Can we reinvent the Lucky Country? Fifty years ago author Donald Horne described Australia as 'a lucky country run by second-rate people', adding that our leaders are mostly unaware of events that surround them. The good fortune continued when our wide brown land proved to contain bountiful resources of saleable minerals, allowing successive generations of second-rate leaders to create an illusion of economic progress by liquidating those assets. But a crisis is approaching, driven by irre...

Australia has been directly involved in the nuclear industry for more than a century, but our involvement has never been comprehensively documented. Long Half-life tells the social and political history of Australia's role, from the first discovery of radioactive ores in 1906 to contemporary contentious questions. Should the next generation of submarines be nuclear powered? Can nuclear energy help to slow global climate change? Do we need nuclear weapons for defence? Should we sto...

In 1996, the first independent national report on the state of Australia's environment found that we faced serious problems. With increasing urgency, five subsequent reports declared those problems were all getting worse, each calling for immediate action to protect our future. The 2021 report determined that, 'Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, poll...

Can civilization survive the 21st century? Professor Ian Lowe, author, pre-eminent scientist and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, thinks we have a chance—but we have to act now, and not just on global warming. Here, collected for the first time, are Lowe's views on topics that concern all Australians—the environment, culture, science, politics, education, technology and the economy, along with new pieces on Australia's outlook this century. Written in Lowe's accessible ...

A comprehensive and detailed analysis of the controversial debate about Australia's population numbers, this book clarifies the subject and addresses the many misconceptions. It provides a historic account of Australia's population growth and a study of official data while examining the components of that growth in detail, including birth rates and immigration as well as the more recent trend of an aging population. In addition, this thorough account also discusses the motives of the inter...

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the human, social and economic aspects of science and technology. It examines a broad range of issues from a variety of perspectives, using examples and experiences from Australia and around the world. The authors present complex issues in an accessible and engaging form. Topics include the responsibilities of scientists, ethical dilemmas and controversies, the Industrial Revolution, economic issues, public policy, and science and technolo...

This multidisciplinary volume presents a refreshing new approach to environmental values in the global age. it investigates the challenges that globalization poses to traditional environmental values in general as well as in politics and international governance.Divided into five parts, the book investigates how environmental values could be reconceived in a globalizing world.Part I explores contemporary environmental values and their implications for a globalizing world.

First published 1990, this volume consists of an introductory essay by Ian Lowe and a comprehensive catalogue of all Wilfred Fairclough’s prints, some 140, from 1932 to the present (1990). Al the prints are illustrated in the body of the catalogue for ease of identification and 48 are also reproduced as large format duotone illustrations.From the Royal College of Art, Wilfred Fairclough won the Rome Scholarship in Engraving in 1934 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Society ...

In 1996, the first independent national report on the state of Australia’s environment found that we faced serious problems. With increasing urgency, five subsequent reports declared those problems were all getting worse, each calling for immediate action to protect our future. The 2021 report determined that, ‘Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, poll...