39. The Price of Carbon

I recently watched this great short film by the Climate Reality Project on the price of carbon (which is being debated in Australia and it is clear that the message in this film needs to be communicated better and stronger). This film tries to explain what global warming is costing us - individually, nationally and globally. It really goes straight to the core issue around emissions trading schemes and carbon taxes and why pricing carbon is fundamental to transformative shifts in our development path. Check it out!

The Climate Reality Project is dedicated to unleashing a global cultural movement demanding action on the climate crisis. Despite overwhelming international scientific consensus on climate change, the global community still lacks the resolve to implement meaningful solutions. The Climate Reality Project employs cutting-edge communications and grassroots engagement tools to break the dam of inaction and raise the profile of the climate crisis to its proper state of urgency.

38. Toolbox for Environmental Change

I recently attended the Toolbox for Environmental Change, which is the premier event for environmental and sustainability education in Victoria and Australia. It attracted some 300 participants and involved many workshops and displays. I presented and promoted the Young Masters Programme on Sustainable Development or YMP and learned a lot more about the organisations in Australia engaged in environmental and sustainability education. Most importantly, I learned that the Australian Curriculum has defined three cross-curriculum priorities, which includes: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures; Australia and Asia; and Sustainability. The three cross-curriculum priorities are to be embedded in all learning areas, across all schools. There are various organisations that are producing learning material and activities on sustainability that teachers and schools can utilise within the Australian Curriculum, including Cool Australia, Carbon Kids and the Savewater Alliance. There are also other great inititives like Kids Teaching Kids and Habitat Heroes. Furthermore, it appears that many schools in Australia are engaging in sustainability both through teaching and learning, but also through investments in school property and infrastructure, like solar power, water tanks, energy efficiecny improvements, and vegetable gardens. In other words, schools are linking learning with actions. What I also learned is that while there are vibrant activities within and between schools in Australia, there is little international cooperation or linkages. So, in short, it seems the YMP could play a role in linking Australia to the world, and meeting the three cross-curriculum priorities, particularly Sustainability and Australia and Asia (as China and India are major partners in the YMP), but also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, as the YMP encourages students and teachers to work in their local contexts and tap into knowledge and understanding in local communities.

37. Urban water governance - From Malmö to Melbourne

I am currently supervising an international Masters student who is looking into urban water governance. At this stage, there are two possible cases, including Malmö, Sweden and Melbourne, Australia. Both are engaging in innovative approaches to water, including a green and blue strategy in Malmö and water sensitive urban design in Melbourne. The research plan for the thesis states that the water sector has traditionally been driven by investments in technological innovations like increased water efficiency, improved water quality and treatment, and developing alternative water supply and recycling. However, scholars argue that “it is the co-evolution of the socio-institutional and technical systems that enable a system wide transition”. The emphasis on technical solutions has left the water resource community with "blind spots" about the social and institutional dimensions of sustainable urban water management. 

An increase in awareness about the complexity of water management, the multi-functional character of water and the need to adapt to climate change, has called for new modes of governance that focus on more process-oriented societal co-steering through public-private partnerships and formal and informal networks. However, the literature reveals that there are institutional barriers impeding transitions towards sustainable urban water management, and building institutional capacity has been identified as a key strategy for transitions. Furthermore, governance theories have been more descriptive and analytical in nature and that an opportunity exists to offer a more prescriptive basis for how to achieve the required change in governance to facilitate the adoption of more sustainable urban water practices. Looking forward to the results of this thesis!

36. Climate Policy Down Under

There has been many interesting articles about climate policy in Australia recently looking at different issues, but all linking together. Climate policy down under is approaching a critical point, namely the next election in September this year! What happens after the election will have major ramifications for Australia, and in many ways the world, since what happens in Australia will be used as "evidence" of either success or failure on climate policy and action. The article entitled "Will Australia's carbon price last?" argues that the carbon price in Australia can survive a change in government. The opposition has argued forcefully that it will scrap the carbon price if it wins government (which appears likely), but it clearly will not be so easy to simply remove the carbon price. Another article entitled "Who's in charge of coalition climate policy?" explores what the opposition plans to do instead of a carbon price, if it manages to remove this policy framework. The so-called direct action plan looks very weak at best. And finally, an article entitled "Who's doing the heavy lifting on carbon?" identifies who exactly in Australia is driving the country towards a low-carbon economy. So, that is three big questions and three interesting answers!