Category: Climate

The only outcome that matters is the extent to which humanity manages to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. Any talk about meeting or not meeting targets that is not grounded on this outcome is trickery and sleight of hand. (more…)

German company Siemens has decided to support the Adani Carmichael mine, by providing a signalling system for the rail line. However, their justification seem more about fulfilling their recently signed contract, than preserving a functional ecology, or discovering the problems with business deals in advance. (more…)

While not wishing to mitigate the horror of our current bushfires, they do present an opportunity to re-engineer our electrical system with a similar experience to the one Wi-Fi brought to telephony. (more…)

In the wake of the recent bushfires, the logging industry wants to ‘thin’ Australia’s forests to reduce fire hazard. But their plan is likely to make the fire hazard far worse. Could there be another agenda at work? (more…)

Is repeating our short sighted, business as usual thinking to recapture our economy after the bushfire holocaust the smartest way to face climate change? (more…)

There is a need for the Commonwealth to rethink mechanisms for supporting the states in disaster management through the establishment of a climate change adaptation action arm within the Defence portfolio. A model is offered based on the US Army Corps of Engineers. (more…)

Citizens of the USA, Australia, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere are slowly waking to the sickening awareness that they are no longer up against local political forces – but, rather, a metastasizing international power against which they are largely impotent. (more…)

In January 2020 severe bushfires burnt parts of Kosciuszko National Park impacting its National Heritage listed catchment wetlands, fauna and flora values. (more…)

Catastrophic fires in Australia in 2019/2020 burnt millions of hectares, lives were lost and property burnt. Huge walls of fire, ember attacks and spot fires burnt through super dry bush and other lands. “I’ve never seen anything like this before” was a regular response. (more…)

Never before have we experienced fires like the present. They challenge us to re-assess our whole approach to living in Australia. With global warming a reality, we now face some pretty stark options. (more…)

The iconic wombat has faced numerous challenges since white settlement of the Australian continent. And the events of recent months have elevated several threats.   (more…)

The bushfire culture wars have already begun. For some the current crisis is apocalypse now, for others it’s just an extreme example of business as usual on our incendiary continent. (more…)

The future has come – and it is not good for Australia’s natural environments. Drought, heat waves and wildfire, all linked manifestations of climate change, have subverted (and continue to subvert) the viability of many of Australia’s species. Across vast areas, we are losing much of our nature.  (more…)

I’m all for being a team player. I pay taxes to help run our economy and society. I do volunteer work to support a caring society. But when a key player in the team lets us down, I feel torn. Do I keep contributing, because most people are still working together? Do I call the laggard out and pursue alternatives that are not undermined by the failure of one player? Or a bit of both? My carbon accounting conundrum is simple: if I save energy, invest in solar or take other emission-reducing actions, my personal emissions go down. But Australia’s, and global emissions don’t. (more…)

Global warming and climate change are scientific facts, but beware of attempts to make them responsible for poor human decisions affecting the environment today. (more…)

We are at an historic moment of apocalyptic threat to the survival of the human species. (more…)