Nourishing the environmental debate

Tag Archives: climate change

It would be unrealistic to think that we could realistically do something useful

“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 [...]

The “Oh Shit” moment

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 [...]

Chain this guy up

Today in Crikey Bernard Keane suggested that many young Australians were well and truly fed up with the government’s approach on climate change. In fact, he contended, many of them despair of any politicians achieving anything meaningful on the issue:
Don’t underestimate the sense of disillusionment and even anger among some young Australians, who don’t see [...]

Milne’s speech has given us all fair warning

The Greens senator has laid bare the climate change facts better than any other politician.

When The US Changes Its President – The World Changes

There will be no stopping Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Labor introducing the Emissions Trading Scheme Now.
President-elect Barack Obama, outlines his plans to tackle climate change, including a Cap & Trade system and reducing US CO2 emissions by 80% – by the year 2050.

Political tipping point could go either way

On Monday, Waleed Aly had a superb opinion piece in the SMH which sadly went largely unnoticed. In the piece he argued persuasively that the biggest long-term impacts of major economic crises are the changes to the socio-political terrain that they tend to trigger.

The prime example, of course, is the dramatic shift towards fascism and [...]

Greens Luxury Car Tax amendments already working!

In excellent news this morning, The Age reports that Christine Milne’s amendments to the Luxury Car Tax, exempting fuel efficient vehicles from the levy, are already having an impact!
Ian Porter writes:
“THE changes made to luxury car tax have already started to influence the design of premium cars, with Audi announcing plans to install smaller diesel [...]

Energy Efficiency Groundhog Day

At COAG yesterday, our ‘leaders’ agreed “to develop a National Strategy for Energy Efficiency”.
Are they really so ill-informed (not to speak of ill-advised) that they do not realise that we already have one!?
Our PM emerged from the meeting to tell the waiting press conference the astounding news that:
“This is important, always referred to in the [...]

Garnaut’s defeatism

You could see it in his eyes and feel it in the air today – Professor Garnaut is convinced that humanity is incapable of actually solving the climate crisis. His report and statements are infused with despair and defeatism, summed up in the closing line of his press conference this afternoon: “the failure of our [...]