Sustainability Bites

There is no such thing as a free lunch

GBR

This is not ‘higher than average’, this is the new normal

This is not ‘higher than average’, this is the new normal

Apr 22, 2024 | , ,

NOAA has declared a Global Mass Bleaching Event and Australia’s Prime Minister races to the Great Barrier Reef to make an announcement! At last, the world is responding to the existential threat of climate change. But wait, what’s this; the PM is actually in Gladstone (at the southern end of the GBR) to celebrate the shipping of fossil fuel to Asia! Is this some sick parody? No, it’s real life. Welcome to the new normal – just like the old normal but with none of the certainty we once all enjoyed.

Health trumps economy; economy trumps environment

Health trumps economy; economy trumps environment

Jul 14, 2020 | , , ,

Of course, every decision has a cost, but these costs vary over time and space with different impacts on different people. The costs that matter most to our political leaders are those costs their voters perceive to be the most important to them. At this instant, voters are most scared about the immediate health implications of an unravelling pandemic.

Entering a no-analogue future

Entering a no-analogue future

Apr 8, 2020 | ,

The future is suddenly a very uncertain place. What we did yesterday is no guide to what we can do tomorrow, and we’re all quite scared. This is what a no-analogue future looks like; except it’s not in the future, it’s here now.

‘Best managed reef in the world’ down the drain

‘Best managed reef in the world’ down the drain

Sep 4, 2019 | , ,

Is it hubris, arrogance or duplicity when the country’s Minister for the Environment can claim, almost in the same breath, that the Great Barrier Reef is ‘the best managed coral reef ecosystem in the world’ but that the science-based outlook for the Reef’s ecosystem has slipped from ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’?