Words, ideas, videos
The rules of Australian climate policy are pretty straightforward The Australian government will always choose the stupidest, crudest position, at the behest of its fossil-fuel mates (this is largely bi-partisan, btw).The new low is never the new low for long: new lows will be drilled for, and found.Climate policy is green, insofar as old stupidities... Continue Reading →
Incumbent tactics in the nominal democracies (i.e., where the ones were fatal violence is rarely dished out to citizens who are 'in the way') are fascinating. (The shifts and continuities of tactics were the subject of my PhD). Anyone paying any attention for more than five minutes will know that one favoured tactic - deployed... Continue Reading →
We are allowing ourselves to brightside ourselves. FFS This is no better than the fucking gaslighting by those who would have us sleep through the apocalpyse. [Sweariness warning. I am trying to be more Omar - not the killing people bit, but the not cussing. Today, I'm failing. If that means you can't fucking share... Continue Reading →
Last week leading Australian scientists and technology experts studiously avoided talking about the government’s ongoing hostility to renewables while studiously “Digging deeper into the Technology Investment Roadmap” The event, organised by the Energy Change Institute of Australian National University was useful and informative as far as it went, with Alan Finkel repeating the lines we... Continue Reading →
Two University of Melbourne academics have delivered a gloomy outlook for economic and social transformation under the banner of a “green new deal” in Australia. Speaking at a seminar titled "The Green New Deal - Opportunities and Obstacles: Comparing Proposals in Europe, the US and Australia" Peter Christoff and Robyn Eckersley argued that undue political... Continue Reading →
I've had several pieces published on the excellent reneweconomy.com.au recently (see here, here and here).One I wrote which I think didn't make the cut (#themomenthaspassed) was about the performance and reception of Kwasi Kwarteng, UK minister for business, energy and clean growth at the recent Smart Energy Summit. It would be a tragedy if these... Continue Reading →
This below, minus the hyperlinks, appeared on reneweconomy.com.au Engaging with climate and energy policy in Australia can be bad for your neck. Either your head is in your hands as the latest political idiocy unfolds, or you suffer whiplash as you encounter smart concerned people who are dealing with real world issues. It’s a long... Continue Reading →
The wonderful news and analysis source Reneweconomy pubilshed this piece below on Wednesday 23rd September. The Czech writer Milan Kundera once observed that “the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The same goes for the struggle for adequate climate and energy policy in Australia. The first instinct is always... Continue Reading →
I guess I have a millionth of an inkling of what it must be like to be a person of colour anywhere, but especially in the US, UK or Australia. Given that I am as whitebread as it comes, that needs an explanation. One thing that comes through in reading people of colour, listening to... Continue Reading →
Here’s the gist of a very long blog post. A senior academic (Professor Karin Bäckstrand) gave a very clear summation of the relative importance of the Paris Agreement, the distinctions between ecological democracy and environmental democracy and the (possible) path of transformation that Swedish society is undergoing. She did this in the context of an... Continue Reading →
Marc Hudson 