Teargas, trees and oil: my life in the greatest job on earth

(Rob Gell (left) was one of three speakers at a Shepparton forum in 2013 aimed at apprising Goulburn Valley people of the implications and threats of climate change. In posting this story by John Vidal on Facebook, the former TV weather presenter, who is now an environmental and communications consultant, with a rich understanding of dynamics of climate change, both academically and anecdotally, urged people to actually read the story, not simply “share it”.)

In September 1989, Guardian editor Peter Preston took me to one side. “Environment? Your idea. You do it,” he said. I was on the arts desk and had quite forgotten that, two years earlier, I had proposed that we cover this fast-emerging issue in more depth and with new pages.

We had a great correspondent in Paul Brown, but no single journalist could keep up with events. This was the height of Thatcherism, the old Soviet Union was collapsing in ecological ruin, and there had been serious nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. That year, more than two million people in Britain had voted Green in the European parliament elections.

 John Vidal on an Arctic ice floe in 2012. 

If that wasn’t enough, the Great Storm had just blown down 15m trees in southern England, the Exxon Valdez had spilt 11m gallons of crude oil off Alaska, and the French government had blown up Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior in a New Zealand harbour.

Read John Vidal’s piece in The Guardian - “Teargas, trees and oil: my life in the greatest job on earth.”

Steel from old tyres and ceramics from nutshells – how industry can use our rubbish

Veena Sahajwalla - researching how we
best use of society's waste products.

Veena Sahajwalla was one of three speakers at first forum staged in Shepparton by Slap Tomorrow.

Others speakers with the University of New South Wales professor at the 2013 forum (Climate change: a wake-up call) were the former leader of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose, and Victorian climate change activist and former weather announcer on Channel 7, Rob Gell.

The UNSW professor talked then of combatting climate change by using old tyres and through a process she was researching and documenting, using them to produce energy.

More than 600 people attended the Shepparton event.

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Professor and Director of the Centre for SustainableMaterials Research and Technology (SMaRT) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Veena Sahajwalla, and a Senior Research Associate at the UNSW, Farshid Pahlevani -  “Steel from old tyres and ceramics from nutshells – how industry can use our rubbish.”

Organizers hoping for big roll up tomorrow at Euroa for environmental series



Rob Gell - an inspiring speaker.



T

he organisers of the 2015 Euroa Environmental Series hope you will join the lively and energising conversation at the town’s Old Flour Mill Gallery tomorrow.

 

Richard Denniss (Australian Institute), Rob Gell, Professor Alan Pears (RMIT), Sarah Houseman (Victorian Association for Environmental Education), Vicky Fysh (University of Melbourne student), Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Child in Nature Alliance will discuss what is happening in Australia and how it relates to the Paris United Nation’s summit later this year.

Climate change advocate, Rob Gell will speak on "A Lust of Change" and be joined by Richard Denniss from the Australia Institute and Alan Pears, an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University.

Adding to this will be an address by Stephen Bygrave from Beyond Zero Emissions, Sarah Houseman from Victorian Association for Environmental Education and a speaker from the  Australian Youth Climate Coalition and a Child in Nature Alliance, Vicky Fysh.

Event organizers, Strathbogie Voices say all those involved are “Voices for Change”.

Richard Denniss, an economist by training has been at the forefront of the national policy debates surrounding climate change policy and the Australian mining boom.

Rob Gell's can-do approach to sustainable development is driving others to think outside the square and Professor Alan Pears has worked in the sustainable energy and environment fields since the late 1970s.

Tomorrow’s event in Euroa starts at 11:00am and continues through to 3:00pm and includes lunch. Tickets can be secured at Strathbogie Voices. 

Euroa Talks and Paris Listens

A

small Victorian town to have a say in Paris and you can be a part of this lively and energising conversation.

Euroa's main street - it will soon be seen in Paris.

VoxBandicoot Theatre Company will bring new drama to the discussion about our changing climate on Saturday, July 4 at Euroa’s Old Flour Mill Gallery.

Happenings on that day at the gallery will be filmed and taken to Paris for the United Nation’s climate summit starting on November and continuing into December.

Climate change advocate, Rob Gell will speak on "A Lust of Change" and be joined by Richard Denniss from the Australia Institute and Alan Pears, an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University.
  

Rob Gell.

Adding to this will be an address by Stephen Bygrave from Beyond Zero Emissions, Sarah Houseman from Victorian Association for Environmental Education and a speaker from the  Australian Youth Climate Coalition and a Child in Nature Alliance, Vicky Fysh.

Event organizers, Strathbogie Voices say all those involved are “Voices for Change”.

 

Prof Alan Pears.

Richard Denniss, an economist by training has been at the forefront of the national policy debates surrounding climate change policy and the Australian mining boom.

Rob Gell's can-do approach to sustainable development is driving others to think outside the square and Professor Alan Pears has worked in the sustainable energy and environment fields since the late 1970s.

The July 4 event in Euroa starts at 11:00am and continues through to 3:00pm and includes lunch. Tickets can be secured at Strathbogie Voices. 

Rob Gell removed any doubts about his position on climate change

F

ormer weather forecaster, Rob Gell, spoke in Shepparton in 2013 and within moments of taking the podium removed any doubts the 650 people listing might have had about his position on climate change.



Rob Gell.

The former television weather presenter, now shoulder deep in many aspects of climate science and helping people understand the implications and complications of the dilemma, is clearly a climate change activist.

He emerged from his 20 years as weather presenter clear in his mind that climate change was a threat to society.

His position is somewhat different from that of many other weather forecasters, particularly those in the U.S.

A ClimateProgess report - “Weather Forecasters Used To Be Among The Country’s Staunchest ClimateDeniers. Why That’s Changing Fast” – tells a different story.

“Keah Schuenemann, a meteorology professor at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, has never met an atmospheric or climate scientist who doesn’t agree that most of the planet’s warming over the last century is a result of human activity.

“Weather forecasters though, whom she deals with regularly, are a different story. Schuenemann, who has a PhD in atmospheric and oceanic science from the University of Colorado, Boulder, said she’s been exposed to a “whole slew of forecasters who don’t understand climate science.” ClimateProgress  reports.

Climate crisis leaps out of the shadows and is ready to stare us down

The climate crisis has leapt out of the shadows and is about to stare us down.

Prof Roger Jones and Prof Lesley
 Hughes at the Melbourne event.

It was just on Thursday night that a panel of acutely qualified people talked about difficulties for humanity arising from the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability discussed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fifth assessment report when another paper was released on Monday.

Thursday’s event, presented to a packed Sunderland Theatre at the University of Melbourne, was organized by the Australian Meteorology and Oceanographic Society.

The five speakers – a Professorial Research Fellow at the Victoria Institute for Strategic Economic Studies (VISES) at Victoria University, Coordinating Lead Author (Chapter 2: Foundations for decision making), Professor Roger Jones;

Ecologist at the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Councillor, Climate Council, Lead Author (Chapter 25: Australasia), Professor Lesley Huges; Professor and Australia Research Council Future Fellow in the Department of Resource Management and Geography, Melbourne University, Lead Author (Chapter 12: Human security), Professor John Barnett; Associate Professor in Environmental Earth System Science and Associate Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Lead Author (Chapter 7: Food production systems and food security), Dr David Lobell; and Dr Kathleen McInnes – Research Scientist, CSIRO, Lead Author (Chapter 5: Coastal systems and low-lying areas), Dr Kathleen McInnes – each discussed their role in the compilation of the fifth report.

 

MC for the evening was Environmental Entrepreneur and Chairman of UNESCO Western Port Biosphere, Chair of Wildlife Victoria, Advisory Board Member Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, Mr Rob Gell, who asked the speakers for a one minute summary of the evening touching on their “light bulb moment”.

Naturally all those “moments” were different, but there appeared to be a theme about encouraging all those listening initiate conversations that would lead to mitigation.

Hard on the heels of the Melbourne event is the release of the report discussing the mitigation of climate change.

This report ends four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world responding to a request from the world’s governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge of mitigating climate change.

The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness. The quintessence of this work, the Summary for Policymakers, has been approved line by line by member governments at the 12th Session of IPCC WG III in Berlin, Germany (7-11 April 2014).

Re-live 'Slap Tomorrow - A Wake-Up Call' on You tube

Should you want to re-live the “Slap Tomorrow – A Wake-Up Call” forum then you can do it by watching these You Tube videos.

Thanks to the skills and enthusiasm of Simon Northey, of Word and Mouth, the essence of the forum can now be watched on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx_2Kvt6FvybUnbDbvMNqyQ/videos.

More than 600 people attended the Thursday, June 6 forum that featured Climate Commissioner, Prof Veena Sahajwalla; the chair of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose; and environmental consultant, Rob Gell; with Victoria’s Sustainability Commissioner, Prof Kate Auty, as the moderator.

Slap Tomorrow was super successful

“Slap Tomorrow – A Wake-Up Call” was successful in the extreme, exceeding everyone’s expectations.

The hundreds of interested people at the June 6,
"Slap Tomorrow - A Wake-Call" forum.

The June 6 forum attracted hundreds of people. The forum was held at Shepparton’s Eastbank auditorium that seats more than 800 people and it was easily more than two thirds full.

The overriding goal for the forum was to initiate a discussion about our changing climate encouraging people to identify the opportunities arising from the subsequent changes and incorporate them with their lifestyle.

The forum featured Climate Commissioner, Prof Veena Sahajwalla; the former chair of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose; and environmental consultant, Rob Gell; with Victoria’s Sustainability Commissioner, Prof Kate Auty, as the moderator.

Rose talked about how youthful experiences in north-western New South Wales illustrated to her important realities about soil, water and climate led to her working with a group of school friends to set up what eventually became the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

Sahajwalla, an engineer with the University of New South Wales talked about how we could take what exists and reapply it to our advantage, explaining that by detailing a working project in which old motor tyres and used in the manufacture of steel.

Gell, who has long been immersed in many aspects of the climate and community engagement, took those at the forum on 20 minute explanatory journey through the realities of climate changes.

The idea for the forum emanated from among those who gather each month “Beneath the Wisteria”.

Jim O'Connor and fellows workers
from Game Game Traffic and
Contracting, one of four major
sponsors.

It was supporter Terry Court who declared several months ago that it “felt as if we were talking with ourselves” and encouraged Beneath the Wisteria supporters to “take” the conversation to the wider public.

A small committee of nine came together, almost by osmosis, initially meeting every fortnight and then as the June 6 drew closer, the meetings became weekly. Electronic communication (email) was incessant.

Our next gathering Beneath the Wisteria will be at 11:30am on Saturday, June 29, at which “Slap Tomorrow – A Wake-Up Call” will be reviewed.

Mark June 6 in your diary and make "Slap Tomorrow - A Wake-Call" a success

Beneath the Wisteria supporters should mark Thursday, June 6, in their diary.

That is the date of a major public forum in Shepparton – “Slap Tomorrow – A Wake-Up Call”.

The idea for the forum grew out of Beneath the Wisteria when supporter, Terry Court, said it felt as if we were “talking to ourselves” at our monthly gathering in Shepparton’s Maude St Mall.

The June 6 forum will be either free or gold coin donation and feature Climate Commissioner, Prof Veena Sahajwalla; the chair of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose; and environmental consultant, Rob Gell; with Victoria’s Sustainability Commissioner, Prof Kate Auty, as the moderator, will be held at Shepparton’s Eastbank auditorium.

 

The auditorium seats 830 people and our prime responsibility is to ensure they are filled.

 

Below is the brochure printed to illustrate to potential financial supporters what the forum is about and who will be speaking.