Belgian commutes pay off: Employees earn up to €810 for cycling to work One in five people in Flanders commuted by bike and received compensation last year, but this figure is significantly lower in Brussels and Wallonia.

In Belgium, employees receive compensation for every kilometre they ride, with some cyclists earning up to €810 per year.

And why not? Biking saves public money for everyone.

“All employees in Belgium who cycle to work are entitled to a bicycle allowance of €0.28 per kilometre of their commute.”

As a 40 something Australian I cannot overstate how embarrassing this is. We have presided over the burning of hydrocarbons to our climactic detriment and these idiots think this is a good time to dig and burn more!!

The sun is always shining somewhere

Maybe “I will raise electricity prices to build machines that ensure your family’s unemployment and brain rot, help target schoolgirls, and lock your country into neofeudalism under techbros” isn’t good politics.

It would be great to see more Dems demonstrate some understanding of this.

Highway filled with car congestion

Highway filled with car congestion

Next time someone tries arguing that it’s “social engineering” (cue ominous music) to give people more CHOICE to walk, bike & take public transit in their city, tell them that designing our current car DEPENDENCY has been the largest and most damaging social engineering experiment in human history.

Wide Amsterdam street jammed with colourful cars in the 1970s.

Remember this picture, & others like it, every time you hear someone in your city say "we're not Amsterdam."

This was #Amsterdam in the 1970s.

Many of the cities we admire made tough choices regarding cars in the past, and are still making better choices today.

Better choices instead of excuses.

Jeff Bezos has $222 billion.

If he paid my wealth tax this year, we could fund insulin in America for everyone who needs it plus free school lunch for every kid in Texas—and have plenty of money left over.

And Bezos would still have $215 billion dollars to spare.

#nzpol

reneweconomy.com.au/an-electric-...

LiberalLITE.

Embarrassing from the Australian Labor Party.

Remember that the economy should work for the people not the other way around.

Bad immigration economics assumes every extra person is one less seat. Good economics notices they also bring a seat, a side dish, and demand for the bloke selling drinks.

The first story is fear; the second is how economies work.

Another reason that China will boss the rest of this century. They are going to energy independent and have figured out to keep the production of green tech circular while the rest of the west is still trying to dig hydrocarbons out of the ground.

most clean power is now cheaper than fossil fuels.

Do the math and future isn't that complicated.

the fastest energy transition in human history,

The energy crisis a massive opportunity for renewables + batteries to provide security and slash costs

In the fastest energy transition in human history, clinging to oil tanks as the cornerstone of security is not just expensive - it is a wasted opportunity
thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spin...

Of course the Japanese Govt doesn’t want a 25% gas export tax. Japanese consumers benefit greatly from OUR gas, supplied to them by multinationals who get it for free. It’s time OUR Govt thought about benefits to Australians from the export of OUR valuable and finite gas resources. #auspol

If a wealthy white man is intelligent, he cannot be greedy. For the intelligent man knows the greed will destroy him and his family fairly soon.

We have only one atmosphere that we all share.

No billionaire bunkers will save them.

Why did I post this unsurprising and hardly new fact? Because the fossil lobby group “CO2 Coalition” is spreading deception on this point. Of course the global data as shown below are far more relevant than a local temperature series.
Source: ed-hawkins.github.io/climate-visu...

Lie: Bike-lanes cause traffic congestion.

Truth: Bike-lanes help solve traffic congestion.

Lie: Bike-lanes hurt street shops if they replace parking.

Truth: Bike-lanes help street shops more than street parking does.

Lie: Bike-lanes cost us too much.

Truth: Bike-lanes save us all public money.

Who would have thought that the Demand side of the equation was just important as the Supply side.

Let’s stop the speculative capital chase house price gains but cutting the tax breaks.

“While several startups, mainly in the U.S., are preparing for pilot scale production of sodium-ion batteries, in China manufacturers have already moved into mass production, for both transport and large-scale energy storage.”

Another sign that China is about to dominate the rest of this century

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact.

“1 mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, 1 mile driving is a $.20 loss.”

“Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.”

The #’s may vary, but the truth is the same.

Early Japan exports cheap & derivative, evolved in 1980s quality systems, R&D & scale made Japan global leader in autos & electronics
Korea faster on same path emerged 2000s
China even faster, emerging 2015s leading in solar, EVs, batteries, more
The dragon no longer sleeps
It builds the future

If the NDIS is ‘runaway spending’, what do we call $16 billion in fossil fuel subsidies? New research shows fossil fuel subsidies will reach $16.3 billion in 2025–26, rising faster than the NDIS. Handouts to mining giants are growing faster than support for Australians with disability.

@rodcampbell.bsky.social writes ' Beyond the 2025–26 budget year, total budgeted fossil fuel subsidies over the longer term have reached $72.7billion.'
Why are successive governments giving #fossilfuel corporations that much of the public purse?
#auspol #taxtime
thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

✍️ PETITION: Tax the gas industry its fair share Tax the gas industry its fair share! Australia Institute research shows a 25% tax on gas exports could solve the gas crisis – and raise $17 billion every year at the same time. ✍️ Add your name now...

Sign our petition calling on the Australian Government to make Big Gas pay its fair share ✍️
nb.australiainstitute.org.au/gas_export_t...

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

One ship loaded with solar PV is now worth more to the grid than 120 coal-carriers Technology gains mean that one ship load of solar PV panels is now worth more to the grid than 120 coal carriers, or 57 LNG tankers.

A single ship load of solar PV – which can ultimately deliver 170 terawatt hours of PV once installed, is now worth 120 coal carries, or 57 LNG tankers. reneweconomy.com.au/one-ship-loa...

Homelessness is a policy choice

Over 40% of global shipping by volume exists to move fossil fuels from one place to another.

A huge share of the world's maritime infrastructure has been built around a system that is going to change dramatically as renewable energy and electrification displace fossil fuels.

AI is like guns - the very real and baked in harms outweigh the possible acceptable use cases so much that it should be ok to just say ‘ok we can’t have those use cases’ or find other ways

This a great bit of work.

The rest of the world could have learnt from from the toxic US fossil fuel industry water crimes.

Today, under the cover of the Liberals tearing each other down, Labor has approved another coal mine extension.

Extending Middlemount to 2044 means Labor has now approved 35 fossil fuel projects.

In the middle of the climate crisis, they're approving more coal & gas.