Description
In his lecture Guy will talk about the mindset that sees Australia's greatest asset as its mineral and energy resources - coal especially, asking how has this distorted our national politics and our response to climate change and what happens now that our coal-fired resources boom has gone bust? He will also discuss the future of the coal industry and argues with the current economic orthodoxy. He looks at the shadowy world of greenhouse lobbyists; how they think and operate. Quarry vision, he will argue, is a carbon-laced trap and a blind faith and a mentality we can no longer afford. This lecture comes from the March 2009 Quarterly Essay by Guy Pearse of the same name.
Guy Pearse was educated at James Cook University (BA Hons), Harvard (MPP), and the ANU (PhD). He is a former member of the Liberal Party and was a speechwriter for former environment minister Robert Hill. He has also been an industry lobbyist, consultant and spin doctor. In 2007, after his research and concerns were dismissed by his political colleagues, he exposed the dirty politics behind Australias response to climate change on Four Corners and in his book High & Dry.
This lecture is part of the Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series 2009. Presented by ANU Climate Change Institute and Fenner School of Environment & Society.
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