basin, threatens an area with biodiversity that rivals the Amazon. (Eraldo Peres/AP)

The forests of Borneo are being leveled for timber, palm oil, pulp, rubber and minerals, says the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Within Indonesia, the amount of land used for palm oil production grew from 1.5 million acres in 1985 to nearly 30 million acres today. (Shutterstock)

EROSION

While change is the one real constant, humankind, in our eternal quest for near-term gratification, has managed to accelerate the process in some places.

Built in 1860, the mud and brick Telouet Kasbah housed one of Morocco’s richest men — Thami El Glaoui — who, despite predating the Clash, routinely rocked his Kasbah with wild parties. In part because he sided with the French in Morocco’s independence fight, the state has not invested in restoring his fortress and only one section, run by Glaoui’s descendants, remains accessible to tourists. Wind, rain and time have reduced the rest nearly to rubble. (Peter Engelke/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images)

The mother lode of silver inside the 15,800-foot Cerro Rico gave rise to the city of Potosi, Bolivia, which in the 1500s became the richest city in the world. But the crude tunnels dug to extract that wealth, apart from killing thousands of miners over the centuries, have left the mountain at risk of collapsing. A government stabilization project to save it might be too late. (Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images)

Erosion of the soft chalk of the White Cliffs of Dover, in England, has increased from about an inch per year to about 10 times that over the past 150 years, according to a 2016 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. That’s enough to threaten some cliff-top paths and infrastructure, says Robert Anderson, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a study co-author. Further, he adds, “cliffs do not walk back . . . at a steady clip [and] may locally jump several meters at a time,” which could elevate the risk unpredictably. (iStock)

GENTRIFICATION

The effects of gentrification on travelers — my favorite dim sum cart is GONE! — pale in comparison to the challenge faced by residents pushed out by unaffordable rents or, in extreme cases, bulldozers. In an increasingly populous and hyper-informed world, fewer and fewer pockets of desirable land will escape the notice of developers.

In Kenya, Lamu earned renown as one of the most authentic Swahili settlements in East Africa. But because of its strategic location — near Ethiopia and South Sudan — Lamu is now the site of a huge port project that will bring “more ships, more roads, more pollution, and the idyllic paradise that is Lamu will disappear,” says Harriet Constable, a journalist and expert on the area. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)

The one-square-mile neighborhood of Oakwood established its identity in the 1930s and ’40s as the only area of Venice, Calif., where African Americans were allowed to buy property. Oakwood’s community vibe began to dissolve around 2012 when developers and tech millionaires saw gold in the timeworn houses a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean. A dwindling core of old-timers is fighting to salvage the neighborhood’s culture. (Megan Hullander)

For decades, the vendors of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have plied produce and crafts from boats; floating markets became colorful, chaotic must-see stops for travelers. But government flood-control projects have altered the delta, hindering vendors’ ability to quickly move between farms and customers, and other urbanization — including gleaming supermarkets — have siphoned business from the rivers. Many floating markets are only half as big as in their heyday. (iStock)

 
Links
 

Icons at Risk: Climate Change Threatening Australian Tourism

Climate Change: Implications for Tourism

Air travel and climate change

7 Ways You Can Help Combat Climate Change as a Traveller

Climate Change & Tourism

Climate change: Tourism in SA will be badly affected

High and dry: Alpine resorts grapple with climate change

Protest Art: Rallying Cry Or Elegy For The Black-Throated Finch?

The Conservation - Felicity Fenner

One of the artworks made as part of a project where Australians are sending artistic representations of the bird to politicians to protest the Adani mine, which threatens the bird’s habitat. Robyn Rich

Over the past few weeks, artists from around Australia have been creating small artworks depicting the endangered black-throated finch and sending them to politicians involved in decision-making around the Adani Carmichael mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. Before being mailed, the artworks are photographed and uploaded to Instagram. Over 1,400 have been mailed to date.

This is not the first time Australian artists have banded together in protest. In 2014 Transfield Holdings was forced by artists’ protests to withdraw as principal sponsor of the Biennale of Sydney – a philanthropic role reaching back 40 years – when participating artists learned that a then-related company was involved in Australia’s offshore detention program.
Similarly, in 2017 artists led a successful campaign calling on the National Gallery of Victoria to sack its contracted security firm, Wilson, which is also active in the detention of asylum seekers.
To penetrate the public consciousness, however, artist-led protests need to move beyond the relatively niche arenas of art museums and Instagram. Peter Drew’s series of poster campaigns that began in 2015 with Real Australians Say Welcome, for example, have become accepted, even expected images in public spaces across the country. Brisbane artist Richard Bell took his Embassy project to the Venice Biennale this year, where it was embraced by the international art community and its thousands of acolytes, few of whom had prior understanding of the Aboriginal rights movement in Australia.

The current Black Finch Project takes its name from the tiny, almost extinct bird whose last key habitat is threatened by the Adani mine. There are thought to be only 1,000 of the species remaining and scientists have warned that the native finch may well be wiped out by the habitat-destroying mining operation.
Adani’s management plan for the endangered bird was initially rejected by the Queensland state government, before a revised plan was approved on May 31. Despite the revisions, scientists have serious reservations about the finch’s ability to survive.

A southern black throated finch. ERIC VANDERDUYS/ BIRDLIFE AUSTRALIA

The Black Finch Project was launched by Melbourne artist Charlotte Watson, who proposed that “we send the QLD government 1,000 black finches; drawings, sculptures, anything to make known the lives of these creatures. No text. No slogans. No messages of rage. Just dead finches”.
The results are a mix of professional and amateur art, mostly realistic portrayals of the little bird either standing alone or dead and upturned. Echoing the seemingly casual disregard by politicians for the finch, Laura E. Kennedy designed a circular panelled portrait of the small bird with a speech bubble that simply says “bye”; also clear in its message, Stephanie Hicks has contributed a pair of monochrome images in which the finch itself is whited out.

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Aaaaaaand done 🙌 #1000finches #blackfinchproject thank you so much to @cwatson_studio for inspiring the movement.... very open to suggestions for which politician to send her to??????

A post shared by Laura E. Kennedy (@laura.e.kennedy) on Jun 20, 2019 at 5:17am PDT

The Black Finch Project artworks have been referred to in the media as “heartbreaking”, with the federal environment minister Sussan Ley rather patronisingly describing some of those received by her office as “heartfelt”, saying she could recognise the “passion” and “creativity” behind them.
If she had described them, conversely, as “informed”, “insightful” and “thought-provoking”, the creators of the artworks could at least be satisfied that their message had hit their target.

The Black Finch Project was designed to contain no messages of rage - ‘just dead finches’. Linda Studenta

Making art and craft can be therapeutic. The artist might achieve a sense of catharsis and even empowerment. Yet unless the artwork’s targeted audience is an openminded one, the artwork, no matter how accomplished, will have little impact on the status quo.
While the Black Finch Project is gaining traction on Instagram and successfully building public awareness of the issue, it will take more than art to stop the Adani juggernaut in Queensland.
History shows that art does have the potential to illuminate, educate and even change minds. As Friar Michele da Carcano explained in the late 1400s, narrative art commissioned by churches was introduced for three reasons.
First, for the benefit of “simple” folk who are unable to read, a reason which today might more appropriately be applied to impatient people unwilling to invest the time to read news and analyses; secondly, on account of what he called the “emotional sluggishness” of those who are not easily moved by words but can be influenced by pictures; and finally because many people cannot retain in their memories what they hear, but they do remember if they see images.

The Black Finch Art project is gaining awareness, but will this be enough? Amaya Iturri

Economics generally trumps science, which always trumps sentiment in environmental debates. Unlike 15th century churchgoers, today’s politicians are pragmatic, not easily swayed by emotion, let alone art.

The threatened extinction of the black-throated finch is more than an emotional issue. If art is going to have an impact in debates which rely on scientific fact to provide gravity for environmentally-based protest movements, it needs to take a leaf out of Friar da Carcano’s book and tell the full story. Sentimental images of baby Jesus, no matter how creative, passionate and heartfelt, were never solely relied upon during the Renaissance to effectively convey biblical tales.
Ironically, despite the Black Finch Project’s request for “no text”, one of the most succinct contributions is not by an artist but by Melbourne tour guide Matthew Webb, well placed to explain what we’re looking at. It includes the words “If the land Adani has set aside for the black-throated finch was suitable, they’d already live there”. That message is clear, even to the most time-poor, emotionally sluggish and forgetful of people.

Links

• Black-throated Finch
• The Black Finch Project
• Hundreds Of Artists Are Fighting Adani With Heartbreaking Works Of Art
• Adani opponents mail bird art to politicians in silent protest
• Why Adani’s finch plan was rejected, and what comes next
• Death by 775 cuts: how conservation law is failing the black-throated finch
• Friday essay: can art really make a difference?