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 »
climate
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 »
The new Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli, has made some moderately progressive comments about climate and nuclear energy but they are, when considered in the context of the latest Zurich-Mandala Climate Risk Index, insignificant compared to the scale of the problems the State faces. For a start he has ruled out repealing the State’s ban on Continue reading »
What further evidence do apes with apps, the inhabitants of planet Earth, need to have before the liveable climate, the lungs of the Earth, overheat and the mere failure of a computer chip or a brain neuron triggers the sixth mass extinction of species in the history of planet Earth? At the death of détente Continue reading »
In the eye of the hurricane is a moment of calm and silence, before wild chaos and destruction resume. Symbolically, the world now stands in such a place. Continue reading »
Scientists overwhelmingly agree that climate change is threatening life on this planet and that the root cause is the burning of fossil fuels. But what are we doing about it? More importantly, what are our so-called Leaders doing to address the threat? Those who oppose Australia advocating for the global phase-out of fossil fuels should Continue reading »
Iron ore has underpinned Australia’s prosperity. Gas and coal exports are bound to fall as market countries cut their carbon emissions. Can we build our future on “green” steel? Australia’s number one export today is iron ore. In 2023, our miners shipped out around 900 million tonnes of ore worth $124 billion. This amounted to Continue reading »
The most important role of government is to protect its citizens. In Australia this is usually taken to mean military defence, alliances with other countries and considerable expenditure. However the governments of many countries including ours have not yet grasped the fact that we are facing defeat in the current battle against the advancing threats Continue reading »
One of the most graphic depictions of the environmental costs of war was when 700 of Kuwait’s oil fields were set ablaze during the first Gulf War, leaking an astounding 11 million barrels of crude oil into the Persian Gulf and creating a smoke plume stretching 800 kilometres. Nearly 300 oil lakes developed inland on Continue reading »