26 May 2011 – FAVOURITES: Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy of Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute in Perth, Western Australia, say a new phenomenon is under way –  “peak car use”.* Peak car use suggests that we are witnessing... 
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By Lynne Blundell 13 October 2011 – We are on the cusp of a wave of progress and innovation that will transform the way we live and the types of dwellings we choose to live in, Jane Nathan, president of the Australian Population Institute told delegates... 
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By Tina Perinotto 7 October 2011 – OK, we are going on a bit about density and planning, but wow, it’s a hot topic and should be hotter. Former NSW Government architect Chris Johnson this week stepped into the role of chief executive of the... 
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30 August 2011 – The Victorian Coalition Government has bowed to pressure groups and announced it would scale back wind farms in a move that the clean energy industry said could cost the state $3 billion in lost investment. Planning minister Matthew... 
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By Michael Mobbs 3 August 2011 – To hear the author of these lines read them aloud is to feel something whisk away in my heart: Read More > >  
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By Michael Mobbs 8 July 2011 – When he was 45 Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the first sentence below and the rest when he was in his late twenties: Read More > >  
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5 July 2011 – Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey has threatened to sue GetUP! and Markets for Change after the lobbyists launched a strong attack on his company’s use of old growth native timber in a strongly worded campaign and spoof... 
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By Lynne Blundell 10 June 2011 –Australia is leading the world in the accelerating use of carbon and in carbon emissions and is currently about 44 or 45 per cent above the 1990 level, while Europe is moving in the opposite direction. Read More... 
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By David Burns 8 June 2011 – The Manly Council’s 2015 master plan is a great initiative but the plan could be improved if the council considered Green Building Council of Australia Green Star ratings and sustainable intensity metric benchmarks. Proposed... 
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26 May 2011 – Households nation-wide will save on energy costs if the recommendations in a new national policy statement are adopted. The statement from the Australian Council of Social Services, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the Clean Energy Council,... 
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By Tina Perinotto 26 May 2011 – GE one of the world’s largest multinational technology and finance companies has thrown its weight behind the call for a carbon price with a report launched on Thursday that says other countries have proved it is... 
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By Michael Mobbs 29 April 2011 – Merchants of doubt: how Earth is sold out What if someone said to you at dinner: “Scientists are divided about whether the Earth orbits around the Sun, you know.” Would you reply? If you did, what would you say?¬ May... 
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By Lynne Blundell 24 March 2011 – We live in tumultuous times. Daily we are bombarded with news and images of disaster – floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, social unrest and impending nuclear catastrophe, all against a backdrop of a warming planet.... 
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10 March 2011 – From The Economist. Australian mammalogist and palaeontologist, Tim Flannery is an environmental celebrity. His 2005 book,The Weather Makers, about climate science and global warming, was a bestseller. His latest Here on Earth is his... 
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By Michael Mobbs 17 February 2011 – Australia’s councils are perhaps the most ignorant and contemptuous of indigenous culture of any part of our society. Councils manifest their damaged psyche unintentionally in their development approvals every... 
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By Tina Perinotto 4 February 2011 – The Australian property industry has the power to radically transform itself and society, both here and overseas, says leading sustainability design consultant, Simon Wild. The key to its success lies in industry... 
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By Michael Mobbs 11 January 2010 – Coal is Australia’s biggest boomerang. With every shipload of coal we send overseas we import more frequent and extreme droughts and floods. Our coal comes back to Australia in the form of heartbreaking storms,... 
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By Michael Mobbs 23 December 2010 - “The underlying problem is confoundingly simple: agricultural methods that lose soil faster than it is replaced destroy societies” – David Montgomery, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations I saw white... 
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10 December 2010- Sydney City Council will fund a project to investigate the feasibility of creating a demonstration sustainable suburb in inner city Chippendale that builds on the work of  local sustainability coach and columnist for The Fifth... 
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By Peter Lewis From the ABC – 7 December 2010 - It was a year ago today that the hottest gig in global warming opened in Copenhagen, amidst expectations that the world’s leaders would rise above their geographical interests and make a stand... 
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By Michael Mobbs 5 November 2010 - Look with me now, if you will, at snapshots of two places where some people are seeking to use resources sustainably, one in Australia, the other in forests around the world, which are being logged for cities everywhere. Here... 
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Warning: 30 October 2010 – It is now too late to avoid global warming of less than 2 per cent and too late to avoid “serious and pervasive ” climate change impacts that would “significantly disrupt the national economy”... 
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By Michael Mobbs 13 October 2010 - It’s interesting, the changing weather.  Not just the facts of it – the unusual events that are remarkable for their heat, their rain, their departure from the averages. But how we respond to it. I’ve had... 
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By Michael Mobbs 28 September 2010 – A student studying property has asked me, “Do you think “Green” Design and Development in residential properties is supported and progressive in Australia?” There is some support by governments. But... 
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14 September 2010 - In a speech delivered to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on 31 August in Sydney, director of energy efficiency consultancy Big Switch Projects, Gavin Gilchrist, argued that the energy industry, not taxpayers,... 
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By Michael Mobbs 17 September 2010 - Let’s see if we can join up some dots. The first dot is: Dust It’s heaven, but I don’t know it then.  Not ‘til much later. I’m in the back seat, window down, the cold wind of evening cooling me down. The... 
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2 September 2010 – Human city-makers know less than ants when it comes to cooling and warming our cities. When it knows (we don’t know how) the coming summer will be hot the meat ant gathers white and pale pebbles and carries them to cover the... 
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By Michael Mobbs 28 August 2010 – Another day. More dreams of what might be, more steps on the footpath of the here and now, the broken-off branches from last night’s windy-as-hell storm all over the place, the noise of it in my ears still... 
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By Tina Perinotto 20 August 2010 - Here’s a hypothetical: The new Federal Government is sworn in on Monday morning. The very first thing it does is convene a “citizen’s assembly” from key parts of the sustainable property industry... 
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By Boris Kelly 13 August 2010 – With only days left in the federal election campaign and with both major parties poncing around the point on climate change, 2000 people packed the Sydney Town Hall for the launch of a plan to achieve zero emissions... 
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