Energy efficient houses are often thought to be a promising way to reduce our environmental footprint by using less energy and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, surprisingly, if you consider…
“Averted loss” biodiversity offsets rely on ongoing biodiversity declines to work.
Kenneth Pinto
In a recent interview, the Opposition environment spokesperson Greg Hunt promised to reverse biodiversity decline in five years if the Coalition wins the forthcoming election. Is this goal achievable…
In the Coral Triangle, conservation plans that helped fish were unfair for people.
Zona Retiro/Flickr
You can’t get a project approved these days unless it satisfies the triple bottom line: equity, cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability. But our research shows that getting all three is almost…
Tasmanians are pretty happy with their lot in life: isn’t that worth more than growth for growth’s sake?
Georgie Sharp
Is Tasmania at a tipping point? Over the next two weeks The Conversation, in conjunction with Griffith REVIEW and the University of Tasmania, is publishing a series of provocations. Our authors ask where…
It is technically possible to supply your own food, energy and shelter, without reliance on the grid.
Moosicom/Flickr
My old house has never been connected to the electricity supply. It runs on a couple of photo voltaic (solar) panels and is warmed by firewood. All water used is rainwater. I have a vegie garden, fruit…
On the international stage, China is reluctant to cut emissions. Back home, its new emissions trading scheme will be the world’s second largest.
Flickr/peregrinari
In the United Nation’s annual climate change conference held in Doha last December, delegates from 194 countries came together at the last minute to extend the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol is a legally…
Giant fish made with plastic bottles emerge from the sands of Rio during the sustainability conference.
AAP/EPA/Antonio Lacerda
On the wall along the massive entrance hall to the Rio+20 Sustainable Development conference venue, there was a painting of an African landscape with the simple words “Keep the oil in the soil and the…
Rio+20 has backtracked on many intellectual property measures put in place by Agenda 21.
David Foote/AAP
The Rio+20 summit has raised a number of difficult questions about law and technology: what is the relationship between intellectual property and the environment? What role does intellectual property play…
More people live in cities than ever before. We can’t solve problems of sustainability and health without fixing them.
Bill Hertha
The secretary-general of the United Nations’ (first) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Maurice Strong, famously declared that if our planet is to remain a hospitable and sustainable home for the human species…
Darkness visible: we’re driving animals to extinction, burning through resources, and throwing out natural balances, yet consumption still reigns.
Flickr/NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
State of the Future 2012, a quick introduction What is the “state of the future”? How successfully are we tackling global challenges threatening our collective future? These questions are asked annually…
Professor of Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute and School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand