The Palaszczuk government in Queensland came into power with a policy for 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. Giles Parkinson says:
The state of Queensland appears ready to embark on what could be one of the most radical transformations of its electricity network ever undertaken – even by standards of ambitious mandates in places such as California, Germany and Denmark.
Negotiators at the Paris climate talks have done well to produce a complete text of some 48 pages. It was around 100 at the beginning of the year. The only problem is that they have essentially decided nothing in the first week of the talks. Disputed or unresolved text is bracketed and there are 939 sets of brackets for the ministers, who have now arrived, to deal with. At least it’s clear where the problems lie. The Saudis continue to obstruct; the Indians are playing a “blocking role”. Continue reading Paris climate talks at a tipping point→
Obama has rejected the proposal to build a pipeline to bring tar sands oil south from Canada to refineries in the Gulf Coast.
Obama said Friday that the State Department, in its final Environmental Impact Statement, found that the pipeline would not be in the country’s national interest. “I agree with that decision,” he said.
This post argues that a carbon tax may be a smarter way of increasing revenue than changes to the GST. This would be particularly true if we are talking about replacing Labor’s complex carbon tax collection system with a KISS driven approach that collects the tax close to where the fossil carbon comes out of the ground or across our borders. This post is about revenue. Helping to save the planet is just a very desirable bonus.
In a landmark public health finding, a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health finds that carbon dioxide (CO2) has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making. These impacts have been observed at CO2 levels that most Americans — and their children — are routinely exposed to today inside classrooms, offices, homes, planes, and cars.
Sometimes personalities matter. What if the ‘hanging chads’ in the Florida vote had been counted differently and Al Gore had become President in 2000 instead of George Bush. It was a sliding doors moment for climate change.
Not just the hottest July, we’ve just had the hottest single month since records began in 1880. It’s also been the hottest first seven months of any year, so we are heading into new territory. Continue reading Climate clippings 153→
is the title of a short New Scientist article (paywalled) with the message that climate change may already be a factor in social breakdown, unrest and war. Nevertheless during this century it will likely become a direct and real threat to population stability. Continue reading Climate migration: a challenge to our humanity→
With increasing appreciation that limiting global temperature rises to 2°C amounts to folly, is 1.5°C attainable? Is 2°C the best remaining scenario on offer?
For the Bonn UNFCCC climate talks in June a report was presented from 70 scientists gathered together in a process called the “structured expert dialogue”. It warned that even current levels of global warming of around 0.85°C are already intolerable in some parts of the world: Continue reading Is 1.5°C attainable?→
Glaciers observed in a recent study are losing between half a meter and one meter of ice thickness every year – two to three times more than the corresponding average of the 20th century. Continue reading Climate clippings 152→
Climate change, sustainability, plus sundry other stuff
