While most people now understand that the enhanced greenhouse effect means a much warmer planet, communicating regional shifts in weather remains a significant challenge.
As with most complex science…
The days of 'sit down, shut up and do your science' are over. Today's students ask hard questions.
University of Iowa
Two recently published books suggest that the public – and school children in particular – are being fed lies about environmental issues such as climate change. The books – “How to Get Expelled from School…
Rain's coming: does that mean there's no such thing as climate change?
Georgie Sharp
While most people now understand that the enhanced greenhouse effect means a much warmer planet, communicating regional shifts in weather remains a significant challenge.
As with most complex science…
Why has Paul Watson suddenly been picked up in Germany on a Costa Rican charge?
Kay Nietfeld/EPA
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, was arrested last week in Frankfurt, Germany, on an international arrest warrant issued by the Costa Rican government…
Food is an emotional topic. Everyone cares about what they eat. Food often has a strong cultural, religious or even political meaning attached to it. Organic food is no different in that respect. People…
Embrace the blazing sphere.
AAP/EPA/NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory
John Gardner, US Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare joined Lyndon Johnson’s cabinet in 1965 to help create a ‘Great Society’ to end poverty, promote equality, improve education, rejuvenate cities…
The dingo fence is a blunt instrument; we could do better.
Paleontour/Flickr
We feel we have to set the record straight after some of our (Bradshaw’s) comments were taken grossly out of context, or not considered at all (Ritchie’s). A bubbling kerfuffle in the media over the last…
Despite a purported commitment to renewables, France's new President will likely be outmaneuvered by the country's nuclear industry.
AAP
The recent meeting of European Energy Ministers has exposed a Germany-France rift on the role of nuclear power. Post-Fukushima, Germany is investing heavily in solar power; so is Italy. But a French spokesperson…
How close is Australia to capturing emissions from its coal-fired power plants?
Brian Yap
Coal remains an important energy resource for Australia providing around 75% of our electricity and some 20% of export income. However it is also responsible for approximately 40% of greenhouse gas emissions…
Australia is on the lookout for new ways to dig up and burn coal without blowing our emissions budget.
AAP/Wesfarmers
From time to time, new technologies are proposed to help us use even more of Australia’s abundant coal.
Many of these technologies are designed to reduce emissions, either by drying the coal or capturing…
There are legal limits to how closely chickens can be packed, but is more space all chickens need?
Alan Levine
The Australian egg industry has seen a large shift in the proportion of chicken eggs coming from non-cage systems, especially free range. There is little doubt that some of this has been driven by consumer…
The point of planting trees is to create ecosystems; we need science to tell us which trees work.
Cyron Ray Macey
One of my most vivid and lasting memories as an ecologist dates back to 1997. I was in the office of the then Environment Minister. I was told by the Minister and his minders that “we already knew everything…
Cows' methane emissions can be measured with lasers, but it's not that easy to measure emissions from an extinct sauropod.
Mark Witton
Last week my colleagues and I published a paper showing how methane emitted by dinosaurs could have affected the world’s climate. The media response was huge, with 100+ interviews by email and phone, and…
We need a more intelligent discussion about how to use our finite carbon, and it needs to be about metal.
AAP
The recent furore about the carbon tax in this country has not been a celebration of enlightened debate.
I think much of the debate misses a vital aspect of carbon use, namely, that using carbon to make…
Stuck in Botany Bay: Greenpeace activists celebrate the Danish government's decision to halt Orica's plans to ship toxic waste to Denmark.
AAP
Are sustainability-dependent executive bonuses the answer to saving the planet? Research recently conducted by the Centre for Corporate Governance at the University of Technology, Sydney, examined whether…
Driving away from fossil fuels: fields of rapeseed which is used in biofuels, many of which are under development in Australia and abroad.
Flickr/roger g1
In 300 BC, the Syrian city of Antioch had public street lighting fuelled by olive oil. At the 1900 Paris World Fair, German inventor Rudolph Diesel demonstrated his engine powered by peanut oil.
Biofuels…
There's a lot of opposition to CSG mining in NSW. Will Marrickville's moves to stop it encourage other councils?
AAP
Earlier this week, Marrickville City Council in suburban Sydney blocked an attempt to mine coal seam gas on privately owned land in the inner-city area of St Peters. The Council imposed a condition on…
Care and consideration make the road safer for everyone. Enforcing the law helps too.
Fernando de Sousa
Every year, more Australians – particularly in cities – are riding to work. More cyclists means fewer cars on the road, less congestion, less pollution and fewer health problems. But every year more people…
The image of the bearded, grubby ecologist, out-dated spectacles askew and sporting an eccentric grin of geeky, scientific relish, is one that is shared by many, including novice ecologists themselves…
Could charcoal be our climate saviour?
Oli R/Flickr
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is co-ordinating a new venture to tackle short-lived global warming agents such as black carbon.
Should we be paying more attention to black carbon?
Yes…
Australians think they know what other Australians are thinking, but they're often wrong.
Callum Alden
The ABC recently ran the documentary I Can Change Your Mind About … Climate Change, exposing Nick Minchin, former conservative politician, and youth activist Anna Rose, to science and argument in favour…
Courageous dissent? "The MTC is patting itself on the back for staging The Heretic. But the MTC is not being bold … it is being cowardly."
Flickr/Carlton Browne
Who would have thought the Melbourne Theatre Company would get into bed with Andrew Bolt?
The MTC’s new play The Heretic, which premieres on 17 May, tells the story of climate scientist Dr Diane Cassell…
Lack of political will is holding back Australia's solar innovation: here, AREVA Solar's CLFR technology
Solar Dawn
By John Mathews, Macquarie Graduate School of Management
Australia knows how to provide public leadership in the complex coordination of public events. Just look at the recent staging of the opera La Traviata on Sydney Harbour. It was a one-off event that required…
Guardian animals, a environmentally friendly and adorable way to protect our livestock.
Karen Rodgers
True innovation is rare in agriculture. Most farmers are willing to improve the way they work, but these improvements are typically small adjustments to established practice, rather than fundamental changes…
What's next, Hitler was a vegetarian?
Heartland Institute
The inversion of reality and morality has been a long-standing attribute of the climate “debate,” which reached a new watershed low a few days ago with the latest travesty from the Heartland Institute…
