Ten days ago, Greens leader Adam Bandt urged Australians to ‘embrace’ the civil disobedience of climate activists and ‘feel joy’ from the actions of groups like Extinction Rebellion.
That very night, a group of eco-warriors called Tyre Extinguishers took to the well-heeled streets of Toorak, letting down the tyres of 30 SUVs and leaving notes on windshields lecturing the drivers on the evils of ‘gas-guzzling’ four-wheel drives aka Toorak tractors and suggesting they take public transport, cycle or walk instead.
Toorak, in the electorate of Higgins, is a Greens stronghold. They won 23 per cent of the vote in the last election, one of their best results in the country. So it’s perhaps not surprising that the suburb has become the frontline in the war on carbon dioxide. Were any of the victims Greens voters? Did they ‘feel joy’ discovering their deflated tyres or just that sinking feeling that they were going to be late for work?
Tyre Extinguishers’ aim is to keep letting down the tyres on SUVs until people stop buying them, or at least parking them in urban areas. It seems about as likely to cut emissions of carbon dioxide as Bandt’s clean, green renewable energy fantasy which will bankrupt Australia before it makes a jot of difference to the atmosphere.
Billions of dollars have been spent on wind and solar industrial developments and backup batteries, yet according to the most recent government statistics, only 8 per cent of Australia’s total energy consumption is fuelled by renewable energy.
Yet while the Green Lefties will never be able to achieve their renewable goals of an economy powered by fresh air and sunshine what they are powering is child and adult slavery.
That’s because the manufacture of billions of solar panels, wind turbines, and lithium-ion batteries required to store renewable energy and power electric cars rely on cobalt.
The insatiable demand for cobalt has been a bonanza for China which owns most of the world’s cobalt mines which happen to be located in the not very democratic Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In the rush to extract as much cobalt as possible, children are being sent down into dark, dangerous mines with pickaxes and shovels to scrounge for cobalt for a few dollars a day. The air is laden with toxic soot, the water is contaminated with toxic sludge and the forests of the DRC have been laid to waste, all to feed the green delusions of wealthy Westerners.
Australia is one of the few countries that produces cobalt while respecting human rights. But we must stop sending it to China to be processed. Sure they process it cheaply but only because they have cheap coal-fired energy, use slave labour, and pollute the environment.
Greenies have to stop the hypocrisy and put human rights and environmental protection ahead of so-called cheap batteries.
If climate crusaders really want to cut emissions, let them lead by example. Stop flying to climate change talkfests in exotic locations, and do something productive – plant a tree, grow their own food, and stop buying solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars and batteries from China.
