In late August 08, Tori & I (Shakti) from KyogleCAN met with our Federal Labor MP Janelle Saffin to discuss Climate Code Red and the 350ppm target. We’d posted the book to Janelle a month earlier, just after it was published.
I came to the meeting believing federal politicians would all know about the dire climate situation. Turns out to have been a naïve assumption… Towards the end of our 30 minutes Janelle said incredulously “Are you really worried about this, cause I’m not, I’m feeling optimistic.” She believed we were on top of the climate problem (and she wasn’t going to be readily influenced otherwise).
A bit about Janelle
Janelle is an unpretentious, kind and approachable person as well as an astute politician. She’s proving to be very hands-on in our community/region. Her background: includes 3 years in East Timor as PM Ramos-Horta’s chief political and legal advisor. Early in life ran a womens’ refuge. Campaigned against Jabiru uranium mine and had worked as an anti-nuclear campaigner. Served in NSW state parliament 1995-2003 (Labor party).
Information Folder
We’d compiled an Information folder (contents detailed at the end of this report) which came in very handy because Janelle wanted all info substantiated. She eagerly accepted the folder when we presented it to her at the end of the meeting.
- Arctic melt implications = Emergency
- Disintegration Greenland ice sheet & sea level rise; permafrost loss means more C & methane
- Deadlines brought forward
- Aust target needs to be 325 ppm (Garnaut has modelled 550 ppm; IPCC’s is 450ppm)
- Solutions
- Go beyond “business and politics as usual” via a speedy large-scale programme comparable in scope to the “war economy”
- Zero emissions & carbon sequestration (discuss below)
- Technology is available: renewables- solar thermal, geothermal, feed in tariffs, wind, tidal, etc.
- Economy benefits (overseas examples)
- Phase-out coal (see Hansen’s letter to PM Rudd)
- Al Gore’s call for 100% clean energy by 2020
- Regional
- Soil carbon credits & biochar
- Construction industry (co2-absorbing cement for all new buildings, houses)
- Hemp as carbon sink and product
- Co-generation, solar rebate & feed-in-tariffs
- Global Direction
- USA elections (stimulus 2009)
- Copenhagen Dec 2009
Note: In retrospect, had I known Janelle hadn’t read the book, I might have gone through it step-by-step via the three sections organised by the authors: 1. Arctic, 2. Targets, 3. Solutions.
JANELLE’S RESPONSES
Climate Code Red: Janelle apologised for not having read the book, been too busy, will read it when back in Canberra as “parliamentary question time is a good opportunity for reading!” I also had a copy of Scorcher with me and when she saw Clive Hamilton’s name she was interested (”I know Clive”)- she took down the details to get herself a copy.
Janelle’s first response was to query the authenticity of CCR; she was satisfied when shown the extensive notes at the end from reputable sources.
325ppm: Janelle was adamant that the 450ppm IPCC was the correct one.
HANSEN: She wasn’t familiar with the name James Hansen, let along his 325ppm cap. I took Hansen’s letter to Rudd out of the Information Folder. ( “Oh, I heard something about that”) It interested her. She had a browse and was satisfied to read that Hansen was from Columbia University Earth Institute, the same place as a hero of hers, economist Jeffery Sachs.
IPCC: discussion followed of IPCC process. She seemed to have had studied the IPCC 4th Assessment report in some detail. She wasn’t readily going to accept the 325 ppm. Wanted to know what IPCC thought of Hansen’s 325ppm? I couldn’t answer that.
* It would have been handy to have summary of CCR details about deficiency of IPCC process & quotes from IPCC members about these shortcomings
COAL: Took out Hansen’s ‘Fossil Fuel Facts’ from Info folder. Pointed out to Janelle that Hansen attributes 80% of climate problem to coal. She wouldn’t have a bar of phasing out coal (“It’s not going to happen”.) She said there aren’t transitional energy options. We said yes there is, gas.
AL GORE’s call for 100% clean energy by 2020, briefly showed her his speech in the Info folder. She was very interested.
RENEWABLES: examples of Iceland and Sweden from info folder; discussed California (JS: ‘oh, California’s always been a leading economy’); briefly discussed USA geothermal resources, solar thermal technology, benefit of feed in tariff, ie, in Germany
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: (co2-absorbing cement for all new buildings, houses) She was very interested in this, have since sent her more info. Briefly discussed hemp, sugar-mill-co-generation plants in our region and CHP in London, how efficient it is and how they plan to switch to food scraps from coal.
SOLAR REBATE: didn’t have time to discuss this, but I know she had been proactive about it in parliament
GLOBAL DIRECTION: Pointed out the USA have been holding up the process to date. Janelle: “Oh, the USA never signs anything. Poverty bills, etc.”
JANELLE’S OWN INITIATIVES
SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATON: This topic deeply interests her. Janelle emphasised she’s keen to support the farmers with this and has indeed begun the process. She told us about what she’d done so far:
“FARMING FOR CARBON” roundtable hosted by Janelle at Lismore’s Southern Cross Uni (SCU), August 6th 08). Co-chaired by TONY WINDSOR, Independent MP for New England. Roundtable with academics/Landcare/carbon trading experts/primary producers. Janelle enthusiastically outlined the event & the ‘plantstones’ soil carbon technology using new strain of sugar cane developed by SCU academics Prof Leigh Sullivan & Dr Jeff Parr (reported on ABC’s 7.30 Report).
CARBON POLLUTION SCHEME GREEN PAPER: At the same conference, Prof J.Vanclay of SCU critiqued the Green Paper. (I’ve since read it: he favours a carbon tax over an ETS and opposes free permits.)
CONCLUSION
At the end of the meeting we took a photo to go with press release. Said we’d contact her again. Although we didn’t actually get anywhere concrete, I felt it had been worthwhile making the contact. It will be interesting to see what she takes on board. Have since, (at the GetUp climate torch ‘rally’ in Lismore) met Janelle’s ‘policy advisor’ Peter Ellem and established email contact with him.
Slide Show & Scientist
Note that there’s a one hour slide show of CCR material available on the net through ClimateEmergencyNetwork.org (although one hour is too long for a meeting).
It would have been brilliant to have brought along a ‘reputable scientist’… I hope to get around to pursuing this option…
INFORMATION FOLDER CONTENTS:
1. Basic Fossil Fuel Facts by Dr James Hansen
2. Highlights, Basic Fossil Fuel Facts, by Dr James Hansen (selected bits)
3. Al Gore, Speech: ‘A Generational Challenge to Repower America’, July 17, 2008
4. KyogleCAN briefs for the Northern Star
News Articles
5. ‘Coal-fired plants will undo any savings’, Wendy Frew, SMH, 26 Jy 07
6. ‘Emissions will drop when we end reliance on coal’, Ken Davidson, The Age, 17 April, 2008
7. Dr Mills Solar Thermal technology, by Matt Peacock, 2 Oct 07
TV transcripts
8. Stateline on Soil Carbon Credits, (2007?)
Websites
9. Extracts from NSW Michael Kiely’s carbon farming websites
10. Beyond Zero Emissions: ‘Imagining a Positive Future’
11. Zero Emissions pdf (‘Why Zero Emissions?)
12. Anna Rose, youth delegate, ‘Youth slams Industry Hijacking of 2020 Climate Agenda’, 20 April 08
Arctic Melt
13. Tim Flannery, ‘Ice Rage: The big melt’, 26 Sept 06
14. Climate Code Red: blogspot: ‘What politicians won’t talk about: the fate of the Arctic’
15. Reactions to Climate Code Red, -Senator C Milne blog
16. D. Spratt, ‘Middle of the road… toward a cliff’ The Age, 8 August 08
FOLLOW-UP
I have since sent:
1. Evidence of accelerated climate change
Prepared by the Climate Adaptation Science and Policy Initiative,
The University of Melbourne for the Climate Institute.
November 2007. (peer-reviewed by Graeme Pearman)
http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/images/stories/CI056_EACC_Report_v1.pdf
2. Scientist turns up the heat with new alert on warming
Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, New York, April 8, 2008 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/04/07/1207420309396.html
3. Hansen, J. Sato, M. et al., 2008, Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? <http://www.columbia.edu/jeh1/2008/TargetCO2_20080407.pdf>
4. Friends of the Earth, Australia, 11 April 2007
General Submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review
5. TecEco p/l Sustainable Technologies: Eco-Cement (from their website, http://www.tececo.com/index.php
* (I can make a data disc of these articles for anyone interested.)
PRESS RELEASE
The Northern Star (regional daily) printed this story on 4th Sept 08, with a photo of Tori donating the book to Lismore Library (on the ‘Readers Page- The Back Fence, p29- It was edited for length: bits edited out are in italics)
Press Release: Climate Code Red
Northern Rivers residents Tori Bail and Shakti Burke last week presented Federal MP Janelle Saffin with the ground breaking new release Climate Code Red: the Case for Emergency Action. “It’s not so helpful if this material stays in the circles of scientists and climate activists“ Shakti said. “It needs to be in the hands of our decision makers”.
Thoroughly researched by independent Melbourne-based policy analysts David Spratt and Philip Sutton, Climate Code Red was launched by the Governor of Victoria in July (Scribe, 2008). It’s been described as “The best book to date on this issue- the first book to have the integrity to say how the situation really is.”
Part One explores the accelerating loss of Arctic sea ice, decades ahead of IPCC projections, demonstrating that serious climate impacts are happening at lower global temperature increases than expected. There is already enough carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere to initiate ice sheet disintegration in West Antarctica and Greenland, ensuring that sea levels rise metres in coming decades.
Part Two urges that we rise to the challenge by aiming for a ‘safe climate future’ and identify realistic and safe temperature targets and warming caps. To date, the target-setting trend has fallen prey to political compromise.
The authors discuss the deficiencies in the IPCC system and the conundrum of how “policy inertia tends to lock [targets] in, regardless of later changes in scientific knowledge.”
Such is the case with the cutting edge of scientific opinion recommending a limit of 325-350 parts per million (ppm) atmospheric CO2. It’s a significant shift below the IPCC warming cap of 2 degrees, corresponding to 450 ppm. A leading 450 target architect, NASA climatologist Dr Jim Hansen now admits “I realise that was too high.”
The solution? Move to zero emission technology as fast as the economy can be restructured. It is possible. The suite of renewable energy technologies available could supply 100% of grid electricity world wide.
Remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere: an overload of some 200 billion-tonnes sets the current concentration above the safe threshold. Atmospheric CO2 is currently at 383ppm, and rising. Sequestration can be accomplished in large volumes via carbon farming techniques, including ‘biochar’- converting biomass to char that can be sequestered in agricultural soils.
The Northern Rivers has the potential to make huge strides in the soil sequestration area.
In conjunction with zero emissions and carbon sequestration, Spratt and Sutton propose that environmentally-safe mechanisms be found to actively cool the earth while navigating the transition period.
Part Three ,‘The Climate Emergency’, calls for an urgent response beyond “business and politics as usual”.
Instead of the usual hot air and half-hearted proposals, what’s needed is a large-scale global emergency programme similar to that rolled out during World War II. Mission: restore the Arctic ice. It’s possible, but requires great commitment. And it’s affordable- climate mitigation cost is estimated at between 1 and 2 percent of GDP.
Climate Code Red is a sober read, ‘equally disturbing and compelling’. One thing’s clear: if world leaders are going to act, there’s no better time than now.
Download this report as a PDF here.
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