climate
Environment: Government inaction is killing our parrots
Australia’s parrots are increasingly threatened. Coal, gas, wind and solar supply the world’s surging demand for electricity. Methane emissions must be reduced rapidly. Parrots in peril In 2010, the Action Plan for Australian Birds identified twelve parrots as Endangered or Critically Endangered. In 2013, Australia’s favourite birdwatcher, Sean Dooley, and Samantha Vine reviewed the state Continue reading »
Towards an unliveable planet: Climate’s 2023 annus horribilis
The heat and extreme climate records of 2023 shocked scientists. So where are we heading? Given current trends, the world will zoom past 2°C of warming and the Paris climate goal of limiting warming to 1.5-2°C. This is the second article in a two-part series. Read the first part here. Climate model scenarios similar to Continue reading »
Humanity’s new era of “global boiling”: Climate’s 2023 annus horribilis
For climate change, 2023 was an “unprecedented” year, “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” and “scary” and “frightening”. And that was what climate scientists said! The UN Secretary General called it the year in which humanity crossed into a new climate era — an age of “global boiling”. Climate disruption shocked climate scientists in 2023. “Surprising. Astounding. Staggering. Continue reading »
How labelling is concealing common ground on climate, COVID and indigenous issues
You’re either a climate realist or you’re a climate sceptic. You’re either pro COVID vaccines or you’re a vaccine sceptic. You either voted ‘no’ in the recent ‘indigenous voice to parliament’ or ‘yes’. On too many issues, the labels that Australians are using are confrontational. Australians are being led to see just two camps and Continue reading »
As earth records hottest year, Coalition digs in against climate action and renewables
The science is in. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has overnight confirmed that 2023 was the earth’s warmest year on record: 0.16°C warmer than the previous record year (2016); 0.6°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average; 1.48°C warmer than the pre-industrial period. The report from Copernicus notes that each month from June to December Continue reading »
Is climate change too hard for democracy?
We have all heard that 2023 was the warmest year ever for the world, by some margin. We have heard things like this before. What, on the face of it, was worthy of huge headlines got a mention but not a great amount of attention. The IPCC and many competent authorities tell us acting resolutely Continue reading »
Failure after failure: the first chapter in the sad history of the attempts to introduce a broad-based carbon price in Australia
The January release of the Cabinet papers for 2003 reminds us of the failure of the second attempt to introduce an economy wide carbon price in Australia through an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). It marks the ascendancy of the energy and resource sectors in influencing the Coalitions climate change policies. This decision to reject emission Continue reading »
Climate adaptation: government action on life support systems is lamentable
The foundation for effective climate change adaptation must be the preservation of ecological life support systems for humans and all other species. We must prioritise the protection and expansion of water, biodiversity and ecological services to provide food security for future generations instead of environmentally damaging industries, especially fossil fuels. The devastating consequences of increased Continue reading »
Environment: The best of Peter Sainsbury
Reporting a climate of hope and despair for the environment in 2023, Peter Sainsbury has brought us a raft of issues impacting our environment in his weekly report. We share a selection here to round off 2023. Environment: Life scientists endorse civil disobedience Environment: Rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve a safe, sustainable future Continue reading »
Australia’s changed climate: The Bureau’s yearly reminder
Is climate change a myth? To use a little old-fashioned English slang, not on your nelly. Every New Year, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology publishes on its website a measure of Australia’s climate change. Its formal name is “Annual mean temperature anomaly Australia (1910-2023)” but it is a simple blue and red graphic, with blue Continue reading »