Australian Options Magazine: articles exploring social and environmental ethics in contemporary politics by CPD fellows
Ben Spies-Butcher: ‘Debt and discipline from cradle to grave’
It is hard (sic) to underestimate the scale of the transformation being attempted by this budget. It is true that it continues trends begun earlier, and that many changes face substantial opposition in the Senate. It may be that this is an ambit claim. However, if it is to be implemented it will fundamentally reshape the social contract, and even if it fails, it will signal an ongoing struggle.
Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change by Mark Diesendorf, reviewed by David McKnight
Diesendorf’s motive for writing the book is to respond to a concerted campaign run by oil and coal corporations that argues that fossil fuels are indispensable to world energy needs and that renewable energy is an impractical dream. But Diesendorf argues that what he calls the Great Transition to sustainable energy is affordable and technologically possible. The main barriers to this transition are not economic but rather political and cultural beliefs based on the ideology of endless growth and the consumer society.
