November 16, 2009 – 10:20 am
“There was a realistic assessment . . . by the leaders that it was unrealistic to expect a full…. agreement.”
That quote from U.S. deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs Michael Froman about his hopes for a final agreement in Copenhagen would be funny if wasn’t so, well… unfunny.
The full quote:
“I don’t think the [...]
November 9, 2009 – 11:11 am
Kevin Rudd’s speech to the Lowy Institute last Friday was one of the most extraordinary pieces of rhetorical hypocrisy this country has seen in recent years.
Coming only days after he had been singled out by African negotiators at the Barcelona pre-Copenhagen talks as one of the leaders whose action does not match his political manifesto, [...]
October 29, 2009 – 7:00 am
How will the predicted 4C rise in global temperature by 2050 affect the planet?
The UK’s Met Office has produced this interactive map showing just how dramatically Earth could change in our lifetime if urgent action isn’t taken to curb this grim forecast.
October 13, 2009 – 2:47 pm
Mark Hertsgaard in The Nation:
They say that everyone who finally gets it about climate change has an “Oh, shit” moment–an instant when the full scientific implications become clear and they suddenly realize what a horrifically dangerous situation humanity has created for itself.
It’s especially alarming when people who, ahem, know their shit, speak about their own [...]
October 13, 2009 – 11:10 am
So, what is the goal of legislative climate action?
Is it about trading emissions permits? Is it about technology policy? Surely it’s not about arguing over who can support polluters more! Is it even about reducing emissions, then?
While you can mount arguments for all of these, fundamentally, in my opinion, the goal is none of these.
Fundamentally, [...]
September 4, 2009 – 12:16 pm
There’s a lot of burn-out in the climate movement right now. A lot of tired people, a lot of grumpy people. I know – I am one!
I can completely understand why – we’ve had a year of not only hard campaigning, but also a particularly distressing one. Dashed hopes aren’t easy to [...]
The Senate today passed a Greens motion demanding that the Government require Treasury to model the 40% cuts below 1990 levels that we know are necessary.
But, within an hour, Minister Wong had thumbed her nose at the Senate and the planet, telling CE Daily that the Government “had already undertaken the largest economic modelling exercise [...]
April 23, 2009 – 10:51 am
A new meme is being pushed by people close to Labor to help force through the CPRS. Just as the failure of the Republic referendum knocked that issue off the agenda for a decade or more, the story goes, so if the CPRS fails in the Senate will we have lost our chance to do [...]
After he embarrassed her government last week by saying the CPRS may be so bad that it should be taken out the back and shot (well, not quite),it seems that Minister Wong has excised Professor Garnaut entirely from her vocabulary.
In a speech to the Lowy Institute today (not yet on her website, but will be [...]
Anyone else troubled by the PM’s statement overnight that the GFC makes it more difficult to reach a strong climate agreement at Copenhagen?
He’s done it very carefully, of course. The usual Ruddsterness of saying effectively ‘oh, I don’t think it’s a problem, but everyone else does, so don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out [...]