All articles
-
Australia’s coal politics are undermining democratic and Indigenous rights
Can Australia achieve fair and open decision-making when big coal players are involved? The case of Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine suggests the answer is no, and Indigenous land owners are bearing the brunt. Queensland’s Speaker of the House Peter Wellington holds a Declaration of Defence of Country given to him by the Wangan and…
-
Why the Paris Agreement on climate change means the end of coal
This week the world took a big step forward in the fight against dangerous global warming. The Paris Agreement on climate change – the first universal, legally binding, agreement to cut carbon emissions – was voted into law by enough nations to come into force. The nations that have taken action are some of the…
-
The Reef is at the front and centre of the election.
The Great Barrier Reef is at the front and centre of the 2016 Federal Election. The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, officially called for a July 2 election on May 8 2016. The formal announcement came after months of speculation by members of the media and months of calculation on the part of the…
-
Labor and the Greens delivered best ever policy platforms for the election. The Coalition took a different approach.
In response to the urgent problem of climate change and Australia’s worsening environmental indicators, the Australian Greens and the Australian Labor Party delivered best ever policy platforms for the 2016 Federal Election. In response to the urgent problem of climate change and Australia’s worsening environmental indicators, the Australian Greens and the Australian Labor Party delivered best ever policy platforms for the 2016 Federal…
-
Why the Great Barrier Reef is Dying
Fish of every imaginable colour race between the corals as the sun’s rays dance through the ocean’s surface. A stingray slowly drifts by, taking its leisurely time. I encountered this breathtaking scene last month and it reminded me of how extraordinary the natural world truly is. Schooling diagonal-banded sweetlips (Plectorhinchus lineatus). Great Barrier Reef, Queensland,…
-
Behind the spin, Adani and Coal are in trouble
You have to hand it to Adani Australia chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj. Despite years-long delays on Adani’s Queensland Carmichael coal mine – a project mired in court challenges and no realistic prospect of obtaining the financing it needs to proceed – Mr Janakaraj retains a cheerful disposition. Image via Flickr: Max Phillips Last week he…
-
5 reasons why Thursday was awesome
If you work in an office every day (like me) it’s pretty easy to get lost in the day to day challenges, and deadlines, and office politics, and making plans for future projects, and sneakily thinking about what you’re going to do on the weekend… You know. The usual. Then you get days like Thursday.…
-
The Bad News
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hearing a lot of bad news recently, so let’s start there. Here’s a random sampling of some of the big bad stories of 2016 so far (well, actually, the last week). NASA, NOAA, the UK Met…