I hadn’t realised how much Brad Pitt and I have in common – our love of Cycads. Here’s one I photographed just yesterday in Mandurah, WA.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-19/cycad-dinosaur-plants-conservation-botanic-garden-sydney/101347332
Policy capture is a real thing and has dominated climate policy, particularly since John Howard’s time. The cosy sinecures and jobs roundabouts to ex-politicians, senior bureaucrats and fossil fuel execs has seen to that. And following on from Mar’n Ferguson, Madeleine King, Albo’s Resources Minister, seems that she will keep the capture.https://theconversation.com/how-to-deal-with-fossil-fuel-lobbying-and-its-growing-influence-in-australian-politics-188515?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2019%202022%20-%202378223734&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2019%202022%20-%202378223734+CID_d5d22aa61d267f76a38da2ba9899e038&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=How%20to%20deal%20with%20fossil%20fuel%20lobbying%20and%20its%20growing%20influence%20in%20Australian%20politics
This Fin Review article by Matthew Warren is behind a paywall but my comment is on him rather than the article. Warren was for many of the nearly twenty years I’ve enjoyed Maelor’s List the environment writer for The Australian. By his own pen/keyboard, he was a relentless climate change antagonist in an entire cabal of antagonists. But, it seems, redemption is a real thing. I look forward to The Oz, through all their writers, championing Australia’s renewables exports.https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/australia-is-well-placed-to-be-world-s-renewables-pioneer-20220815-p5b9uq
Time was when an elected representative could be counted on as a person of substance, respected for their intelligence and wisdom. Now we almost expect One Nation to preselect fools, and the LNP in Queensland tested us sorely by inflicting Gerard Rennick and Amanda Stoker (thankfully briefly) upon us. New MP Colin Boyce appears to think he knows more climate science than just about anyone, except perhaps Ian Plimer. Do they have an assembly line of dolts?https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/new-mps-climate-change-sums-dont-add-up/
Right result driven by blatant politics using a wrong process. This was one of the few right results the carpetbagger delivered. The politics were always blatant, the dog-whistling at a pitch we could all hear and processes where always whatever he thought of at the time. There was no respect for rules or conventions in this schemer.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/16/scott-morrison-accused-of-bias-in-blocking-pep11-gas-project-using-extraordinary-ministerial-powers
Democracy depends upon an electorate making an informed choice. It is the role of the Fourth Estate, the media, to give us the information on what government is up to. The secret multi-portfolios of the sham PM is a dereliction of duty on the part of a too-concentrated media. And what of the recent whisper of Nine chairman, head of the Future Fund and ex-Treasurer Costello being a secret lobbyist for Packer? Bring on a Media Royal Commission, these things are too important.
And for something quite different, the lessons from the Thai soccer team cave rescue, the significance of the number thirteen and readings of scripture point to the need for a rapid response to climate change. I must get out more!https://religionnews.com/2022/08/12/a-moonshot-for-planet-earth-apollo-13-ron-howard-13-lives/
And think of the now almost annual incidence of 1:100 yr events. This graph stops at 2010.https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/iag-chief-says-climate-change-is-adding-to-rising-insurance-costs-20220812-p5b9db.html
Here’s another case of capitalism running rampant. The inclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms puts the interests of corporations above the interests of citizens in countries venal enough to have signed up to them. It’s well past time for governments to stand up for their people.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/10/labor-must-amend-trade-agreements-that-allow-foreign-companies-to-sue-the-government-over-energy-and-climate-policies
The Hill is usually a source of a range of articles on US politics. Asking if philanthropy is up to the task of responding to climate change is letting political leaders off the hook though, how about castigating them for not being up to the task of leading the response to climate change.https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3594406-can-philanthropy-rise-to-the-challenge-of-combating-climate-change/