Environment
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Will the Lake Eyre Basin be sacrificed on the altar of gas production?
The integrity of the ecology of the Lake Eyre Basin and its water supply from the Great Artesian Basin are threatened by oil and gas development and by ineffective state and federal administration. Continue reading »
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Restoring societal values that make a better future for all
Can we really believe that the power structurers of human societies in 2023 are setting policies and programs that are doing the best for our future? Continue reading »
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Ohio Disaster – will those responsible be arrested?
According to Newsweek, a toxic chemical cloud has reached a radius of 100-miles around East Palestine, the scene of a devastating train crash and chemical burn-off. If true, the people of Cleveland, the State capital 90-miles away, are now at risk of exposure. Continue reading »
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Preventing civilisation collapse: Australia should lead the way
Can we avoid, what a growing number of researchers and writers, consider, will be the likely collapse of human civilisation in the not-too-distant future, if we do not quickly and radically change direction? Continue reading »
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Subjectivity: the overlooked dimension of the debate about economic growth
The continuing debate in Pearls and Irritations about economic growth and sustainability has largely ignored a critical dimension: the role of human subjectivity. Continue reading »
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The global climate change suicide pact
There was a time when leaders fell on their sword when they were defeated in battle or lost their core beliefs, nowadays most do not even resign their privileged positions to resist the existential danger posed to advanced life, including human civilisation. It is long past time to declare a global climate and nuclear emergency. Continue reading »
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Economic growth and our environmental future
A spate of articles have argued protection of the environment is incompatible with population and economic growth. But they do not address how to stop this growth and its public acceptability, nor how more determined efforts to protect the environment can succeed. Continue reading »
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Economics: the top-10 mistakes
Richard Barnes laments the wilful blindness of many elites who go snow skiing while turning a blind eye to the causes of the high country’s dying landscape. Barnes says he mostly agrees with author Jeff Sparrow that the current economic system is to blame. Let me count the ways. Continue reading »
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We need urgent action to save our life support systems
We must modify our sluggish democracy to act urgently, transform our economy, and save our life support systems. The alternative is for economic change to be delivered brutally by nature. Continue reading »
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Reduce consumption, or face reality of civilisational collapse
An important debate is developing in Pearls and Irritations on the need to reduce consumption. In his article “Labor’s Environmental Denialism”, Stephen Williams acknowledged several positive steps being taken by the Labor government to help protect the environment, and then argued that Labor was failing to address the fundamental drivers of environmental disaster, which he Continue reading »
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‘Boys will be boys’: why consumers don’t punish big polluters for greenwashing lies
Stigma is an awful burden for business. But what if – for some companies – stigma is an asset? Continue reading »
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Country for bad dreams: vandalism on the Nullarbor Plain
“This is quite shocking,” declared South Australia’s Attorney-General and Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Kyam Maher. “These caves are some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country.” That evidence was subtracted this month by acts of vandalism inflicted on artwork in Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain, claimed to be the world’s largest Continue reading »
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‘Amazing!’ Lula applauded for naming Amazon defenders as Brazilian ministers
“Lula’s win was a win for the Amazon,” one global human rights leader said of his environment and Indigenous ministers. Continue reading »
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Australia needs much more solar and wind power, but where are the best sites? We mapped them all
Renewable energy’s share of Australia’s main electricity grid has more than doubled from 16% to 35% in five years, and the federal government wants this figure to reach 82% by 2030. Continue reading »
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Labor’s environmental denialism
Australians are getting a clearer idea of the Albanese government’s approach to the environmental crisis and it amounts to the maintenance of its long-held environmental denialism. Continue reading »
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The short lifespan of technological civilisations and the future of Homo sapiens
In his book ‘Collapse’ (2011) Jared Diamond portrays the fate of societies which Choose to Fail or Succeed. On a larger scale the Fermi’s paradox suggests that advanced technological civilisations may constitute ephemeral entities in the galaxy, destined to collapse over short periods. Continue reading »
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Will the Labor government take our catastrophic biodiversity decline seriously?
Now is not the time to assume Australia is back in the global forefront of environmental rectitude. Sadly, we are in the dark ages in terms of our record on biodiversity. Continue reading »
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How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
As demand soars for electric vehicles and clean energy storage, Australia is rising to meet much of the world’s demand for lithium. While this helps reduce the need for fossil fuels, it raises another question – how can we source lithium sustainably? Continue reading »
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Is China Australia’s biggest security threat?
No, it’s catastrophic climate change. Avoiding that threat needs co-operation with countries like China, not conflict. Australia’s challenge is to get our priorities right and be a constructive player in addressing the existential climate threat that all nations face. Continue reading »
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We are facing the most dangerous crisis humanity has seen
Last Tuesday, I was released on bail pending appeal in March. While my sentence is outrageous – as are the anti-democratic laws that allowed it to happen – I urge you not to lose sight of the reason I was jailed. Our way of life is under threat from the greatest, most dangerous crisis humanity Continue reading »
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House report on big oil greenwashing shows ‘Big Tobacco Playbook All Over Again’
“These companies know their climate pledges are inadequate, but are prioritising Big Oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Continue reading »
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Dr Paul Collins and population ethics
A new discussion paper on population ethics written by Catholic historian Paul Collins on behalf of Sustainable Population Australia is as radical as it is worthy. Continue reading »
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Violet Coco is right: The climate hyperthreat demands emergency action
Australia has achieved international infamy through the decision to jail climate protestor, Violet Coco, for 15 months. Allow me to add evidence to support her stance that emergency action is demanded of us to avert the climate crisis. Continue reading »
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UNESCO calls on Australia to commit to 1.5°C limit to protect the Great Barrier Reef
UNESCO has once again raised the alarm about the state of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. Continue reading »
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Batteries of gravity and water: 1,500 pumped hydro sites identified
In eight years, Australia wants to be four-fifths powered by renewables. Solar and wind investment is pouring in. But to firm the renewables and overcome the intermittency, we need overnight energy storage. That’s why there’s so much interest in pumped hydro. Continue reading »
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Australia’s secret pacts militarise global warming
Australia’s secretive military pact with the US and UK (AUKUS) is an offensive Anglosphere war megamachine shield from growing human and political upheavals of global warming and expanding inequity in global governance. Climate change constitutes an existential threat to humanity and a peaceful world order. Continue reading »
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Australia relies on controversial offsets to meet climate change targets. We might not get away with it in Egypt
It’s small wonder a major fossil fuel producer like Australia has relied so heavily on carbon offsets. Plant new forests – or say you will avoid clearing old ones – and you can keep approving new gas and coal developments. This year, whistleblower Professor Andrew McIntosh claimed up to 80% of these offsets weren’t real. They didn’t Continue reading »
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Guilt and dread as floods remind us of ecological crisis
The flood crisis engulfing much of Australia reminds us of the future we face in an era of climate change. Here’s the thing; writing abstractly about something and experiencing it directly are two very different things. Or so I’ve discovered. Continue reading »
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The Murray Darling Basin Plan has fundamental problems and needs replacing
After nearly ten years of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, implemented to ensure the river remains viable, there is overwhelming evidence that the Plan is ineffective and should be replaced. Continue reading »
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Too late to avoid an electricity transition catastrophe?
About two years ago, I wrote an article for Pearls and Irritations (December 1, 2020) suggesting Australia was tracking to repeat and reap the mixed railway gauges folly of the Nineteenth Century in our handling of the transition from fossil fuel to renewable electricity generation. Continue reading »