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The bunfight over super-intelligence
Some very bright people think that the quest for artificial intelligence could become an existential threat to humanity. I.J. Good during his time as Professor of Statistics at Virginia Polytechnic...
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How trees give our emissions a sweeter smell
Governments in Hobart and Canberra have discovered that trees make their carbon accounts look good, but it’s a con. NSW blue gums (Eucalyptus deanei), Blue Mountains. PHOTO Peter Woodard You won’t...
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Looking for that spark of island independence
The Basslink failure demands big thinking and home-grown resilience. OFFSHORE WIND-POWER: A freighter passes through the Swedish Lillgrund wind farm, an average-sized 110-megawatt offshore facility in...
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Government blindness spells doom for an ailing company
Will Hodgman and Paul Harriss have allowed mindless ideology to trump common sense, to the detriment of Forestry Tasmania. Last week’s Lapoinya protest, during which two people became the first to be...
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The biomass energy facts they don’t want us to talk about
Wood is the new king of renewables in Europe, but how renewable is it? Finger-sized wood pellets made from plant material, mostly wood. Converted UK power plants will not use any other fuel. PHOTO...
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How they took Earth’s temperature – and found a fever
It isn’t just that last year was warmer than ever. It’s the fact that every analysis shows the amount of warming last year was without precedent. The World Meteorological Organization’s assessment of...
View ArticleSmashing headlights is no way to prepare for the future
A Hobart meeting discussing the biggest global issue of them all highlights our dire need for more climate knowledge. If the Turnbull government still needs convincing that we need all the climate...
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The CSIRO spat that Australia can’t afford to ignore
The future of climate research in Australia is an issue tailor-made for Malcolm Turnbull to take a stand on. Yet he remains aloof from the debate. Hobart’s Sullivans Cove, with CSIRO’s Marine...
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Tasmania’s energy-vision deficiency
Will it take a full-blown energy crisis for Tasmania’s leadership to shake off its complacency? Lake Gordon. PHOTO Peter Boyer We expect a lot of our leaders. We want them to fix today’s contingencies...
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Arctic meltdown highlights human capacity for denial
Conservative political leaders turn their backs on startling evidence of warming. Senator Marco Rubio speaks at a Jewish temple in Palm Beach, Florida, on 11 March 2016. PHOTO AP/Paul Sancya via...
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The crazy saga of the great CSIRO sell-off
CSIRO’s death by 1000 cuts is creating international embarrassment for Australia. RV Investigator, the new CSIRO marine science platform. PHOTO CSIRO Competition isn’t everything. Communities also need...
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Politics, economics and our changing climate
In seeking solutions to Tasmania’s energy deficit, Matthew Groom must cast a wider net. Nigel Tomlin at his “Platypus Power Station”, a river-run hydro station he built at Ellendale in Tasmania’s...
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Ice melt studies say we underestimate sea level rise
If a couple of new ice studies are only partly right, we face massive disruption from sea level rise within decades. The Larsen B ice shelf, off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, in 2008. The...
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Australia’s climate effort falling behind in ‘critical decade’
While progress has been made internationally, Australia’s domestic climate effort is mired in ignorance and suspicion UN and French leaders celebrate adoption of the Paris agreement, 12 December 2015....
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Scientists and economists must speak with one voice
In a fractured political environment, we need economists and scientists to take a unified position on the impact of climate change. A depleted Lake Gordon in late March, with water levels below 7 per...
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Greg Hunt’s cultivated optimism gets us nowhere
It’s good to be optimistic – so long as you remain well-grounded. Optimism at work: a Hazara boy learns to ski. PHOTO ABC Foreign Correspondent Optimism has the power to sustain us through grim times,...
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Labor’s 2016 climate policy offers hope for bipartisanship
Instead of sacking scientists, the Coalition could embrace climate policy consensus. Labor in focus: Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull. PHOTO Alex Ellinghausen/Fairfax Media It had to happen. CSIRO’S...
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Acidifying oceans highlight Australia’s climate policy barren
While the world’s climate scientists wrestle with the mammoth issue of ocean acidification, the Turnbull government cuts research and fiddles in the margins. Coral bleaching off Heron Island, near the...
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Move to sack leading scientist will shock scientific world
Malcolm Turnbull’s failure to intervene in the CSIRO crisis will cost Australia dearly. John Church speaks to media in Melbourne during a protest on February 7 against CSIRO climate science cuts. PHOTO...
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Realising the value of standing forests
The prospect offered by the Wilderness Society of getting a return on standing trees deserves serious consideration by government and industry. Forest near Blue Tier in NE Tasmania, part of the area...
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