Corporate irrigation profits drain towns and rivers of life
Towns are running out of water and fish are dying in alarming numbers in Western NSW, providing a glimpse of what is at stake as the climate crisis drives temperatures to record levels.
Climate strike organiser: ‘the politicians aren’t listening’
Solidarity spoke to Vivienne Paduch, a Year 10 student at Manly Selective School and one of the organisers of Sydney’s Strike for Climate last year about why students have called a second Climate Strike.
Demand government investment in renewables
To have any hope of a transition to a zero carbon economy, we need a climate movement built around real demands for green jobs now, for direct government investment in 100 per cent renewable energy, and for an end to all new coal and gas.
Climate striker: we need support from unions to build the movement’s power
Sydney School Strike 4 Climate activist Aisheeya Huq spoke to a meeting of National Tertiary Education Union members last week. We reprint part of her speech.
Stop Adani, funding for renewables and green jobs now
Thousands joined the school student strike for climate on 30 November. “If you were doing your job properly, we wouldn’t be here,” Deanna Athanosos,...
Radical solutions needed to save the planet from climate chaos
Climate scientists have warned that global temperature increases must be kept to 1.5 degrees to avoid catastrophic consequences.
Turnbull’s power plan won’t cut bills or help the climate
The Turnbull government’s new energy plan, the National Energy Guarantee, is simply an effort to keep coal plants operating as long as possible.
Liberals work to resuscitate dying coal plant at Liddell
The Turnbull government in so committed to coal power that it wants to extend the life of the decrepit Liddell power station.
Turnbull abandons climate action to entrench coal power
Turnbull’s energy plan will entrench coal and delay the shift to renewable energy—while delivering next to nothing to cut power bills.
Market failure: coal plants, power prices and privatisation
Privatisation is responsible for the crisis in the power industry, writes Chris Breen
Trump abandons climate deal as world dithers on action
Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris climate treaty has been condemned worldwide. It means one of the world’s two largest carbon polluters has abandoned the global effort to tackle climate change.
Fossil fuelled capitalism pushing Earth system into unknown
Ian Angus’ new book Facing the Anthropocene will aid anyone who wants to fight governments that put profit before planet. It will serve as an introduction for many activists to the scientific concept of the Anthropocene—a new geological era that has no analogue in the Earth’s history.
Turnbull takes up Abbott’s attack on renewable energy
Malcolm Turnbull has not just adopted Abbott’s policies on climate change, he is taking them further, as his government wages war on renewable energy in the wake of the September state-wide blackout in South Australia.
NSW cracks down on mining protests
The Baird Government in NSW is working overtime to clear the way for unfettered expansion of fossil fuel mining, introducing serious new penalties, including a potential of seven years in prison, for protestors disrupting mining or fracking operations and new police powers that could be used to crack down on demonstrations across NSW.
There’s no Cowspiracy—fossil fuels are the main climate threat
Al Gore has gone vegan and actor Leonardo Di Caprio has thrown his name behind a new film, Cowspiracy, which suggests that all we have to do to stop climate change is stop eating meat. Is that really all there is to it?
Paris agreement pledges nothing for the climate
The media hailed the Paris climate conference as delivering an “historic” global agreement. But there is nothing to celebrate. The agreement is a sham.
Klein film foregrounds fight for the climate, but skirts what we’re up against
This Changes Everything was screened around the world in the lead up to December’s climate summit in Paris to promote the People’s Climate March. The focus of the film is the front-line struggles around the world against fossil fuel expansion and exploitation.
Why climate action means challenging capitalism
Tackling climate change through a rapid transition to renewable energy is perfectly feasible, but corporate interests are determined to frustrate action, writes Erima Dall
Trading our way to disaster on carbon
Labor is again proposing a price on carbon as the centrepiece of its climate policy. The unpopularity of the carbon tax experiment means they...
Deja vu on climate: Labor’s only promise on renewables is emissions trading
One of the big announcements at Labor’s National Conference was the plan for 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. But the devil is in the detail—and the devil here is that there is no detail.
Abbott’s climate inaction on display—but emissions trading no alternative
Tony Abbott’s contempt for climate change has again been on display over the efforts to lower the Renewable Energy Target. Meanwhile, with his Direct Action policy is underway, it continues to be widely, and rightly, derided.
Don’t let Abbott slash renewable energy target
Tony Abbott is coming after renewable energy, with plans to junk the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Evidence shows carbon tax was worse than useless
The carbon tax is now history. But there is nothing to mourn in its passing.
Morwell coal fire puts lives and climate at risk
For more than eight weeks, the fire at the Hazelwood open-cut coal mine in Victoria spewed toxic smoke and ash across Morwell. Meanwhile the state Liberals and the company that own the mine, GDF Suez, spewed out deception and denial.
Liberals slash while Australia burns
The bushfire season began shockingly early this year. This is exactly what climate scientists are telling us to expect as the climate warms. And now in another devastating climate tragedy, 10,000 people have been killed by Tyhphon Haiyan in the Phillipines.
Time to fight for renewables, not carbon tax
Tony Abbott is taking every opportunity to cast doubt on climate change. He called attempts to link climate change and the NSW bush fires “complete hogwash” and said that Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN’s climate change negotiations, was “talking through her hat” when she did so.
Fighting Abbott’s climate denial: why we shouldn’t defend the carbon tax
Tony Abbott says repealing the carbon tax will be his “first order of business” in the new parliament. Labor and the Greens have said...
Has the carbon tax cut emissions?
The Greens claim the carbon tax has reduced emissions by over 8 per cent since it came into effect.
The most recent government figures do...
Community campaign challenging East West tunnel plan
A community campaign is fighting the Victorian Liberal government’s planned East West toll link tunnel. The multi-lane road tunnel will cost $6-8 billion...
Wild weather summer exposes Labor’s climate crimes
Wild weather around Australia this summer has put the reality of climate change into sharp relief. The whole country was caught in the grip...
Gillard fiddles while Australia burns
With a new record-breaking heat wave producing catastrophic fires across the country, why is there so little discussion about climate change?
The severity of the...
Catastrophic fires—pathetic climate policies the elephant in the room
With a new record-breaking heat wave producing catastrophic fires across the country, why is there so little discussion about climate change?
The severity of the...
Coal plants closing, but no thanks to the carbon tax
The record-breaking “Frankenstorm” Hurricane Sandy, which wrecked a trail of destruction from Cuba and Haiti to New York, has shown again that climate change...
Labor’s carbon tax is good for nothing, except Abbott
The introduction of the carbon tax has proven what was obvious from the beginning—that ordinary people, not big business, will be paying for a...
Carbon tax: Help or hindrance in stopping Abbott?
Solidarity distributed this leaflet at the 2012 national Climate Action Summit, held this weekend in Sydney
Support for the carbon tax has damaged the climate...
They all admit it: the carbon tax means gas
The carbon tax is law. This is Gillard Labor’s “historic reform”. Their “dollar float”. According to Treasurer Wayne Swan it is “Labor to the...
Funding a clean energy future?
Labor's carbon price legislation includes the establishment of a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The government claims this means $10 billion in funding for...
Guy Pearse’s demolition of carbon tax apologetics
Guy Pearse, a former Liberal staffer turned critic of the influence of big fossil fuel companies, has written a searing critique of the climate...
Coal seam gas: climate disaster brought to you by the carbon tax
The coal seam gas (CSG) industry is rapidly expanding across the country. There are even efforts to drill for CSG in central Sydney. Labor’s...
Carbon tax: offsetting our way to more emissions
Buried in the fine print of Labor’s carbon tax package is the admission that greenhouse gas emissions will keep rising for decades into the...
Debate: should we defend the carbon tax?
The carbon tax has been a subject of much debate on the left and in the trade union movement. We asked NSW Greens MP...
Higher bills not something everyone can afford
Some supporters of the carbon tax have rubbished claims that people can’t afford to pay more for power and other goods. One widely circulated...
Defending carbon tax just helps Abbott
The unveiling of the carbon tax package has produced only the slightest improvement in the government’s support. Labor’s primary vote crept up to 29...
Is the carbon tax the end of dirty coal power?
Labor and the Greens claim the carbon price means the beginning of the end for coal-fired power. But at best we will see a...
Big polluters grab billions in handouts—again
As under the CPRS, the carbon tax contains billions in compensation for business. In total there is $10.3 billion for business over the first...
Claims of billions for renewables are hollow
Labor and The Greens have held up a “massive $13 billion investment in renewable energy” as a key benefit of the carbon tax package....
Carbon tax deal comes at too great a cost
The carbon tax deal struck between Julia Gillard and The Greens has finally been unveiled. Gillard says it will mean a “great clean energy...
Gillard dragged down with the carbon tax
Julia Gillard’s political fortunes are going from bad to worse. Opposition to the carbon tax is clearly a key factor.
In late July, Newspoll...
Nuclear contamination at Fukushima still growing
Three months on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the situation is still worsening. But growing anti-nuclear sentiment worldwide has seen both Germany and Italy...
Carbon price—a cheap way to do nothing on climate change
Labor has used a Productivity Commission report to bolster its push for a carbon price as the best way to cut carbon emissions. But...
Why climate action means challenging capitalism
Amy Thomas looks at why the system is unable to effectively address climate change
In 2010, after two decades of scientific consensus that climate change...
Are First World workers to blame for climate change?
Some see workers in developed countries like Australia as too bought off to be allies in the fight for climate action. Jasmine Ali shows...
Green consumerism not what it claims
Review: Green gone wrong
By Heather Rodgers, Verso, $39
As concern about environmental problems has become mainstream, a new market niche has emerged.
Businesses are now well...
Labor’s useless policies feed Abbott’s rise
Just when you think Julia Gillard could not get any worse, she gets worse. Labor is lurching from crisis to crisis as it tries to...
European emissions trading scam should be a lesson
LABOR IS poised to introduce a carbon price, starting with a tax that will morph into an emissions trading scheme (ETS) within three to...
Carbon tax won’t stop new coal power
Intensive negotiations to determine the final shape of the government’s carbon tax are underway. But it is already clear that the fight to stop new coal...
Deadline set for HRL plant assessment
Victoria’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has begun assessing HRL’s plan for a new coal power plant in the state. A decision is expected by...
Unions and the carbon price: trying to sell the unsaleable
“If one job is lost, our support is gone.” This was the condition placed on a carbon tax by right-wing Labor heavyweight and Australian...
Climate movement debates carbon price and strategies for fighting Abbott
This year’s annual Climate Summit, a decision-making conference of Australian climate activists, was split 50/50 over whether to support a carbon price.
The final...
Backing tax on workers no way to stop Abbott
Tony Abbott, backed by radio shock jocks, climate deniers and the big polluters lobby, has called for a “people’s revolt” against a carbon tax....
Don’t let HRL and the Liberals get away with new coal power in Victoria
The Environmental Protection Agency is set to decide in mid-April if a proposed HRL coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley can go ahead....
Carbon pricing, unions and climate change
Solidarity spoke to James Goodman, National Tertiary Education Union member at UTS, about unions and climate change policy
The ACTU had a position where it...
Demanding climate solutions that will work
The Beyond Zero Emissions 2020 Stationary Energy Plan shows one possible plan to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy in Australia. Using only currently...
New carbon price proposal is the CPRS version 2.0
Flanked by Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne, Julia Gillard announced at a press conference on February 24 that she wants to introduce...
Floods and extreme weather send message on climate
This summer has seen extreme weather events across Australia. Queensland’s devastating floods were followed closely by Cyclone Yasi. Widespread flooding also occurred in Victoria,...
NSW power privatisation: selling our services at any cost
The NSW government’s power sell-off has descended into farce. The second round of “partial privatisation”, expected to raise $2 billion, has fallen through due...
Queensland floods: why will nobody talk about climate change?
JULIA GILLARD, Tony Abbott and Anna Bligh spent much of the Christmas period posing for the cameras in flood-ravaged Queensland. There was plenty of talk...
Power bills skyrocket under market solutions
The scandals over the cost of solar feed-in tariffs reveal the dangers of advocating market solutions to climate change.
The NSW government’s Solar Bonus Scheme, a...
Hazelwood CFMEU members demand a say
The political debate over closing Hazelwood has largely ignored those who actually work there. CFMEU members at Hazelwood held a mass meeting in early November...
Labor prepares another worse than nothing carbon price
Julia Gillard has promised to deliver a carbon price by the end of 2011, saying that there will be “nowhere to hide” from climate change....
New call for movement to break with market solutions
Academics James Goodman and Stuart Rosewarne have delivered a welcome salvo against market-based solutions to climate change.
Their new paper, written for Friends of the Earth’s...
Carbon price committee is a trap for The Greens
By establishing a carbon price committee in a post-election deal with Labor, The Greens have sparked hopes that climate action is a step closer....
Climate movement must stop new HRL coal plant
HRL HAS announced that a new coal power station in Victoria is going ahead, after signing a construction contract with a Chinese power company....
Union climate conference—focus on political campaigning needed
Unions in NSW have deepened their engagement with climate issues by hosting a Climate Active conference in September, one of the first of its...
New carbon price committee will get us nowhere
Julia Gillard’s deal with The Greens to establish a parliamentary committee on a carbon price has been hailed as a new chance for serious...
Gillard a clunker, Abbott a denier—we need a climate fight
Abbott told ABC’s Q&A during the election period that the science of climate change is “highly contentious”. Yet Labor’s attempts to play on his...
Sustainable population debate is a dogwhistle
THE ISSUE of population took centre stage in the federal election. Gillard and Abbott blamed immigrants for everything from traffic congestion to climate change.
Julia...
Packed out launch hears how zero carbon possible by 2020
A standing room only crowd of around 700 people gathered at Melbourne University in July for the launch of Beyond Zero Emissions’ (BZE) Zero...
Students debate climate politics at SoS
In early July students and activists from across Australia gathered at Flinders University in Adelaide for the annual Students of Sustainability (SoS) conference, a...
Balance of power will challenge Greens
Labor’s slide in the polls has seen substantial numbers of voters move towards The Greens.
On current polling, The Greens will win between 12 and...
Solar policy is designed to fail
The federal government revealed the first projects shortlisted for funding under its Solar Flagships scheme back in May.
The scheme provides $1.5 billion over six...
Mobilisation the key to climate fight
Labor has a climate policy basically identical to the Liberals. Rudd's drop in support after junking the CPRS, and the votes heading to The...
Gulf oil spill: seas sacrified for profits
It’s hard to grasp the awesome scale of the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. It is...
It should be clear—there is no future in nuclear
Nuclear power is no solution to climate change, explains Ben Dharmendra
The nuclear industry is using the climate crisis to push nuclear power as clean,...
Starting the renewable energy revolution
The shelving of the CPRS until 2013 is a good thing—and not just because the scheme was hopelessly flawed. It means there is now...
Feed-in tariff not the best way to win renewables
Many climate activists, along with The Greens and Electrical Trade Union, are starting to demand feed-in tariffs for renewable energy. Proponents say they are...
Activists say: no more black balloons for NSW
Last month climate activists demonstrated against the NSW government’s coal expansion outside state government offices in Sydney. The action was a response to “concept approval”...
Rudd junks the CPRS: time to show up his climate hypocrisy
Rudd's decision to junk the CPRS shows him up for the kind of politician he is—willing to sacrifice something he once called the “greatest moral...
Population is the wrong target
Arguments that population is to blame for climate change distract from real solutions to environmental problems and only serve to boost racism
Students say climate jobs, not coal
Climate activists gathered outside the office of Peter Batchelor in late March. Batchelor is Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources and was due to attend...
Electricity price rises: the cost of making ordinary people pay
Huge electricity price rises in NSW show that Rudd’s CPRS will have more impact on power costs for working people than the government has admitted....
Carbon tax: a distraction from real solutions
This year's national Climate Summit voted to demand a carbon tax during the federal election campaign. Many viewed it as an alternative to Rudd’s useless...
Stopping new coal power key task for movement
The campaign to stop new coal power stations is shaping up as one of the key issues for the climate movement—both in NSW and nationally....
Zero emission possible in ten years
Australia could cut emissions from electricity generation to zero in ten years for $40 billion a year, according to a preview of Beyond Zero Emissions’...
Carbon tax not the solution we need on climate
A carbon tax, proposed by The Greens as an alternative to Rudd's CPRS, would increase power prices for ordinary people, and be just as ineffective in encouraging...
Corporations and climate change
We can’t trust the future of our planet to big business, argues Amy Thomas
On the surface, it seems corporations have changed their attitude to climate...
Invaluable guide to climate science, but not solutions
Review: Storms of my grandchildren
By James Hansen, Bloomsbury, $35
Last year James Hansen, one of the world’s best-known climate scientists, was arrested during a protest...
Why the climate movement shouldn’t support the Green’s carbon tax proposal
The Greens' Proposal
The Greens have proposed an interim 2 year carbon tax, as a transition to
carbon trading. Starting at $23 per tonne this...
Rudd gives Abbott space to revive Howard policies
As the politicians prepare for this year’s federal election, Liberal attack dog Tony Abbott has pulled the mainstream political debate to the right. But...
Real alternative to CPRS missing from climate debate
Rudd’s reintroduction of his emissions trading legislation in parliament is a stunt designed to keep the pressure on a divided Liberal Party. His CPRS...
Scandals don’t dent climate science
Recent scandals over evidence in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of 2007 have been used to cast doubt on the danger...
Why the Copenhagen climate summit failed
The Copenhagen summit was a failure and a betrayal of the world’s people by their leaders. The only outcome was an “accord” which was simply “noted”...
Interview with Clive Spash: Why carbon trading won’t work
Chris Breen spoke to Clive Spash, former CSIRO economist whose controversial paper on carbon trading was censored by CSIRO management about the problems with...
Rudd, the Mad Monk and climate failure
The implosion of the Liberals and the collapse of the CPRS provides a chance to push for real solution to climate change
Watching the parliamentary Liberal...
Leaders at Copenhagen won’t save the climate
World leaders are incapable of agreeing to the action necessary to halt dangerous climate change. It is already clear that there will be no deal...
Rudd’s CPRS: worse than useless, worse than ever
With the Senate unable to pass the CPRS, Rudd could be taking his amended scheme to the next election. The deal negotiated by Penny...
Where to for the climate movement?
The climate movement has suffered from a lack of strategy—and needs to focus on the CPRS and public investment in green jobs, argue Chris...
Marx’s ecology
The writings of Karl Marx showed an understanding of capitalism as a system that distorts humanity’s relationship to the environment, writes Jasmine Ali
“Let us...
Australia helps undermine international climate deal
The Rudd government claims to be serious about reaching a deal at international climate change negotiations at Copenhagen in December. In late October Rudd...
Greens bill lacks alternative to market solutions
The Greens have gained support for their principled stand on climate change. Their attempt to focus this into a concrete alterative came last month with...
Obsession with market policies dooms renewables
The recent collapse of Solar Systems, the only company in Australia capable of building large-scale solar power stations, has exposed Rudd’s failure to support renewables....
Lessons to learn from local response to Helensburgh climate camp
This year’s NSW Climate Camp provided an important chance for the climate movement to come together to take action and discuss how to strengthen...
Climate change: Why population is not to blame
Amy Thomas traces the history of arguments for population control, and shows why they have no place in the movement to combat climate changeThe...
Rudd negotiates more handouts to polluters
The Rudd government is considering amendments from the Liberals that would further increase handouts to big business under its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).
The...
Climate campaigners reach out to Hazelwood workers
The “Switch off Hazelwood” campaign organised a public meeting in Victoria’s Latrobe valley, prior to last month’s 500-strong rally at the Hazelwood power plant,...
Market policies killing solar power
Climate negotiations were high on Kevin Rudd’s agenda during his visit to the US for the G20 meeting. Rudd tried to position himself as...
Statement: Population is not to blame for climate change
Open letter to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Labor MP Kelvin Thompson
We are shocked and angered that the ACF has supported Labor MP...
Coking coal not the best target for climate movement
The expansion of the coal industry exposes the fraud of Kevin Rudd’s claims that his government is tackling the climate crisis. The likelihood that...
Rudd’s policy the cause of Solar Systems collapse
David Turner, who worked at Solar Systems before its collapse, talked to Solidarity about the lack of government support for the company and the...
Solar systems campaign unites jobs and climate
The campaign to save Solar Systems holds the potential for uniting the fight for jobs and renewable energy.
Its factory in Abbotsford, Victoria currently sits...
Rudd’s CPRS no solution to climate change
The failure of the Rudd government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to pass the Senate in August was no bad thing. The Greens were...
Sydney Uni Environment Collective debates the way forward
Current debates occurring within the Sydney University Environment Collective reflect the tensions in the wider climate movement.
A recent proposal to lobby the university into adopting...
Hazelwood protest needs fight for jobs at its centre
Climate change campaigners are organising to protest at Hazelwood power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley to highlight the need to transition from coal to...
Guide for climate campaigners reflects movement’s weak points
Review:Climate action By Mark Diesendorf
UNSW Press, $34.95
Mark Diesendorf will be well know to many climate activists from his regular speeches for local activist groups...
Blowing Rudd’s green cover in the lead up to Copenhagen
There was much media fanfare about the G8’s decisions on climate change, intended to be a step towards global negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
Leaders...
Billions for coal expansion in NSW
Rudd's CPRS has sent the message that big polluting companies can continue business as usual well into the future. The consequences are on display...
A Power Shift: from the grassroots to the government
Lack of political clarity has held back the climate movement’s ability to galvanise opposition to Rudd’s climate policies and mount an effective challenge to...
Climate activists build links with Hazelwood workers
Environment activists at the recent Students of Sustainability conference made a solidarity trip to visit workers on strike at the Hazelwood power station in...
A Plan B for emissions reductions?
Plan B, a program for immediate action to reduce emissions across all sectors of the Australian economy, was recently released by a coalition of...
After changes: CPRS is still worse than nothing
The changes to the Rudd government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), announced in early May, have shown clearly where the government’s priorities lie.
In an...
Environment a loser in the budget
Much has been made of the government’s commitment of $1.5 billion to a ‘Solar Flagships’ program in the budget.
The project, spread over six years,...
Climate movement must confront Rudd’s carbon trading challenge
Climate change has moved to the centre of Australian politics, and Rudd Labor’s climate opportunism is graphically on display. Having tried to lure Turnbull’s...
The 1970s anti-uranium campaign
In the face of the failure to take serious action on climate change, we face the challenge of building the kind of movement that can force the government to shift. The 1970s anti-uranium movement provides rich lessons in how to build one.
Climate change–it’s enough to make you sick
Review: Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health , By Hans Baer and Merrill Singer
Left coast press, $49.95
This book traces the likely effects...
Statement on CPRS (emissions trading)
*No compromise with Rudd's flawed scheme. More than ever the CPRS is worse than useless*
Recent developments around the Rudd government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme...
Rudd’s carbon plan: the facts
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is the Rudd government’s central policy for dealing with climate change. The gap between rhetoric and reality is...
Climate movement needs to target CPRS
Organising groups in all states are preparing for upcoming climate change rallies around World Environment Day, likely to be Saturday June 13. The rallies...
Rudd wants to lock in do-nothing climate plan
Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the government’s key mechanism for addressing climate change, is under fire on all sides. It’s not hard to...
A green new deal to meet capitalism’s crisis
We face two global crises, climate change and economic collapse. The answer to both is climate jobs, or what some have been calling a...
Stopping Rudd’s carbon plan
Solidarity spoke to two leading climate activists, John Hepburn from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Damien Lawson from the Victorian Climate Action Centre, about the...
Climate summit provides direction for the movement
Over five hundred people, representing 150 different groups active around climate change, took part in the climate action summit in Canberra from January 31...
Fiddling on climate while Victoria burns
The devastating Victorian bushfires should have been a harsh wake up call for Kevin Rudd. While Rudd comforted survivors and promised millions to rebuild...
Solidarity Discussion Paper for 2009 Climate Summit
Only a few years ago mainstream debate on climate change was still focused on debates with climate skeptics about whether the threat was real....
Climate summit a chance to refocus the movement
Late this month the first national summit of climate action groups will be held in Canberra.
Only a few years ago mainstream debate on climate...
Do we consume too much energy?
A common response to the climate crisis is to argue for restrictions on individuals’ energy use. As a result some environmental activists have supported...
Governments bicker while time to act runs short
The world may be in great danger, but the annual summit of governments designed to progress a global agreement on climate change did very...
Modeling shows loopholes in emission reductions plan
The Australian government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is more about profit than planet.
When the Treasury modeling on the CPRS was released on...
Movement must take position on carbon trading
The Walk Against Warming rallies this year were smaller that last. This is largely because they had no particular clear demands, and they did...
Unions and the fight for the environment
In the 1970s the Builders Labourers’ Federation led inspiring struggles in defence of the natural environment. Emma Torzillo looks at the history of an...
Ideas for the global climate movement
Review: Stop Global Warming: Change The World
By Jonathan Neale
Bookmarks, $30.00 from Solidarity
AS ONE of the most sun-drenched continents on the planet, Australia should...
Solutions to global warming but no way to get there
Review: “Now or never”, Quarterly Essay 31
By Tim Flannery
Black Inc, $15.95
WHILE THE great financial melt-down has dominated the headlines for the past month,...
Jonathan Neale’s Stop Global Warming: Change The World
Review
Bookmarks, 2008, $30.00 from Solidarity
As one of the most sun-drenched continents on the planet, Australia should be a leading solar industry supplier. Instead we...
Garnaut climate plan to suit big business
IN HIS final report to the government, Professor Ross Garnaut echoes the calls from industry to abolish the one measure the Rudd government has...
Response to Garnaut more urgent than ever
The Sydney Morning Herald headline said it all about Professor Ross Garnaut’s latest round of reports: “Sigh of relief from business”.
When Garnaut released...
Solar power proposal shows renewables’ potential
A proposal to build a major new solar power station in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has been largely ignored by the mainstream...
Editorials: Rudd and the unions; debating climate solutions
THE BELIEF that the Rudd government will bring change is still strong. But many people wish the government was moving more quickly to undo...
Unions join climate action at Newcastle camp
ON JULY 15, 150 people including Climate Camp participants, local Newcastle residents, and unionists, held a lively picket of NSW Treasurer and climate change...
Victorian Labor backs new coal-fired power plant
COAL TECHNOLOGY company HRL (run by Channel Seven boss Kerry Stokes), the Chinese corporation Harbin Power and the Brumby Government have signed a formal...
ETS: bad for climate, bad for workers
AT THE heart of both Ross Garnaut’s interim report and the Rudd government’s Green Paper is the proposals for an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)....
Greenpeace Energy [r]evolution report
AUSTRALIA’S ENERGY evolution is a useful tool for the climate movement. Greenpeace researchers have drawn together the best science and technology to build a...
G8 leaders refuse to commit to carbon cuts
YET AGAIN the presidents and prime ministers of the richest countries have put their “national interests” ahead of the need for urgent cuts in...
Newcastle Climate Camp fosters national debate and planning on climate change
Climate Camp, a protest against the coal industry in Newcastle NSW, was a success and an important step forward in continuing to build a...
Editorial: Rudd, Garnaut and the climate challenge
Professor Ross Garnaut delivered his draft report examining the “impacts, challenges and opportunities” resulting from climate change to the federal and state governments on...
The myth of the carbon footprint
Individuals reducing their energy consumption will do nothing to tackle climate change
Myth #1:
Using less electricity and gas at home through showering less, turning off...
Carbon trading and market solutions
The threat of dangerous climate change is now widely acknowledged. So why won't governments take serious action? Chris Breen examines the major proposed market...
Melbourne Climate Emergency Rally
About 4000 people rallied in central Melbourne on Saturday July 5, addressed by Greens Senator Bob Brown, among others.
According to Friends of the...
Climate Camp needs focus on domestic emitters
IN JULY hundreds of people will converge in Newcastle in a week long camp, with the aim of drawing attention to Australia's contribution to...
Climate change, poverty and capitalist development
Measures that could genuinely tackle rising carbon emissions are being held back by the desire of individual countries not to harm their economy's global...
Rudd under the pump?
IS RUDD'S honeymoon coming to an end? Recent weeks have seen him blunder over fuel prices, his Howardesque moralism over Bill Henson and brewing...
Building a Movement Against Climate Change
Solidarity has produced a climate change position paper to coincide with the Climate Camp in Newcastle in July. It runs through, in some detail,...
Rudd plans to make us pay
KEVIN RUDD'S future summit, Australia 2020, will be held in Canberra on April 19 and 20. It could have been a chance for a...
Trading our way out of disaster
Massive ice loss in both the Arctic and Antarctic indicate that we are passing important climate tipping points. This mounting evidence of the need...
2020 delegates reflect a narrow vision
Kevin Rudd tells us that he is pulling together the "best and brightest" 1000 Australians for his 2020 summit in Canberra in April. Rudd...
Garnaut proposes 90 per cent cut
PROFESSOR ROSS Garnaut, establishment economist and China expert, dropped a bombshell in his interim report on climate change, jointly commissioned by state and federal...
Stars in their eyes–Earth Hour 2008
HOW DO we make governments act on the climate crisis? The organisers of Earth Hour believe "the simple action of turning off the lights...
Climate code red network grows
On March 1 more than 80 activists met to create "Climate Code Red Network" (CCRN). This came after more than 200 activists from across...
The real roots of the food crisis
STRIKES, PROTESTS and riots over the cost and availability of food have swept across Burkina Faso, Somalia, Cameroon, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Senegal,...
Climate camp–key step in wider campaign
The Climate Camp in Newcastle (10-15 July) will bring together climate activists from around Australia.
It will be held at a pivotal time for the...
Rudd’s addiction to ‘clean coal’ no way forward
Why is the Rudd government so keen on "clean coal" as a solution to the climate crisis?
The coal industry's power as a section of...
Wide opposition to new Melbourne freeway
Wide opposition to new Melbourne freeway
Activists can press for governments to act on climate change by opposing freeway construction and demanding improved public transport.
In...
Campaign to defend G20 arrestees continues
Almost 60 people attended a Melbourne public meeting in solidarity with those arrested following the protest against the G20 summit in 2006. The meeting...
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