A website exploring the novel's themes of climate change and artificial intelligence
On November 18th, Boris Johnson unfurled a bold ten-point plan to make Britain greener. He promised more offshore wind turbines, and more money for research into nuclear power and carbon capture and storage. By 2030 new petrol- and diesel-driven vehicles will be banned. Existing manufacturing bases will be encouraged to transition to […] Read More
“The world’s carbon budget is finite and running out fast; we need a rapid transition to net zero.” These are not the words of the leader of an environmental group or a green party. They are the words of the CEO of BP, one of the largest oil companies in the world, […] Read More
Let’s imagine for a moment that all the things that we rely on from cows – meat, dairy, leather, even pet food – could be substituted without the need to exploit a single animal. What would that world look like? RethinkX has explored and answered this very question in their ground-breaking work […] Read More
“You can’t shame anyone into taking climate action.” That’s how I started the post of the same title back in January. That post was about Professor Katherine Hayhoe’s advice. This time it’s Rebecca Huntley, one of Australia’s most experienced social researchers. Rebecca’s new book has a similar message and explores how emotions […] Read More
One thousand people died during the extreme heat wave in Japan in July 2018. “We would never have experienced such an event without global warming,” said Yukiko Imada of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Wait, I hear you say, it’s impossible to point to any one weather event and say that event was […] Read More
With world-wide protests raging in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, the reality of inequality in the developed world is suddenly front and center. This is happening in the midst of a pandemic and follows shortly after unprecedented weather events including massive bushfires in Australia. […] Read More
We are a headed toward a very uncomfortable and disruptive ‘Steambath Earth’; a more humid and hotter climate, which humans are not adapted to tolerate. This is the conclusion of several recently published papers. For 6000 years humanity has thrived in a surprisingly narrow niche of climate conditions. Those conditions are characterized […] Read More
Is the global response to climate change just a slow motion version of our response to COVID-19? Let’s have a look at the similarities and differences, and see if there are lessons to be drawn. As we know, when the virus outbreak was first reported out of China, most in the west […] Read More
Where is the home of the oil industry? Most people would say Houston, Texas. What about the home of thermal coal? Well that mantle belongs to Queensland – the largest exporting state in the largest coal exporting country, Australia. Now here’s the thing, the states of Queensland and Texas share another feature. […] Read More
Australia is uniquely positioned to take advantage of its abundant renewable energy resources to transform its economy and energy systems. That’s the view of esteemed economist Professor Ross Garnaut in his latest book Superpower. With the tailwinds of dramatically falling technology costs, and record low interest rates, Garnaut shows how Australia can […] Read More