Climate
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Environment: Forests, soil and peatlands disappearing
20 million hectares of tropical and boreal forests were lost in 2021. Climate change is destroying the soil crust in arid lands. Peatlands are disappearing globally. It doesn’t have to be this way: action is possible. Continue reading »
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Environment: Electricity, extinctions and agroecology
Wind and solar generate a tenth of the world’s electricity but coal still dominates in Australia. Reptiles and marine species face high risk of extinction. Moving from agribusiness to agroecology. Continue reading »
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Alan Pears-Energy productivity and efficiency improvement: Australia’s forgotten fuels
Whether you focus on climate policy, energy market transition, social justice, health or business competitiveness and innovation, improving energy productivity and efficiency is a winner. Continue reading »
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Wrong way, not just kidding, on climate change
Ross Garnaut has said the leaders are “just kidding” on climate change in the election campaign. It’s worse than that. They are leading us the wrong way. Continue reading »
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Attention Australia: The climate crisis is a health crisis too
After more than two years coping with a pandemic, the last thing we want to hear about is another global health crisis. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that as we continue to heat our fragile planet, we face a threat to public health that will eclipse even COVID-19. Continue reading »
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Environment: Native forests out perform plantations in providing environmental benefits
Native forests deliver more benefits than plantations. ‘Loss and damage’, the unloved sibling in climate negotiations. China builds up its environmental legal system. Continue reading »
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Keith Mitchelson: Climate change and International security – Why defence is Morrison’s greatest policy failure
Scott Morrison claims to be Australia’s best defender. In reality he is its worst. His government’s subservience to local and international oligarchs has seen it neglect real interest in Australia’s long-term security and wellbeing. Continue reading »
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Environment: IPCC lays out the gruesome climate facts
Three years to turn the carbon supertanker around. ‘Fortress conservation’ of forests is killing local communities. Cats and foxes destroy 3 billion Australian native fauna every year. Continue reading »
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A Federal ICAC is needed to protect the environment and climate change laws
The survival of democracy depends on checks and balances, the possibility of corruption being exposed through an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) which will provide a vital check on rorting of the environment. Continue reading »
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We can be friends of the US without being vassals
A manifesto for a new incoming foreign minister. Continue reading »
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Environment: Colonialism, chocolate, Krugman and climate change
The IPCC has accepted that colonialism causes climate change. Options for reducing beef-related emissions. Vastly different population trajectories around the world. Continue reading »
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This should be a climate change election
Anthony Albanese and his colleagues could surely storm to victory if they enthusiastically acted on the arguments presented by climate experts.They would certainly attract the support of the millions of Australians who understandably fear the consequences of our current, disastrously inadequate approach to this topic. Continue reading »
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The need for a department of climate change is now self-evident
The time has come for a powerful government Climate Department to allow strong action on legislating, regulating, and coordinating mitigation, adaptation, and transition. Continue reading »
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Environment: Terrestrial and coastal ecosystems destroyed by human activities
Seagrasses are the forgotten but valuable cousins of our coasts. Powerful ‘farmers’ pay lots and lobby hard to avoid regulation, but methane emissions can be reduced. Continue reading »
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Climate change: Scott Morrison’s achilles heel
Scott Morrison has a problem with climate change which reflects his style of governing. Continue reading »
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International mission to decide on Morrison Government’s climate and reef policies
So, is the Morrison Government doing enough to secure the protection of the Great Barrier Reef? The question is almost absurd. The answer is a deafening no. Continue reading »
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Environment: nobody wants to pay for climate action
The Commonwealth government continues to ignore climate action, while developing countries resist bearing the burden of the renewable energy transition. Scientists say ‘no’ to solar geoengineering. Continue reading »
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The Coalition’s latest environmental fraud supported by Murdoch Media again. No surprise there!
If no one has noticed a central pillar of Australia’s risibly inadequate GHG reduction commitment of 26-28% by 2030 has recently been demolished by our own scientists. Continue reading »
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Environment: Pollution destroys lives, the ozone layer and bushland
Profits trump health in sacrifice zones, and pollution from the 2019/20 bushfires may increase Australia’s skin cancer rate. Dogs destroying bushland. Continue reading »
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The new reality of climate chaos is upon us
The climate criminals are, of course, seeking to cover their tracks. Continue reading »
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Environment: Emissions rising and no green recovery visible
Despite endorsing the IPCC’s findings, and rising emissions, Morrison still supports coal development. New climate-social system model identifies central importance of responsive political institutions for controlling global warming. Continue reading »
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A report by the Ministry for Impending Extinction 2040
I am, of course, referring to human extinction, whilst countless non-human but, nonetheless, brother and sister species plunge into extinction around us, leaving a void, a silence and a grief. Continue reading »
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Don’t expect much – with climate disasters you will largely be on your own
When Scott Morrison chides inundated Australians about expecting too much from the government or the ADF during a crisis, he is not just speaking about the nightmare scale of these catastrophic floods. He is setting expectations for the climate emergency’s cascading disasters. You’re on your own. Continue reading »
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Environment: Wealthy are the major CO2 emitters
Victoria turns a blind eye to illegal logging while USA maps protected areas. Rich individuals and nations need to reduce their emissions and eliminate global poverty. Continue reading »
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Keith Mitchelson – Reconceiving self-interest to reverse global warming
Humanity faces a self-interest choice – destruction of our economies, societies and environment with unfettered global warming, or a massive transformation that eliminates man-made carbon outputs. Continue reading »
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A ten-point plan for managing floods in Australia
All flood crises are more or less wasted, and the ones we have just experienced in New South Wales and Queensland will probably be no different. Continue reading »
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IPCC throws down the gauntlet on Australian institutional deficiencies on climate change.
Exposure and vulnerability of various natural and human systems to climate change are discussed at length in the latest IPPC report (6th Assessment Report on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation). Continue reading »
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Environment: Medications damaging nature and humans
Prescribed drugs, government subsidies and deforestation are destroying nature. But nature fights back in Ecuador. Continue reading »
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Australia’s doomed koalas
In a country expert in killing off mammal species at a rate exceeding that of others (to be fair, there are so many more to destroy, with more to come), Australians now face the prospect that the koala, one of its most singularly recognisable animals, has its days numbered. Continue reading »
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New IPCC report shows Australia is at real risk from climate change, with impacts worsening, future risks high, and wide-ranging adaptation needed
Climatic trends, extreme conditions and sea level rise are already hitting many of Australia’s ecosystems, industries and cities hard. Continue reading »
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