A Cool Look at Global Warming
Australia is faced with two environmental problems of great significance. They are: how to manage water in a dry continent that may be moving into another long dry period, and how to find acceptable alternatives to fossil based energy within a society that is used to cheap, plentiful energy. Global warming could be seen as a distraction from these two important issues. This article discusses the reasons for the stridency of the global warming claim and finishes with a renewed plea for a focus on what the author argues are the real and imminent environmental problems.
Don Aitkin
Strine: Understanding Racial Categories in Aussie English
“I was an American living in England when I decided to move to Australia. I did not know much about Australian culture before arriving here, but I was expecting something of a combination of England and America. As my American work colleague Lisa Wynn put it, “I had this idea that Australia would be this charmingly accented version of any other English-speaking nation I’ve visited.” Australia is a charmingly accented nation, but the English spoken here is different than that spoken in the US or the UK in more ways that just a charming accent. Learning to speak (or understand) Aussie is more that picking up new words – it is also having a context to put those words into.”
Anne-Marie Monchamp
Catholics in Federal Parliament: Politics, Perception and Self-Image
Catholic MPs are members of a large and forceful denomination with seemingly unparalleled influence in Australian politics. the common notion is that they hold their beliefs strongly and that they take direction from their priests and bishops. Once associated predominantly with the Labour Party, Catholic MPs are seen increasingly on the conservative side of politics, including the frontbench of the former Howard government. How does religious belief affect Australian parliamentary politics?
John Warhurst
The Threat to the Red Forest
Trees are Canada’s crowning glory. This is the land of the magnificent Douglas fir, after the redwoods, the tallest trees in North America. In the interior of British Columbia there are communities that for generation have breathed the dust of wood chips and watched the steam rising from the pulp mills. The BC Forestry Service believed that here was a sustainable industry. Then came climate change. The interior communities today face a bleak future that could prove devastation, not only for the logging towns but the industry generally. The chief agent of this transformation is the mountain pine beetle, an insect as small as your thumbnail that is wreaking havoc throughout the pine forests.
Val Wake
India and the Making of a Hegemon
Badrul Khan
Review Essay – Poles Apart
Tony Smith
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