Climate
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Environment: Governments and fossil fuel subsidies, the infatuation grows
Doesn’t matter how much harm fossil fuels cause, governments have an ‘Everlasting Love’ for subsidising them, so no surprise that coal and oil consumption is increasing. The global love affair with electricity started in 1950. Continue reading »
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Environment: Andrew Forrest’s climate message to Biden, Modi and Xi
Andrew Forrest makes impassioned plea for governments to hold business responsible for climate action. African countries struggle to extract their natural resources without destroying their environments and people. Continue reading »
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Environment: Eat more plants to save the world
Vegans and vegetarians do less damage to the environment than meat-eaters. TotalEnergies and World Rugby team up in Paris to play a dirty game. Tips to become a better recycler. Continue reading »
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Environment: Sleepwalking into our fiery future
Not enough action to preserve our forests and not enough action to prevent bushfires. Less than twelve years before we hit 1.5o of global warming. Continue reading »
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Environment: Biodiversity is decreasing but damaged ecosystems can be restored
Agricultural intensification is killing European birds. Europeans are killing Australia’s native rodents. Getting rid of invasive species and reintroducing native species can re-establish natural ecosystems. Continue reading »
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Are we failing to see the wood for the trees on climate risks?
Extreme climate impacts are exploding in this year’s Northern Hemisphere summer. We urgently need to understand how climate disruption will affect Australians: their safety and well-being in the face of ever-more-extreme climate events, the viability of public and private infrastructure, communications and logistical systems, challenges to food security, and much more. Continue reading »
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Environment: Critical months ahead for Australia’s environmental legislation
Australia’s environmental protection legislation needs all hands-on deck right now. City centre households have lower emissions than the suburbs. Northern hemisphere summers getting hotter. Continue reading »
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Compromised by vested interests: UNCOP culture doesn’t match reality
At the end of a Retreat together on “Spiritual Leadership in Difficult Times”, a German social scientist asked me to help her to organise a Retreat for decision-makers at the next UNCOP – the annual UN Conference of Parties focused on preventing catastrophic climate change in ways that are just. Just, yes, especially towards those Continue reading »
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Environment: Palaszczuk – mining coal is good for your health
The Queensland government is vigorously promoting coal’s social licence. Heat waves are clearly linked to global warming. The war in Ukraine is destroying the environment as well as people. Continue reading »
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Climate and ecological security: time for rogue thinking?
Imagine encountering an enemy and, as it starts to reveal its full array of tactics and capabilities, a feeling of ice-cold fear runs through your chest. In an instant, you realise that you are out-matched; you’ve been out-witted, and defeat is a real possibility. As has occurred so often in military history, the threat assessment Continue reading »
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Bowen: “It’s too late to avoid the climate emergency”
Australia’s climate and energy minister Chris Bowen says the extreme weather events of recent years, and the heatwaves sweeping the globe in this northern summer, show that the world has already failed to prevent a climate emergency. Continue reading »
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Environment: Carbon bombs will explode all hopes of 1.5
There are over 400 fossil fuel projects each with the potential to release more than 1 Gt of CO2. Serious environmental and human rights problems associated with mining the energy transition’s essential metals. Barry Commoner described the problem and its cause 60 years ago. Continue reading »
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Environment: Australia’s energy transition pathways a shambles
Australia’s energy transition pathways are piecemeal and incoherent and inconsistent with achieving the 1.5oC goal. Eliminating fluorocarbons helps the climate and the ozone layer. No future for CCS in the steel industry. Continue reading »
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Con job: Australian Sea Dumping Bill facilitates fossil fuel mining
Governments around the world are promoting and subsidising carbon capture and storage (CCUS) to facilitate an increase in fossil gas mining. This will dash any hope of controlling world emissions at a time when there are deep concerns for climate change becoming uncontrollable. Continue reading »
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Climate change gets worse daily
Torres Strait Islanders and the people of Vanuatu pursue legal action to force inept governments to stop climate change. The Great Barrier Reef is at severe risk of disappearing as a result of climate change, which is also causing Earth to wobble on its axis. Continue reading »
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Australia scores zero for taking action to protect our health from climate change
Climate change poses major threats to the health of all people globally. Australia has been slow to recognise this. In an assessment of the health-related content of 58 nations’ plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, Australia scored zero. Continue reading »
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Environment: Invasive animals and plants are the main killers of our native ones
Invasive species, including pet cats, have been and remain the major cause of extinctions in Australia. ‘Net zero emissions’ sounds good but is it just a greenwashing delaying tactic? Continue reading »
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China adds 62 gigawatts of solar capacity in just five months, compared to 10 gigs in the US
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Carrie Xiao at PV Tech reports that in the first five months of 2023, China has installed 62.1 gigawatts of solar capacity at a cost of $13.6 billion. Year on year, it was a 140 per cent expansion. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this advance, Continue reading »
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To tackle climate change, we need peace – and also an accountable Defence department
Preventing wars, demilitarisation and promoting peace are vital strategies for tackling climate change, writes Dr Sue Wareham OAM, President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War. She also urges the Defence Department to lift its game on climate action, and to commit to improved measurement, reporting and scrutiny of military emissions. Continue reading »
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Malignant obsessions distract us from the collapse of human civilisation
The real drama played out in the North Atlantic last week wasn’t the latest hubristic exercise in “frontier tourism”, but the current sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly rise, recorded on the Northern Hemisphere summer solstice, June 21, 2023. Continue reading »
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Environment: Natural resources, renewable energy, opportunities and vision will create the African Century
A plan for Africans to take control of Africa and make it prosperous, fair and low carbon. Price of solar panels falling again. Protection for Macquarie Island’s wildlife. Continue reading »
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Our planet is imploding: when will we act to save ourselves?
While much of humanity was glued to the unfolding drama over one tiny submarine, the Earth we all inhabit is slowly, steadily and implacably imploding around us. Continue reading »
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Environment: Two years left for a decent chance of keeping warming under 1.5ºC
Scientists establish annual dashboard of indicators of climate change to guide policymakers. Bushfires fatal for humans and invertebrates. Commercial sponsors sought for November’s COP meeting in Dubai. Continue reading »
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Requiem for our species
The effects of the climate crisis intrude with increasing regularity into our lives and yet we do not act. We are as paralysed as past civilisations were when facing catastrophic destruction. Continue reading »
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Environment: Do CO2 emissions influence your life expectancy?
Military activities generate uncounted but large amounts of greenhouse gas. Ocean temperatures hit all-time peak in April. Victoria to end logging of native forests. And, do your personal CO2 emissions influence your life expectancy? Continue reading »
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Environment: Who are the green groups pocketing dirty dollars?
Fossil fuel companies burnish their image with environmental sponsorships. Lakes and reservoirs drying up around the globe. China dominates the production of solar panels. Continue reading »
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The swarm: International consultancies
Predatory capitalism has become visible across the world as neo-liberalism becomes fully transnational. Consultancies working to authoritarian rules have consumed big business by making executives richer. They may be set to engulf governments and even entire societies. Continue reading »
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We love you gas, we do. Oh gas, we love you
Sycophantic ministers cosy up to the gas industry. Electricity from renewables will soon match increasing demand for electricity. Will sodium replace lithium in batteries? Continue reading »
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Spain runs entirely on green energy for 9 hours for first time, in harbinger of green future
Spain, the world’s 15th largest economy and the fourth-largest in Europe, recently ran for 9 hours entirely on wind, solar and hydro. It is not the first time the renewables supplied all of the country’s domestic electricity needs on the peninsula, but it is the first time they did so for so many hours in Continue reading »
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SA’s populist punishment law to chill climate dissent
A new Bill to silence climate protest has provoked a broad chorus of alarm in South Australia. Despite opposition, it seems likely the Bill will pass and South Australia will join the ranks of governments determined to suppress opposition to the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading »
