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Alarm bells are ringing right around the world on climate change (see some of the most recent examples at the bottom of this post). But does the health and medical research sector have its thumbs jammed firmly in its ears? In the article below, Dr Elizabeth Haworth, Dr Brad Farrant and Fiona Armstrong lament a [...]

The politicians may not be talking much about climate change but fortunately many others are. Below are some recent publications to keep you up to date on the issue that will present one of our greatest health challenges.   The Critical Decade: Global action building on climate change: This report from the Climate Commission updates [...]

Clive Hamilton’s new book, Earthmasters: Playing God with the climate, investigates the use of geo-engineering technologies to mitigate climate change. A positive review in the latest Australian Book Review, says: It is a book that every politician, policy-maker, and citizen should read. The future of the planet and its inhabitants simply demands it. Rosalie Schultz, [...]

Last year, I lamented the departure from the Australian media industry of many journalists with a wealth of experience in reporting on health, medicine and science. One of the journalists then mentioned, science writer and broadcaster Leigh Dayton, writes below that science journalism is in decline globally. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we [...]

Australia’s reliance on carbon intensive energy systems and failure to develop renewable energy sources is a critical health concern, according to a briefing paper prepared for a Health and Energy Policy roundtable meeting in Canberra tomorrow. The paper (which can be downloaded from the Climate and Health Alliance website) argues that energy policy has failed [...]

Climate change and other health-related issues feature prominently in the World Economic Forum’s new report, Global Risks 2013, which is based on a survey, conducted last September, of over 1,000 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society, who were asked to review 50 global risks. It is worth reading, particularly if you’ve an interest in [...]

The effects of the bushfires now causing so much trauma in south-eastern Australia will be felt for years to come. They will be felt by so many people, so many communities, and in so many ways. The evidence suggests that these sort of extreme events are going to become more common and more devastating as [...]

As the effects of Hurricane Sandy began to hit her city, public health author and analyst Laurie Garrett gathered her thoughts about the science and the politics of climate change. Working in her apartment atop the tallest residential building on the Brooklyn waterfront, she titled her article: “Frankenstorm: due to climate change?” Garrett, who may [...]