"A recent Greenpeace report found that in Australia alone, coal pollution was responsible for 800 premature deaths, 15,000 asthma symptoms in children and 850 new cases of low birthweight amongst infants.
"And that’s a conservative estimate. Australia is home to 22 coal fired power stations, many of which are outdated and pollute dangerous toxins and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.
"Pollution from these plants spreads hundreds of kilometres from the source, affecting rural communities and Australia’s biggest cities alike.
“Aussie all over the country are paying for electricity with their lives and health, even if they don’t use power from burning coal or live near a power station,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaigner, Jonathan Moylan said."
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I can't believe that Network Rail is planning to build a tower block over the spectacular Liverpool Street Station concourse - and to demolish this excellent Victorian Gothic building in the process. 1960s thinking.
Is the @thevicsoc on this? Crazy vandalism and will leave a horrible darkened concourse underneath an office slab after years and years of unbearable disruption
Tim notes the UK has seen the highest ever recorded Covid-19 cases, an increase of 47% in a week! #ToryCovidDisaster
1 in 24 people in Britain currently have Covid-19. The highest rates are in London, Scotland and the South-East.
Deaths however are below the average for this time of year, so at least its not killing so many of us. Still, 622 dead in the last week... imagine if that was on planes or trains? We'd be outraged!
Fact 1: 75% of people would like to see more money spent on cycling in their city.
The types of infrastructure people would find most useful are segregated on-road tracks (64%) and traffic- free cycling routes (60%).
Fact 2: Cycle lanes move more people than car lanes.
A three-metre wide lane can move 700 to 1,100 people per hour in cars, whereas for bicycles and walking this increases to 2000 to 6,500.
Fact 3: Walkers and cyclists spend more in shops.
Retailers overestimate how many of their customers travel by car by a factor of 100%.
Per square metre, cycle parking delivers five-times higher retail spend than the same area of car parking.
"According to Hartley-Brewer, 91% of COVID-19 cases were in fact false positives. Lockdown sceptic Toby Young amplified this, saying the Government was hiding the scale of the problem for “nefarious reasons”. I haven’t seen a retraction or apology yet.
"In reality, the false-positive rate cited by Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock had been 0.8%. Oxford Professor for public understanding of risk, David Spiegelhalter, told the media that the true figure was likely far lower, at around 0.05%."
"The 10pm curfew looks, then, worryingly like a cosmetic attempt to be seen to be “taking action” while in fact making a political calculation.
"Johnson’s unwillingness to court public disapproval by appearing to be a killjoy—the exact opposite of the ebullient, libertarian persona that got him into power—probably played a part in landing us in this predicament in the first place.