~ Turning Point Talks ~

7pm Tuesday 16th of May 2023
at the Courthouse Hotel (opposite the Post Office)
Mullumbimby

CAN WE STILL AVOID ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER?

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Professor Ian Lowe AO

Ian Lowe AO is emeritus professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. He has published widely and filled a range of advisory roles for all levels of government, including chairing the advisory council that produced in 1996 the first independent national report on the state of the environment. Among many awards he has received are the Prime Minister’s Environmental Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement, the Queensland Premier’s Millennium Award for Excellence in Science and the International Academy of Sciences, Health and Ecology’s Konrad Lorenz Gold Medal for contributions to sustainable futures.

In 1996, the first independent report on the state of the environment found that we faced serious problems. Five subsequent reports have shown those problems to be worsening and called for action with increasing urgency. We are now seeing the flaw in the implicit assumption that environmental problems can always be fixed if we are sufficiently wealthy. The most recent report found that the state of our environment is “poor and deteriorating”. It warned of the likely impacts on our health and living standards.

There are many possible futures. Which one eventuates will be the product of our decisions and actions. We need urgently to protect our local biota and work toward stabilising the global climate. Most fundamentally, we need to recognise that there are limits to growth and begin planning for a future which could be sustainable.

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