Climate
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GEORGE BROWNING. Democratise Energy: Reform Taxation: Save the Planet.
Stuck in a traffic jam every day on the way to work do you imagine this is the way it is always going to be – only a little worse? If your livelihood is agriculture, like your father and his father before him, you face challenges they did not have to face. Weather patterns are Continue reading »
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IAN DUNLOP. Parliament must treat Climate Change as an Emergency
A year ago, discussion of climate change as an existential threat, and the corresponding need for emergency action, was anathema to those leading debate on climate policy in the political, corporate and NGO incumbencies globally. Incremental change remained the order of the day. But even that was too much for Australia, where political denial of Continue reading »
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KATE FINLAYSON and TIM BUCKLEY. Queensland government about to make poor economic decision on Adani mine.
Following the Labor party’s defeat in May’s general election, the Queensland Labor government seems keen to approve the development of the Adani thermal coal mine as quickly as possible. However, a report released this week by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) exposes the Queensland government’s poor economic analysis and failure to Continue reading »
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GAIA VINCE. The consequences of 4 degree warming. Only radical measures will work (The Guardian)
Experts agree that global heating of 4C by 2100 is a real possibility. The effects of such a rise will be extreme and require a drastic shift in the way we live Continue reading »
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MICHAEL McKINLEY. Another climate change warning and the return of a Pentagon prophecy the new government might take seriously.
Richard Butler recently made the point on this site that, in relation to foreign policy, the Australian Government finds the disposition and pose of the ostrich to be to its liking: a futile self-absorption in reality denial. To this I would add that it is common to almost every policy area, and it recalls the traditional Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 2 June 2019
Where is the drive that is urgently needed to transition to a zero carbon, environmentally sustainable world going to come from? A European group thinks Community-Led Initiatives can provide a kick-start. Climate change is affecting animals and plants, and the reverse is also true. Stories about worms, forests, snow hares, moose and ticks illustrate this. Continue reading »
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TIM BUCKLEY. The Global Energy Transformation is Well Underway
Improved technology and economies of scale are driving rapidly falling costs of renewable energy. As a result financial institutions and energy corporates are fleeing coal and coal facilities are becoming stranded assets. Government policies in China and India and other Asian nations are reinforcing this trend. Australia must prepare for the inevitable technology driven disruption. Continue reading »
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DAVID MACILWAIN. Of Miracles, Mice and Men.
Following the disastrous failure to change the Australian government to one offering effective action on climate change, I take a scientific and personal look at just what lies ahead. Continue reading »
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BILL MOYERS. Telling the truth. What if we covered the climate crisis like we did the start of the second world war? (The Guardian 22 May 2019)
In the war, the purpose of journalism was to awaken the world to the catastrophe looming ahead of it. We must approach our climate crisis the same way. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 26 May 2019
Some pieces this week relevant to the causes of Labor’s problems last Saturday. Was their environmental message wrong? – not according to a recent report suggesting sea level rise of up to two metres by 2100, or the forced migrations that will occur as temperatures rise, or the rapidly falling price of wind, solar power Continue reading »
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CHRIS MILLS. Australians’ Electricity Transition Plan: Coal to Renewables.
Climate scientist across the world have proven beyond reasonable doubt that anthropometric heating of the planet is a grave and imminent danger to humanity, often described as an existential threat. In Australia, our politicians have dithered for decades while the world burns. The claim is that Global Warming is a ‘wicked’ unsolvable problem, but is Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 19 May 2019
The shocking loss of biodiversity and the threat it poses for human welfare have been highlighted recently with reports on the global crisis and New Zealand’s parlous record. Threatened by climate change, Torres Strait Islanders have challenged the Australian government at the UN Human Rights Committee, arguing that the government is obliged to do more Continue reading »
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ANNIKA DEAN. We cannot afford inaction on climate change
There has been a lot of recent speculation in the media about the economic costs of each party’s climate policies. But so far, there has been little talk of the costs of inaction. Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. The Newspeak road to four degrees Celsius warming.
While a price placed on the Earth, estimated at $5000 trillion (New Formula Values Earth), belongs to the unthinkable, the haggle by conservatives over the price of mitigation of climate change underpins the reality of the Faustian Bargain. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL MAZENGARB. Global fossil fuel subsidies reach $5.2 trillion, and $29 billion in Australia (Renew Economy)
New analysis commissioned by the International Monetary Fund has shown that global fossil fuel subsidies continue to grow, despite the growing urgency of the need to decarbonise the global economy. Continue reading »
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BELINDA KINKEAD. Australia’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Australia is experiencing a remarkable renewable energy transition – not that you would know if you listen to some federal politicians. The Coalition consistently tells us that Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are “coming down” and that we’re on track to meet our Paris climate targets “at a canter”. In reality, neither of those statements is Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. How do the parties’ environmental policies compare?
If climate change is going to influence your vote this Saturday you may want to know how the three main political parties’ environment policies shape up. Here are three scorecards to help you decide who to favour with your vote. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 12 May 2019
A new petrochemical and plastics hub is being developed in the USA based on locally mined unconventional gas, while the carbon dioxide produced by Australia’s exports of coal and natural gas greatly exceed our domestic carbon dioxide emissions. In better news, authors of a recent scientific paper have looked at climate change and loss of Continue reading »
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MICHAEL SLEZAK. Climate change a bigger threat to Australia’s interests than terrorism, Lowy Institute poll suggests (ABC 8.5.2019)
Climate change is a “critical threat” to Australia’s interests according to almost two-thirds of Australians — ranked as a more serious concern than international terrorism, North Korea’s nuclear program or cyber attacks from other countries. Continue reading »
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FIONA ARMSTRONG. Health groups release climate policy scorecard: Coalition earns 0/8
The national coalition of health groups working for climate action, Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), has released a Federal Election Scorecard after analysing the parties’ policies on climate change and health. Continue reading »
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MIKE SCRAFTON. IPBES and IPCC: Calamity cannot be averted
The key messages contained Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) Summary For Policymakers are not surprising. The trends have been well known for a long time, perhaps only the current scale of the crisis might be news. But if earlier reports like the IPCC’s Global Warming of 1.5C or UN’s World Continue reading »
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CHRIS TURNEY. UK becomes first country to declare a ‘climate emergency’. Why not Australia?
Last Wednesday night a bipartisan UK Parliament passed an extraordinary measure: a national declaration of an Environment and Climate Emergency. The UK is the first national government to declare such an emergency. The decision marks a renewed sense of urgency in tackling climate change, following a visit to Parliament by teenage activist Greta Thunberg , Continue reading »
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CHRIS MILLS. Powering electric vehicles with ‘‘Swap-n-go” power packs
In Australia, a minuscule 0.3% of vehicles have electric propulsion, notwithstanding that those acknowledging the reality of anthropometric Global Warming recognise that transportation is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Possible reasons for resistance to electric vehicle purchase include high price, ‘range anxiety’ and long charging times. Those with an eye to the future might Continue reading »
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ALAN PEARS. The cost of Labor’s Paris Climate Change Policies
Economic modelling is one of many tools for policy development. It is often taken out of context and misused. The present debate over the cost of Labor’s climate policy provides an example. Lack of context, modelling assumptions and selective use of modelling results risks distorting future climate and energy policy, with serious consequences. Continue reading »
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RICHARD FLANNAGAN. I’m willing to go to jail to stop Adani and save our beloved country. Will you stand with me? (The Conversation)
In this anti-Adani rally speech, novelist Richard Flanagan says the fight against the Carmichael coalmine defines the fight against the climate crisis Continue reading »
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IAN DUNLOP. Modelling Climate Change Minutiae
The hysteria surrounding Brian Fisher’s economic modelling of Coalition and ALP climate policies typifies the predatory delay which has bedevilled the development of any sensible response to our climate and energy dilemma since Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, namely: “The blocking or slowing of needed change, in order to make money off unsustainable, Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 5 May 2019
Land use is the focus this week. From threats to the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley and to Indigenous cultures and lifestyles in the Arctic to cities’ responses to the opportunities and challenges presented by climate change. But to start, news from UK that the parliaments in London and Cardiff have both passed motions this Continue reading »
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BERNARD KEANE. The media has failed spectacularly on climate change (Crikey)
The media’s coverage of climate change in the election campaign has reflected the Coalition’s long-term strategy of denialism, rather than a desire for genuine scrutiny. Continue reading »
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The climate and the extinction rebellion
“The first law of humanity is not to kill your children.” (Joachim Hans Schellnhuber, Germany’s and the EU’s chief climate scientist.) “We will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control that will most likely lead to the end of our civilization as we know it”… “Now we probably Continue reading »
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David Pope’s view: We shall fight them on what’s left of the beaches (Canberra Times 3.5.2019)
In her ‘gotcha’ style of questioning Leigh Sales on ABC challenged Bill Shorten about the cost of his climate change policies. People with any real knowledge of the subject know there is no simple answer. What is clear is that we face an existential threat to our planet.David Pope in the Canberra Times pointed to Continue reading »