On February 1st Malcolm Turnbull will make a major speech on the Coalition’s climate and energy policy at the National Press Club.In his last public utterance on the topic, at the Sydney fish market in December last year, he spilt coffee , perhaps trying to douse the flames caused by Josh Frydenberg’s declaration that carbon pricing would... Continue Reading →
Balance schmalance- when the powerful do it is in the ‘national interest’
So, I am writing an article; a proper academic article. Got me a journal in mind and everything. It's on incumbent strategies versus challenge(r)s, and uses multiple streams approach and defensive institutional work. Gonna have the sucker done (first draft) by the close of play on the 27th December if it kills me. Reading some... Continue Reading →
Podcast on #Australia #climate policy #auspol
The very cool people at Beyond Zero Emissions, on 3CR (community radio in Melbourne) interviewed in November. Here's a link to their page about it. (it's cut and paste below) BZE radio talks to Marc Hudson: Marc is studying the strategic responses of the Australian coal industry to the challenge of climate change. He is... Continue Reading →
Solar Citizens launch at Adelaide Festival of Ideas #AdlFoI
[Fourth of a series of blog posts about sessions at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas on Saturday 22nd October] Next up was the launch of Solar Citizens. It covered the ‘solar rooftop revolution’ (1.5million Australian houses with solar panels, from a basically standing start 8 years ago), the start of solar citizens and its plans for... Continue Reading →
But which BIT of big business gets its way in which circumstances, eh?
The State is merely the committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie, innit? The evil moustache-twirling CEOs get together and tell their political meat-puppet underlings what to do. Simples. Well, sometimes, but every so often maybe it is more complicated. I’m collecting examples of these every-so-often moments for my PhD thesis. I have quite... Continue Reading →
The upside of coal
See below for a truly extraordinary coal advert from 1975, where, looking for fresh workers, the UK National Coal Board basically says "this job is a fanny magnet." Meanwhile, I just finished Evelyn Waugh's Put Out More Flags, which some say is his best. Published in 1942, it is about the phoney war - it... Continue Reading →
My “Three Minute Thesis” effort on #climate
Here's my performance in the University of Manchester final of "Three Minute Thesis." (Thank you very much to the organisers - and the training we received was fab). I did okay but on reflection, I tried to do too much - a history of climate science and policy, an explanation of issue lifecycle models, AND the Australian... Continue Reading →
#Awalkinthepark – Coal, climate, counter-movements
Almost every morning I lug a heavy (25kg/55lb-ish) backpack and my sorry ass around a local park. There are squirrels, dogs, dog-walkers (but no doggers) and also things to read. Yep, I read as I go. What I haven't been doing is systematically writing about what I read. No more! Today I begin this, and... Continue Reading →
No more free Clean Coal reports?! Thnx for nothing, David Cameron!!
As a resident of the UK, which was paying its dues to the International Energy Agency Clean Coal Centre, I was able to download its latest reports for free. No more, thanks to the UK government cancelling its subs (something to do with not burning coal any more, at least, soonish). And given George Osborne... Continue Reading →
Why the hype over Paris and #COP21? Politics, psychology and money
An essay on hype, history, denialism and the fossil fuel lobby. I hope I am wrong, and that Paris is indeed the “turning point” it is being hyped as. It won't take us long to find out – two or three years, I reckon. Personally, I think it will run into the sand in much... Continue Reading →
