My generation won’t be able to fly other than for emergencies

Facebook post by Greta Thunberg - 

Greta Thunberg.

“After the COP24 I have been invited to speak in places like Panama, New York, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, British Virgin Islands… But sadly our remaining carbon budget will not allow any such travels.

My generation won’t be able to fly other than for emergencies in a foreseeable future, if we are to be the least bit serious about the 1.5 degree warming limit. Why? Because adult generations in countries like mine have used up our resources.

I will try to make it to as many places as possible without flying. And also participate via video link. Also tag your climate actions with me, so we can show the world what actions are going on for climate change.

And of course stop flying and go vegan alone is not the solution.

We have to aim for a zero carbon lifestyle as soon as possible. Political decisions are necessary. But as they do not exist yet we have to do what we can ourselves to make the political movement come alive.“

Read the story from the Centre for Climate Safety - “My generation won’t be able to fly other than for emergencies”.

Australian high school scores international green technology gong

Toby Thorpe, shares the stage with Sheikh
 Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of
Abu Dhabi (left) and Nursultan Nazarbayev,
 President of Kazakhstan.

It's not every day an Australian high school student from Australia gets to share a stage with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev – and walks away with a $US100,000 ($132,000) prize.

But for 15 year-old Toby Thorpe, this week's award ceremony in Abu Dhabi was merely the end of the beginning for a two-year plan to spur interest in renewable energy and energy savings among students and his local community south-west of Hobart.

​"It's been a long time coming … now we can actually put our plan into action," Mr Thorpe said. "It's quite exciting."

So far, about 20 students have helped design and install a pellet mill, bio digester, a bicycle-powered mobile cinema, and started work on a greenhouse made from 2500 recycled bottles.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australian high school scores international green technology gong.”

The Cost of Solar Power has 25% decrease in Just 5 months

The future is looking bright for solar as the clean, renewable energy source gets more affordable.

The cost of solar power has
 dropped 25% in just five months.

In just 5 months, the cost of solar went down 25% as shown by two recent construction bids for solar projects in China and Abu Dhabi. On August 11, a bid of $0.46/W was put forward to build 500 megawatts of solar power in China and on September 19 a record low bid of $0.023/kW was submitted for 1.2 gigawatts of solar power in Abu Dhabi.

China and Abu Dhabi are not the only places in the world seeing dramatic changes in the cost of solar. A 100 megawatt solar project in Nevada recently submitted for approval would deliver electricity at $0.04 /kWh. That is the lowest price ever presented or seen from a US solar farm and much lower than the price of electricity for a new nuclear, coal or natural gas power plant.

Read the Solar Trust Centre story - “The Cost of Solar Power has 25% decrease in Just 5 months.”