Rutsky’s aesthetics and road taxes
Some of the responses to the proposed road tax caught my attention. The Victorian and South Australian Governments recently announced a tax for electric and zero-emissions vehicles. The Federal Fuel excise was originally intended to fund roads and currently raises...
How should we think about a hydrogen economy?
EcoGeneration have published an article by Josh Floyd and myself titled 'How should we think about a hydrogen economy?' We were asked to write a piece setting out the possibilities and hurdles of hydrogen, and to link it in with our recent book. The full April edition...
Thinking about rates of change
There seems to be an evolutionary advantage to being able to spot small changes in the natural world. For example, the Australian amateur astronomer Bob Evans has such an incredible knack for spotting minute changes in the night sky that he holds the record for visual...
Environmentalism is weird
Figure from XKCD - https://xkcd.com/552/ On Twitter, Alex Trembath laments that - Environmentalism is weird. We want a Green New Deal, but not if moderates adopt it. We want vegan meat, but not if Burger King sells it. The...
The power of narratives and framing – Snowy 2.0
Narratives and framing are an essential part of political story telling. Snowy 2.0, Australia’s proposed pumped hydro project, is building on the “nation building” narrative of the original Snowy 1.0, and being framed as a universal solution to wind and solar...