James Beattie
James Beattie is a philosopher and writer with a particular interest in the ethical dimensions of politics and policies in relation to climate change and the environment. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Melbourne (1996).
He publishes at https://changetracks.substack.com/.
Recent articles by James Beattie
28 August 2024
Prioritising global overheating over AUKUS: a kumbaya opportunity for hawks and doves
Australia punches well above its weight when it comes to global fossil carbon emissions. With less than one-third of one percent of the world’s population, we are responsible for about 4.5 percent of fossil carbon emissions globally, and around 80 percent of this comes from our fossil fuel exports. Our nation is thus responsible for around 14 times more emissions than our population size would predict. And even if we only consider our per-capita domestic GHG footprint, we rank among the globe’s highest emitters. Australia’s exports of fossil fuels are nearly three times those of the UAE.
2 August 2024
War in a hot climate: the luxury of AUKUS in a time of global overheating
The Roman emperor Nero was a horrible, horrible man, as Donald Trump might put it. His murderous reign of terror has certainly earned him a place in the history books, but the only thing most people believe about him is certainly false: that he played the fiddle while Rome burned. He may have strummed his cithara while the conflagration raged, but even this much is uncertain.