If anyone is interested, I’ll be talking on ABC Radio Newcastle from about 4:40 tomorrow (Wed 24th). I’ll be discussing protest and whether or not people of a higher socio-economic status are more effective advocates.
Interesting topic – let’s just hope I can say something interesting.
You should be able to stream it here.
Wired has an article about Riversimple, a car company that has built a Hydrogen-electric car:
Riversimple pulled the sheet off its ultra-lightweight fuel cell Urban Car today in London and said it delivers a 50-mph top speed, a 200-mile range and fuel economy equivalent to 300 mpg. The company claims it also emits a paltry 30 grams per kilometer of CO2. The car features a 6-kilowatt fuel cell, which is miniscule compared to the 100-kW unit in the Honda FCX Clarity, but the developers say that’s plenty for a vehicle that weighs just 770 pounds.
Of course the Hydrogen has to be produced which is a very energy intensive process unto itself and at the moment, that energy comes largely from fossil fuels. In fact it is probably really only possible to produce hydrogen for cars like this in an energy rich world, and we won’t be an energy rich world for much longer.
I don’t want to discourage innovations like this, but it does bother me that we would be looking to make ultra efficient cars with a range of 200 miles. Surely this means that they are designed for city living, not the big open country road. Can’t a good public transport system cover us here? We need to move beyond individualised forms of transport (perhaps with the exception of cycling). This is just another example of the “business as usual” assumptions that too many people/companies make. Whether it is a serious response to Climate Change or Peak Oil that forces our hand, individualised transport is pretty much a thing of the past.
So as it turns out Robin Gibb is the president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and he’s concerned. The 1977 Saturday Night Fever album sold 40 million copies and he thinks the days of record sales this high are well and truly over – then Internet has made this impossible. Possibly, but it’s a pretty misleading statement.
Only 11 Albums have ever sold 40 million copies or more. Michael Jackson’s Thriller sold over 100 million, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Meatloaf, Eagles, The Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, the Body Gard Soundtrack, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Backstreet Boys, the Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac have all sold between 45 – 40 million copies of individual albums and that is it.
So it’s miss leading in that it is extraordinarily rare for someone to sell 40 million copies of an Album or more – they have to be pretty seminal albums (I think it’s safe to say that the above artists are all household names). Yes the Bee Gees sold a lot of albums but they also rocketed an entire genre of music into the mainstream and defined an era.
Secondly, they are all old albums. You don’t sell 40 million copies of an album overnight. The most recent album on that list is the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 Millennium album. All of these albums have been able to be purchased for at least 10 years, most of them 20 or 30.
Thirdly, overall record sales have never been higher – at least in Australia.
Finally, there’s a Dead Kennedy’s lyric that I like in these discussion from the song MTV Get Off the Air: “Sales are slumping/and no one will say way/perhaps they put out one too many lousy records”.
There are other factors involved here. Access to music has never been better, we have never been more spoilt for choice in the way we are exposed to music. If you think back to the 70s, how many artists received the exposure that today’s artists receive? There were less radio stations, there were less TV stations and there was no Internet. It’s the greatest marketing device ever devised and yet it is blamed because the Bee Gee probably wouldn’t be able to sell 40 million copies of Saturday Night Fever if it was released in 2009. Is that really a bad thing?
And another thing: Viva La Pirate Party!!
The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice is looking for volunteers to help our Lobbyocracy Campaign to expose the dodgie developments that donations have helped facilitate.
Whether it is the $300,000 donation to the Victorian Labor Party that saw the Walker Corporation get approval for the Kew Cottages redevelopment or the interference in the Port Phillip local council that will mean the redevelopment of the St Kilda Triangle – we want you to help us uncover the dirt.
The project will include working on the Lobbyocracy wiki (www.lobbyocracy.org.au) as well as the development of a google map to help illustrate the point.
Eager volunteers can contact the Centre by emailing centre@democracyandjustice.org.au This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it – no technical knowledge required
The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice does not endorse any political party. However, it is also obvious to us that the presence of Bob Brown in the Senate makes Australia a more democratic country. The Centre is also unashamed in its opposition to the logging of Tasmania’s old growth forests and Forestry Tasmania.
Given this, please take the time to make a donation to Keep Bob Brown in the Senate. He has received a letter of demand from Forestry Tasmania for $240,000 which needs to be paid by 29 June or he will be declared bankrupt and removed from the Senate.
Let’s keep the diversity in the Australian Senate, let’s stop the logging of old growth forests.
The latest eNews from the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice can be found here.
Arafura MLC Marion Scrymgour has just resigned from the Northern Territory government in protest of the proposed funding policy for remote Aboriginal communities. It leaves the Labor Government without a parliamentary majority.
Well done Marion Scrymgour. The proposed funding policy changes are a disgrace so it’s good to see you taking action on the topic.
It would be somewhat remission of me if I didn’t note that today was Mabo day.
Australia owes a lot to courageous fight of Eddie Mabo and the people of the Murray Islands.
Treaty to be signed. Sovereignty to restored.
… it should also be a public holiday.
National Climate Emergency Rally
1pm, Saturday, June 13 State Library, Melbourne
(march to Treasury Gardens)
Speakers and entertainment includes:
Peter Marshall – United Firefighters Union, Emeretta Cross -Tuvaluan climate activist, David Spratt – author Climate Code Red, Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, Rod Quantock – Melbourne comedian and Taegen Edwards – Yarra Climate Action Now. Music by Melting Pot.
Bring noise making instruments if you can.
Please tell your family, friends and workmates.
Download a leaflet http://www.climateactioncentre.org/junerally
Pick up some flyers or posters for your area from the Climate Action Centre, Lvl 5, New Building, Trades Hall Council cnr Victoria and Lygon sts, Carlton South
Volunteer to help on the day or to get some flyers and posters mailed to you: info@climateactioncentre.org
Interstate events: www.climaterally.org
INFO: 03 9639 3660 or info@climateactioncentre.org
–
If you have thought of taking action on climate change, now is the time. Drought, bushfires, floods and rising seas are already hitting hard. It’s an emergency and we need emergency action.
In December 2009, governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen to create a new global climate agreement. Australia must support, not stop, strong global action.
We can tackle the recession and climate change together. Direct investment in renewable energy will create jobs, stimulate the economy and begin to create the carbon-free economy of the future.
• 100% renewable energy by 2020
Australia must make the shift from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy from wind, solar and other available technologies.
• Green collar jobs not job cuts
We can renew our economy by creating hundreds of thousands of ‘green jobs’ and supporting workers to make a fair and just transition to sustainable industries.
• Strong international action with climate justice
Australia must take the lead in global climate talks, not undermine them with an ineffective 5%-15% target. Globally, we must to listen those who are most affected by climate change and least responsible for it.
• Don’t pass the Carbon Pollution law
We need climate policies that make the big polluters pay and not allow big companies to go on polluting. The CPRS won’t reduce Australia’s greenhouse pollution.
• Protect Australia’s Forests
Logging and clearing vegetation are major contributors to climate change as forests and woodlands are important carbon stores.
1pm Saturday, June 13, State Library
Only a strong and growing movement for change will make a difference. Come with your friends and family to the Rally. Help promote the rally in your community.
www.climateactioncentre.org
www.twitter.com/climatecentre
The recent scandals around MPs expense claims in the UK has prompted James Purnell, a Labour MP, to suggest that its time to limit donations (with a 100% tax relief on the smallest ones) and introduce state funding for political parties.
Our Lobbyocracy campaign ‘against the excessive power that is wielded by a wealthy few through political donations’ has been going on for a while that looks at the same problems that Purnell talks about. We believe that politics needs to come back to the communities and listen to us. We believe that the communities must reclaim the control over the own destinies.
Visit our Lobbyocracy site for more information.
Money means power. It affects the extent to which you have control over your own life and whether others – either people or institutions – have control over you.
…
Politics is the means by which we seek a fair distribution of power, wealth and opportunity in society. Whenever politics comes into contact with big money the effect is too often negative: we see it in the expenses scandal, in questions about the motives behind large donations to political parties, in elections where the size of your war chest counts more than the value of your ideas.Money has allowed parties to focus on narrower and narrower segments of passive voters. It makes no strategic sense for our campaign machines to seek to engage the citizenship at large when their sole purpose is winning the support of targeted swing voters.
…
If we are serious about opening up politics to different sorts of people, we must avoid creating a system where only the wealthy can afford to be parliamentarians. Or, worse still, moving further towards a system where big money purchases political power and influence.
…
(Read on …)
