Ticker Views
Climate Activist Daniel Bleakley: “I’ve had a gutful”
Climate activist Daniel Bleakley says he’s “had a gutful” of climate inaction over the decades and wants more people to stand up
Calls to urgently dump coal
However, in some positive news, in the fight against climate change. Top climate officials are calling for the end to coal. The UN Assistant Secretary-General, Selwin Hart, says wealthy nations must stop using coal power by 2030, and the rest of the world must dump it by 2040.
Hart is urging Australia to have an honest conversation about urgently dumping coal power. Reiterating this is in the nation’s and the world’s best interest, to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Market forces alone show coal’s days are numbered,
as many investors increasingly abandon it in favour of renewables, which are now cheaper in most places,”
“We fully understand the role that coal and other fossil fuels have played in Australia’s economy,
even if mining accounts for a small fraction – around 2 per cent – of overall jobs.”
“But it’s essential to have a broader, more honest,
and rational conversation about what is in Australia’s interests because the bottom line is clear.”
“If the world does not rapidly phase out coal,
climate change will wreak havoc right across the Australian economy: from agriculture to tourism, and right across the services sector,”
Selwin Hart, UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General
“We are going to see these coal fire power stations closing, and that’s not going to be managed…
I’m really concerned about towns like Latrobe Valley, the Hunter Valley, like Gladstone, because they’re going to be left high and dry.”
Scott Hamilton, Ticker Climate co-host
Shift to Electric
Daniel Bleakley, is an engineer, activist, and electric vehicle enthusiast who is spearheading a new project to change the conversation around Australia, by getting coal communities into a Tesla.
Bleakley says people are ready for the shift to electric vehicles and proof is in the data.
“July Electric vehicle sales are up 400% on July last year in Australia, and that’s without any Government incentives.”
Daniel Bleakley, Climate Activist
Dan discussing how the company he works for has done a couple of EV charging stations and how he'd much rather be working on charging stations than dirty, smelly diesel pumps. pic.twitter.com/VyX5JRLpc6
— Daniel Bleakley (@DanielBleakley) July 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/AenesidemusOZ/status/1434392401112551431?s=20
Episode 52.
Blair.
Blair works in the construction industry in Hobart Tasmania.
I met him at a @CrossFit gym last week.
This is his first time driving a @Tesla
Full episode https://t.co/2glKDvzBZv
Full series @MinersInTeslas pic.twitter.com/9QhYzmF5cV
— Daniel Bleakley (@DanielBleakley) August 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/DanielBleakley/status/1422499579392499715?s=20
A tax on Electric Vehicles?
Major Australian companies like Mitsubishi, The Electric Vehicle Council, Volkswagen are all urging the Government to avoid bringing in a tax on electric vehicles. Many Australian state Governments are facing criticism following the introduction of a new road tax.
The Victorian Labor Government has a controversial new electric vehicle tax. The tax is described as a necessary first step towards a broader user-pays approach to road usage – the government reasoning that EV drivers do not pay the fuel excise and should therefore pay their share.
“It’s crazy, we need to be incentivising electric vehicles.
At the moment we should not have any tax on electric vehicles, we should be heavily subsidising them.”
Daniel Bleakley, Climate Activist