Climate
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Solving the mega-risks
The world is awash with literature describing the deepening self-inflicted crisis into which humanity is pitching. I am frequently asked how we can solve it, presuming we wish to do so. Here, briefly, are the ten most urgent solutions…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Ecosocialist advice for the G7’s leaders and encouragement to read a recent P&I article on carbon accounting. The price of solar panels is rising slightly and our sylvan friends are emitting ‘treethane’. Finally, a plea to dog owners…. Continue reading »
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Carbon border adjustments: what are they and how will they affect Australia?
Australia cannot continue to stand apart from other wealthy countries, free riding on their emission reduction efforts. Sooner rather than later, we will need to set commensurate targets under the Paris Agreement and implement policies to achieve them…. Continue reading »
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Climate tipping point looms
It is ironic that the most successful film – in box office terms – about climate change and dramatic changes to the earth was made by Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox…. Continue reading »
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Jobs versus climate
A debate between having a job and acting on climate change is painful for everyone involved and will not end well. Yet the absence of a clear narrative from our political leaders to clarify the issue is leaving many Australian communities in exactly that position…. Continue reading »
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After the G7, the G20 and COP 26 in Glasgow, what might be real progress on the climate crisis by the end of the year?
We’ve had President Biden’s ‘zoom’ climate Summit. The G7 meeting in Cornwall this week is looking to ramp up ambition on climate response. And the most significant UN meeting on climate change since Paris is taking place in Glasgow in November. Expectations are high. But with intense geo-political tensions and covid response concentrating attention, what… Continue reading »
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide hits highest level in more than 4 million years
New data released on Monday showed atmospheric carbon dioxide reached a monthly average level of 419 parts per million in May, which is not only the maximum reading ever recorded since accurate measurements began 63 years ago but also the highest level the planet has experienced in more than four million years…. Continue reading »
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The politics of reaching net-zero
Rapid technological change is necessary but not sufficient to avoid dangerous climate change. Policies to encourage selective consumption and reduced total consumption are also needed…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Chemical pollution is an under-appreciated threat to our oceans. China and the OECD are now running neck-and-neck on greenhouse gas emissions but Australia’s major overseas coal and gas customers place their bets elsewhere as ‘Net Zero’ starts to make a strong run in the 2050 Survival Stakes…. Continue reading »
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Wind and solar help Australia slash emissions, but no credit to Coalition
Strong investment in new wind and solar projects, the effects of Covid-19 and the ongoing decline of the coal sector helped to drive Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions lower in 2020 – but the early signs of a Covid-19 recovery bounce-back are already starting to show…. Continue reading »
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Mice and men: the mouse plague and aggressive land clearing
Over the years, Australian authorities have made many poor decisions about allowing the introduction of biocidal agents into the environment. In most cases, such decisions have been based on the demands of powerful minorities with no responsibility to the general community. The Berejiklian-Barilaro government looks set to outdo them all by authorising the use of… Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Only a quarter of Earth’s land was ‘wild’ 12,000 years ago. Tropical deforestation increases despite international agreements to stop it by 2030. Plans to save Australia’s 50 most threatened plants, six unburnt forests on the east coast, and WA’s native vegetation…. Continue reading »
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Climate Change and ‘The Australian’s’ Graham Lloyd
For years I have marvelled at the way The Australian’s Graham Lloyd has spun climate science research to boost scepticism about global warming and the need for action…. Continue reading »
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‘Gas-led recovery’: methane and the risk of mass extinction
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum” – Noam Chomsky (1998)…. Continue reading »
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Tracing the carbon loophole and other trade secrets that lead to unaccounted emissions
As rich countries develop they cast a shadow over their poorer trading partners. Australian research is exposing these hidden ecological and social costs. Around the world, unaccounted emissions in internationally traded goods and services are estimated at over a quarter of global CO2. This undermines the Kyoto Protocol and threatens the future of the Paris… Continue reading »
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Myopic thinking in Australia on electric vehicles and renewable power
Everyone’s looking at the transition to renewable power but ignoring another massive transition that has huge implications for the grid – the transition to electric vehicles. Looked at together changes the story…. Continue reading »
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Morrison churlishly ignores scientific achievement
Scott Morrison’s churlishness is always on show when some Australian achieves great success in any area when Morrison’s perceived political enemies lurk. … Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
The International Energy Agency recognises the climate emergency and plots a course to net zero, plus NGOs give world leaders advice on how to ensure Glasgow’s COP26 is a success. An Australian construction company tells a government inquiry that working for Adani is uninsurable. Stunning photo of Earth’s thin, life-preserving air-bag…. Continue reading »
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The unreality of the pledge for “zero emissions by 2050”
Orwellian Doublespeak is a language which deliberately distorts the meaning of words, using contradictory weasel words allowing an assault on reality. In the present, in order to pacify public opinion, authorities are pledging “zero emissions by 2050” (or some other date), an empty promise undermined by current investments in mining hydrocarbons, by large scale export… Continue reading »
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AGL needs to quit coal for Australia to get to net-zero
This week conservative energy body, the International Energy Agency (IEA) outlined a global pathway towards net-zero by 2050. A growing number of businesses are joining every Australian state and territory in committing to net-zero emissions. In the face of this seismic shift, even certified coal-carrier Scott Morrison’s resistance is starting to waver…. Continue reading »
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Coral Reef Forecast: grim but hope and action will ensure survival
Australia’s mish mash of climate policies are consistent with a 2.5 – 3.0°C rise in global average temperature compared to pre-industrial levels. That would wipe out all the world’s coral reefs, force half a billion people into food insecurity and destroy one of the seven natural wonders of the world…. Continue reading »
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Climate change is an area of cooperation for China and the Five Eyes countries
Despite the deterioration in relations between the UK and China, they will continue to cooperate on climate change due to the force of circumstances because the UK is hosting the UN Conference of the Parties on climate change in Scotland in November – referred to as COP26…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Energy use is soaring in 2021 after COVID reduced demand in 2020. Renewables are approaching take-off in the USA, while the Australian government continues to load them with ballast. Call for health care services globally to reduce their large carbon footprint. … Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Vast foreign debts hobble the efforts of poor countries to pursue climate action. Ways to reduce the embodied carbon emissions in buildings. Traditional owners fight back against Adani. German court forces government to take stronger climate action…. Continue reading »
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WTO and climate change – a clash of treaties
The emission reduction measures proposed by governments to meet their Paris Climate Agreement commitments will violate their legally binding WTO obligations. This clash of treaties will have deleterious consequences for both…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Geopolitics and climate change combine to damage lives and environments in Iraq, but moves to make ecocide a crime. APRA invites comments on its guidance for the financial sector on climate change, while Scotty used emissions per person to mislead the world…. Continue reading »
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Capitalism, COVID, and Climate
The pandemic alliance between Big Pharma and governments foreshadows how the market-based capitalist system will fail to address global warming. Just finding low emissions technology is not an answer…. Continue reading »
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The political problem of defining “flood prone”
The words ‘flood’ and prone’ are simple enough to comprehend, but when they are put next to each other in a sentence they can quickly become problematic…. Continue reading »
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Debunking misinformation and climate change
It might be surprising given the scale of the problem, but there is an emerging consensus about the current status of the science of misinformation and its debunking in respect to climate change…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Sharan Burrow paints a picture of an inclusive future. Northern summers getting hotter but Australia’s environment deteriorates. Oil companies greenwashing activities exposed. Lessons from Germany about how to exit coal (if you want to, that is)…. Continue reading »
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