{"id":405904,"date":"2025-09-30T10:21:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=405904"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:21:28","slug":"bad-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=405904","title":{"rendered":"Bad Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Tony Thomas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Northern Hemisphere readers, Australian football (AFL) has its own rules \u2013 there is no \u2018offside\u2019 rule \u2013 and the Final draws a crowd of 100,000. Monash University is ranked by THE at 58th worldwide and has nearly 60,000 students, plus more at overseas campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s AFL Grand Final between Brisbane Lions and Geelong has fans at peak excitement. But for other groups, their real excitement is how many top footballers they can draft to spout alarm about global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As background, The UN chief Antonio Guterres warns about what he calls climate carnage<\/a>, \u201cThe era of global warming has ended, the era of global boiling has arrived<\/a>\u201d, insisting \u201cwe are now in a battle for our lives<\/a>\u201d because \u201chumanity has opened the gates of Hell!\u201d With Hell\u2019s gates a-yawning, which team wins today seems almost a secondary issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of footy fans are cheesed off with footy being politicised. When Monash academics surveyed nearly 600 fans<\/a>, these views popped up in the \u201ccomments\u201d box:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 \u201cSporting clubs\/organisations should stick to sport not be pushing inane social dogmas! Sick of it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 \u201cPlease explain what makes an AFL\/AFLW player a \u201cClimate Change\u201d expert??????\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 \u201cAFL clubs should get on with the business of playing footy and only speak on issues such as drugs and domestic violence and the like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 \u201cI would actively withdraw my financial membership if a club started spouting about climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 \u201cAFL and its players should stick to what they get paid to do; play football and butt out of political agendas like climate change!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s any real problem, it\u2019s that footie people\u2019s climate spiel has to jostle for air-time with messaging about Marngrook matches on Naarm\u2019s unceded lands[1]<\/a>, respect for LGBTQIAs, Snoop Dogg attention-grabbing and \u201cfree free Palestine!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climate crazies are targeting footie and other big sports because the players and execs carry credibility, and because they\u2019d like to co-opt the fan base of millions to pressure politicians to net zero. Almost everyone loves sport and the net zero-ists hope to deflect some of this love to their pernicious cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The footie and climate-propaganda nexus is located between Monash University\u2019s Climate Change Communications Research Hub<\/a> and Frontrunners<\/a>, a green lobby with close ties to the Labor-subsidised Environmental Defenders Office \u2014 of Santos\/Tiwi Islands infamy<\/a> \u2014 the Engie global renewables giant and green politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll start with the Monash Hub, which hosts more than 100 career climate bedwetters. On climate, the Hub makes every other League of Eight campus, even uber-green Melbourne University, seem like wimps. Its openly declared strategy is to piggyback (or parasite) its climate spruiking onto already popular sports, \u201crather than to think that the message is powerful enough to gain attention by itself<\/a>.\u201d It seeks out those hosts by \u201cextensive research into the \u2018attention economy\u2019 of national media ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hub\u2019s biggest sports effort was its survey<\/a> for the \u201cFrontRunners\u201d lobbyists on \u201cAFL fans\u2019 perception of climate change and of AFL action on climate change<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The questions are loaded with anti-emissions virtue signalling. The Hub says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relatively large proportions of those surveyed remained undecided or <\/em>neutral for many of the questions. This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, but suggests that clubs & players\u2019 capacity as environmental spokespeople hasn\u2019t fully been considered by fans and might require priming<\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hub surveyed 567 un-primed fans and found most want more club and AFL climate action. We also learn that there\u2019s a hard core of 10% of fans \u201cwho don\u2019t believe in climate change and do not support AFL action on climate change.\u201d  According to the Hub,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 15% want \u201cAFL clubs to butt out of climate spruiking: This suggests clubs provide an important place to begin climate communication initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dopey survey questions included, \u201cDo you think climate change is happening?\u201d Since it\u2019s been happening here for the past 4.5 billion years, I also doubt it has stopped. In the event, 70% agreed climate change was happening, which the Hub somehow viewed as \u201caccepting the scientific consensus\u201d. A quarter of fans sampled had no idea, and 7% thought it was all utter nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another inane question was whether climate change will impact how AFL and local-club footy \u201cis played professionally\u201d. Half the fans said yes and a quarter said no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fans were asked if Australian sport \u201chad already felt the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, flooding, heavy storms, drought?\u201d The Hub ensured it got a \u201cyes\u201d answer (83%) because, against IPCC evidence, it had defined climate change as bad weather.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question:<\/strong> \u201cHow worried are you about climate change?\u201d<\/em> Three quarters were a bit or a lot worried, and one quarter couldn\u2019t care less. And so the survey went on \u2013 \u201cHow much do you think climate change will harm you personally?\u201d (80%  \u2013  some hurting or a lot). \u201cHow much do you think climate change will harm future generations?\u201d (90% fearful, 10% don\u2019t give a stuff).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if AFL players should deliver opinions on \u201csocial and environmental issues\u201d, 43% said yes and a quarter said no. On players spouting climate, only 40% approved versus 27% disapproving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would fans pay \u201ca slight increase\u201d in member fees to finance AFL climate action? More than half agreed, but none knew what was meant by \u201cslight\u201d (20% were not fee-paying members anyway).The Hub has always taken the cake for weirdness \u2013 see here<\/a>. I kid you not, this Hub \u2014 or better, \u201chubbub\u201d \u2014 has been hosting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Inspirational climate poetry about Bat Piles<\/a> by its three-year resident poetess Ms Amanda Anastasi. As the Hub explains<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ca range of poetry that captures the science, politics, impacts and ways of<\/em> <\/em>imagining climate change futures<\/em><\/a>. The poems here include one line poems that anticipate a world changed by climate, as well as longer poems in which climate is infused with everyday life in confronting ways.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2666 Tracts from top climate scientists about their nightmares<\/a>, set to violin and percussion music and garnished with Styrofoam jetsam and pressed plants. Try sampling \u201cheatwaves expert\u201d Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick of UNSW<\/a> and the musical montage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy Dear Friend, <\/em>no one around us is taking us seriously, her [the planet\u2019s] symptoms worsen by the day \u2026 they are appearing sooner and with more ferocity than I thought they would. She is crying out in pain, crying out for help \u2026 I feel so lost. Some days I feel like I need to scream at the top of my lungs. \u201cJUST DO SOMETHING!!!\u201d, but I am running out of energy\u2026. I\u2019ll continue fighting for her. Because if we don\u2019t, who will?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 climate-oriented science-fiction agitprop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 software turning cyclone tracks into easy-listening soundscapes<\/a> (isn\u2019t science impressive!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now the Hub and contiguously-green Casey City Council are creating climate lessons for high-schoolers, called Empowering Youth for Climate Action<\/strong><\/a>. The cost to Casey ratepayers is at least $18,000. The draft lessons are supposed to be online for public inspection, but the Hub has emailed me that they\u2019re not, at least not yet. The Hub\u2019s blurb<\/a> goes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people need opportunities to engage in climate action<\/u> and educators require the skills to facilitate this engagement<\/u> inside and outside of STEM subjects.[2]<\/strong><\/a> This pilot project aims to equip high school students with the knowledge and practical tools to address climate change in their homes, schools and communities.<\/u><\/em> [I\u2019m not sure how anyone \u201caddresses\u201d climate change, the usual dopey verb is \u201ctackle\u201d]. Over 12 months <\/em>[to March 2026], this project brings together teachers and students from schools in the City of Casey alongside local scientists to co-design hands-on climate and energy lesson plans<\/u> aligned with the Victorian Curriculum.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the teenagers, teachers and \u201clocal scientists\u201d (heaven knows who they are and what their qualifications might be) have nutted out their brainwash blueprints, organisers will trial draft lessons in classrooms as \u201caction-research\u201d projects. I don\u2019t know whether they\u2019ll deliver their climate texts in poetry or prose, perhaps with music added.The Hub is run by Director Libby Lester, like me a former hack at The Age<\/em><\/a>, but unlike me internationally famous for her studies of the legacy media\u2019s promoting of Net Zero. Until last year she ran the Institute for Social Change at Tasmania University, a campus-rated global top for \u201cClimate Action\u201d. This is an awesome career result, climate alarmism being such a competitive academic specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took a squiz at Libby Lester\u2019s research output<\/a>[3]<\/a> and its quantity is impressive. However, Libby seems to be working with gritted teeth on her sport news analyses, unhappy that popular matches could \u201cgenerate adverse ecological impacts\u201d. It\u2019s fair to say she\u2019s not big fan of motor sport, for example. Her paper Formula One and the insanity of car-based transportation<\/a> says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula 1 is among the most environmentally destructive practices<\/u> today, not least as a sign of the legitimacy of an unsustainable car culture<\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do any Hub academics own cars?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also indexes the power of a lapsed, amateur hegemonic masculinity<\/u> and its technocratic equivalent today. The greenwashing done by and for the industry must be systematically unmasked<\/u> and criticized.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now try Libby\u2019s,\u201dEnvironmental protest and tap-dancing with the media in the information age<\/a>.\u201d I never did any tap-dancing at The Age<\/em>, with or without environmental protesters burning the floor Riverdance-style. But don\u2019t mock journos\u2019 tap-dancing, it\u2019s lauded by a certain Manuel Castells, whom Libby calls the \u201cpre-eminent theorist of the information age and the network society \u2026 His explanation of this dance and its choreography, however, is overly general, ignoring its specific features and workings in terms of representation.\u201dWhen not tap-dancing with media reptiles, radical environmentalists enjoy sitting in trees. Specifically, Professor Lester has chronicled the 449-day tree-sit<\/a> of Ms Miranda Gibson \u201cliving on a small platform 60 metres above the ground in an ancient gum tree\u201d near Tasmania\u2019s Tyenna Forest hamlet of Maydena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time (2011-13), Miranda was a high school teacher specializing in society, environment, and English studies. She equipped her perch in the \u201cObserver Tree\u201d with a solar powered laptop for live-streaming to fellow-activists, a rain-proof canopy and a bucket (don\u2019t ask!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-loggers ran their own demos at ground level. To escape a bushfire (perhaps someone lit it), Miranda eventually shimmied down. Proud but disappointed, she segued to road-blockading. See the movie about her here<\/a>. Could it be she is now sitting in another tree on a forest-topped Queensland mountain to protest clear-felling to make room for and access to wind turbines? Probably not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I drifting from sport? Not so. Libby\u2019s research output includes \u201cEnvisioning a green modernity? The future of cricket in an age of climate crisis\u201d.<\/a> I am not making anything up, by the way. The study reads,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis [academic] article responds to the recent call made in Sport in Society for scholarship that examines the social and political tensions of the age through cricket. Cricket is shown to be an international sport that emphasises the material, political and symbolic realities of the global climate crisis <\/u>\u2026 a constellation of sporting, political, media and environmental actors are working to establish and communicate a new normative consensus about the game\u2019s role in averting the worst impacts of climate change<\/u>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urgency of these efforts is underpinned by the sport\u2019s particular susceptibility to extreme heat, drought, rain and flooding, now and into the future.\u201d<\/em>It did occur to me that Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis enjoy cricket although it gets more hot and muggy over there than at the MCG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another of her papers<\/a> looks at sports reporters\u2019 role in communicating<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>political, social, and cultural issues, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, politics, commercialism, nationalism, and citizenship\u2026 an urgent next step is to imagine what a post-carbon media sports cultural complex<\/u> looks like, and to assess how media sport<\/u> might contribute to a fundamental transformation in the resource and energy foundations of global society<\/u>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Hub strategy is to put out plausible-looking \u201creports\u201d, see here<\/a>, on cricket, tennis and cycling for gullible and leftist media, especially the ABC<\/a>. The scare stuff is also welcomed by non-gullible media such as the Communist Party-run Xinhua Net digital agency<\/a>.[4]<\/a> (The more the West cripples itself with renewables, the better China likes it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reports, for clients like the Australian Conservation Foundation<\/a>, have the same cookie-cutter format, e.g <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCricket Australia has the opportunity to not only reduce its overall climate impact and mitigate the impacts of extreme heat on its players, but to <\/em>mobilise its huge national<\/em> audience<\/em><\/a> on the importance of collective climate action from every sector of the community<\/u>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reports argue heat is getting so dire that January contests need to be switched to November or March. The Hub warns top organisations to ditch fossil-fuel sponsors like Santos and Alinta Energy, and they advocate boycotts of banks and insurers which dare to do business with coal, oil and gas projects. Authors stress to sports directors the dire risks of getting sued over climate inaction, failure to notify clients about (imaginary) climate risks and players\u2019 and fans\u2019 heatstrokes. A common thread is urging top bodies to sign on to sport\/climate protocols put out by UN bureaucrats.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hate to be mercenary but no-one in the climate-panic business ever seems short of a quid. For example, the Hub helped a little mob called Footy for Climate to get going, started by AFL ex-Melbourne players Tom Campbell and Jasper Pittard in 2021 under the mistaken impression that the Black Summer bushfires were climate-caused, as if bushfires are quite new to Australia. [6]<\/a>Collingwood-based, the charity\u2019s been run since last October by CEO Alexi Lynch<\/a>, who seems the sole employee. (Its latest official filings mention one full-time-equivalent<\/a> who runs eight volunteers). Lynch has been managing \u201cclimate action\u201d outfits for 20-plus years.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile manmade CO2 emissions have soared from 28 gigatonnes in 2005 to the current 40 gigatonnes, and with no sign of slowing let alone any arc bending towards net zero 2050. For Lynch, it must be like endlessly backing the bottom-ranked AFL teams.The charity\u2019s sole employee (full-time equivalent) has been paid, in total, $330,000 for the three years to July 2024. During those years the charity acquired donations ($524,031) and grants ($300,000) from mystery parties totalling $824,000. At July 2024 it was sitting on $298,000 at the bank. It\u2019s good to be green, but my email query asking who\u2019s been donating and granting six-figure sums has received as yet no response. The ACNC likes (but does not enforce) such disclosures and I hope the name(s) will emerge soon.[8]<\/a>[9]<\/a> Footy for Climate makes one interesting admission<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince 2020, the AFL have provided financial relief to 595 clubs impacted by a natural disaster. <\/em>Rising energy costs are adding to the challenge, making it harder for volunteer-run clubs to keep their doors open.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It continues that \u201cclean energy technology\u201d will slash energy bills, but this seems to contradict anyone\u2019s and everyone\u2019s energy bills these days.Time now to look at the Hub\u2019s ugly brother FrontRunners<\/a> \u2014 yet another sports-focused pusher of climate peril that is said to be \u201cstriking at the heart of the games we love\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was founded in 2020 by Emma and David Pocock (independent ACT Senator) and governmental lobbyist Lachlan Crombie. FrontRunners is strongly linked with the Labor-subsidised and now notorious Environment Defenders Office (EDO). Just last July David Morris took over as CEO from Emma,<\/a> who remains on the board. Morris had spent 13 years at EDO including five years as its Australia-Pasifik CEO. FrontRunners collaborated with EDO to put out last year a Sports, climate change and legal liability<\/a> report purporting to detail climate risk for sport organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EDO and the Munkara v Santos case (2023\u20132024) involved Tiwi Islanders, represented by EDO, challenging Santos\u2019 $6 billion Barossa gas pipeline over alleged risks to underwater cultural heritage, including angering a rainbow serpent and annoying the \u201cCrocodile Man\u201d who dwells out to sea. As Andrew Bolt put it,<\/a> \u201cThey also claimed the pipeline would disturb graves and sacred sites of Aborigines who lived there more than 20,000 years ago, when the seas were 120m lower and the sea bed there was land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Natalie Charlesworth, throwing the case out, accused EDO of \u201csubtle coaching\u201d of witnesses, distortion of evidence (via a manipulated map), and fabrication of oral traditions. EDO was later ordered to pay Santos $9 million in costs. WA Premier, Roger Cook labeled the case \u201cenvironmental lawfare\u201d and ex-Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon urged ending of government subsidies for environmental activism against projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile FrontRunners, with its heavyweight advisory team, does lobbying, media and campaign training, and crisis management. It specialises in encouraging legal opposition (\u201chigh-impact litigation\u201d) against energy projects and emitters. As climate extremists, FrontRunners demanded that federal Labor cut 2035 emissions at least<\/em> 75% below 2005 l;evels as \u201cthe minimum scientific floor required to do our fair share globally. It sends a powerful signal, and would cement Australia as a global leader.\u201d Labor\u2019s new target is 62-70%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charity runs on just four part-timers \u2014 equivalent to two or three full-time staff. Its accounts show a remarkable $1.1 million unspecified donations in the four years to 2024, with wages payout of nearly $900,000. After losses last year, net equity was down to $50,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FrontRunners\u2019 team is of impeccable leftist pedigree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Emma Pocock<\/a> helped launch Footy for Climate and has supported climate-fearful Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins and his Cricket for Climate Foundation. She co-managed partner David\u2019s Senate campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Co-founder Lachlan Crombie is CEO of climate-political consultancy PremierNational. FrontRunner, without self-consciousness about climate emissions,<\/a>says, \u201cLachlan has travelled the world to attend major sporting events, including the 2011 and 2019 Rugby World Cups, and the 2018 Football World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Deputy CEO Eloise Wittkowsky previously worked for a decade to 2018 as electorate officer for Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Strategic Adviser Martin Rice is Head of Research at Tim Flannery\u2019s Climate Council.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Another Strategic Adviser is journo Dylan Quinnell, media manager for Engie ANZ<\/a>, and formerly with Flannery\u2019s Climate Council on its Media Centre. In Australia Engie<\/a>(formerly Simply Energy) claims to power 400,000 homes and serve about 12% of the energy market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Strategic adviser and ex-netballer Amy Steel<\/a> is Engie Impact\u2019s leader in WA of climate risk and decarbonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Media director Tim Fisher is an ABC alumnus and deputy chair of Psychology for a Safe Climate, whose uber- loopy activities and ideas<\/a> I chronicled four years ago. He is also the longest-serving board member of the Emerging Writers Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Operations Manager David Brice, according to FrontRunners, \u201ctook a brief hiatus from [previous] work to design and build a tiny house, where he now lives with his wife and two active, young boys as they explore what it looks like to live more simply and sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe Prime Minister Albanese could provide his immigrant millions with tiny houses to take the pressure off local buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frontrunners\u2019 acknowledgement of Aboriginal custodians not only maintains the \u201c80,000-plus\u201d years of residence furphy, but expands the claim beyond land and water to \u201cthe stars in the sky, since time immemorial.\u201d If astronauts ever travel four million light years to Proxima Centauri, let\u2019s hope they\u2019ve done their paperwork concerning our local traditional owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, let\u2019s enjoy the Grand Final. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Thomas\u2019s latest book, <\/strong><\/em>Anthem of the Unwoke<\/a><\/strong>,<\/a> is available from Connor Court.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cAussie rules football \u2013 the game we love, and the game that has given us so much \u2013 comes from Marngrook, a First Nations game<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Science, technology, engineering and maths<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> The cited papers are typically co-authored<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cXinhua Net plays a central role in China\u2019s state media ecosystem, promoting official narratives while providing broad news access.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> In 2019 Tennis Australia signed on to the \u201cUNSports for Climate Action Framework\u201d pushing anti-emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> In its first major analysis in 2012,the IPCC said decades more study would be needed before any linkage between warming and extreme weather could be detected, and warming might turn out to reduce extreme weather rather than increase it.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> He managed ICLEI Oceania\u2019s Cities for Climate Protection campaign, engaging over 230 councils representing 84% of Australia\u2019s population. From 2009 to 2024, he led strategic projects on energy efficiency and climate action at Ironbark Sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Footy for Climate also goes overboard on respecting unceded sovereignty, claiming that Aborigines \u201chave looked after this land for over 80,000 years.\u201d The best scientific estimate<\/a> (Appendix One) is actually 30,000 years less, around 50,000 years.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a> The Guardian<\/em> (12\/5\/22) said the AFL has no official involvement<\/a> in Footy for Climate but \u201cfully supports player-led initiatives in raising further awareness and encouraging action on climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Northern Hemisphere readers, Australian football (AFL) has its own rules \u2013 there is no \u2018offside\u2019 rule \u2013 and the Final draws a crowd of 100,000. Monash University is ranked by THE at 58th worldwide and has nearly 60,000 students, plus more at overseas campuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":405907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover the clash between AFL and climate advocacy as fans express frustrations over politicizing sports in today's heated debates.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"AFL Grand Final: Sport, Politics, and Climate Change Debate","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691838436,691818056,691838437,691819743,691818087,691818154,691828657],"class_list":{"0":"post-405904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","9":"tag-climate-carnage","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-climate-crazies","12":"tag-climate-propaganda","13":"tag-global-warming","14":"tag-net-zero","15":"tag-secretary-general-antonio-guterres","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQOE6kVsgwEdiUncr9JfjfW2OyBmFQb8V9bMFE6V-r-ufc2Neym9f8eGEP33MJAtKddsHvHYgdYE0G3s7Maj346y2YKJAeuSFWHilKz_yfMrgNOOmjupIXM8Km0hBORi-1.png?fit=1440%2C810&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1HAQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":264380,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264380","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":0},"title":"Monash, a Fresh Clown in the Climate\u00a0Circus","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Monash, a giant among Australian universities, has 103,000 students and faculty. Of course it\u2019s endorsed the Yes case to hand power to an unelected federal chamber of hereditary Aborigines. But Monash now risks being distracted from its climate crusade.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate warning\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate warning","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-warning"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sz37aBl9XhTp2NVq7HCVgfxmJQl-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sz37aBl9XhTp2NVq7HCVgfxmJQl-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sz37aBl9XhTp2NVq7HCVgfxmJQl-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sz37aBl9XhTp2NVq7HCVgfxmJQl-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sz37aBl9XhTp2NVq7HCVgfxmJQl-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":305358,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=305358","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":1},"title":"If Climate Change is Knocking Down Power Pylons, Why Build More Renewables?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"If storms are getting worse, how can fragile renewable energy infrastructure survive the superstorms of the future?","rel":"","context":"In \"power blackout\"","block_context":{"text":"power blackout","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=power-blackout"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-storm-damage.jpeg?fit=1200%2C611&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-storm-damage.jpeg?fit=1200%2C611&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-storm-damage.jpeg?fit=1200%2C611&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-storm-damage.jpeg?fit=1200%2C611&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-storm-damage.jpeg?fit=1200%2C611&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":363898,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=363898","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":2},"title":"Only bad people get their news from social media and believe \u201cconspiracy theories\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The trick in this \u201cpeer reviewed\u201d propaganda is how they define civic values. You might think it means checking on elderly neighbors, donating to charity, or volunteering at the Scouts, but actually \u201cCivic values were defined as an individual\u2019s belief in democratic institutions \u201c. So if you question parliament or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"B-Grade modelers\"","block_context":{"text":"B-Grade modelers","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=b-grade-modelers"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0-conspiracy-theories.jpeg?fit=1024%2C906&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0-conspiracy-theories.jpeg?fit=1024%2C906&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0-conspiracy-theories.jpeg?fit=1024%2C906&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0-conspiracy-theories.jpeg?fit=1024%2C906&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":205786,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=205786","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":3},"title":"New study may solve long-standing mystery of what triggered ice age","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Canadian Arctic archipelago [via Wikipedia] The clue is in the study title:\u00a0The importance of Canadian Arctic Archipelago gateways for glacial expansion in Scandinavia.\u2013 \u2013 \u2013A new study led by University of Arizona researchers may have solved two mysteries that have long puzzled paleo-climate experts (says Phys.org): Where did the ice\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0new-study-solves-long.jpg?fit=1140%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0new-study-solves-long.jpg?fit=1140%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0new-study-solves-long.jpg?fit=1140%2C854&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0new-study-solves-long.jpg?fit=1140%2C854&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0new-study-solves-long.jpg?fit=1140%2C854&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":239952,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=239952","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":4},"title":"The On-Going Case for Abandoning Homogenization of Australian Temperature Data","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It is thoroughly scary that following in Goebbels footsteps, professors, psychologists and indoctrinators at the climate change hub at Monash University apply similar methods to relentlessly brain-wash vulnerable Australians into holding irrational guilts and fears about climate, equity, justice, privilege and most other social norms.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-719.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-719.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-719.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-719.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-719.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":232752,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=232752","url_meta":{"origin":405904,"position":5},"title":"World\u2019s Northern Hemisphere Tropical Storm Accumulated Cyclone Energy Plunges 33% in 2022","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This\u00a0readily available tropical storm data has been\u00a0consistently ignored, hidden, concealed,\u00a0misrepresented and otherwise falsely manipulated by climate alarmist\u00a0politicians and\u00a0media.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/08268B900-7A7D-4891-B49B12C37BBAE178_medium.webp?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/08268B900-7A7D-4891-B49B12C37BBAE178_medium.webp?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/08268B900-7A7D-4891-B49B12C37BBAE178_medium.webp?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/08268B900-7A7D-4891-B49B12C37BBAE178_medium.webp?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405904"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405908,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405904\/revisions\/405908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/405907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}