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The royal family
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prince William - earthshot prize

787 replies

Samcro · 27/09/2021 09:45

could not believe it when I saw the advert for it last night. so PW is presenting this thing. the same Prince who flies all over the world.
obviously won't be watching as him and DA lecturing people about climate change is so hypocritical.
(rant over)

OP posts:
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22
Serenster · 13/10/2021 11:45

@julieca

I dont think it is right to highlight someone for using traditional methods used around the world for hundreds of years. It is one of the reasons the American Dust Bowl happened, because farmers were encouraged to abandon traditional methods.
That makes no sense to me, I’m afraid.

If bad consequences can follow from people abandoning traditional methods, how can on earth it not be right to highlight them as alternatives to the current methods that are all most farmers will know?

julieca · 13/10/2021 11:46

They could at least highlight someone who has never abandoned traditional methods? There are till people farming like this. It comes across a bit as white saviour.

smilesy · 13/10/2021 11:56

It was highlighted to show that we had lost touch with the natural world. To show where we had gone wrong. To show exactly what we shouldn’t have done. It was to highlight that we have lots to learn from the old ways and from native peoples. Unfortunately not everyone can work this out for themselves and they need it pointing out to them. I’m baffled as to why you think this is a bad thing. But it seems to me that you are determined to find fault with everything about Earthshot 🤷‍♀️

smilesy · 13/10/2021 12:27

It comes across a bit as white saviour.

No it didn’t. The farmer in question was quite open in admitting he had learned all this from a native man. He never said it was his idea. Did you actually watch it or have you just read bits about it or something, as you said up thread that you weren’t going to watch it? If you did watch it, I really have no idea how you have come to the conclusions you have 🤷‍♀️

Serenster · 13/10/2021 12:31

Also, they are looking to promote change. It’s a far more powerful way of going so to show you someone just like you who has adopted a new method and seen the benefits, than to show someone with whom the person who you want to influence will feel they have little in common.

smilesy · 13/10/2021 12:31

Meant to add, especially as you seems to think the farmer was a finalist when he was not.

Aspiringmatriarch · 13/10/2021 14:02

I agree actually - if he learned it from 'a native man', why wasn't that man also part of the programme, at least?

smilesy · 13/10/2021 15:43

He was

Aspiringmatriarch · 13/10/2021 15:45

Ah ok - not watched it myself, sorry. Smile

smilesy · 13/10/2021 15:49

Sorry, I don’t like referring to “the native man” and “the farmer”, but I didn’t catch their names as the dog was barking and my son who has Tourette’s was shouting at him 🤣. I might try and have a look on iplayer and see who they were.

Roussette · 14/10/2021 07:46

William.... saving earth should come before space tourism

Now that I can agree with. If Bezos, Branson, and Musk are spending billions on space tourism, they are not paying enough tax. Bezos has millions of disgruntled staff, Branson demanded a bailout for his airline, and Musk is just... well Musk.

smilesy · 14/10/2021 09:56

Yes, Rousette. Or they should at least be trying to find an alternative to rocket fuel. That must have a mahoosive carbon footprint 😵‍💫

rubicscubicle · 15/10/2021 10:18

I don't think William should be one to talk, frankly.

He said great brains and minds should not be finding the next place to go and live.

William is talking as backwards as he is, thanks to that research in space most of Tesla tech is based, as well as things like laser for eyes surgery etc.

Infact the whole rf should stay well out of climate change. I see the queen is at it now too, the hypocritical British press saying she is green when she exclusively private jets, has her own train and even her crown gets driven in it's own car. To top it off, she asked for her exemption. Meanwhile they gave a mauling to certain royals who talk about climate

smilesy · 15/10/2021 11:13

It was interesting watching an interview with Chris Martin of Coldplay yesterday. He had said that the band would not tour until they could do so in as carbon neutral a way as possible. They have made progress towards this goal, but he admitted that they were unable to find a way arriving using private keys. He acknowledged that this was far from ideal but as things stand there was no alternative for them. I think we all agree that taking private keys is not ideal but sometimes there is no way around it if a journey is necessary 🤷‍♀️

William is talking as backwards as he is, thanks to that research in space most of Tesla tech is based, as well as things like laser for eyes surgery etc.

I think he is referring more to journeys up to space as an end in themselves (as per what Branson, Bezos and Musk) rather than things like the ISS.

rubicscubicle · 15/10/2021 11:24

Coldplay go as a big entourage, to do several shows at a time. They have sensitive, expensive music equipment and tech. I think we can see why they would fly private jet. As much as people poopoo the idea of offsetting when they don't like the individual doing it, truth is, the world would not have been up in arms when parts of the amazon were razed down if tree planting did not make a difference.

Not many people go up in space, just the preparation for the process opens up research avenues. As I had mentioned in the example I gave, the eye laser thing was found when astronauts were training for missions. So even if it's viewed as 'tourism', the process is very intensive and brings up new things to be explored further.

Roussette · 15/10/2021 11:55

This is interesting.
C&C's carbon footprint is awful
I think the article is very fair. And acknowledges the efforts to make royal homes more eco friendly.

smilesy · 15/10/2021 11:55

But we know how to go up to space. This is just for civvies to go into space as opposed to astronauts or cosmonauts. And they are only going to the edge of space. We have explored space more than we have explored the oceans on our own planet. I know many things have been found out during astronaut training and space missions, but no one is being trained here. They are effectively just jumping in a taxi.

CathyorClaire · 15/10/2021 16:20

the eye laser thing was found when astronauts were training for missions. So even if it's viewed as 'tourism', the process is very intensive and brings up new things to be explored further

The Blue Origin 'astronauts' do a day's training.

From the website:

The day before launch, you’ll learn everything you need to know to make the most of your experience as an astronaut. The active and fun day-long session will help you feel comfortable and prepared for spaceflight and your responsibilities as an astronaut

smilesy · 15/10/2021 17:20

The Blue Origin 'astronauts' do a day's training.

Exactly. William Shatner is 90. He was hardly going to go through an “intensive” process before his jolly with Bezos. Unless you think that his years in the Starship Enterprise were not just as part of a TV series 🤣

rubicscubicle · 15/10/2021 17:53

Shatner is just part of the PR. You cannot honestly think they just jumped into this like you would in a car.

Most definitely, a test run was done and research done for the whole thing to even take off in the first place. It's impossible for them to have just out of the blue started this project without going through the safety process. This was not devised out of thin air like driving a car, so many things could go wrong, at some point engineers, dr's, specialists etc. would have been involved to make this happen.

smilesy · 15/10/2021 20:08

Obviously there was development but it’s nothing completely new. We already knew how to get a rocket in to space and what that involves for the human body and the engineering. We have also had reusable spacecraft before. There is no revolutionary technology here. They have just developed new propulsion systems. Musk, Besoz and Branson are not doing this for the good of mankind. It’s a mixture of commerce and huge egos. And if you look at Cathy’s post above, it quotes from Blue Origin’s website about the rather fun sounding single day of training done before a flight. For the passengers, it is like getting in a taxi as I said.

Roussette · 15/10/2021 20:19

Personally I find it all a bit obscene. Whilst people are struggling they're just crowing about going up there and taking with them anyone daft enough to buy into this.
What's the point...
Jeff... start paying more tax, especially over here in the UK. Bezos made £18billion in UK in one year but paid £270M in tax. Shocking

Branson... calling for covid bailout whilst asking for help from his private caribbean island. He's the 300th richest person in the whole world.

Musk.... he is now officially the richest person in the world. Last Friday he made £8 billion in just one day.

Obscene.

What these three men could do with their wealth. I know it is far more complicated than this before someone comes on to correct me with this post.

But still....

smilesy · 15/10/2021 20:27

@Roussette I think you are spot on

Roussette · 15/10/2021 20:37

Thanks smilesy Smile

LolaSmiles · 15/10/2021 20:54

Roussette
Well said. When thr wealthiest businessmen are avoiding tax and playing with space toys, the whole thing becomes farcical at time.

I have to say that I can get behind William's initiative because the focus seems to be on generating investment and highlighting other people's work in areas. He also doesn't try to position himself as expert on all things or a saviour figure. If he sat on Newscast in Kensington Palace lecturing us all on why we need to recycle or telling us non-royals we need to be doing more in pseudo-philabthropic babble then I'd have my eyes rolling into the back of my head.