Apologising is a uniquely human action, it involves taking responsibility for a mistake and admitting you erred. In someways it also involves asking for forgiveness.

Kevin Rudd, Australia's former PM who was sacked by his own party last year, apologised last night for "killing" his Emissions Trading Scheme which he says brought about his downfall.

Whether this is true or not, his apology echoes another one he made in his first week in government. That "sorry" was to the aboriginal people of Australia who since British colonisation were oppressed, marginalied and literally stolen from their families. 

His apology in that instance was personal and was seen almost universally as a positive step towards reconciliation and healing. It didn't lead to a better livelihood for indigenous Australians and has to be seen now as a symbolic act without much substance behind it.

Hopefully this second apology for failing on climate change can lead to asking for real forgiveness by making some real progress.    . . read more

Since the days of Alexander the Great, binge drinking has been a very popular past time - leading to him apparently killing a friend and burning down Persepolis while drunk.

Those are some Great shoes to fill.

Yet, governments, schools and the media have repeatedly tried to teach us of binge drinking's dangers. 

Dartmouth University has taken the lead, instigating a new nationwide policy to curb heavy drinking by their students.

Pour me another glass.

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men — or four or more drinks in a row by women — at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Heavy binge drinking includes three or more such episodes in 2 weeks."

Seems I don't know anyone who isn't a heavy binge drinker.

Do you think this definition should be changed or should we change people's attitudes? Or should you follow HPD's no fools guide to drinking a lot but not dying?  . . read more

As Queensland braces for its second apocalyptic weather event in recent weeks, many in the ironically nicknamed 'Sunshine State' must be starting to wonder whether the next two horsemen are on their way. 

Well not to give away any spoliers but they will be, and soon.

Yes, maybe not in Queensland (hopefully that battered State gets some respite) but as blackbirds fall from the sky and mud slides hit Brazil; the increasnig frequency of bizarre and freakishly strong climate change based catastrophes means something will hit hard and hit soon. 

   . . read more

November 29th 2010 marks an important date in the world's calendar- struggling to think why? Leafing through your diary to find some obscure anniversary you should have remembered?

Well I'll kill the suspense; November 29th marks the beginning of COP16- the follow up meeting for fighting climate change a year after the disaster that was Copenhagen.

Now, I think there will be a few reactions you could be having to this news:

- Complete disinterest as global agreement on climate change (bar CFCs in the 1990s) has been wildly ineffective- why should this be any different?

- Or complete disinterest because you don't believe in climate change and think this meeting is either a waste of time or proof of a shadowy new world order being created as we speak.

- Or finally, you might be feeling complete disinterest as you find yourself surprised that there has been absolutely no media coverage leading up to the event or really on climate change at all- yet you still find yourself shrugging.

So for the first and third reactions, I have to ask, do you really think complete disinterest will solve any problems or make the media want to write about them?  . . read more

No amount of technology, diplomacy and political manouevering can hide the fact that to achieve innovation when it comes to global action on climate is a matter of ethics. And that ethical outcomes are themselves dependent on what we want to do.

The geopolitics of who goes first, the economic compensation programs, the views of scientists are all second order issues.

You can’t give up smoking unless you want to and once volition is in play then it’s pretty easy.

Ditto the inconvenient truth.

Let’s create an ethical harmony based on desire before we try and nut out the programme for implementation. That requires a universal accord and not one driven by the power brokers.

‘All for one and one for all’.  . . read more

• Message 1 Reconciliation with our indigenous forebears to activate appreciation
• Message 2 Signing Kyoto to take a global position on the environment
• Message 3 Withdrawing troops from Iraq to break the U.S. sycophancy
• Message 4 Dramatically increasing the funding for public and university education to stimulate innovation and opportunity
• Message 5 Providing tax and financial incentives on the demand side for alternative and renewable energy

We're listening Kevin. Do you have the guts to tell? . . read more

Given geoengineering's increasing visibility, debates among scientists, environmentalists, and engineers are not hard to find. But these debates center on the scientific risks and merits of the re-terraforming proposals. Few people, regardless of position, have focused on a fundamental non-geophysical risk of the method: political control, costs, and stability.

To put it bluntly, global-scale efforts don't happen without global-scale reactions. Should we see geoengineering efforts, there will certainly be struggles over control of the program(s), conflicts over liability for problems, and - most troublingly - independent "rogue" geoengineering projects undertaken in defiance of established guidelines. [More] . . read more

1. How we can build a strong foundation for future prosperity, in a global economy that will be transformed by the rise of China and India and other developing economies; and how we ensure our prosperity does not rest only on the ups and downs of commodity markets but also on what we can craft out of our human capital.
2. How we can have the best educated, best skilled, best trained workforce in the world – a workforce whose innovation and ingenuity drives productivity growth forward.
3. How we respond to the enormous challenge of climate change and become a leader in tomorrow’s lower carbon energy revolution.
4. How we ensure a strong future for rural industries and rural communities at a time when the world, once again is debating the possibility of global food shortages.
5. How we develop a long-term national health strategy – and don’t simply surrender to the trend of rising chronic disease rates. But instead say, ‘there is a different way of doing this’
6. How we build stronger communities, stronger families and a society that works hard, not to leave any single Australian behind.
7. How we close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage and ensure life opportunities for Indigenous Australians, comparable to those enjoyed by all Australians. That should be our goal.
8. How we build a creative arts industry that reflect Australia’s unique story that carries our unique culture to the rest of the world.
9. How we reform our system of governance for the needs of the 21st Century rather than perpetuating some of the structures from the 19th Century.
10. How we ensure Australia’s future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world. [More]