Edition 6
If you have a particular interest in one or more of the below topics, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section further down the page.
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What’s for lunch? How our food choices actually impact the environment
With our consumption of animal products expected to rise, Kevin and Ben address the rather large question: what does this mean for the environment? This is addressed in regard to three key areas: land use, water use and pollution. With our modern animal agricultural practices creating an undeniably large impact even today, this article takes an evidence-based approach to understanding the situation.
Kevin Nguyen | Events Co-director
Ben Griffiths | Vice President of Operations
Investment in mental health: low risk, high reward
In recent years, we have seen a growing interest in ways to prioritise mental health, as well as its implications beyond the individual. In this article, Connie delves into systemic shortcomings and explains how Australia’s current healthcare system inhibits the full productive potential of many Australians, as quantified by the Human Capital Index. Importantly, she then proposes a series of applicable recommendations and policies that should be enacted in order to create an environment that emboldens future generations, and taps into their full productive potential.
Connie Zhang | Project Leader
An introduction to climate justice
As the air time afforded to climate change is undeniably increasing, it is critical that we actively consider how our policy responses, as well as climate change itself, will impact different communities differently. How should we be approaching a global problem where responsibility for its creation and perpetuation isn’t equally shared? In this introduction to climate justice, Connie looks beyond the environmental character of climate change to frame it as a deeply political and ethical challenge.
Connie Gamble | National Affairs Director
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In this series, the Australia Institute has engaged with numerous key scholars and political figures who are able to offer insight into the Australian response to the pandemic from a diverse range of perspectives, from the Australia’s manufacturing in the era of renewables to the media’s response to the entire crisis.
For those fascinated by the hard numbers behind emissions inequality as touched on in our climate justice article, this database is home to a wealth of information regarding not only climate statistics, but data pertinent to many other global issues.
Federal government’s Productivity Commission
While Connie Zhang spoke to the strong link between mental health (or ill-health) and productivity, the efforts of this Australian state government’s commission have extended the investigation to myriad scenarios, offering deep analyses on such situations in local communities.
Should you be curious to better understand data projections and analyses regarding the impact of our food on land use, this IPCC report offers an in-depth exploration of a series of overlapping systems, clearly delineating the relationship between the food system, food security and climate change.