Law, Legitimacy and Activism
in the Anthropocene
There’s a growing narrative that we are blindly walking down the path to catastrophic
climate change. But the truth is even scarier – we are being shepherded down this
path quite deliberately, by governments and vested corporate interests. Yet when
confronted with legal interventions by communities and landowners, governments
have been making ever-increasing use of state power to silence opposition. The
climate clock is ticking over to midnight and we are all waking up. The question is:
what are we going to do about it?
Cristy ClarkThe Lost City: Homage to Aleppo
In the hills around Aleppo the wild grasses that Homo sapiens first cultivated twelve
millennia ago still bear seed; except now they’re springing up amongst the rubble of
a fallen city. once a rich court of philosophers, poets, historians and musicians, Aleppo
has survived sacking and looting by Mongol and Byzantine Christian armies, but none
of these invaders were able to cause the degree of destruction now witnessed. There is
no earthly way to console those who mourn Aleppo and its people but there should at
least be a pause to honour the lost city and its splendid past.
Caroline GrahamUnder-Mining public Trust –
The Rhetoric of Lawfare
Access to justice underpins the trust citizens have in their governments. And like most
oECD countries, levels of trust in Australia’s national government have been declining
for a decade. under our democratic system the separation of powers enables the
judiciary to be a check and balance on government decisions. Yet the ‘lawfare’ rhetoric
being utilised by ministers and industry lobbyists is a dangerous attempt to erode
public access to the courts, further undermining public trust in government decisions.
sean ryanSun, Wind and Fire – Renewable
Energy in the pacific
one of the ironies of anthropogenic climate change is that Pacific Islands threatened
by rising sea levels are also highly dependent on carbon-emitting fossil fuels for their
energy needs. So as the Pacific Island nations plead for the major nations to reduce
their reliance on carbon-emitting fuels to save these island paradises, action is also
urgently needed to reduce the Pacific Islanders’ carbon dependence. By uncoupling
these islands from expensive fossil fuel imports there could be wide-ranging economic
benefits, and provide a test case for improving energy infrastructure in developing
countries around the world.iMAGE CrEDiT Colin sCholes and Brendan duffy
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