When it comes to the climate crisis, more than any other challenge we face, the odds are truly stacked against us: powerful vested interests, an intransigent political class, the collapse of international efforts and a hostile and ineffectual media. And, it would seem, nature itself. But if we are to have any hope of shutting down the coal industry and articulating a viable alternative, we will need to look beyond the current logjams.

Besides, who can say with certainty that downloading academic papers has not crossed that terrorist line?

As extreme weather becomes the norm Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, believes that to fight climate change we need to recover the values of indigenous people. Indigenous Australian writer Alexis Wright says something similar in her essay ‘Deep Weather’ in the latest issue of Meanjin. Noting the devastation of the 2009 Victorian bushfires, the […]

It’s good to be reminded that you’re not the centre of the universe. Scott and I recently made a visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, west of Kampala on the way to Murchison Falls. There, the dry grass catching at our legs and the sun bearing down on our heads, I felt small and unimportant, […]

I loathe plastic water bottles. I detest them, I really do. I think they’re ridiculous, wasteful, overpriced and faintly offensive. They’re faintly unhealthy, and insulting. I prefer them to the endless consumption of bottled soft drinks, but I still consider them more pointless. And, in the words of my eighty-five-year-old great aunt, they’re a little […]

Why vs Why: Nuclear Power Prof Barry Brook & Prof Ian Lowe Pantera Press It isn’t easy to review a book that consist of two different people arguing each side of an argument. In this case, it’s about whether Australia should pursue nuclear power, but my objections would serve for any book that worked in […]

Here on Earth Tim Flannery Text Flannery’s new book Here On Earth reads like a cross between Bill Bryson and Jared Diamond, which is reassuring given it has the title of a Leelee Sobieski film. It also sort of makes sense; both of these authors have read and commented on the book, and Diamond is […]

Into the woods Anna Krien Black Inc. Anna Krien’s book begins with violence, travels through corruption and pain, and ends with a vague, vain sort of hope. With a structure like that, you might expect that it’s about a catastrophic event, some natural or human-created event that has crushed communities and people, and is now […]

Screw Light Bulbs Donna Green & Liz Minchin UWA Publishing Screw Light Bulbs was written when its authors got to the point of having written or read one too many articles suggesting that the best thing individuals could do towards fighting climate change was change their light bulbs. Recognising that this was at best a […]

I first heard of freegans in Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel 40 Days of Rain. In the novel, they’re primarily people who live on the streets, both before and after a major climatic event that destroys much of the infrastructure in Washington DC. The main character, Frank, half joins their ranks when he loses his home; […]

My name is Georgia, and I am a vegetarian. I know that in writing that, I have already turned a significant proportion of my audience. The omnivores among you are rolling their eyes, skimming by, and looking for something else to read that will hopefully be less moralising and self-righteous. The vegetarians among you are […]

Anyone who claims Canberra is a boring, stuffy place wasn’t down by Lake Burley Griffin yesterday for the World Naked Bike Ride. On a glorious day with a sky full of scribbled cloud, cyclists left their clothes at home in favour of outfits constructed mostly from paint. The ride is intended to expose the dangers […]