Political scientists now commonly distinguish between ‘government’ and ‘governance’. The former refers to a hierarchical institution while the latter captures the idea of a general process of social steering…
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Comment
Displaying 7226 - 7250 of 7493 articles
The Scottish eat their deer and the South Africans their springbok. Australia’s national icon is gentle on the environment, doesn’t emit methane, is good to eat and could be a great source of income for…
Speaking on the ABC, Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, chief climate science advisor of the German Government, made a point even the least-informed should be able to understand. “Our body temperature…
The myth that renewable energy sources can’t meet baseload (24-hour per day) demand has become widespread. After all, the wind doesn’t blow all the time, and there’s no sunlight at night. But detailed…
We see it in the media all the time. Regular beachgoers who see no evidence for sea-level rise, farmers trusting long-term experience over Bureau of Meteorology forecasting, Antarctic sea-captains whose…
Science is strengthening its view that business-as-usual emissions of greenhouse gases will result in serious risks while the Australian public’s perception of climate change as a risk erodes. A recent…
Fracking. It’s a hotbed of controversy that spans our increasingly energy-hungry globe. The French have turned their back on it. Permanently. And now the NSW government has temporarily frozen the use of…
On Wednesday the BBC Trust released their report “Review of impartiality and accuracy of the BBC’s coverage of science”. The report has resulted in the BBC deciding to reflect scientific consensus about…
Expanding the theme of his recent book Why We Disagree about Climate Change, Mike Hulme presented an insightful analysis of the multiple ways in which climate change can be perceived. Central to Hulme’s…
Welcome to “One small thing …”. We asked our authors what one small thing they, or you, could do for the environment. We’ll bring their answers to you on Friday afternoons. Today’s one small thing comes…
With 87% of the Australian population living in urban areas, Australia is considered a highly urbanised country. Feeding all these people is becoming more fraught, but city buildings could be part of the…
Environmental scientists are partly motivated by a desire for better management of the Earth’s resources. They usually aim to effect change by going about their research quietly, and hoping that government…
Rare earth elements (REEs), for so long ignored by big mining companies, have recently become incredibly popular. But, contrary to what their names suggests, they are not particularly rare. They do, however…
Being energy efficient has always made financial sense for industry. The introduction of the Clean Energy Future package and a price on carbon makes it even more sensible. But many businesses will struggle…
Climate science has now thoroughly outlined the risk associated with increasing greenhouse gases. Significant and rapid warming of the climate system is now expected to occur over the next century and…
The carbon tax will have a relatively small impact on household incomes, in most cases for those who are worse off, just a few dollars a week. So why is it so hard to sell? The posing of this question…
With the momentum of his Inconvenient Truth gradually fading, Al Gore has launched a new climate change action campaign - the Climate Reality Project. The centrepiece of the campaign is a day of action…
News outlets recently reported a new paper in Nature Geoscience from a Japanese team documenting very large amounts of Rare Earth Elements (REE) in the mud at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. REE are essential…
Does Australia have strategic interests in Antarctica? Do we really think of the region as the “common heritage of mankind”? The Antarctic Treaty states that it is “in the interest of all mankind that…
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has announced that the government will provide the competition watchdog with almost $13 million in extra funding to tackle carbon tax-related price-gouging. In this context…
This year marks the 50th year of the Antarctic Treaty, a visionary document that for the first time set out a vision for an entire continent based on peace, science and co-operation. So how does it hold…
Early yesterday morning Greenpeace Activists broke into a CSIRO research farm and destroyed a field trial of genetically-modified wheat. I was appalled. “But it was only a field trial,” I can hear some…
The flurry of media that followed Julia Gillard’s announcement of the carbon price plan on Sunday had a clear, simple message. How much will you pay, and how much will you get back? But the introduction…
How effective will the carbon tax package’s biodiversity measures be in conserving Australia’s ecosystems? The carbon price package’s biodiversity measures are a pleasant surprise. To the extent that the…
The Australian government’s plan for a Clean Energy Future contains a number of measures aimed at supporting farmers and land managers to provide emissions offsets. The plan consists of a mix of market-based…