prince William - earthshot prize

[Samcro]

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)

@maddy68 no not everyone flies.

But they keep trying to compete with Harry and Meghan and that will always take them down blind alleys

The timeline for the Earthshot Prize doesn’t work at all for this argument though.

It was announced at the end of 2019. Even allowing for a super speedy setting up process, and getting investors on board, the Royal Foundation would have needed several months lead-time to launch it. So, the first quarter of 2019, or if you take what Prince William said, back in 2018 (which I think is much more realistic for something on this scale). Early 2019 was well before Archie was born, and before the Royal Foundation split. On William’s timeline, it was also before Meghan and Harry’s tour of New Zealand and Australia, which they claimed on Oprah was a turning point.

There was no need to “compete” with Harry and Meghan at this point, and there was no Megxit announcement until early 2020, after the initiative was launched. So how can anyone say it was born out of a need for William to keep up with what his brother and sister in law were doing?

@julieca

So either wikipedia is wrong and it only took a year to develop. Or it wasn't William's idea and he came on board a year after development.

I quoted the wikipedia link. It is quite clear what it says and ties in with what Smilesy posted

William's idea in 2018 leading to ongoing research
Earthshot announced 31 December 2019 with a 2020 further date and prizes to be awarded 2021 to 2030

The BBC website reported at the time that more than 60 experts and organisations were involved in the development of the project

The Guardian reported at it's launch in 202

"The prize is supported by a global alliance of partnerships, including WWF and Greenpeace, and there are plans for it to have its own foundation by next year. Backers include the Aga Khan Development Network, Bloomberg Philanthropies, DP World in partnership with Dubai Expo 2020, and the Jack Ma Foundation.

The prizes will be awarded by a council, a global team of high-profile leaders from the environmental, philanthropic, business, sporting and entertainment worlds. The 13 members include actor Cate Blanchett, singer Shakira, Queen Rania of Jordan, Japanese former astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, Brazilian footballer Dani Alves, basketball star Yao Ming and Attenborough."

It takes time to garner such support and representation, hence taking 2 to 3 years to get to the stage of announcing the prizes and initial timeframe. Nobody is saying William did all that himself but given it started out under the umbrella of the Royal Foundation, he clearly has been heavily involved in it.

@maddy68

That's ridiculous. Everyone flys. Doesn't mean you can't campaign for more environmentally friendly methods

I have flown 2 times in my life 40 years ago. So no not everyone flies.

Civil Aviation Authority data shows 297 million passengers passed through UK airports in 2019. Obviously Samcro you weren’t one of them. But that’s an awful lot of people flying into and out of UK airports, nonetheless.

@Serenster I know people who fly every single week for work. In fact, 15% of people are supposed to take 70% of flights.
In my family my parents have flown for some years, my sister and her husband last flew before their 20-year-old son was born. Me and DP do fly, usually once a year.

It is obviously going to be very difficult to kick the flying habit overnight as there is no real alternative at the moment if you need to travel long distances in a relatively short amount of time. I suppose the only thing you can do is cut out “unnecessary” flights, but how you define what they are, I’m not at all sure 🤷‍♀️

Surely everyone just cuts what they can.
Thats what i do.
I might not fly but I drive.
But then I don't lecture others on what they should do

The thing is, we don't see Prince William on the ground doing any actual work on climate change himself. If we could see him assiduously sourcing his fruit and veg to make sure they are in season and locally sourced, he might look more qualified to preach to us about environmental issues. Or leaving long grasses in his garden to promote wildlife, or walking when he can. Or doing anything, really. He just seems really inauthentic - when he goes beyond performative virtue signalling, I will take him seriously on environmental issues. Until then, he just seems really inauthentic and he leaves himself open to critics who accuse him of simply hitching himself to a good cause for some publicity and to bump his numbers up in the court circular. Do as you say, William.

PW is limited on how green he can go. He needs to travel with the security, with the private planes to a certain extent because he's the air to the throne and I think the helicopter flying is to keep his license, he needs to amass the hours (but happy to be corrected on this)

But I agree he could do more, maybe he does and we just don't know or maybe he doesn't and I think it's right to question him on what changed he could make.

PH and his Invictus games I fully support, I have nothing negative to say about that. It's a great cause and he does it well. PH is a veteran and he supports veterans, fantastic.

PC had been a bit of a Eco nerd for a while since the early 80's planting gardens and climate change has been one of his talking points for years. Again though he is also limited due to security, and we don't know of he takes the steps he can to lower his carbon footprint, and if he is not then yes people can question this.

Well Anmer Hall is part of the Sandringham estate which is run along organic lines (thanks to PC) and W has spoken about enjoying gardening, whilst not being very good at it. I saw something on the news about it during Lockdown. I also seem to remember they had areas of meadow grass next to the hedges and were looking at the birds, although I can’t be 100% sure. He has often spoken about being influenced by his father’s interest in sustainability. I don’t think he “lectures”‘particularly 🤷‍♀️ The Earthshot Prize doesn’t seem to be “lecturing “.

@Gwrach

I didn't think PW is "preaching" I thought he was just using his platform to promote the people who are taking action.

Yes he has said "climate change is important" but he's not gone full Greta on this.

"I didn't think PW is "preaching". Gwrach

People are often described as 'preaching' or 'pontificating' when the person doing the describing has taken against the speaker.

If the describer liked the person it would just be 'said'.

Someone up thread talked about William taking helicopter flights to his home. That is totally unnecessary.

PW takes helicopter flights between KP and Amer Hall like we'd take a bus or a tube

Let's not pretend otherwise

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

The thing is, we don't see Prince William on the ground doing any actual work on climate change himself. If we could see him assiduously sourcing his fruit and veg to make sure they are in season and locally sourced, he might look more qualified to preach to us about environmental issues. Or leaving long grasses in his garden to promote wildlife, or walking when he can. Or doing anything, really. He just seems really inauthentic - when he goes beyond performative virtue signalling, I will take him seriously on environmental issues. Until then, he just seems really inauthentic and he leaves himself open to critics who accuse him of simply hitching himself to a good cause for some publicity and to bump his numbers up in the court circular. Do as you say, William.

There was a fairly recent documentary on Prince William (sorry, can't remember if BBC or ITV). That showed quite a lot of his environmental interests and concerns. You may be pleasantly surprised that he knows more than you think he does. I remember being really surprised and impressed by him when I wasn't expecting to be and therefore, not at all surprised to see him fronting the Earthshot programmes. Give it a watch.

@waltzingparrot ah that must be what I saw. I’m glad I’m not going mad 🤣

I really don't give a fig if he is interested in environmental concerns, whilst not taking the slightest personal actions to reduce his own enormous carbon footprint.

@julieca

I really don't give a fig if he is interested in environmental concerns, whilst not taking the slightest personal actions to reduce his own enormous carbon footprint.

And how do you know he isn’t? You seem determined to denigrate PW come whatever.

Does the same logic apply to Harry?

He visited NY as a private citizen. He could have had zoom meeting with the UN official etc, been on a mega screen at the Vax concert, visited a local school in LA, paid his respect to 9/11 in a similar way to how he commemorated Remembrance Day last year? He used at least one private jet? Huge unnecessary carbon footprint surely according to your logic with no effort to reduce it?

Does the same logic apply to Harry?

When I talked about how different the criticism is for Harry compared to the lack of it for William, I was told to 'stop whinging' about Harry.
There's your answer.

Harry gets endless criticism for everything but it's a sin to criticise William.
That is fact.

Roulette, as per the thread itself, what do you think of the Earthshot prize?

Is it a worthwhile endeavour that could provide solutions and has enough financial backing and high profile clout to provide climate and environmental projects that stand a chance of making a difference?

If so, it should be applauded and so should all the team behind it, including PW.

High profile individuals and wealthy people will almost always have higher carbon footprints than, for example me and possibly you too, and yes they should do better but it is possible to see Earthshot as a good thing without dismissing it totally as julieca has

I am looking forward to this programme.....its about finding solutions (not preaching to others).....i am hoping it will be uplifting.......and we do need some positivity now

@Hedgehogface

We really aren't going to get anywhere with the issue of addressing climate change if so many people just focus on climate-shaming anyone who tries to raise the issue.

Try to rise above the level of the Daily Mail, and focus on the issue - which is that radical change is needed if we are going to slow down climate change and have a future.

It's not as though we weren't aware if the issue until PW mentioned it though is it?!

The OP is right. They are a bunch of patronising hypocrites.

'Roulette' lol... good old auto correct.

I think it's a good initiative. I hope it does well. I haven't criticised it so not sure why my opinion matters.
It was a tad embarrassing that when PW talked about it initially his Gran was lobbying Scottish MP's to exempt her properties from the new climate laws in Scotland but hey ho...

Rousette. apologies

You are a H&M supporter but always a "measured" supporter - hope you don't mind me saying that - and so it was good to get your take on the initiative.

No probs Sally, I've been called a lot worse, and I know what auto correct is like given the gobbledigook I come out with sometimes