Climate
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Is Morrison finally nearing the tipping point on climate?
He would rather forego his parliamentary pension than admit it, but our prime minister is unobtrusively softening his hardline stance on climate change…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 29 November 2020
Despite COVID, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise. Does increasing complexity in societies explain the collapse of civilisations? Western Australia is failing to adequately protect sharks and Australia is taking risks with imported flowers. China has an each-way bet on energy: big on renewables; big on coal…. Continue reading »
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Old dog, new tricks? John Kerry needs to lead a total reform of U.S. climate diplomacy
An introduction by Peter Sainsbury to an article by Brendon Wu concerning John Kerry as President Biden’s Special Presidential envoy for Climate…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 22 November 2020
Wealthy people and wealthy nations cause it but it’s the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from climate change. Adani is behaving badly in Australia but moving into renewables in India. Recycling plastic recycling. Spotted and striated, pardalotes charmalot…. Continue reading »
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Joel Fitzgibbon and renewable energy in the Hunter.(Renew Economy Nov 17, 2020)
The New South Wales has made a new commitment to transform the now coal-dependent Hunter Region as a hub of new renewable energy and storage projects as part of its broad and ground-breaking plans to transition the state’s grid from coal to renewables. Joel Fitzgibbon is clinging to the past…. Continue reading »
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Morrison’s faulty logic in opposing a net zero carbon emissions target.
Contrary to Scott Morrison’s contention, we can usefully set a target date to achieve net zero carbon emissions without exact knowledge of the cost and how the target will be delivered…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 15 November 2020
Sustainable human development eludes almost all nations. Action to prevent virus spill-overs to humans looks like a good investment. Economic growth and emissions cuts can co-exist (IMF says). Environmental suggestions for Biden’s first 100 days. Legged-legless-legged skinks…. Continue reading »
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The Flipside of Zero Net Emissions
More attention needs to be given to negative emissions and more research is needed…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 8 November 2020
Wind and solar are getting cheaper and cheaper and financial institutions and countries are increasingly turning away from fossil fuels, but 100% renewable energy is a long way off. Protecting wild places and returning agricultural land to nature can prevent biodiversity loss and help tackle climate change…. Continue reading »
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Biden’s Most Daunting Adversary (NYBooks Oct 31, 2020)
If Joe Biden wins the presidency, he will be faced with a hundred pressing problems and a thousand things to repair from the Trump years. Nevertheless, he will have little choice but to concentrate on the climate crisis…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 1 November 2020
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing presents a major threat to security and fish stocks. Seagrasses and snow leopards suffering from environmental destruction. Aussie coal companies turning to the Canadian Rockies. Insights into what might be influencing American votes on Tuesday…. Continue reading »
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Bruce Mountain and Steven Percy. Pumped hydro isn’t our energy future, it’s our past (The Conversation 29.10.20)
It’s now beyond dispute that — for new electricity generation — solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy are cheaper than anything else: cheaper than new coal fired power stations, cheaper than new gas-fired stations and cheaper than new nuclear power plants…. Continue reading »
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Does anyone really believe we are going to avert a climate catastrophe?
An energy transition is underway but it is too slow to avert a climate catastrophe and it ignores many other environmental and social challenges that need tackling now. Capitalism has got us into this mess but doesn’t have the tools to get us out of it. Perhaps ecosocialism and Extinction Rebellion provide some answers…. Continue reading »
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Morrison: How to market denialism on climate change
Scotty from marketing may now be the common Scott Morrison descriptor. When it comes to climate change it is more and more spin…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 25 October 2020
The absorption of solar energy by the earth is getting faster and faster. This is having dramatic effects on the dynamics, chemistry and life of the oceans, and bringing ‘Hothouse Earth’ closer. Over half of residents of the USA are now concerned about climate change. Farmers in the Riverina create Bittern-friendly rice fields…. Continue reading »
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IMF on global warming: impractical, naive and important
The response to global warming has to be at the same time political, science-based, and economically informed. Reading the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2020 World economic outlook: a long and difficult ascent, is instructive on this point…. Continue reading »
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China is not the urgent threat; climate change is
Spending priorities by the federal government are increasingly questionable, if not indefensible; they raise fundamental questions about the competence and intelligence of our policymaking elites…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 18 October 2020
Plastics: littering the ocean floor, not being recycled, not easily replaced, may or may not provide oil and gas producers with a prosperous future. Populations of vertebrates have declined by 68% in 50 years…. Continue reading »
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Interests, Not Altruism, Drive China’s New Climate Ambition (Seirra Club Oct 5, 2020)
In a surprising and widely praised statement, President Xi recently announced that China would significantly increase its carbon reduction goals…. Continue reading »
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What must climate and energy policy really achieve?
The Australian Government is dangerously out-of-touch as climate change accelerates and a cascade of tipping points risks unstoppable global warming…. Continue reading »
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2020 Budget: a missed opportunity to prepare the economy for climate change
It is clear from this week’s budget that the Federal government will continue to delay the decarbonisation of our economy and appears determined to extend the life of declining fossil fuel industries…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 11 October 2020
A look at current figures to see if China going carbon-free will destroy Australia’s coal industry. COVID is bad enough but some people have had COVID and extreme weather events to deal with. Governments have an opportunity to use the COVID recovery to clean up international trade’s supply chains and emissions. How to buy sustainable… Continue reading »
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LobbyLand: An Analysis of Australian Industry Associations’ Influence on Climate Policy
This analysis identified five lobbying organisations that stood out as the ‘most obstructive, negative and influential’ in refusing to address climate change. They were the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, NSW Minerals Council, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Petroleum Producers and Exploration Association…. Continue reading »
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Hydrogen, but not for the Hindenburg
In Mafia folklore, when faced with an existential crisis, the mobsters would “go to the mattresses” a euphemism for dropping everything to engage in a life and death struggle with their enemies…. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 4 October 2020
Developing countries need help to avoid the clutches of the fossil fuel industry. Action is needed right now to combat climate change and the UK’s NHS is up for the challenge. 64 world leaders commit to ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’ to reverse biodiversity loss but Australia and Indonesia must have lost the invitation. China… Continue reading »
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COVID-19 and Poverty
That health and illness are close associates of wealth and poverty is well known. This dictum applies to covid-19 both within and among nations…. Continue reading »
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Phantom Peril in the Arctic (Foreign Affairs Sep 29, 2020)
Russia Doesn’t Threaten the United States in the Far North—But Climate Change Does…. Continue reading »
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The bathtub is nearly full: Australia’s extraordinary energy plan
The Coalition government’s energy plan ensures the emissions tap will continue to flow. While economic recovery following the pandemic is an important objective, to ignore the consequences of persisting with fossil fuels is incomprehensible…. Continue reading »
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LobbyLand. Fossil Fuel Lobbyists: Modus Operandi, Impact, Solutions
In Australia, denial mounts. The recent “Gas-Led Recovery” and “Technological Roadmap” announcements of the Morrison government confirm the continued influence of the fossil fuel industry and its lobbyists…. Continue reading »
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Angus Taylor’s energy roadmap: national interest second
At least the latest energy plan – the coalition’s 22nd, and counting – is not all about gas…. Continue reading »
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