Tim Flannery's new ideas

Confidently addressing an audience of environmentalists, social policy makers, sustainability directors, academics and the public last night, Tim Flannery proposed two new ideas around environmental sustainability in the 21st century.


1. The need to produce clean coal
2. Atmospheric cleansing (a “new paradigm”)

With the emissions trading scheme not likely to generate enough revenue to fund clean coal technology and businesses solely focussed on their quarterly profits he emphasised the need to put the responsibility back on industry. He suggested the necessary funds could be raised if the Australian government put a 10% levy on coal exports.

He emphasised before investing in clean coal technology however, we need to establish if a solution is achievable in the timeframe we need it to be delivered otherwise we need to scrap this strategy and embark down another path.

To work in conjunction with clean coal he considers Atmospheric Cleansing to be imperative to combating the problem. Flannery proposed three ways we can manipulate the carbon cycle.

1. Re-planting in the world’s tropical rainforests
2. Holistic management of the world’s rangelands
3. The production of charcoal

18% of the world’s carbon dioxide comes from tropical rainforests. So Flannery suggested if we nurture this region by re-planting trees and preserving existing ecosystems we can help cleanse the atmosphere.

He thinks this process of cleansing can work in conjunction with carbon trading in the developing world. He suggested technology, such as mobile phones and the internet could help establish a direct relationship with the developed world and third world communities could earn income through revegetation programs used to generate carbon credits. This solution addresses the problem on a global level keeping both social and environmental sustainability in mind.

Secondly, Tim discussed manipulating the way we use the world’s rangelands. The world is facing an extreme food and biodiversity crisis and that holistic management of these regions would assist in not only address these issues but also assist in returning more carbon to the earth.

Thirdly, he proposed reducing 10 gigatonne of CO2 in 10 years by simply producing charcoal. His theory of inserting charcoal into the ground would mean we would be less reliant on fertiliser and the ph balance of the soil would improve.

Flannery summed up the night by stating the “intelligent mechanism for self regulation is us” and intellectual property needs to be shared at no cost with the developing world.

He emphasised sustainability is a global issue and we need to work in collaboration with all regions of the world.

Georgia Muir, Change2

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