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Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Comment

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There are many reasons mining interests might dismiss a publication which proposes planetary limits to exploitation. Bert Kaufman

Planetary boundaries, Limits to Growth and the climate debate

Do the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Club of Rome deserve a reputation as modern Chicken Littles who claimed repeatedly that the sky is falling? According to Hugh Morgan - former…
A lot of people have made a lot of promises about reducing emissions, but what do they actually mean? UN Climate Change

Making sense of chaotic emissions reduction pledges

The idiosyncratic nature of pledges by countries to stem their greenhouse gas emissions is an indicator of the chaos that characterises international climate change policy. The countries that have quantified…
This Tasmanian Devil needs a holiday. How about the mainland? Flickr/sillypucci

Should we move Tasmanian Devils back to the mainland?

In almost all parts of the world our environment is under siege and we are losing the battle to save many species from extinction. The most common threats behind this unfolding catastrophe are habitat…
Cold weather and coal-burning fires have plunged China into another air pollution disaster. EPA/Hao Bin

China is groping its way through another ‘airpocalypse’

The cold weather has come, the coal-powered heating has been switched on, and China’s north is once more swathed in thick smog. Air pollution has been a worsening problem in China in recent years, and…
Once animals leave Australia, we have limited control over what happens to them. AAP Image/Animals Australia)

Can live animal export ever be humane?

Last week, video footage of animal cruelty kicked off yet another live export controversy. The footage appeared to show not just confronting and inappropriate animal treatment, but the likely movement…
Close to 90% of Australia’s farmland remains locally owned. Flickr: Cha222

Why not let agriculture benefit from foreign investment?

Why do we clamour to keep foreign-owned car makers here, paying them billions of dollars to stay, while being wary of foreign investment in farms? Around 0.1% of foreign investment last year was in agriculture…
Aerosols such as this smog over Mexico City have helped keep temperatures down. What would happen if they were cleaned up? Flickr/brian.gratwicke

Ten days: how we imagine climate change

This decade has been called the “critical decade” for action on climate change. Decisions that we make in the years up to 2020 will determine the severity of climate change, and the impact it will have…
A new study finds a third of Australian newspaper articles reject climate science. Flickr/pasukaru76

Big Australian media reject climate science

Australia has the most concentrated press ownership in the world. What does that mean for significant issues such as climate change? In 2011 and 2012 we at the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism…
We should worry less about emissions and more about getting people out of harm’s way. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

Climate change and bushfires - you’re missing the point!

Climate change has yet again been blamed for another natural disaster, this time the recent bushfires in NSW. But much more important is the role of poor land-use planning decisions that are increasing…
Messing around with climate change makes no sense. Michael Lloyd

Australia is hot, dry and risky, so why cut climate action?

The Abbott Government’s proposed repeal of Australia’s climate legislation will be heard through history. This action is being taken at a time when the rest of the world is moving in the other direction…
It’s a jungle out there. Flickr/Janitors

Could Australia build a New York Highline?

The celebrated New York Highline is one of the world’s urban redesign success stories. Formerly an abandoned railway, it is now an elevated park running past, over and through the buildings of Manhattan…
Why are the megafauna no longer with us? Flickr/avlxyz

Did fire kill off Australia’s megafauna?

Australia was once home to gigantic reptiles, birds and marsupials, but sadly they’re no longer with us. What happened to them has been a source of ongoing debate, whether it was human hunting, climate…
Fixing our oceans is going to take a new perspective. Flickr/Carmyarmyofme

Solutions for our ‘broken’ oceans

We’ve heard quite a bit about the health of our oceans lately. Australian yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen recently retraced his oceanic voyage of ten years ago from Melbourne to Japan, finding an absence of sea…
How much can we burn? That depends on the future we want. Aaron Muderick

Setting a carbon budget to keep below two degrees

We have already committed the planet to a certain amount of warming due to past carbon emissions. But efforts to reduce emissions now and over the next few decades will critically affect the degree of…
This winter there was more sea ice than ever in Antarctica. Flickr/august allen

Why is Antarctic sea ice growing?

Recently NASA reported that this year’s maximum wintertime extent of Antarctic sea ice was the largest on record, even greater than the previous year’s record. This is understandably at odds with the public’s…
An adult Irukandji jellyfish, which vary in size being from as small as your thumb to as large as your palm. Dr Jamie Seymour

Will venomous Irukandji jellyfish reach south-east Queensland?

For the people of northern Australia, dangerous jellyfish stings are all too common. But under changing ocean conditions, could more of these dangerous jellyfish be moving farther south along the Queensland…
With profitability comes responsibility - will Australia’s emissions reduction policy hold LNG producers to account? AAP Image/Kim Christian

Federals faff with carbon, Western Australian emissions skyrocket

The ability of a country to make its mind up says a lot about how prepared it is for the future, its resilience and its competitive standing. How a country goes about reducing its carbon is very revealing…
Balancing the environment and development in New Zealand is proving to be tricky. Flickr/rambla

New Zealand’s environmental approvals: best in the world?

In Australia, Queensland and New South Wales will soon have a “one stop shop” for environmental approvals and assessment, including a 12-month limit on the assessment process. The reforms, according to…
We should be talking about future bushfires. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

Fire and climate change: fire risk needs to be managed

Recent fires in New South Wales highlight our current vulnerability, remind us about potential future risks and prompt us to think more strategically about risk management. Some key questions have come…
Remote beauty: Twin Falls in Cape York. www.shutterstock.com/John Carnemolla

The battle for Cape York: whose vision will win out?

From its stunning wetlands in the west, across a dry central spine, to the coastal heathlands and rainforests in the east, Cape York Peninsula is deservedly world-famous for its rugged beauty. For many…
The Prime Minister knows a lot about fires, but does he understand their connection with climate change? AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

Are the NSW bushfires linked to climate change?

The New South Wales fires have sparked a hot debate on the question whether these fires are linked to climate change. Prime Minister Tony Abbott joined in too stating, “These fires are certainly not a…
Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. It’s home to country’s largest oil field. Flickr/joshbousel

Leave it in the ground! How fossil fuel extraction affects biodiversity

Greenhouse gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels have resulted in well-publicised changes to the Earth’s climate. But the impacts of fossil fuels start long before their carbon dioxide reaches…