The Daily Telegraph’s chilling Sydney dystopia: ducted air conditioning and cars 'forced underground’

It’s my sad duty to inform you that the city of Sydney as we know it is set to be destroyed and replaced by the totalitarian spectre of a chilling dystopia. At least, that’s if you believe the Daily Telegraph’s latest reporting on the lord mayor Clover Moore’s 2050 vision.

‘Trains and light rail would be powered by renewable
energy, urban farms would feed the city. On its face,
this sounds like a great thing. But the Daily Telegraph
 sees it for what it is.’

Moore has outlined a concept for how the city could look that year as part of the City of Sydney council’s broader move to make the city more sustainable.

Given the spectre of rising sea levels in a harbour city that has already declared a climate emergency, you would expect future planning to help mitigate the worst of these scenarios, if for no other reason than to help keep its spot on the most liveable city rankings. Instead, the Telegraph describes Moore’s future Sydney as a “wacky dystopian vision”.

The City of Sydney Liberal councillor Christine Forster is quoted in the piece criticising Moore for “scaring children with alarmist rhetoric”, citing a feedback session that described children as being deeply anxious. Won’t someone think of the children? Not in a “handing them a better world” sense, of course, but at least coddle them until they inherit the worst of our sins.

Read the story from The Guardian by James Colley - “The Daily Telegraph’s chilling Sydney dystopia: ducted air conditioning and cars 'forced underground’.”

City of Sydney councillors to vote on declaring climate crisis a national emergency

City of Sydney councillors are set to vote on declaring the climate crisis a national emergency that “poses a serious risk to the people of Sydney”.

The Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore. The council’s motion
calls on the federal government to reintroduce a carbon price
and establish a ‘Just Transition Authority’.

If passed, the council will join hundreds of local governments worldwide that have made similar declarations.

The Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, said in a mayoral minute published Friday that “successive federal governments have shamefully presided over a climate disaster, and now we are at a critical juncture – we face a climate emergency.

“On January 24 2019, 91 of the hottest 100 places on earth were in Australia,” Moore said. “Heat waves on our continent are now five times more likely. But it is not just their frequency that is alarming – they start earlier, become hotter, and last longer.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “City of Sydney councillors to vote on declaring climate crisis a national emergency.” 

Sydney raises the bar on climate targets with new five-year plan

The City of Sydney has raised the bar on its renewable energy and climate targets, with the release of a new five-year plan that targets 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.

Released on Tuesday, the Environmental Action 2016–2021 plan builds on the City’s already ambitious long-term program – including a 70 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 – taking into account advances in renewables technology and the global climate commitments made in Paris last December.

According to reports, to meet the new targets, the City is considering replicating a City of Melbourne scheme under which the council, businesses and residents group together to sponsor large-scale renewable energy projects.

A Sydney City Council spokesperson told RenewEconomy on Tuesday that no tenders had been launched in connection with the new policy, and that any such tenders – or dedicated grant funding – would be deferred until after the draft plan’s period of public exhibition from 30 June to 12 August.

Read the RenewEconomy story - “City of Sydney targets 50% renewables by 2030, net zero emissions by 2050.”