Native status is a big deal. It affects where conservation dollars are spent, and our inherent reaction to a species. Most people believe that native equals good and alien equals bad, but in some cases…
“Truth is so precious that she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
Winston Churchill’s famous words were uttered during the war against the Nazis and referred to Operation Bodyguard, a deception…
Three little words strike fear into the heart of at least 40% of Queenslanders: coal seam gas. These three seemingly innocuous words have managed to divide a state, and become the hottest topic in the…
There is a trade war brewing between the United States and China over intellectual property relating to clean technologies – particularly solar power.
Steven Chu, a scientist, Nobel Laureate in Physics…
Given our rapid depletion of resources, especially raw materials, and Australia’s ever-increasing waste creation, it’s time to ask: what are the best ways to encourage resource recovery and recycling to…
Whales have become a synecdoche for nature in contemporary society’s debate over how to use the resources of the planet. This has only escalated in recent years with the hotting up of debate between Australia…
On August 8 last year, there was a leak of about a kilogram of hexavalent chromium from the Orica chemical plant on Kooragang Island, near Newcastle.
Hexavalent chromium is a known respiratory irritant…
When was the last time the head of a national lobby group led a national initiative in the national interest, way beyond the comfort zone of the majority of their constituency?
Where are the national…
The trouble with words is that you never know whose mouths they’ve been in.
— Dennis Potter
Readers following the Australian news media’s coverage of climate change will probably have detected the…
When you’re complaining about the price at the bowser next time, consider this. Australia’s oil imports amount to a little over 1% of GDP. In Fiji, the oil import bill was around 14% in 2010. It’s probably…
We are poised at a pivotal moment for native forests, the wood products industry and climate change. Australia is moving away from a damaging native forestry industry – and a damaging conflict over its…
Is the confinement of animals for human purposes akin to slavery? Are some animals slaves?
Slavery is an evocative concept. Treating someone as a slave is one of the worst things you can do to them. Using…
Australia is moving towards more energy efficient houses. But are we doing enough? We think Australia could be aiming for zero-carbon homes; the tricky bit will be working out how to get there for the…
Last year, revelations of cruelty to cows in Indonesian abattoirs led to outrage in Australia. The assumption was that these sorts of things could never happen here. Last week, a NSW abattoir was closed…
By Louis Verchot, Centre for International Forestry Research
In June 2012 around 40,000 participants are expected to attend one of the most important environmental gatherings in a generation – Rio+20. A draft agenda has been released, bearing the slogan “The Future…
James Lovelock’s “Gaia hypothesis” has challenged conventional thinking about the nature of the earth as an integrated system. Gaia proposes that the earth acts like a living organism — that life is part…
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Last week I published an opinion piece in Nature attempting to crystallise debate on a number of issues in Australian environmental management: bushfires, weeds, feral animals, management of Aboriginal…
Some jurisdictions are pushing for aviation emissions controls, but an international agreement seems far away.
Cardiff Friends of the Earth
Aviation is a growing source of emissions. Emissions from aviation are increasing against a background of decreasing emissions from many other industry sectors. Airlines – with their international reach…
“What is the value of zero?” asks the seductive commercial for the new Nissan Leaf (due to launch in Australia in April). Set against a montage of natural and man-made images of “0”, the Leaf advert asks…
Electricity retailers will have some explaining to do once the carbon price begins.
reallyboring/Flickr
The first real test of whether the public will accept Australia’s carbon tax will be when electricity bills start landing in peoples’ mailboxes after 1 July 2012.
The main issue is that while the carbon…
This past Christmas, Darwin waited with unnecessary nervousness as Cyclone Grant developed to our north. It missed us, but on Boxing Day it dumped 385mm of rain into the Edith River.
The resulting flood…
Without monitoring and evaluation, the Biodiversity Fund will be another missed opportunity.
Omega Man/Flickr
Australia’s Biodiversity Fund was announced in July 2011 as part of the “Clean Energy Future” package. We welcome the expenditure of almost a billion dollars over the next six years on biodiversity conservation…
Sure, it looks nice, but this tree is also saving you money.
UncanonicalAaron/Flickr
Perhaps it is a pity that so many Australians think of our parks, gardens, streetscapes and urban landscapes only in terms of their aesthetics. While green spaces are beautiful and decorative, these attributes…
Steve Irwin may be more famous, but corvids are among our most successful expats.
Chris73/Wikimedia
Among birds, crows and ravens (or corvids) are the most intelligent. They have the largest brains for body size; they’re more like primates than birds. In fact, some people call them “flying monkeys…
Pet cats are single-minded hunters, but are they wiping out native species?
bolg/Flickr
In “The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson”, Mark Twain equated keeping a cat to domestic bliss:
When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there – in sunny weather…
It's time we found a way to make our trucks greener.
gorbould
Truck transport accounts for roughly 25% of energy used in the global transport sector, making it a substantial contributor (2.6%) to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
As concerns about greenhouse gas…
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