As very few media outlets reported last week, Australia has a new Chief Scientist. Professor Penny Sackett comes to the role from the ANU where she was Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (2002 – 2007). According to her CV, Professor Sackett is “a physicist […]
It’s not hard to imagine what life in one of Australia’s big cities in 2020 would be like if we keep going with the roads obsession of successive governments. With peak oil and carbon pricing driving petrol costs through the roof, battling worse air pollution and worse congestion, there would still be no real alternative […]
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 […]
It is refreshing to see the Greens and in particular Senators Christine Milne & Rachel Siewert working to keep farmers on the land and rural and regional communities healthy and vibrant. “The Greens are committed to keeping farmers on the land. If our rural and regional communities are to survive and thrive in today’s world, […]
Nourishing the environmental debate
The federal governments Emission Trading Scheme will once again sacrifice our Australian farmers, at the alter of political expediencies. Forcing our farmers away from food and fibre production into Trees for no net benefit to global climate is as foolish as using ceral grains to make bio-fuels. There are many who argue that if the […]
I’m the youngest blogger here – I recently turned 25. But I’ve been campaigning on environmental issues for the past 11 years, so I reckon I can give Ross Garnaut, a relative newcomer to climate politics, a run for his money when it comes to the amount of time I’ve spent thinking about climate change […]
G’day I’m Steve Truman editor and founder of Agmates – Australia’s largest online rural & regional community. The name chosen by Crikey for this Enviro blog is ironic in that is exactly what Rural and Regional Australia will be under the Rudd Governments Emissions Trading Scheme. Ross Garnaut said as much yesterday in his final […]
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 […]
Given that the release of the Garnaut report was delayed by a couple of hours this morning while Rudd and the rest wrapped their head around Wall Street, it seems appropriate to ask — will the economic meltdown push the climate change debate off the page for good? Professor Garnaut reassured The Oz that it […]
There was a slightly defeated tone to Ross Garnaut when he presented his penultimate report. Today, despite attempting to be more upbeat, he cemented economics as the ‘dismal science’ by accepting that people are ultimately more interested in the cult-like pursuit of economic growth, than in the preservation of the biosphere. I was speaking last […]
