Sep 14 2015
As I write this, it looks like Malcolm Turnbull may replace Tony Abbott as Australian Prime Minister tonight. (Update: Turnbull is now PM!) Abbott has spent his two years in government doing everything he can to dismantle every climate change policy, and most recently was caught on tape joking about rising sea levels with Immigration …
Feb 18 2015
If you’re Australian and you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ll know PM Tony Abbott narrowly survived a leadership spill motion in the Liberal party room last week. Most commentators agree we haven’t heard the end of this. The apparent leading candidate is Malcolm Turnbull. It’s also possible Abbott could be challenged by Julie …
Sep 23 2014
Australian PM Tony Abbott isn’t going to the Ban-Ki-Moon climate summit in New York City on 23 September. He should be, and these are the carefully scripted remarks that he should make there. I humbly stand before you to seek forgiveness from the delegates present, and from all citizens of the Earth, for my thoughtless …
Feb 27 2014
Australia’s independent Climate Change Authority (CCA) today released the final report of its emissions targets review. It should be obvious to everyone that the Abbott Liberal government will ignore this report. They are trying to pass legislation to abolish the CCA, and are unwinding all the (already weak) policies of the former Labor government. They …
Feb 21 2014
We’ve all heard the laments: the public has gone cold on climate action because the issue has become so “politicized”. Someone has to say it: we need to politicize climate change. What does it mean to “politicize” something? It means to put it on the political agenda, propel it into the headlines, make it a …
Jan 25 2014
These two videos go a long way toward explaining why the Australian Labor Party won the 2007 election and lost in 2013. They show how Labor changed the way it framed climate change. In 2007 they correctly identified it as the most important issue of our time: By 2012 (when Labor were already in an …
Nov 07 2013
Australian ex-Prime-Minister John Howard yesterday addressed the “Global Warming Policy Foundation”, a British climate change denialist group. He described global warming as “a substitute religion” and himself as “an agnostic”. Like all deniers he objects to the term “denier”. In reality, there is overwhelming evidence that humans are warming the planet, and if you don’t …
Precarious Climate