On December 28 ‘The Age’ posted a very strange editorial. It said that judged by much media coverage the world is heading towards a new Cold War and climate change destruction. But the editorial expressed optimism that “providing we can solve a few urgent problems these grim predictions are too bleak”. The basis for the […]
Our success as a species? How can we judge?
Introduction Philosophers have considered the nature of existence (metaphysics), whether god exists (religious philosophy), how we can know things (epistemology), how we can lead a good, just or happy life (moral philosophy or ethics) and how societies can best be organised (political philosophy). Scientists, biologists in particular, have considered how species, including our own, are […]
Paris Climate Conference, Progess Traps and Easter Island
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Paris, from November 30 to December 11. It will be the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto […]
Animals
Summary: Sharing the world with animals; Hunter gatherers and animals; Domestication of some animals; The idea that the human world is separate from the animal world; Animals and extinction; Chimps and humans- the ability to predict what another being might do; Friendly foxes; Animal welfare or animal rights; Biotechnology and animals. Sharing the world with […]
Answering the Environmental Crisis: Democratic Mobilisation or Technical Fix?
Summary: Discusses neo-liberalism and the environment, geo-engineering, Co2 removal, solar radiation management, carbon emissions pricing, criticism of emissions trading, price signals and innovation, progress traps, Easter Island, Latin America and China, persistence of global poverty, the environmental movement, future generations, precautionary principle, economic cycles and environmentalism, unions and the environment. Introduction UK journalist and environmental […]