From the category archives:

Politics & Environment

Save On Car Running Costs – Diesel, LPG, Hybrid or Downsize?

GUEST ARTICLE: This is a very confusing time for car buyers.With all of the talk of ‘peak oil‘, carbon pollution reduction schemes and climate change you may be concerned that petrol will just disappear from the pumps – or worse, become so expensive that you can’t afford to even run your car.
Whilst it’s highly unlikely [...]

0 comments

Varta USB Solar Charger for Batteries, Phones and Gadgets (Review)

GUEST ARTICLE: There are gadgets which you see in stores and think “how cool is that” and they go straight on the to buy list. Granted my to buy list is quite long but I have managed to get my hands on one of these bits of technology … a Solar Battery Charger, specifically the [...]

0 comments

Better Place Electric Cars Face Rocky Road of Obstacles

We need to find an environmentally friendly replacement for the internal combustion engine used to power the world’s cars that’s sustainable in the long term before peak oil sends fuel prices rocketing and to help combat climate change.

Renault Fluence Electric Car photo credit: concars

Governments and individuals cannot do it alone, which is why it’s [...]

5 comments

Too Much Stuff: Consumption Is Not A Way of Life

Compared to most people I don’t buy or own much stuff but I still have too much stuff so I am slowly giving away, selling or throwing away all my excess stuff (clothes, gadgets, shoes, books etc etc etc)

“too much stuff” photo credit: joemad

I need don’t need all this stuff, I don’t even use [...]

11 comments

Catchup With Weeks Political Events with Insiders (ABC TV)

Every Sunday morning at 9am I turn the TV on and eat breakfast while catching up with the weeks political events by watching Insiders on ABC1 TV

“The Panel get going at around the 9.30am mark” photo credit: Michael Bowers

Since mid-2001 Insiders has provided a forum for “Insiders” in the Australian media to discuss political [...]

6 comments

Mike Horn Pangaea Young Explorers Conservation Program

On July 1st 2009 I was lucky enough to sail on Sydney Harbour with one of the great modern adventurers Mike Horn who was visiting Sydney in his yacht Pangaea to promote his “Pangaea Young Explorers Project” which gives conservation training scholarships to children and young adults aged 13-20 years.

Mike’s feats as an explorer [...]

0 comments

Fiona Katauskas Wins 2009 New Matilda Prize For Political Cartooning

On 25th June 2009 Annabel Crabb announced that Fiona Katauskas had won the 1st prize of $6000 in the 2009 newmatilda.com competition for political cartooning.

Judges including Annabel Crabb, Peter Broelman and Bill Leak. 2nd place and $1000 went to Andrew Weldon and Luke Watson won the 3rd prize of $500.
You can watch a video [...]

0 comments

Australian Innovators Race to Research Renewable Energy Sources

GUEST ARTICLE: The electricity industry is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Australia, contributing more than all vehicle emissions. This industry is however important to the Australian economy generating $13.1 billion in revenue annually and 49,000 jobs. This is mainly due to the coal and gas industry but the times are a [...]

8 comments

Take Action Against Chinese Internet Censorship

Internet censorship in China takes place in many different ways. Major search companies like Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, Baidu and Alibaba comply with repressive Chinese Government regulations and block search terms and results, and at the same time, they gather information about search terms in their server logs.
Every time you use a search engine, the words [...]

3 comments

Bottled Water or Bottled Environmental Damage?

GUEST ARTICLE: While clean safe drinking water is vital for human health, Australians are becoming increasingly thirsty for bottled water products writes Jeff Angel (Director of the Total Environment Centre).
A recent report by the Earth Policy Institute said global consumption of bottled water rose 57% from 1999 to 2004 to 154 billion litres, with Australians [...]

12 comments

Making War The American Way: One Contract At A Time

GUEST ARTICLE – PROFILES OF POWER: Commercial Warfare
The proliferation of private military companies in Iraq marks a dangerous turn towards outsourcing warfare, reports our chief military correspondent, Dogbert embedded deep in Sydney…

Black Hawk Helicopters Carrying Troops in Iraq credit: Department of Defense

Private military companies are profit seeking non state actors that specialise in hiring private [...]

1 comment

Reasons to Build a Strawbale House

GUEST ARTICLE BY MARK BURGUNDER: Most people we talk to about our new strawbale home for the first time look at us as if we’re dumb or simple at first and then invariable ask us:

credit: ercwttmn

Why straw bales?
Won’t the straw rot?
What about mice and other pests living in the straw?
Won’t the straw bales catch fire [...]

6 comments

Abject Failure of IMF and World Bank: Profiles of Power

GUEST ARTICLE – PROFILES OF POWER: Financial Relief at a High Price
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) are supposed to be the saviours of developing countries suffering financial distress but our Chief Financial Market Correspondent Dogbert disagrees – citing their disastrous track record caused by prescribing standardised open market shock therapy [...]

3 comments

Hello America by JG Ballard (Book Review) – Post Apocalyptic Vision of the Future

Climate change/global warming, worldwide water shortages, discussions about what would happen if the Gulf Stream stopped and peak oil have all been prominent in the news and very much in the zeitgeist during the last few years

“Hello America”, a fictional post-apocalyptic story written in 1981 by British science fiction grand master JG Ballard brings many [...]

4 comments

Spotlight on Quality Blogs: Peter Martin – Economics, Canberra, human behaviour

Today’s spotlight is on Peter Martin: Economics, Canberra, human behaviour.
Most blogs I select to spotlight because they deserve more exposure have a common attribute of writers who “Tell it like it is”. Like me they have strong opinions and are not afraid to publicise them even if they’re challenging the status quo.
Peter Martin is the [...]

3 comments

← Previous Entries