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 →
Kwasi Kwarteng at #Smartenergysummit
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 →
Australia as renewable energy superpower? Report on ANU Energy seminar 24 September 2020
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 →
Every day is Groundhog Day for Australian climate politics #Auspol
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 →
Of #terrafurie, energy policy and groundhog day – #auspol #failedtransitions
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 →
Excellent Event: Ambiguous Transformations: Governance, Democracy, #Climate Transitions
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 →
Lenore Taylor, Mike Seccombe & Australian #climate politics – institutional memory
Australian content alert: Yeah, this is a bit of geekery. There's a Sunday morning politics show called Insiders, which is a ritual thing I do with my mum and her next door neighbour. The format is solid (stolid?)- a host (usually Barrie Cassidy) and three hacks, sorry, journalists. There's a long interview with a pollie,... Continue Reading →
Books I absolutely did not buy #94. Absolutely not… (forgive me, Dr Wifey)
I didn't go to the secondhand book fair on Fullarton Road today. I didn't buy the following books. And I give my reasons why I didn't buy each on I didn't buy this 1975 disaster novel for a buck, written as it is by the guy who a couple of years later did the... Continue Reading →
“Stop building coal-fired power stations” say green groups. In 1988. #auspol #climate ffs
This species. I mean, seriously. Anon, 1988. Greenhouse Switch. Australian Financial Review, 7 November, p.4 Australian governments should stop building coal-fired power stations as a start to combatting the greenhouse effect, conservation groups said yesterday. A group of 25 conservation, consumer and other community organisations said brown coal was the “dirtiest” of the fossil... Continue Reading →
Save the earth? Yes, but not if it costs…. #auspol #climate history 1982
So, there was this thing called the Australian Environment Council, made up of Federal and State ministers of the environment. It was set up in 1972 and had a long-ish run. And, as is the nature of these beasts, it produced Reports. And number 7, published in 1982, was on the public's willingness to pay... Continue Reading →
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