Croakey Health Media
In the past 20 years there has been little progress on climate change, world emissions continue to rise; the only significant falls have been caused by the US recession of 2007-2009 and the 2020 COVID-19 crisis which reduced profligate consumption in western nations. This article examines the ideological mechanisms which have embraced much of Western civilisation and now represent the most crucial barrier to our future, the conquest of rational thinking by the free market system under neo-liberalism and its strategy of corporatisation. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
The housing problem is huge; the plight of the homeless is growing and must be addressed urgently. Currently 122,000 are homeless and the government’s $10 billion “Housing Australia Future Fund”, will spend the earnings to provide housing. It will take many years. Housing is a human right and provides a sense of safety, emotional stability, improved physical and mental health and a better chance of employment. This article offers an urgent solution and suggests how it can be financed. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
Approval of the Isaac coal mine is a betrayal of Australians and indeed people worldwide and as a medical doctor I am justifiably angry. Most health workers will recognise that we are opting to allow our emissions to increase by exporting more gas to balance our budgets, which is stated quite openly by some jurisdictions, for example the NT. Our fixation on the economy in the recent budget left climate change and environmental degradation inadequately funded as we soon approach breeching the 1.5 temperature rise. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
The Universities Accord terms of reference indicated it was “to deliver a higher education system that meets the current and future needs of the nation, and targets to achieve this”. Yet the terms of reference and discussion paper made no mention of a University role in leadership and management of the huge climate and environmental threats to civilisation. My submission describes how the university should be “A centre of learning to ensure the sustainability of the planet and the human race”. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
Current oil, gas, carbon capture and storage (CCS) developments in the US and Australia ignore accepted science that no new oil and gas fields can be developed without compromising the limit of 1.5 degree temperature rise. In Australia, approval for large gas projects requires an expectation of concomitant CCS. Yet currently CCS is inefficient, and will cause domestic emissions to increase. Nevertheless the government’s Climate Change Authority has issued a report which can be seen as supporting an uncritical report on CCS from CSIRO. Read more…

Independent Australia
The health of Australians is deteriorating. Good health is not only what our doctors and nurses can offer us but according to WHO, our health also depends on non-medical factors such as the conditions in which we are born, grow, work, live and age. Health is also affected by economic policies and political systems. A promise of $254 billion for tax relief for the rich should be broken and used for health, social, aged and disability services, and for educational revival. Read more…

Universities should have as their main theme the human and environmental sustainability of humanity and the planet. Two vital pillars should be (1) human health in its widest sense and reforms of medical training to be more relevant (2) the range of specialties which support ecological systems including agricultural, biological and water science and the many other disciplines which support rural existence. Read submission…

Pearls and Irritations
“Swimming between the flags” was Albanese’s climate policy of safety from attack by the Coalition government and their media supporters at the last election. The policy did just enough to appear progressive but not enough to arm an Opposition. The 2030 emission reduction target increased from 40 to 43%. The revised Safeguard Mechanism can also be seen as “swimming between the flags” and is inadequate to reduce emissions. The mind sets behind these decisions are discussed. Read more…

Mirage News
with Melissa Haswell
Queensland has significant responsibilities for maintaining the integrity of Great Artesian Basin (GAB) water for sustainable use by humans and agriculture. The evidence suggests it is failing. Pressure in the GAB is falling and the Mound Springs which maintain the biodiversity of the Lake Eyre Basin are drying up. Oil and industry developments have a prodigious water usage and pollute water and land with toxic long acting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals and endocrine disrupting chemicals. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
In the eastern states of Australia debate on the environment or ‘nature’ has been mainly about protecting koala habitat. This view is too simplistic. Protection should embrace all biodiversity and ecological services. These are our human life support systems, and those which determine food production. Governments must come to understand their role, explain them to the public and make them the centre of environmental policy. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
The integrity of the ecology of the Lake Eyre Basin and its water supply from the Great Artesian Basin are threatened by oil and gas development and by ineffective state and federal administration. The Lake Eyre Basin, occupying nearly a sixth of the land mass of Australia, is already subject to 800 oil and gas developments and recent evidence strongly suggests much more is soon to come in what is seen as a wide underpopulated area open to the concept of ‘Western’ development (plunder). Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
The Aukus deal for nuclear submarines by 2050 indicates that government has little grasp of the likely chaotic state of the world after current trajectories for climate and environmental change disasters have played out for the next 27 years. Their costs will increase and the national budget will shrink. We must prioritise basic requirements of living, health, social services and housing by reforming the economy and by seeking collaborative means to reduce defence spending. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
To be effective, democracy must cope with critical and urgent decisions imposed by a fast changing world of environmental crises with climate change as a significant cause. Our democratic system must also involve those who matter most, the young, by having 16 and 17 year olds vote at the next national election. Let us copy the “Make it 16” campaign in NZ. Many young people are leaders in climate change action and their knowledge often exceeds that of the current elected representatives. Read more…

The Hill
World leadership on climate change from President Biden has not eventuated. Despite introducing the Inflation Reduction Act to develop renewable energy, the US like Australia continues to develop fossil fuels. The basic problem in addressing the issue is the sanctity of capitalism. The article explains how this will continue to damage the environment and asks Americans to read the work of the late Herman Daly, an economic ecologist. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
Realisation is dawning that the climate and environmental crises cannot be solved by current national policies. They are due to the current market economy based on everlasting growth. National budgets are being eroded by a rapid increase in damaging extreme weather events; there is less and less money for basic living, health and housing needs. We have a choice, to allow climate change and environmental calamities to indiscriminately wreck the economy, or reduce growth in a planned way and prioritise the essentials of life. Read more…

Croakey Health Media
This article is a reprint of my recent article in Pearls and Irritations which details lack of planning for heatwaves in remote and rural regions of Australia. In turn this will cause many unnecessary deaths and impair the security and sustainability of these regions. Croakey Health Media has highlighted this as an important public health issue and health workers in remote communities are asked to respond their experiences. Read more…

Titanic Lifeboat Academy
with Joseph Wayne Smith
A recent article in The Guardian, 17 December 2022 had the arresting title of “Almost 8,000 US shootings attributed to unseasonable heat – study.” Other studies tend to support the claim that violence in the US is more prone in higher ambient temperatures. In this article we examine a wide literature on the issue and come to the conclusion that it is more likely that climate change is acting as an accelerant for the social breakdown initiated by political instability. Read more…

Pearls and Irritations
We must modify our sluggish democracy to act urgently, transform our economy, and save our life support systems. The alternative is for economic change to be delivered brutally by nature. One has to marvel at a parliamentary 2 months break when every day and week sees more irretrievable carbon dioxide spewed out and more species dying with loss of their ecological services. We must act urgently. Read more…

Click to download the Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan. The Lake Eyre Basin covers one sixth of the land area of Australia and may have some regions undamaged by the oil and gas industry, and by pastoral activity. It is essential that these areas be protected with urgency (see this article). The Great Artesian Basin lies under the Lake Eyre Basin and its diminishing water resources must be protected. This submission made by the Queensland Conservation Council, Arid Land Environment Centre and the Conservation Council of South Australia outlines the issues. My submission supports their position and details the many health aspects to be considered. Read my submission…

The Hill
Like Australia, the U.S. must face one of its most important threats — not war or crumbling democracy — but the demise of biodiversity. The threat resides in the lack of understanding of biodiversity loss by many, including governments. This problem is recognized by leading scientists from the U.S. and Australia, “The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its life forms — including humanity — is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts.” Read more…