Climate
-
IAN DUNLOP. Stopping Adani is a National Necessity, Economically, Financially and for our Survival.
Central banks, regulators and insurers are starting to acknowledge that the risks of human-induced climate change will have far greater economic and financial consequences than the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Likewise, global investors and corporations are finally accepting that climate risk is fundamentally changing their business models. Continue reading »
-
GEORGE MONBIOT. Only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse (The Guardian)
No one is coming to save us. Mass civil disobedience is essential to force a political response. Continue reading »
-
JOHN MENADUE. The Greens– good policies and poor politics.
The Greens have correctly directed criticism at the cruel policies of the ALP and the Coalition on refugees in Manus and Nauru. They are also rightly critical of the major parties on climate change.But on both issues the Greens have not been very helpful . Continue reading »
-
MARC HUDSON. In Australia, climate policy battles are endlessly reheated (The Conversation)
This article is part of a series examining the Coalition government’s record on key issues while in power and what Labor is promising if it wins the 2019 federal election. It might feel like the past decade of climate policy wars has led us into uncharted political waters. But the truth is, we’ve been sailing Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 28 April 2019
The United Nations, The Lancet, Australia21 and Extinction Rebellion all, in their various ways, reckon that the environment and human health are going to hell in a handbasket while oil and gas companies invest big to ensure that we don’t run out of fossil fuel energy to get us there. Reassuringly, the majority of Australians Continue reading »
-
MELISSA SWEET. What might Greta Thunberg tell the Australian Parliament? (Croakey)
This week, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who must surely go down in history as one of the great champions for global health, addressed the British Parliament. Continue reading »
-
JOHN MENADUE. Jobs at Adani or on the Great Barrier Reef.
There are very strong grounds for Australia to phase out the mining of steaming coal as soon as possible and certainly not to promote new coal projects such as Adani. Our planet is increasingly at risk. Protecting the Great Barrier Reef is likely to save and promote more jobs than the few jobs in prospect Continue reading »
-
TIM WINTON. Our leaders are ignoring global warming to the point of criminal negligence. It’s unforgivable (The Guardian)
Humanity survived the cold war because no one pushed the button. On climate change, the button has been pushed again and again. Continue reading »
-
DAMIEN WILLIAMS. We need to keep temperature to a 1.5 degree increase… a letter to the Hon. Mark Dreyfus MP
Labor’s attempt to find the middle ground in its climate policy pays lip service to the warnings that credible scientists are making on the need for drastic cuts to fossil fuel emissions by 2030. The party’s position, outlined by the federal member for Isaacs, Mark Dreyfus, in a letter to his constituents , misses the Continue reading »
-
MARRYANNE SLATTERY AND ROD CAMPBELL. Debugging the Watergate complex (The Australian Institute, April 2019)
Interpreting the responses to #Watergate by the Prime Minister and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Continue reading »
-
DAVID SHEARMAN. Parliamentary reform is vital to address the complex problems of environmental change.
The poor standing of politicians and the lack of expertise in their ranks and Ministries increasingly results in inadequate policy in complex problems such as climate change. It is essential that the next government commences reform of Parliamentary processes and harness necessary expertise. Continue reading »
-
IAN DUNLOP, DAVID SPRATT. Is the Australian Public Service fit-for-purpose to handle existential climate risk?
The first duty of a government is to “protect the people”, their safety and well-being. Nowhere is this duty more important than in addressing climate change, which now constitutes a near-term existential threat to human civilisation. It is an open, and pressing, question whether the Australian Public Service (APS), and particularly the intelligence services, currently Continue reading »
-
FIONA ARMSTRONG. Who will address the health emergency of climate change?
Climate change causes many health problems and will have enormous impacts on Australia’s health system. Yet most Australian governments have been slow to prepare the health services for the inevitable challenges. Fifty health, social welfare and conservation groups, representing over one million Australians, have issued an open letter to all political parties and candidates in Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 21 April 2019
Although carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, new modelling demonstrates that it is still technically and economically feasible to keep global warming below 1.5oC, with many advantages for the world’s economy, jobs and public health, but the influence of fossil fuel companies makes it politically unlikely. And yet with just 1oC of warming, life in Continue reading »
-
GRAEME WORBOYS. Celebrating Kosciuszko’s 75th anniversary.
The 75th anniversary of the establishment of Kosciuszko State Park falls on Good Friday, 19 April 2019. The Park was famously established by Premier William McKell to protect the nationally important mountain water catchments, to restore soil erosion caused by burning off and over-grazing by stock and to provide opportunities for visitor use and enjoyment. Continue reading »
-
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said greenhouse gas emissions have turned around by 1.1 billion tonnes under the Coalition. Is he correct? (ABC News)
The Morrison Government has for months argued Australia is on track to meet its international greenhouse gas emissions abatement targets “in a canter”. Continue reading »
-
Australia unprepared for worsening wild weather, ex-emergency chiefs warn (The New Daily)
Concerned former fire and emergency chiefs have warned of increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events and demanded action on climate change. The group of 23 ex-top brass fired a salvo against Prime Minister Scott Morrison as well as state and territory governments in a signed joint letter issued in Melbourne on Wednesday. Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 14 April 2019
Different pasts, presents and challenges but the UK and Indonesia are both making significant progress toward sustainable futures while Australia continues to fiddle and fume, albeit comically on occasions. No laughs associated with large increases in the numbers of people exposed to malaria, dengue and Zika as a result of changing climate patterns though, and Continue reading »
-
ALBERT VAN DIJK. Australia’s 2018 environmental scorecard: a dreadful year that demands action (The Conversation).
Environmental news is rarely good. But even by those low standards, 2018 was especially bad. That is the main conclusion from Australia’s Environment in 2018, the latest in an annual series of environmental condition reports, released today. Every year, we analyse vast amounts of measurements from satellites and on-ground stations using algorithms and prediction models Continue reading »
-
ANDREW GLIKSON. Under a greenhouse atmosphere
According to the UNHCR, since 2008 an estimated 22.5 million people have been displaced by climate or weather-related events. According to researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Wisconsin global warming is already responsible for some 150,000 deaths each year around the world. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that climate Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 7 April 2019
The diverse responses of Australian businesses to climate change and the legal responsibilities of their boards to respond appropriately to climate change are highlighted and lead into a discussion about whether capitalism, as an economic system, has the capacity to deliver a carbon free society. More parochially, the Great Barrier Reef is not doing well Continue reading »
-
AMANDA McKENZIE. Labor’s climate policy announcement: not perfect, but a significant advance.
In the lead-up to the federal election, the ALP has made climate change a focus of its campaign and has provided significant opportunities to strengthen climate action in Australia. However, if elected, the ALP would need to rapidly ratchet up these policies to ensure the scale and speed of transition that is required. Continue reading »
-
Coalition signs off with a budget tailored for climate denial (RenewEconomy, 2.4.19)
The federal Coalition government has delivered its last budget before the May poll, and pretty much finished the way it started in government nearly six years ago: Long term climate and clean energy policies and technologies are ignored, and the focus is on trinkets and handouts. Continue reading »
-
WARWICK McKIBBIN. How should technocrats count the true cost of climate?
A bad model with transparent assumptions is better than arbitrary analysis based on wishful thinking, writes Warwick McKibbin.Published in AFR on 26 March 2019 Continue reading »
-
BRUCE THOM. Climate change adaption: perspectives from Canada and England
Australia can learn lessons from other countries who take very seriously the importance of addressing now the various complex challenges of climate change impacts on environmental assets and the lifestyles and livelihoods of citizens. We have no national plan to mitigate the threats and impacts of natural disasters and extreme weather events under emerging conditions Continue reading »
-
IAN DUNLOP. Climate Policy: Predatory delay destroys prosperity, threatens survival.
As the debacle of Australian climate and energy policy unfolded over the last three decades, the continuing bleat from peak industry bodies, such as the BCA, MCA and APPEA, has been the need for policy certainty and consistency. Notwithstanding the fact that those same organisations too often have wilfully undermined achievement of those objectives. Continue reading »
-
BRUCE THOM. Climate change adaptation: perspectives from canada and england
Australia can learn lessons from other countries who take very seriously the importance of addressing now the various complex challenges of climate change impacts on environmental assets and the lifestyles and livelihoods of citizens. We have no national plan to mitigate the threats and impacts of natural disasters and extreme weather events under emerging conditions Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 31 March 2019
Gas producers slow down climate action in WA, miners meet ministers in NSW almost weekly, cement producers (allegedly) resist the use of fly ash in concrete production in Australia, and big banks, particularly in the USA, continue to invest trillions in fossil fuel companies. But Bill McKibben and Tim Flannery offer some hope for the Continue reading »
-
DANNY DAVIS. Super power: why the future of Australian capitalism is now in Greg Combet’s hands (The Conversation).
Right now Greg Combet is arguably the most powerful man in Australia. Earlier this month the former trade unionist and federal politician declared his intention to transform Australian business. His radical idea: to promote the concept of “long-term value”. Continue reading »
-
GRAHAM HUNTER. A nationwide approach to Climate Change is possible.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, all countries acknowledged that the total of their current targets for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases was insufficient to avoid dangerous climate change. They agreed to enhance the targets progressively. Developed countries are to lead the way. All countries have been invited to submit their new targets to a Continue reading »