Climate
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I have watched and mourned as NSW national parks have been run into the ground
MICHAEL MCFADYEN. Over the past 40 years I have visited probably more national parks in NSW than 99 per cent of the population, both for work and recreation. Continue reading »
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BOB DEBUS. Restoring integrity in nature conservation Part 1 of 2
The Australian Government’s short and pointless document, published just before Xmas and entitled Strategy For Nature 2018-2030, has been accurately described as a ‘global embarrassment’. It is useful only insofar as it reminds us that Australian government policies for nature conservation have, in the last five years, easily matched the destructive irrationality of polices directed Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. An Orwellian climate: the rise of dangerous ideologies in a heating world.
It is impossible to say anything good about “Ingsoc”— George Orwell’s brutal and inhumane 1984 dystopia, mimicking Hitler’s and Stalin’s regimes, with only one proviso: Bar blowing atomic bombs in distant wars, no mention is made in the book of a systematic devastation of the planetary environment—something modern global civilization is in the process of Continue reading »
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IAN DUNLOP. Facing “Disaster Alley”, Australia shirks responsibility- A REPOST from June 27 2017
The first responsibility of a government is to safeguard the people and their future wellbeing. The ability to do so is increasingly threatened by human-induced climate change, the accelerating impacts of which are driving political instability and conflict globally. Climate change poses an existential risk to humanity which, unless addressed as an emergency, will have Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. Climate change, droughts and wars: is there a nexus?
According to Al Gore during 2006 and 2010 some 60 percent of farms in Syria were destroyed and abandoned and some 80 percent of the livestock were killed during the most severe drought parts of the Middle East ever recorded[i]. Subsequently more than a million Syrians migrated into cities, along with refugees from the Iraq Continue reading »
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REBECCA PEASE. The federal Climate Policy Review: a recipe for business as usual
The federal government’s newly released Climate Policy Review is hugely disappointing, but far from surprising. It does not depart from what the Turnbull government has been saying for some time: it plans to loosen compliance obligations for emissions-intensive companies even further, reintroduce international carbon offsets, and implement the planned National Energy Guarantee. Continue reading »
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DYLAN McCONNELL. A month in, Tesla’s SA battery is surpassing expectations.
It’s just over one month since the Hornsdale power reserve was officially opened in South Australia. The excitement surrounding the project has generated acres of media interest, both locally and abroad. The aspect that has generated the most interest is the battery’s rapid response time in smoothing out several major energy outages that have occurred since it was installed. Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. The ALP and global warming
When a lump of coal was presented in Parliament to the cheers of conservative MPs no doubts could remain regarding their position on global warming, covered with the thin fig leaf of the Paris agreement. One wonders whether the PM would now be willing to repeat his statement of 2010: “Now our response to climate Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. National water reform- A REPOST from September 28,2017
According to the Productivity Commission’s draft report on National Water Reform, Australia is now viewed internationally as a world leader in water management. Nevertheless, these reforms continue to be challenged by special interests. In particular, the history of poor investment in irrigation continues, encouraged by the comfortable expectation that governments will not enforce the requirement Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 4: Economy and environment
Arguments around climate change and other environmental matters tend to assume some tradeoff between “economic” and “environmental” objectives. But the overriding principle is about making the best use of scarce resources. Continue reading »
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JULIAN CRIBB. Highway to an endless energy future.
Australia is spoiled for choice among the array of energies we have to power our future, for centuries to come. Concentrated sunlight, huge reserves of coal, gas, hot rocks, wind, wave and tidal energy, not to mention uranium, thorium, biomass, hydro and other possibilities – thousands of years’ worth of energy in sundry forms. Continue reading »
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DAVID BLOWERS. A high price for policy failure: the ten-year story of spiralling electricity bills.
Politicians are told never to waste a good crisis. Australia’s electricity sector is in crisis, or something close to it. The nation’s first-ever state-wide blackout, in South Australia in September 2016, was followed by electricity shortages in several states last summer. More shortages are anticipated over coming summers. But for most Australians, the most visible impact of this crisis Continue reading »
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BRUCE LINDSAY. “Anti-corruption”, water and the Basin plan. A repost from October 8, 2017
Water management and decision-making is vulnerable to lobbying by powerful commercial interests, as was illustrated recently by the ABC Four Corners investigation into NSW water management. Even where such conduct cannot be categorised as corrupt in the criminal sense, it can compromise the integrity of public governance of natural resources. Excessive private interest in the Continue reading »
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Why 2017 was a good year for climate
On the face of it, there was plenty of bad news for the climate in 2017. Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 2105 Paris agreement and promised to reverse the decline of the coal industry. The Turnbull government rejected proposals for an efficient transition to a low-carbon energy sector, instead Continue reading »
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ALAN PEARS. Turnbull has politicked himself into irrelevance on energy and climate in 2018
As we approach the end of the year, it’s useful to look back and forward. Now is an auspicious time, as two major energy-related reports have been released this week: the federal government’s review of their climate change policies, and a discussion paper from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on future energy paths. Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. The criminal dimension of climate change-a new book.
“We’re simply talking about the very life support system of this planet.” (Professor Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impacts) The extreme rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) since the onset of the industrial age, reaching approximately 403 parts per million in 2017, and the corresponding rise in mean global temperature to Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Turnbull blows trumpet for right wing idiocy on energy
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has chosen to close the year in much the same way as he started it on climate and energy policy: awaiting yet another review, and parroting the ever more absurd claims of the fossil fuel lobby and the right wing of his Coalition government on energy. Continue reading »
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BRUCE THOM. Keeping the Murray mouth open
Maintaining an open mouth of the Murray River in South Australia was a key objective of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP). The Basin Plan was established by the Australian Government to address the chronic over-allocation of water for irrigation and other purposes. One aim of the MDBP was to recover more water for the Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. Humanity’s stark choice: continue genocidal wars or try to save our planetary home.
CO2 levels reached 403.64 ppm in October 2017, a rise of 2.07 ppm above October 2016. This has triggered amplifying feedbacks from land and oceans. It is becoming clear the only way to avert environmental and nuclear catastrophes is to down-draw atmospheric CO2 using budgets on a scale currently only available to the military. Continue reading »
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IAN DUNLOP. Climate & Energy – Appeasement Does Not Work
The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing, albeit with far more profound implications even than the advent of the Second World War. Continue reading »
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RICHARD KINGSFORD. Policy holes drain the life out of Murray-Darling rivers.
We are often told by some politicians and irrigation lobbyists not to worry about our rivers – Australia is a land of droughts and flooding rains – and ever it was thus. After all, Murray-Darling rivers surely fixed themselves when the 2010 and 2011 floods broke the seven year Millennium Drought. This tired old talking Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. LNP, One Nation would force Queensland energy prices up; Greens, ALP down
A new analysis of the energy policies presented by the major and smaller parties contesting the Queensland state election shows that the Greens would deliver the biggest electricity savings, Labor would also push prices down, while One Nation and the LNP policies would force prices to rise. Continue reading »
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SOPHIE VORRATH. CBA challenged for “weakest climate policy,” dirtiest investments.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has made $6 billion worth of new loans to coal, oil and gas projects in the 20 months since committing to the Paris climate agreement, a new document has shown – more than four times the amount it loaned to renewable energy projects over that period. Continue reading »
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JULIAN CRIBB. Can we avert ecocide?
As humans progressively kill off the living creatures which inhabit the planet, do we risk at the same time killing off ourselves? Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. at 2.5 minutes to midnight, we must defend the planet
On the 27 January, 2017, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the arms of its doomsday clock to 2.5 min to midnight, the closest it has been since 1953, with enormous implications for humanity and nature. A book titled “The Plutocene: Blueprints for a post-Anthropocene Greenhouse Earth” elaborates the reasons for the decision of Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. A privileged few ignore scorched Earth in race to Mars
Scientific exploration of the solar system planets constitutes one of the most exciting achievements of the human race. However, the idea of colonizing Mars may prove to be one of the most misleading, creating an impression that an alternative exists to planet Earth, which is a unique haven of life in the solar system, perhaps Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. South Australia’s stunning transition to consumer-powered grid
South Australia is already being hailed – or in some quarters demonised – for its leadership on renewable energy technology. A new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator highlights how far out in front it is in the transition to a consumer-powered grid.The earlier comments by Turnbull and Frydenberg are now looking even more Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Garnaut says NEG may do little for prices, certainty or competition.
Leading economist Ross Garnaut has delivered a critical appraisal of the federal government’s proposed National Energy Guarantee, warning that it will unlikely deliver lower prices or investment certainty, and could simply lock in the power of the big incumbent generators. Continue reading »
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MARTIN TAYLOR. How weak laws and weak enforcement are failing our wildlife.
How weakened laws in Qld and NSW are failing our wildlife and how the Australian Government is doing little to prevent it. Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. Hurricanes and megafires abound, but don’t mention the words ‘climate change’
As extreme hurricanes and extensive wildfires proliferate around the globe, an internet search suggests that, in reporting these events, the words “climate change” have almost disappeared from much of the mainstream media. Some exceptions include the SMH[1] and the Guardian[2]. Nor have numerous ABC reports of the Houston floods included references to climate change. See Continue reading »