The Policy Post

  Could climate change really end civilisation? Global warming will cause massive social and political upheaval. But despite wild claims of apocalypse, our civilisation – and our species – are not under threat.

Do our climate targets mean anything at all? Reaching net-zero in 27 years looks near-impossible. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than getting rid of coal-fired power stations.

In denial: Defence’s giant carbon footprint.   In almost every country, armed forces are responsible for massive greenhouse gas pollution. But governments – including Australia’s – do not disclose that, and do not accurately include defence emissions in their carbon-reduction targets.

Survive or perish? Bob Brown on the greatest choice facing humanity. Bob Brown’s Eureka moment came in 1973, when he and a local dairy farmer went chasing thylacines in the Tarkine wilderness of north-west Tasmania.

A new arms race and nuclear Armageddon: UN chief’s grim warning. “Humanity,” said António Guterres in Hiroshima, “is playing with a loaded gun.”

Climate change is already turning Australians into refugees. But it's only the beginning. Over the next couple of decades, hundreds of thousands of people will have to find somewhere else to live.

  How will we survive this cascade of crises? Around twice in every century, an old era ends and a new one begins. The Global Financial Crisis. Climate change. The precipitous decline of the United States. China. Ukraine. The pandemic. No wonder we’re feeling depressed.

Climate change, rainforest destruction and the next pandemic. Climate change is supercharging the risk that already exists from another form of environmental destruction – uncontrolled agricultural development in tropical rainforests.