Yes, the public is way ahead of the government re climate change. (more…)
Category: Climate
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The economic conductor of the catastrophes of climate change and biodiversity loss
The human brain seems unable to grasp the magnitude of the global problems we face in moving to ways of sustainable living and governance systems which can deliver a secure future for our children. (more…)
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Sunday environmental round up, 20 December 2020
We finish the year with suggestions for getting the COP process back on track, delays to the federal government’s plans to get the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act off track, confirmation that Australian coal does produce less CO2, and graphs showing the healthiness and cheapness of solar power. Best wishes for Christmas. Back on January 17th.
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World leaders deserve to know about Australia’s abysmal climate change policy, so I wrote to them
Australia’s leaders are playing with climate policy, pitching a nationalist and populist message to their base. (more…)
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Australia left behind as world leaders brush off Morrison’s empty climate gestures
Dozens of countries detailed new pledges to reduce emissions and drive green investment during a Climate Ambition Summit held over the weekend, without the participation of Australia after organisers saw through the hollow climate change rhetoric of the Morrison government. (more…)
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Prime Minister: Saying you no longer intend to cheat on climate change does not merit applause
The Prime Minister has brushed off his failure to gain a speaking role at the Glasgow global warming summit as inconsequential. But the reality is that the Prime Minister and his government continue to fail us.
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Every jurisdiction in Australia, except the Commonwealth, is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050
Over the past several years, the states and territories have been driving policy on climate change in Australia. A concrete example is the commitment from every jurisdiction in Australia, except the Commonwealth, to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. This progress by the states and territories was recently acknowledged by the president of the next UN climate summit. (more…)
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The myth of “zero net emissions by 2050”
It should raise people’s hopes to believe “zero net emissions by 2050” will arrest or at least slow down global warming, had it not been yet another cruel hoax perpetrated in the wake of more than 50 years of obfuscation and denial of environment and climate science. (more…)
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Sunday environmental round up, 13 December 2020
The Amazon rainforest and Pacific islands are increasingly threatened by climate change but rich nations prefer spending on their military forces rather than climate change. A little-known hero of threatened species protection receives a posthumous tribute but Jeff Bezos’s philanthropy is not so fortunate. Pardalotes feature in Indigenous culture.
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Australia needs a national approach to combat the health effects of climate change (The Conversation Dec 6, 2020)
Australia has just recorded its hottest November on record, only months after the devastating bushfires of last summer that ruined the lives and livelihoods of thousands.
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The German experience – running everything on renewable energy
Could we run our society on renewable energy sources, which now deliver electricity cheaper than fossil fuel produced power? Vaclav Smil has just published figures on Germany’s efforts to move towards a high penetration renewable system, showing that the cost is likely to be very high. (more…)
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Sunday environmental round up, 6 December 2020
There’s a new kid on the block: nature-based solutions. Child prodigy or juvenile delinquent? Fossil fuel producing nations need to show more application. AIHW examines the health effects of last summer’s bushfires and the NSW electricity plan graduates with a distinction. China could try harder to protect wild animals.
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Why 2050 is too darned late…
One and a half million people are already dead, mostly because their governments did not act on sound medical advice about Covid in a sufficient amount of time. (more…)
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Three cheers for health workers who care for patients, communities and the planet
During the Covid crisis doctors and heath care workers have been a ‘light on the hill’ for service and dedication to humanity. By September 2020 over 7000 around the world had died from Covid contracted at work. (more…)
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Crossing irreversible climate tipping points
If the history of the 21st to 25th centuries is ever written, it will record that while dangerous a climate tipping point was crossed, the powers that be in Australia opened some of the world’s largest coal basins and undertook an Orwellian-titled “gas led recovery”. (more…)
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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. (more…) -
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.
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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. (more…)
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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.
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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.
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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. (more…)
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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.
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The Flipside of Zero Net Emissions
More attention needs to be given to negative emissions and more research is needed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. (more…)
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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.
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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. (more…)
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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.