July/August 2020
AGM: President's address
REBUILDING THE FUTURE The Covid-19 outbreak has delivered a shattering blow but, said new SLL president Bob Bohannon, it is an opportunity to reevaluate – and build back better
he president’s role in this year of all years, said Bob Bohannon, was to enable 'the amazing talent within the society to deliver on the objectives and challenges facing us all'. Coronavirus, he continued, 'has given many of us a chance to reevaluate what is important. Clear skies or cheap air travel? Quiet streets, clean air and the sound of birdsong, or the freedom to drive?' It was an opportunity to address issues such as climate change from an industry perspective. 'The Covid-19 lockdown has, temporarily,
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cut CO2 emissions, but it has also triggered a huge economic contraction,' said Bohannon. 'Some governments are calling to harness their economic recovery to plans to boost low carbon design and technology. They call this Build Back Better.' Citing how NASA's ICE Sat 2 was using light in the form of LiDAR to measure climate change, specifically the ice loss from the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, Bohannon said the evidence was 'terrifying', showing that the Thwaites and Crosson ice shelves have lost 5m and 3m of ice each year
for the past 16 years. 'In total Greenland and Antarctica have lost more than 300 gigatons of ice a year. Just one gigaton will fill 400,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.' 'We might have the data,' he said, 'but to put it simply we are losing the war against climate change.' He quoted Seth Scott, CEO of climate change consultant ProBorea, who wrote in a Greenbiz article, that 'Sustainability currently consists of 99 per cent cost savings and one per cent environmental savings‌ a focus on energy efficiency has distracted our
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