Honest Government Ad | Kyoto Carryover Credits (Patreon)

Dear Patrons

Thank you for your patience... this one's been a journey. But finally, herwith be our epic Honest Government Ad about Australia's supreme shitfuckery aka: its Kyoto Carryover Credits.

It's the length of two HGAs because there's just so much to cover. And that's why it took us longer than usual to create this one. And then of course, the Government announced it wouldn't use its Kyoto Credits last week, so we had to re-film the intro and conclusion.

But all good - after a brief freak-out, we rolled up our sleeves and pushed on - and I'm proud to finally be able to share it with you. A big shout-out to to Ellen, Zoë and Lucy for putting such a lot of hard work into this episode, even coming back to re-shoot half the video when we realised we had to update it. And to Brent, who stayed up late with me on more than one night to help out with visual effects. (Our amazing team!)

So yeah, this topic.

Like many of you, I had a vague idea about our Government's use of carryover credits to offset its emission targets - but I never really understood how shameful this story was.

I learned about it in January when Simon Holmes à Court came on the Juice Podcast (Episode 8). If you listened to that episode, you might recall that at the time I said right away: "WTF, we HAVE GOT to make an HGA about this so that people know about this story!" Which is what I planned to do...

Then of course Covid happened, and then the US election, so I had to put this script on hold. But I'm glad we've managed to round off the year with the video I had planned to make in March - which is just so 2020.

I am really excited about this one - partly because of the time-travel sequence - which means I get to be a historian again for old times sake :)

But more importantly - because my favourite HGAs are those that help people get their head around issues that are regarded as complex or dry.

Coz it's not like we're "breaking" this story. Many brilliant scholars and journos have written about it over the years, in detail. (I've posted some links to some in the video description of the YouTube video).

What's been missing however is a no-bullshit explainer that brutally (but accurately) synthesizes the complexity of this story down to a nugget of shitfuckery people can get their head around.

And that's what the Honest Government Ads are so good for :)

As you might have noticed, I've been experimenting with the HGA format, trying to see how we can use this series and the audience it has garnered to start exploring more complex issues and concepts - drawing historical and geograohic connections beyond Australia's borders - getting more into a global perspective, etc.

Making these types of HGAs does require a bit more time however, so I'd love to know from you whether you feel that's worth the wait - or whether you prefer the shorter, more topical episodes. (I'm guessing the answer is a bit of both!?)

I'll be back next week with the Podcast companion for this HGA - my guest is an expert on Australia's international climate politics, and we'll be unpacking this story to cover some of the details we couldn't fit into the video (yes, it gets even worse). And the PG Version will be out on Monday for those who need it (keep an eye on our Teachers page).

Until then, have a great weekend and as always - thank you SO MUCH for supporting and making our work possible.

Giordano and the whole team

VIDEO LINKS:
YouTube video
Facebook video
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