Opinion
Suspending democracy: who says?
I have never called for democracy to be suspended. So why is this meme prevalent on the Internet? Why is it that whenever I write anything about climate change some commenters feel obliged to wheel it out as if it invalidates everything I say? Here is the explanation. For many
It’s time to disconnect from techno-fetishism
When the computer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov it seemed to many that we had crossed a threshold. By beating us at our most complex intellectual task, man had at last been defeated by a machine. Kasparov’s defeat prompted anguish from those fearful of the colonizing power
Geoengineering: Our Last Hope, or a False Promise?
published in the New York Times, 21 May 2013 Geoengineering: Our Last Hope, or a False Promise? Manipulating the planet could be perilous. Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, is the author, most recently, of “Earthmasters: The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering.” We
Moral haze clouds geoengineering
Published in the EuTRACE Journal, April 2013 Will researching geoengineering ease pressure on governments to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions? The suspicion that it will explains why many people feel nervous about the whole climate engineering enterprise. To counter this fear, geoengineering researchers and supporters frequently say that more information
No, we should not just ‘at least do the research’
Published in Nature, 10 April 2013 The idea of applying geoengineering research to mitigate climate change has not been thought through, argues Clive Hamilton. Fresh concerns about using geoengineering projects to cool the planet emerged late last month, when scientists at the UK Met Office said that possible unintended consequences demanded
Why geoengineering has immediate appeal to China
Published by The Guardian, 22 March 2013 Beijing wants to cut emissions without hindering growth and avert a revolt from a population under extreme climate stress The political dilemma over geoengineering – deliberate, large-scale intervention in the climate system designed to counter global warming or offset some of its effects
More Posts:
Free Speech vs Gender Dogma
First posted on Substack August 26, 2026 Part of the crowd at the rally This is the speech I gave to the ‘Restore Women’s Rights’
On Jizz and Bird Worlds
First published on my Substack August 15, 2026 In the world of birding, “jizz” is a fascinating but little-used term (perhaps little used because of
The lesbian phallus, and how it found its way into the Federal Court of Australia
First published on Substack June 30, 2026 In May, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia ruled that Sall Grover, the proprietor of a women-only
The Rise of Resilience Power, and Odd Arne Westad’s Climate Disavowal
First published on my Substack June 16, 2026 The Coming Storm, the new book by Yale historian Odd Arne Westad on great powers and the prospects