From atop Mount Olympus, Zeus peers in perplexity through fumes of fire, dust and vehicle exhaust, toxic chemicals, roiling tempests and raging floods, idly wondering what those darned mortals are up to now… First his eye is drawn to ancient Media, part of old Persia (now known under its modern name of Azerbaijan). Here a Continue reading »
climate
A major new report has detailed the “extraordinary economic opportunity” for Australia to replace its coal and gas exports with decarbonised commodities, and reap six to eight times more than the typical revenues it earns from fossil fuels, and help other major economies to meet their own climate goals. But renewed calls for Australia to Continue reading »
Carbon capture and storage fails to deliver carbon but succeeds for governments and industry. The pros and cons of reducing your personal carbon footprint. How best to tackle Australia’s land clearing loopholes. Carbon capture and storage is not the solution Kevin Morrison has succinctly summed up the carbon capture and storage (CCS) con trick being Continue reading »
A handful of years ago, South Australia’s Whyalla steelworks, owned by British industrialist Sanjeeev Gupta, was touted as the potential birthplace of an Australian green iron and steel industry. Today, the mounting crisis at Whyalla brings sharply into focus both the risks and opportunities of this pivotal moment in Australia’s energy transition, and the transition Continue reading »
The climate crisis is much more severe than most people and politicians realise. Most information, education and media reporting around climate change (global heating) focuses on reducing our annual emissions to a target based on a ‘trajectory of progressive reduction’, and eventually ‘net’ zero annual emissions by 2050 or some other date. But this ignores Continue reading »
“I don’t see a pandemic finishing us off, and climate change itself would (to quote Keating) ‘do us slowly’. The one sure path to extinction is nuclear war.” – Professor Peter Doherty AC, Nobel Laureate, communication to the author, 9 Sep 2024. Two days after Donald Trump’s election last week, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Continue reading »
There’s a new, stark reality we must face: Donald Trump’s victory will push the Earth system further down a perilous path towards three degrees Celsius of global warming or more, with catastrophic consequences for human civilisation and the environment. This moment requires clarity about the existential nature of the climate threat to humanity’s future; and Continue reading »
A new report contained “the bleakest news possible, especially with a climate denier U.S. president in office for the next four years,” said one climate scientist. A day after U.S. voters elected climate-denying Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race, soon ushering in an administration that is sure to expand fossil fuel drilling, the European Union’s Earth Continue reading »
Are you OK? It seems an important question as the unhinged and unrestrained president Donald Trump is swept back into power and the world contemplates the implications for the climate, for civil discourse, for women, for minorities, for society as a whole, and for our children and their children. We have, of course, been here Continue reading »
Trump’s stated positions on major international issues, e.g. climate change and the value and importance of multilateral institutions, both political and economic, and on particular issues such as Ukraine, the Middle East and relations with China, give grounds for plenty of concern when compared with Australian interests and policies. Australia is a small country in Continue reading »