Paul Grundy On 6 January 2013, Paul Grundy (12 May 1935-6 January 2013) died, after a very distinguished life and career. Professor Emeritus with Monash University, Paul was a consultant across many fields of engineering structures, especially his great love, bridges, such as the Westgate Bridge and in many places including in East Asia where [...]
By Geoff Lacey The need for alternative economics In recent years, I have taken part in a lot of discussions about sustainability. I have found that many people agree we must work towards a profound transformation in our culture and in its patterns of production and consumption if we are to find a way out [...]
By Bill Frilay It may be appropriate to take stock on where we are with this issue that Kevin Rudd described as the greatest moral challenge of our time (and which he subsequently ditched!). We now have a carbon tax. It is impacting and will continue to impact significantly or substantially (depending on your definition) [...]
A review essay by Len Puglisi. If you’ve ever had doubts about what (1) the economic rationalist / neoliberal ethos, or (2) corporate-consumerist capitalism might mean for an Australia inside a mining boom as the dominant driver, look no further than this book by Sharyn Munro. Munro has undertaken a wide-ranging spread of on-the-ground interviews with [...]
Dr Geoff Lacey. Saturday Oases Breakfast 2 June 2012 9-11am Powerful tecnologies have enabled people to utilise vast energy resources for industrial development. A consequence of this is global warming. Geoff Lacey addresses the causes of and responses to this crisis in our way of life. $25 waged, $15 unwaged. Workshops $4 each, or $25 [...]
By Bill Frilay. On13 March 2012, the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology jointly released an updated State of the Climate Report (their previous one was two years ago). The Report’s key findings were: Climate change is continuing. Warming has been measured around Australia and globally during recent decades. 2010 Global temperatures were the warmest [...]
An opinion piece by Len Puglisi. Nature is being lambasted these ‘disaster-ridden’ days as ‘cruel’. But the geologian, the late Thomas Berry, in the decades before his death in 2009, had tried to move our perception of nature quite a few notches on when he spoke about the ‘sacred universe’. Of course, nature just is, [...]
By Geoff Lacey Talk given at Social Policy Connections’ Annual General Meeting 24 November 2011 In October, Cardinal George Pell gave a lecture in Westminster Cathedral Hall, entitled, One Christian Perspective on Climate Change. Geoff Lacey addresses the question of how to develop an ethical response to the issue of climate change, in particular examining [...]
THE ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CITIES PUSH THE LIMITS. Len Puglisi Who remembers these songs and the circumstances in which they took hold of the public’s imagination? When the lights go on again all over the world. And didn’t London and Paris, swathed in light, look great in Griff Ryhs Jones’ TV presentations (June 2010)? Oh [...]
by Charles Rue Reviewed by Bill Frilay Father Charles Rue and several other Columbans have a deep and abiding concern for theenvironment and for climate change in particular, which has led him to prepare this 39-page booklet.The Foreword is by the presenter of the ABC Compass program, Geraldine Doogue. The booklet has been prepared for [...]
