Andrew Forrest calls for fossil fuel bosses' 'heads on spikes' in extraordinary outburst
Andrew Forrest calls for fossil fuel bosses' 'heads on spikes' in extraordinary outburst
The Australian mining magnate and climate campaigner lashes out at oil and gas supremos he says are "selfish beyond belief".
- Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest is attending the COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates.
- He says energy bosses should have their heads "put up on spikes" for not committing to phase out fossil fuels.
- It comes as some companies, including the national oil company of the UAE, defy calls for a wind-down of fossil fuel use.
Quote with context:
And he took particular aim at the oil and gas bosses who were dismissing the calls, describing them as "selfish beyond belief".
He said their actions were jeopardising the lives of millions of people in overwhelmingly poor countries who were at risk of "lethal humidity", or an inability to cool themselves down. "If you can't cool yourself you're actually an oven burning around 100 watts all the time," Dr Forrest said.
"If you can [sic] get rid of that heat energy, you cook.
"And when these deaths occur — and they're occurring now, but when they occur at much larger-scale — I want these so-called people who are very smart to be held to account.
"It's their heads which should be put up on spikes because they wilfully ignored and they didn't care."
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Australia stands to be the nation that can do so damned much towards pushing for a green future right now.
It's a mining powerhouse with access to the minerals needed for future green energy tech. It should be able to mine them more safely, wholesomely, and justly than pretty much any other nation. Mining stuff like lithium is an ugly business, but doing it in a country that has basic labor and environmental protection rules with the technology to do so at scale would be huge. If the Aussies really dedicated themselves to it, current issues with lithium or cobalt could be deflated substantially.
A rational "mining magnate" has everything to gain from a green future, and Australia has an opportunity to become very wealthy in the process -- provided it builds the industry, gets support from the government, and the rest of the world is buying. The IRA in the US means at least that market is very keen on friendsourced raw materials.
It should be able to mine them more safely, wholesomely, and justly than pretty much any other nation. Mining stuff like lithium is an ugly business, but doing it in a country that has basic labor and environmental protection rules with the technology to do so at scale would be huge.
Sorry but all I'm hearing is that it would be marginally more expensive, which means the market will either need to go where there aren't protections, or they'll have to gut protections here to accommodate the rights of the wealthy to make money by spilling other people's blood.
Capitalism got us into this mess, it won't get us out. It puts money above all else, so if you ask it to do anything good it will laugh at you and make a jerk off motion.
It's not all bad news.
West Aus is getting big into renewable hydrogen. Basically using solar farms to crack hydrogen from sea water.
Last time I read up about it there were three new cracking facilities under development.
The whole process seems so magical to me as a non-science person, basically selling sun & sea water as a form of energy that for all intents and purposes has no waste products.
Here's a good primer on electrolyzers, though it is very US (IRA)-oriented. Assuming you like a podcast (or reading a transcript of one).