The greatest threat to human health is environmental destruction, primarily due to climate change, and worsened by biodiversity loss and pollution. It needs addressing immediately by cooperative action throughout society. But societal cooperation is severely challenged by gross inequality, confusion from misinformation, and bigotry against certain ‘others’, so that the required climate action has failed Continue reading »
climate
New research shows 116 new government-approved fossil fuel projects due to start before 2030 will emit 4.8 billion tonnes of emissions by then. That amount is vastly more than proposed reduction in emissions; ‘clearly, Australia’s climate policies are not working’. Australia’s newly approved fossil fuel projects and government policies that permit pollution will make it Continue reading »
New IPCC report documents a threatening climate-present and a bleak climate-future. Alcoa failing to rehabilitate the lands it has destroyed once mining stops. Shortage of integrity not gas behind our gas problems. IPCC’s climate change synthesis report As a (lapsed) sociologist, I am well accustomed to non-sociologists scornfully saying, ‘I could have told you that Continue reading »
No one knows what was on the mind of Labour leaders discussing emission limits while approving near one hundred new coal mines and gas wells, thus betraying future generations and eroding the life support systems of the planet. Smirking with satisfaction for achieving government at last, albeit at the cost of adopting conservative climate and Continue reading »
We all want a better future for our children, and our grandchildren. The Government however seems unconcerned whether there is going to be a future at all. The late Professor Will Steffen was a preeminent climate scientist and one of the expert members of the Australian Climate Commission, which recommended the Gillard Labor government introduce Continue reading »
Yesterday, 22 March 2023, the planet observed World Water Day, which highlights the sustainable management of precious water resources and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people across the globe who are living without access to clean and safe water. But here in New South Wales, water’s big day coincides with yet another mass fish Continue reading »
Trees are good for the climate and human health. Plastics are bad for the environment and bird health. Where are the good governments when you need them? Forests reduce global warming … and not just by absorbing and storing carbon. Forests also have non-carbon processes that interact with the atmosphere to influence global and local Continue reading »
Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism gets a government greenwash while international efforts to control Scope 3 emissions increase. Pygmy chameleons and eagle-owls are fighting for survival in different ways. Please stop eating shark and Tassie farmed salmon. Safeguard Mechanism If you were completely confused or disappointed (or most likely both) by the previous government’s Safeguard Mechanism and Continue reading »
We are in a desperate race to avoid locking in a pathway to human extinction. This requires brutal honesty on the threats we face. Climate change, not China, Russia or the US, is the greatest threat the world faces; it will only be overcome with unprecedented global co-operation. Negotiating with the laws of physics is Continue reading »
We are losing trees and insects at alarming rates and Australia’s land and sea temperatures continue to rise. But does too much bad news create ‘Doom Loops’? How to lose 15 billion trees On February 23rd, David Lindenmayer, one of Australia’s many excellent ecologists who continue to highlight in the public domain the multiple threats Continue reading »