Enviroment
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Environment: Warming, thawing Arctic presents problems for everyone
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe and the effects are global. Bacteria responsible for escalating methane emissions. The false binary of system change or individual behaviour change. Continue reading »
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Environment: Global plastic pollution treaty talks collapse
Should we focus on the plastic or the pollution to eliminate plastic pollution? How to ensure that climate action produces a fairer, more inclusive, healthier world. Brush turkey urban population takes off. Continue reading »
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Saving the greater glider from extinction, one den tree at a time
A juvenile greater glider explores an area about to be logged in Badja State Forest. Image: Wilderness Australia. Government inaction has prompted conservation groups to apply citizen science and sleepless nights to find greater glider den trees and use the NSW logging industry’s own rules to prevent logging and save 3,000 greater gliders. Continue reading »
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The biggest delegation at plastic treaty talks? Plastic industry lobbyists
“Allowing fossil fuel and petrochemical companies to exert their influence in these negotiations is like letting foxes guard the henhouse,” said one campaigner. Continue reading »
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Environment: Climate protesters blockade Newcastle’s coal port despite government bans
Draconian laws don’t discourage climate protesters. Hydrogen’s rainbow of colours. CCS continues to underperform. Clean energy investments increasing but so are investments in fossil fuels. Continue reading »
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Environment: The future of humanity hangs in the balance
‘We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster’, scientists conclude. Donkeys: feral pests or nature’s saviours? Climate change threatens global food security and farmers’ incomes. Continue reading »
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The gods look on aghast, as human calamity unfolds…
From atop Mount Olympus, Zeus peers in perplexity through fumes of fire, dust and vehicle exhaust, toxic chemicals, roiling tempests and raging floods, idly wondering what those darned mortals are up to now… Continue reading »
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Environment: Carbon capture and storage – what’s the real goal?
Carbon capture and storage fails to deliver carbon but succeeds for governments and industry. The pros and cons of reducing your personal carbon footprint. How best to tackle Australia’s land clearing loopholes. Continue reading »
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The unsustainable costs of war
In a world of simultaneous military and environmental crises our capacity to finance both has become unsustainable. Globally, military expenditure over the past decade has been rising at double that of GDP reaching an all-time high of $2.4 trillion in 2023. Continue reading »
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Sustainability scientists challenge the dominant economic system
Conventional economics, a driver of environmental damage and social inequality, fails examination by sustainability scientists. Continue reading »
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Dutton’s nuclear vision is distorted by ignorance (or worse)
Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan may well have minimal carbon emissions, but the distant time of arrival, and ignoring the well known drawbacks makes it a dud. Continue reading »
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Environment: The climate crisis is a health crisis
Climate change will soon be causing an additional 250,000 deaths per year worldwide – children are at particular risk. Only 4% of greenhouse gas emission reduction policies actually reduced emissions. Continue reading »
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Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? Feral cats in the bush
I love cats, furry and friendly. I love kittens chasing feathers and butterflies. I do not love cats in the bush. Continue reading »
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Environment: using the law to drive (and retard) climate action
Climate activists are increasingly using the courts to challenge development approvals and change the law, but so are action delayers. Access to electricity is increasing worldwide, but fossil fuels still dominate electricity production. Continue reading »
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Environment: NSW’s environmental assessment process for logging ignores the previous 200 years
Ignoring 200 years of native forest logging underestimates the consequences of current logging. Beware of false solutions for plastic pollution. How to make your garden bird-friendly. Continue reading »
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Environment: Zambia has lots of copper but will Zambians benefit?
The green transition needs copper but how do poor copper-rich countries reap the rewards? The hydrogen-energy balloon is floating away. Underground tanks help to manage flash floods. Big cats become the prey. Continue reading »
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More marine heatwaves could spell disaster for ocean life
Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent under global warming and this is having a significant impact on species’ ability to recover. Continue reading »
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Environment: Peak oil is close but the descent will be slow
Peak oil is imminent but it will be a long time before we return to base camp. China surging ahead with solar while continuing to burn coal. NATO produces the equivalent of half of Australia’s annual CO2 emissions. Continue reading »
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The gas industry has power and freedom to wreck the world
By now many citizens of our planet recognise that the destructiveness of climate change is moving faster than they imagined, leaving our defences at serious risk and even the money men are concerned about the burgeoning costs and possible economic collapse. Continue reading »
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Environment: will humans behave like monkeys when climate apocalypse strikes?
Summers right across the northern hemisphere are getting hotter but vegetation can lower the temperature locally. Macaques show humans how to cope with hotter conditions. Poor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Continue reading »
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Environment: banks still bankrolling fossil fuels
Big banks keep providing big money to fossil fuel companies but it’s time for the Global North to invest for the future and pay its historic climate debt to the Global South. Diminishing Sagebrush is threatening the USA’s Greater sage-grouse. Continue reading »
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Refuting myths about nuclear and renewable energy
Nuclear energy proponents are disseminating several myths that are receiving little or no challenge in the mainstream media. They are incorrect or misleading. Continue reading »
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UNESCO calls on Australia to take more ambitious climate action
It feels like Groundhog day: Another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef, another meeting of the World Heritage Committee to examine Australia’s progress to safeguard our World Heritage-listed icon. Continue reading »
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Who prepared Dutton’s report on nuclear power?
The Canberra Press Gallery is not a homogenous group although its members do seem to suffer from a fair amount of groupthink; preference for gotchas and speculation about what might happen next in politics; and heavy dependence on leaks and drops for copy. Continue reading »
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Environment: When will politicians take climate change seriously?
Both the WHO and UN may be starting to take seriously the effects of climate change on health. A global plan to save 1,000 freshwater fish from extinction. Covid reverses life expectancy at birth. Continue reading »
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Log the forest and get carbon credit rewards
Two major Malaysian logging companies that have devastated Borneo’s forests have been granted “Forest Carbon Research Permits” in the first step to enable them to log old-growth forests and claim carbon credits. Continue reading »
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Environment: Government delivers climate rhetoric but not emissions reductions
Australia’s emissions reductions have stalled just when we need to be ramping up ambition and action. Concrete’s emissions set to be high for decades. Continue reading »
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Full spectrum resistance: we need militant teams who are willing to destroy the death machine
I can not think of a greater tragedy in existence than to allow the greed of a few to destroy all life on earth. Continue reading »
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The ugly truth of the native forest logging wars
Despite industry and political spin, our Australian native forests continue to be destroyed. The many mythologies put forward in defence of continued logging are contradicted in detail by the facts and evidence. Continue reading »
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Environment: CO2 emissions still increasing
CO2 emissions continued to increase in 2023 with now little chance of global warming staying under 1.5oC. Planting trees is part of the solution but only in the longer term. Even Hollywood is getting the message. Continue reading »
