Latest Story
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Where have all the women gone?
MikeM | March 19, 2009It has become common for facilities, products and services to be described as available for "ladies" and "men". Those who recall a former era know that adult humans were classified as "ladies" and "gentlemen" on the one hand and "men and "women" on the other.
What has happened?
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Australia’s Asian Neighbours
Warren Reed | March 18, 2009To keep the economic crisis in perspective, we need to look beyond the stereotypes in getting to know our neighbours.
In recent years, Australians have been dazzled by China’s high economic growth rate and the riches it has bestowed upon us. Many hoped, even assumed, that the good times would keep rolling on. Chinese industry would continue to consume huge quantities of our resources and in return send back two things: loads of cash and an ever-expanding range of reasonably priced goods, from electronics to clothing. Most Australians give little thought to what was happening inside Chinese society, behind the economic façade. The Beijing Olympics provided a respite of sorts, but it was as brief as it was spectacular and was then quickly overshadowed by the global financial crisis.
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It’s Not Easy Being Green
Oliver.Hartwich | March 18, 2009Protectionist policies are being justified with false claims they will protect the environment and jobs.
As Kermit the Frog famously sang "It’s not easy being green". Well, it certainly isn’t if you’re a politician. Green policies may be popular and they may even win you votes. But the flipside is that such policies usually come at a price to the consumer and the taxpayer. So the temptation for politicians is to find a way that will make them look green without actually hurting anyone.
The Australian government’s policy towards the car industry is a good example. You could hardly claim that the cars currently driving on Australia’s roads are the world’s most fuel-efficient. In fact, the proportion of V6 and V8 gas-guzzlers is extremely high in Australia- we love our big Commodores, Falcons and Utes.
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Navigating Rocky Business Waters
Juliet Bourke | March 17, 2009The best way to navigate rocky business waters is with flexibility: expert opinion.
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Advice to Young Graduates
jswprice | March 17, 2009"How do I get the experience?" is the cry of the graduate. The answer is work integrated learning.
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What to do about graffiti
MikeM | March 16, 2009British street artist Banksy has become an international phenomenon. But much of the unsolicited street decoration from spray cans and textas is a blight on the environment.
For more than 50 years, perhaps since invention of the aerosol paint can and the texta pen, graffiti has become an urban blight. British street artist Banksy has become an international phenomenon. But much of the unsolicited street decoration from spray cans and textas is a blight on the environment. What can we do about it?
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Another decade of the Global War on Drugs?
MikeM | March 16, 2009In Vienna this week a United Nations conference is deliberating global drug strategy for the next decade. What will they decide?
To speak of a war on drugs, like a war on terror or a war on cancer, is to use a metaphor; but to extend the metaphor to ask if we are winning the war on drugs, the answer is no. What should we be doing instead and why aren't we? In Vienna this week a United Nations conference is deliberating global drug strategy for the next decade. What will they decide?
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Implementing Regulation for Success
patrickcallioni | March 16, 2009Dying from a runaway investment fever or from sclerosis of the economic arteries has the same effect…we don't want either.
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Women on the March
Hani Montan | March 13, 2009There should always be an equal place for women in all aspects of social and economic life, because their participation is essential for the spiritual and economic prosperity of every civilised nation.
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The Four C’s
Danny.Almagor | March 12, 2009When international aid deploys innappropriate technology, there can be unwanted, or even disastrous consequences.
No, this is not a guide to buying an engagement ring.
When I read this article recounting the story of a premature baby dying in a bed amidst a ward crowded with empty incubators, I was appalled but couldn’t share in the journalist’s dismay. Sadly, I recognised it as yet another example of inappropriate technology being deployed to useless or even damaging effect.
Maybe the user manuals weren’t provided, or they were written in a language nobody at the hospital understood. Maybe the specialist heat generating light bulbs had all blown and couldn’t be replaced?
At Engineers Without Borders (EWB) we talk about the Four C’s to Development; consciousness, concern, comprehension and challenge.
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Individual Health Identifiers and Privacy
StephenWilson | March 11, 2009What’s to be done to ward off healthcare identity theft?
Last week, Australian Health Ministers met in Melbourne; a comminique has been released by the Department of Health and Ageing. A range of matters were discussed, including the planned Individual Health Identifier (IHI). The communique says:
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Building Resilient Cities
Scott Ludlam | March 11, 2009Somewhere within the featureless expanse of brick and tile sprawl relentlessly consuming the Swan coastal plain, someone has taken the time to build a sustainable home.
"The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet" ~ William Gibson
Take a drive an hour south through the rapidly expanding growth corridor fusing Perth to Mandurah, and you’ll fly past a road sign at once hopeful and heartbreaking.
‘Sustainable Mandurah Home’ it points cheerfully. Somewhere within the featureless expanse of brick and tile sprawl relentlessly consuming the Swan coastal plain, someone has taken the time to build a sustainable home.
I have no issue with the house itself; it’s an intelligent blend of the state of the art and the bleeding obvious, it didn’t cost a fortune to build and it gives visitors a sense that energy and water-efficient homes are comfortable, practical and inexpensive to live in.
