Sydney Film Festival 2021 - screening in a COVID world

 
After several false starts for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sydney Film Festival has managed to return to live screenings at multiple venues with strict COVID safe planning.  This is good news for both cinema enthusiasts and the wider film industry which has had to operate under severe disruptions as the pandemic has moved across the world. The impact and efficacy of vaccines has been the game changer for all large gatherings of people particularly for indoor settings.

The festival has been scrupulous in managing the risk of COVID: seating has been reduced in venues by 25%, all attendees must have been double vaccinated and show their certificates on entry to the venues, QR code check-in is required and face masks must be worn in the venues and throughout the screenings. Breaks between films have been increased to 1 hour and 15 minutes to enable on-site cleaning and attendees must leave the cinemas and re-enter when permitted.  

This is the reality of daily life under COVID-19. The number of films has been reduced in order to enable the necessary controls to be in place but nonetheless on each of the days of the festival between 10 and 14 venues are screening one or more films. In itself, enabling the festival to occur is a major achievement.                                                    

IPCC 6th Assessment Report - the magnitude of the crisis defined

 

The 6th Assessment Report from the IPCC makes for sobering reading and was issued prior to COP26 in Glasgow.  In summary, the report has found that:

• Human induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones has strengthened since the 5th Assessment Report.
• Global surface temperatures will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emission scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5C and 2C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2)  and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades.
• Under scenarios with increasing CO2 emissions, the ocean and land carbon sinks are projected to be less effective at slowing the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• Continued global warming is projected to further intensify the global water cycle including its variability, global monsoon precipitation and the severity of wet and dry events.
• With further global warming, every region is projected to increasingly experience concurrent and multiple changes in climatic impact-drivers.
• Low-likelihood outcomes such as ice sheet collapse, abrupt ocean circulation changes, some compound extreme events and warming substantially larger than the assessed 'very likely' range cannot be ruled out.
• Strong rapid and sustained reduction in CH4 (methane) would also limit the warming effect resulting from declining aerosol pollution and would improve air quality.

The report now finds that serious climate impacts that previously were thought to be less likely, are now considered to be possible due to the accelerated increase in global warming. 

The report can be accessed at this link: IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

COP26 Glasgow - reigning in climate change - can it be done ?

COP26 commences on 31 October 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland and concludes on Friday 12 November. But will it achieve the necessary agreement from all the members of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to reduce carbon emissions? This is the 26th meeting and while some progress has been achieved over the years, the target date of zero emissions by 2050 will be too little, too late. Significant reduction is needed much earlier than 29 years into the future and more likely by as early as 2030.

Link to:  COP 26 Glasgow website 

Climate change - Australian business continues action where the Australian Government fears to tread

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The launch this week of the  Australian chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative Network by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) continues the now established trend of business action to address climate change. Major corporations, industry peak bodies, central banks, government regulators to name a few, have all accepted the science behind climate change, albeit almost too late. This definitive recognition contrasts with the Australian Government which continues to operate with the ponderously slow objective of reducing carbon emissions by 2050.
 

The Climate Governance Initiative Network has been developed "due to the urgent need to address the climate emergency and requires government and business to accelerate the transition to a new economic model which seeks to limit global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, consistent with the 2018 recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)" 

The network operates by supporting groups of directors around the world to form networks, known as Chapters. The core mission of these chapters is to promote the implementation of the 'Principles for Effective Climate Governance' published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

Information about the network can be found at this link: Climate Governance Initiative Network

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) position is well described in the opening comments in the Forum's guidance to company boards -

"The links between climate change and business are becoming increasingly evident and inextricable. Business decisions and actions will slow or accelerate climate change, and climate change will drive risks and opportunities for business. Increasingly, board directors are expected to ensure that climate-related risks and opportunities are appropriately addressed. However, limited practical guidance is available to help board directors understand their role in addressing these risks and opportunities...  good governance should intrinsically include effective climate governance'

A resource for boards on the Climate Governance Principles by the WEF can be found at this link:

World Economic Forum - Creating effective climate governance on corporate boards

The question immediately arises is to whether this objective is already too little, too late. The newly released report by the IPCC has found climate change is already underway and limiting a temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius is now impossible. The challenge is now to prevent the situation getting any worse and adapting to the inevitable difficult environmental conditions already evident.

Chocolate - the names that helped forge the tastes

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We all have seen the brands but what do we know of the people behind the names ? Did you know for example that Rowntrees and Cadburys were founded by Quakers ? Some of the unusual backgrounds to several of the chocolatiers are shown in the following list -

Baker 

Now owned by conglomerate Kraft Heinz, the company was founded in 1765 by John Hannon, an Irish Chocolatier. It was taken over by his partner Dr James Baker after Hannon never returned from sailing in the Carribean Sea where he had been destined for the West Indies searching for new supplies of cocoa beans.

 

Billy Blue

An English chocolatier, Billy Blue had a colourful and eventful life being variously soldier, chocolatier, convict, boatmaster to name a few occupations. Sentenced to 7 years transportation in Australia for stealing sugar for his chocolate factory, Billy Blue made his fortune in Sydney, NSW Australia but never returned to chocolate making.

John Cadbury

John Cadbury from Birmingham, United Kingdom, started with a tea and coffee shop selling cocoa as a side line. The taste for cocoa however overtook selling tea and coffee thus with his brother, Benjamin, Cadbury Brothers was established in 1824. A Quaker, Cadbury had a strong social conscience, a characteristic shared with other chocolatiers such as Hershey in the United States, Meiner in France and Suchard in Switzerland. 

Hershey

Milton Hershey another Quaker mixed being a chocolatier with being a social reformer. His rich dark Hershey bars dominated American tastes for decades and remain a favourite today. Hershey built a model town for his employees called Hersheyville and notably none of his employees lost their jobs during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Notably he commented ' caramels are a fad, chocolate is permanent'.

 

Lindt

Lindt was an eccentric aristocrat who developed the conching process for chocolate however the Lindt process was purchased by David Sprungli-Schwarz who opened his own chocolate factory in 1899. The Sprungli family have run the business ever since retaining the Lindt name.

  

Mars

Mars is very much a family affair with Forrest Mars following his father's footsteps and travelling to Slough, England to start his chocolate business. His father, Frank C Mars was a Chicago based confectioner who created the Milky Way so Forrest Mars using this recipe created the almost ubiquitous 'Mars Bar' in 1932.

 

Nestle

Milk chocolate originates from completely different purpose. In 1867, Henri Nestle, a chemist, was originally engaged in research for a milk substitute for babies allergic to their mother's milk. The result was sweet condensed milk which garnered the attention of Swiss chocolatier, Daniel Peter. Together with Nestle they developed the first milk chocolate with their respective companies merging in 1879. Nestle is now a global chocolate with a recipe that is adjusted from country to country to suit different tastes.

  

Terry's of York

In 1767 Joseph Terry started producing sugar confectionery during the reign of George III but at this time chocolate tended to be a beverage for drinking rather than eating. When the change came, Terry's pioneered the boxed chocolate assortment. 

Bon appetite ! 

Chocolate - food of the Gods - the basic facts

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Chocolate - what is it and where does it come from ?  In summary -

• chocolate is derived from the cocoa bean grown on the cocoa tree.
• the cocoa tree requires intense heat and moisture found in climates located around 20 degrees North and South of the Equator. Too much direct sunlight and wind however is detrimental hence a level of shade is also needed for the tree to thrive. This is usually achieved through the use of an umbrella tree or mother tree that is used to provide such cover (Note climate change with increased temperatures may well effect this essential human food luxury).
• there are two basic beans that are cultivated and from which various hybrids are derived: Criollos and Forasteros.
• Criollos are recognised for their concentrated flavour, are thinner skinned and grow predominantly in Java,Samoa, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Madagascar.
• Forasteros are often used as a base bean mix, have less flavour, grow in thick walled pods and are mainly found in West Africa and Brazil. 
• Cocoa trees produce a waxy pinkish-white blossom which in turn produces pods. During harvesting the pods are cracked open to extract twenty to thirty seeds in a bed of white pulp. 
• A period of fermentation around slightly more than a week, is used to remove the bitter acid taste and the white pulp, followed by drying either through the natural sun or through large scale hot air blowers.
• the beans are then transported for commencement of the manufacturing process -in short order: careful roasting of beans, thence the nibbing machine (breaking the husk off to reveal the 'nib' or raw chocolate), grinding the nib to produce cocoa butter and the a brown powder which is pure cocoa. It is the pure cocoa powder which is the base of chocolate.
• the cocoa butter is then reintroduced in varying levels depending on the product being developed.  Cocoa butter is only used in small amounts for baking chocolate and larger amounts for chocolate for direct human consumption.

From this point onwards the chocolatiers have experimented to provide the many taste sensations which have made this one of the world's arguably most recognised cross cultural, cross border culinary experiences.

A rise of 3 Degrees Celsius - the impact on Australia

In March this year, the Australian Academy of Science issued a stark warning on the future of this country if global warming is not actively slowed and ultimately stopped. The Academy's report charts both proven existing impacts and the effects of modelled temperature increases. The situation could not be more starkly or clearly demonstrated by the findings of the Academy which included -

Temperature rising

• the total emission reduction current pledged by the Australian and international government through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement, even if implemented on time will translate as an average global surface temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius (C) or more.
• the planet is well on its way to devastating climate change with average surface temperatures being at 1.1 degrees C above the pre-industrial period. Australia has had a worse outcome with warming on average by 1.4 degrees C.
• limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius in now virtually impossible.

Ecosystems

• land-based environments have been affected by drought, fire, extreme heatwaves, invasive species and disease, large scale mortality of trees, birds and tree-dwelling mammals
• rising sea levels are amplifying storm impacts damaging coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangrove forests.

Australian agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food security

• reduced water availability and heat stress have contributed to reductions in profitability for broadacre crops such as wheat and barley in the magnitude of up to 22% since 2000.
• heat stress is a significant issue for livestock systems due to impacts on animal welfare, reproduction and production. Projected temperature and humidity changes suggest an increased number of heat stress days per year. 
• forestry is facing growing pressure from a warming and drying climate with increased fire risks, changes in rainfall patterns and species-specific pest impacts.

Australian cities and towns

• with close to 90% of Australians living in cities and towns, climate change experience will be manifested in various ways. 
• extreme heat wave conditions, bushfires and storms already place pressure on power stations and infrastructure while simultaneously increasing demand for energy supply for air conditioning.
• global sea level rises are already occuring and pose a severe risk to properties infrastructure and ecosystems with coastal flooding becoming a more regular feature. 160,000 to 250,000 coastal properties will be at risk with a rise of 1 metre in sea levels. 
• climate sensitive infectious diseases such as Ross River fever and other vector borne diseases shift their geographical distribution and intensity of transmission. This will only increase as climate change increases to above 2 degrees C.

The Academy's report provides sober reading and a reality check for those who believe that its only a question of avoiding a 1.5C temperature impact to avoid climate change. The climate crisis has already commenced - the only viable objective is to prevent it becoming worse.

The full report can be accessed at: Risks to Australia: three degrees Celsius