When he looks in the eyes of protestors he can see the idealism of their student days rekindled once again.
There are plenty of operators out there who want to take advantage of this new phenomenon.
Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and another 68 has-been and wannabe musicians are fighting against coal under the name of Green Music Australia. They have signed a "Music Scene Climate Change Declaration" because they believe "time is up for coal".
They probably also want those kids who skipped class to protest against Adani and their grandparents to buy their music.
Kelly has been from St Kilda to Kings Cross but has he been to Moranbah or Singleton and looked at real coal mining communities?
A lot of baby boomers should be thankful for coal and Adani's Carmichael coal project.
It has given them something to be passionate about now that they have entered their dotage. Some of them have not had so much fun since 1968.
Martin Place in Sydney has a regular group of aged folky singers with their guitars who have dusted off their old anti-Vietnam songs and changed a few words to make them anti-coal.
It doesn't matter that they don't have the foggiest idea what Adani is actually proposing to do at Carmichael.
Hogsback is frequently stopped by anti-coal folk while minding his own business and walking through the city.
One veteran protestor was still wearing his old No Coal Seam Gas badge. He obviously hasn't moved with the times. Hating Adani is the in-thing to do in 2019.
Almost every politician contesting the forthcoming federal election professes to care deeply about climate change. They all want to be top of the pops with the hip grannies as well as the young students who haven't learnt what exports and balance of payments are all about.
Hogsback remembers a time when saving the whale was Australia's pre-eminent environmental issue. The anti-whale protestors were courteous and rational compared to this bunch of coal-haters.
Maybe there should be less idealism and more realism for everyone involved on this vexed question of coal and climate change.
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind,
