Posts Tagged Hack
Peter Singer on the Ethics of Giving to the Very Poor
Peter Singer was recently interviewed by Kate O’Toole on Triple J’s current affairs program, Hack. In the interview and ensuing discussion, Singer raised some interesting points with one central theme: the rich world (that’s us) have a moral obligation to give a significant percentage of our incomes to the developing world. No ifs. No buts.
To begin with, Kate O’Toole describes a thought experiment that Singer introduced to motivate the ethical argument of his book, The Life You Can Save (he has a website of the same name). In short, the picture is this: imagine walking home one day from university with your bag over your shoulder, and you pass a local lake — you do this every day, except that this day you notice for the first time that there is a child who is stuck in the lake and is drowning not far from the edge. What should you do?
Have a think about it.
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Ross Garnaut on Climate Change - Hack - Triple J
Posted by sangus in Interview, Podcast, Sustainability on 24 March, 2009
From Triple J’s Hack Program:
The wait is over Ross Garnaut has finally revealed his target for carbon emission reductions. This is the figure that shows how serious Australia is about dealing with climate change. It’ll have a big impact on things australia’s energy mix and how much you pay for electricity and fuel. So what’s the figure?
Garnaut says 10% reduction by 2020. Business are satisfied while environmental groups were hoping for much more. Garnaut says Australia should be prepared to committ to bigger reductions if there’s international agreement. But he’s skeptical about whether that’ll happen initially.
All this means we’re heading towards an atmosphere of 550 parts per million of carbon dioxide, where bigger cuts would have us at 450 parts per million. But Ross Garnaut says his recommendation is the right mix of economics and science.
+ Listen to Ross Garnaut on 2020 emissions targets (mp3, 3.42mb)
date: 05/09/2008
reporter: Kate O’Toole