Energy shift ignites the green transition

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The Sustainable Hour no. 529?| Transcript | Podcast notes

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite.” ~ Nelson Mandela

Our two guests in The Sustainable Hour no. 529 are energy expert Pat Simons and Olympian athlete Rhydian Cowley who talk about the importance of using renewable energy sources to generate our electricity.

Through our guests Pat and Rhydian we get insight into how the climate crisis will impact on all aspects of our lives – and how elite Australian athletes are concerned about the future of their sports in a climate constrained world – as well as what they are doing about it.

We also listen to a couple of short and sharp statements by Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and Smart Energy Council CEO John Grimes.

And we learn about a number of upcoming events in and around Geelong.

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Pat Simons for many years has devoted his life to empowering communities, especially the Latrobe Valley, to move away from fossil fuels – the major contributor to that crisis and towards renewable energy sources.

Pat is Friends of the Earth’s Yes2Renewables Coordinator, a campaign for 100% renewable energy, good jobs and community power. Pat has played a leading role on a number of successful campaigns including the Victorian Renewable Energy Target and the campaign for national offshore wind legislation, and is passionate about organising alongside workers and regional communities to win ambitious climate action.

→ To find out more about Pat’s work go to www.yes2renewables.org

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Rhydian Cowley, while he shares Pat’s concerns, comes at it from a different angle. He has lived experience of competing in air so polluted that it has restricted the performance of elite athletes as well as contributed to the deaths of countless people and other living things. He has devoted his life to using the platform of being an elite athlete to encourage his sport to do all that they can do to reduce their emissions. In reality this is all about self preservation, because if climate breakdown occurs, the resultant extreme weather events will impact badly on sport in all its forms.

Rhydian is an ambassador for Sports Environment Alliance, EcoAthletes, High Impact Athletes, Athletes for Hope Australia. He is employed by Bush Heritage Australia, a leading not-for-profit conservation organisation that protects ecosystems and wildlife, and collaborates with Green Planet Sport, Athletes of the World, Frontrunners, and Champions for Earth.

→ Here’s an article about the BBC green sports award Rhydian received recently. And here’s the Rings of Fire report about the Olympics and climate change.

→ Read also the Olympians open letter regarding IOC and Toyota sponsorship.

→ More about Rhydian’s Athletes for Good grant in 2023.

→ Find out more about Rhydian Cowley, honoured in the latest edition of the P&G Athletes for Good programme, on Athletes for Good.

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We round off the Hour with Michael Franti’s song ‘Brighter Day’

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So ends episode 529 of The Sustainable Hour podcast.

We’ll be back again next week, truth-telling and chatting with more action-igniting solution-seekers. Until then, be …………… (What would you say? What word would you put in the gap?) And take care! The Sustainable Hour team

“Energy, how we generate it, how we use it, that’s a really important part of everyone’s life and the way that the economy functions. But I suppose from my lens, as an Olympic athlete, it’s really important thinking about when we’re generating electricity. There’s things like, at the moment, you’ve been talking about how Delhi had that huge smog wave, and how in the past it happened to other Western cities. Even just on the level of how it impacts people’s lives in terms of how clean the air is really important.” ~ Rhydian Crowley, winner of the BBC International Green Sports Award World Athlete of the Year

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