There are few issues as divisive in eastern Australia as duck hunting. And 2011 has been one of the most vitriolic seasons yet. The season opened in Victoria with news that a protester had been shot in…
Australia could meet its Kyoto targets by replacing coal with natural gas.
AAP
In a coal-abundant nation trying to go green, coal seam gas drilling offers us a cleaner source of energy. But there is a draw back. Many coal seam wells will require fraccing and the community is concerned…
Has Japan’s corporate culture contributed to the nuclear danger post-tsunami?
AAP
The unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster has highlighted the weaknesses and dysfunctions inherent in Japan’s conventional corporate culture. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), now the center of…
The anti carbon tax rally resembled a Tea Party.
AAP
The recent anti-carbon tax rally that took place in front of Parliament House was compared to a US Tea Party rally. It certainly reflected its tone and style. There was the same anti-government, anti-tax…
Climate science is based on years of monitoring and analysis.
Flickr/glaciernps
Climate change is one of the greatest ecological, economic, and social challenges facing us today. The scientific evidence that human activities are contributing to climate change is compelling, and yet…
Newer reactors are ten times as safe as the Fukushima power plant.
AAP
Does the design and construction employed at Fukushima really represent the best that can be done in nuclear power? Is it inevitable that a nuclear power plant will be overwhelmed by a magnitude nine earthquake…
Is earthquake prediction even possible?
Soe Than WIN/AFP
Martha Savage, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Why have so many lives been lost in Japan and New Zealand recently? And why have so many survivors – the so-called “lucky ones” – had their livelihoods and homes destroyed? As a seismologist, I ask myself…
People won’t change their behaviour unless they have a mental model of a problem.
ARM Climate Research Facility on Flickr
Most of us don’t really understand climate change, and for some of us that means we can’t accept it. Sure, the evidence is compelling, but sadly humans aren’t always interested in evidence when it comes…
Is the nuclear industry facing unfair criticism?
AFP Photo/Don Emmert
Japan relies on nuclear power for about 30% of its electricity. It has few natural resources and imports large quantities of coal, gas and oil at an ever increasing cost. Some Japanese people are not in…
Planning is the cheapest way of avoiding major flood damage.
AAP
The tragic events of last summer confirmed that floods are among the most costly and dangerous natural disasters Australians face. Our response must start with a thorough examination of how we can better…
At least three-quarters of city commuters travel by car.
AAP
Emissions trading is back in the news and in national political debate, as is the related question of how it will affect Australian motorists. Fair enough. This should receive attention because greenhouse…
The most obvious health impacts due to climate change are from extreme weather conditions.
AAP
Climate change is affecting rates of illness, disease, injury and death in Australia and elsewhere, and the risk it poses will only escalate in future. As Australians argue about carbon pricing and its…
Nuclear safety comes at a price that may make the industry unviable.
AAP
While the Japanese earthquake aftershocks will stop in a few months time, allowing Japan to recover, the shocks may prove terminal for the green nuclear renaissance. In the week since Japan was rocked…
Technical myopia - sometimes experts fail to see the bigger picture.
National Institutes of Health via Wikimedia Commons
In 2002 when I visited Santa Barbara, I went to a grocery store called Trader Joe’s. It had its own line in milk. Trader Joe’s Vitamin D Milk (Grade A, pasteurized, homogenized) had some ‘nutrition facts…
Too much focus on balance doesn’t present the true picture.
AAP
While the evidence for climate change continues to strengthen, public acceptance of the science keeps declining. Closing the gap could be a question of better communication. At the commencement of the…
La Niña brings us rain - global warming makes it worse.
AAP
As six weeks’ rain gets dumped on Sydney in a single day and Queensland cleans up after shocking floods, it’s not surprising people ask if global warming is to blame for our weather woes. But following…
Barren: the public is being let down on climate change reporting.
Foundation Essay – In his recent statements on the poor state of the Australian debate on global warming (meaning discussion of its causes, and how to deal with it in policy terms) Professor Ross Garnaut…
Offsetting air travel is as simple as ticking a box on a website. So why aren’t more of us doing it?
AAP
With the political debate over climate change getting muddier, many people who used to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon offsets are no longer doing so. The market for carbon offsets…
Sometimes it’s not easy to forget the link between meat and animals.
Ariel Dovas
Why do we feel sick at the thought of eating dog, but hungry at the thought of eating pig (bacon) with our eggs? Or how we can feel so outraged about whaling while continuing to enjoy fish and chips? Why…
Cattle grazing in Alpine National Park is not supported by science.
foxypar4 on flickr
In January, 400 cattle were released into Victoria’s Alpine National Park as part of a research trial to investigate the influence of strategic grazing as a tool to reduce fuel loads and bush fire risk…
Polluting our atmosphere shouldn’t be free, for ethical reasons as well as economics.
AAP
The failure to adequately price carbon emissions allows the world’s affluent to impose serious climate-related costs upon its poor. But is this primarily an economic or an ethical issue? Despite fierce…
Flocks falling from the sky can be the canaries in our environmental coalmine.
AAP
The year began with the news that thousands of birds had fallen out of the sky in Arkansas, and 100,000 drum fish were found dead in a river nearby. Soon the media began reporting more incidents all over…