The Tim Flannery Evening was the lead story in the Castlemaine Mail on Friday 2 October. “Packed to the Rafters” was the apt headline given that a capacity crowd of 450 people turned out Saturday 26 September to hear Professor Tim Flannery speak about climate change at the Castlemaine Town Hall.
Activism, community projects and building new green businesses are going to be vital if we are to address the serious challenges of climate change”, said Flannery.
Our current trajectory is catastrophic global warming of four degrees (by the end of this century)…the conference in Paris will not take us all the way to climate safety. With international agreement there is the chance to make it three degrees and break the trajectory of the worst case scenario, Professor Flannery said.
He discussed a range of potential future technologies to reduce levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases, such as the oceanic seaweed farming and the use of carbon-absorbing building materials. These ‘third way’ technologies are discussed in his new book, ‘Atmosphere of Hope: Searching for Solutions to the Climate Crisis.’
Mount Alexander Shire Mayor, Christine Henderson, also addressed the capacity crowd. “We are at the pointy end of climate change. It is time to stop talking; it is time to act,” she said.
Tim Flannery had this to say about Castlemaine on WinNews, 28 Sept:
I think Castlemaine is leading nationwide in terms of clean energy. You’ve got a great deal of community organisation and a great deal of infrastructure in place that will make the transition from the old polluting sources to the new cleaner sources much easier.
