Adam R Lucas | University of Wollongong (original) (raw)

Energy Policy & Politics by Adam R Lucas

Covid 19 & the global political economy, 2022

There is growing international awareness that the window of opportunity is rapidly closing to sta... more There is growing international awareness that the window of opportunity is rapidly closing to stabilise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and avoid catastrophic changes to the global climate before the end of this century. The lack of progress in reducing anthropogenic emissions over the last three decades by most developed and developing countries has been a major focus of attention before, during and after the COP 26 negotiations in Glasgow in November 2021. A common refrain throughout this period has been the lack of ambition of most nation states’ commitments to decarbonisation. One of the overriding messages from multiple sources has been that humanity’s continued reliance on fossil fuels as its primary energy source is driving the global climate toward disaster. The terrible irony for humanity and the billions of other living beings with which we share this planet is that it is that very reliance that has empowered the ruling elites and corporations that have benefited most from this situation to delay taking action and systematically undermine efforts to do so.

Handbook of Anti-Environmentalism, 2022

Australia has one of the most carbon-intensive energy infrastructures of any developed nation. Al... more Australia has one of the most carbon-intensive energy infrastructures of any developed nation. Although no longer responsible for operating or maintaining the relevant infrastructure, successive Australian governments have until very recently favoured fossil-fuel-based energy generation. This paper argues that the past failure of government policies to drive a sustainable energy transition is at least partially attributable to a number of rarely examined factors, including lobbying, informal secondments, revolving door appointments and the formation of covert networks of elite actors with decision-making and promotional responsibilities in business and government. Rather than focusing on those policies that could achieve higher levels of zero carbon energy production, it draws attention to broader issues of how political and economic power is currently exercised in Australia.

Energy Research & Social Science, 2021

This paper argues that the ability of dominant corporations in the fossil fuel and other pollutin... more This paper argues that the ability of dominant corporations in the fossil fuel and other polluting industries to shape government policy on climate change and energy issues is directly related to their financial interests in particular countries, and emblematic of the crippling effect which they have exercised on the ability of nation states to decarbonise. Using Australia as an exemplar of the many favourable policy outcomes which powerful corporate interests have secured from successive governments in relation to climate and energy policy, it seeks to demonstrate that covert networks of political influence have played a major role in the decisions made and actions implemented in both areas of policymaking over the last fifteen years. Through detailed empirical analysis of a database of current and former senior politicians, political staffers and bureaucrats with employment links to the fossil fuel and resource extraction industries, it argues that these industries have constructed a covert network of lobbyists and revolving door appointments which has ensured that industry interests continue to dominate Australia’s energy policy, and that its emissions from fossil fuel use continue to rise. Covert corporate influence in Australia’s energy and resource sectors provides an additional layer of explanation for the persistence of structural biases in its financing, policy and regulatory regimes to those accounts which draw on different forms of discourse and policy analysis.

Pearls & Irritations, 2022

This is the first instalment of a two-part series based on our recent submission to the Australia... more This is the first instalment of a two-part series based on our recent submission to the Australian Government regarding tax transparency and the fossil fuel industry. The first part examines Australia's global fossil fuel transnational corporations' problems and tax practices. The second part provides recommendations for minimising their tax avoidance practices.

Pearls & Irritations, 2022

This is the second instalment of a two-part series based on our recent submission to the Australi... more This is the second instalment of a two-part series based on our recent submission to the Australian Government regarding tax transparency and the fossil fuel industry. The first part examined how transnational fossil fuel corporations are routinely engaged in accounting practices which enable them to avoid paying the Australian Government hundreds of billions of dollars in income tax. This second part provides recommendations for minimising these tax avoidance practices and recouping some of the wealth these corporations have extracted from Australia.

Climate Risk Management, 2021

This two-part paper details the arguments and evidence that have been marshalled by both climate ... more This two-part paper details the arguments and evidence that have been marshalled by both climate scientists and social scientists to critique the current procedures and methodologies deployed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to represent the risks of anthropogenic forcing and a continuation of business-as-usual. In the first part, the rationale for moving from an atmospheric stabilisation target to an average surface temperature target is explained. This is followed by a discussion of the IPCC's representations of nonlinear behaviour in relation to climate forcing, and the problems associated with using a single temperature target in assessing climate risk. An outline is then provided of efforts to define what can or should constitute physical, biological and socioeconomic indicators of dangerous anthropogenic interference (DAI). The paper reviews the IPCC's representations of sea-level rise to illustrate the argument that it continues to take insufficient account of the paleoclimate record and improved methods of modelling. Part 1 concludes by arguing that the IPCC continues to under-represent the risks associated with DAI. In the second part, the rationale and methodologies for reconfiguring international climate governance are discussed in more detail. Part 2 argues that the currently dominant model of international policymaking is primarily an outcome of compromises made by governments under pressure from powerful polluting industries and their business allies. It is argued that the political economy of international climate governance has produced systematic biases in the kinds of expertise and evidence that national governments deem appropriate for consideration via the IPCC and UNFCCC frameworks, along with the relative importance that is ascribed to them. Drawing on the research of climate scientists and social scientists, some suggestions for how to restructure and refocus the activities of the IPCC, UNFCCC and climate governance more generally are canvassed, including the necessity of creating far more interdisciplinary and democratically accountable structures of expertise for climate policy-making at the national and supra-national levels. Part 2 concludes with a discussion of the kinds of reforms which could be undertaken to reduce the ability of incumbent actors to shape climate policy and politics to their advantage.

Climate Risk Management, 2021

Recycling, 2018

With rising concerns about the social and environmental impacts of industrial and manufacturing w... more With rising concerns about the social and environmental impacts of industrial and manufacturing waste, scientists and engineers have sought solutions to the burdens of waste which do not simply involve burying, burning, dumping or diluting. Our purpose here is to sketch how social science perspectives can illuminate aspects of the waste problem which are not routinely grappled with within science and engineering perspectives. We argue that if one is concerned about the burdens of waste, it is crucial to understand the way political and cultural contexts shape what happens (or does not happen) in regards to reuse. We sketch some of the challenges facing green manufacturing; challenges that hinge on the gap between the best laid plans and social realities. Rather than imply green manufacturing is simply a post hoc move to hide the excesses of industrial capitalism in the green cloth of sustainability, we hope our discussion can assist those who hope to use green manufacturing as a pre-emptive move to build sustainability into industrial capitalism. We suggest that a socio-political conception of technology can bring greater depth to understandings of the industrial, political and consumer environments into which green manufacturing researchers hope to insert their efforts.

Energy Research & Social Science, 2016

Plans to triple or even quadruple Australian black coal production on 2010 levels by 2030 continu... more Plans to triple or even quadruple Australian black coal production on 2010 levels by 2030 continue to inform the policy goals of Australian state and federal governments. However, only three years after many of these plans were either formally or informally approved, a number of them are no longer financially viable, and face mounting domestic and international opposition based on three main arguments: (a) the aggregated costs of subsidies, externalities and foreign-ownership in the Australian coal industry suggest that the economic benefits to Australia are not as great as the industry and its political backers claim; (b) although Australian black coal production is not likely to peak until the 2040s or later, world coal production is likely to peak around 2030, indicating that a transition to low or zero carbon energy sources in those countries currently dependent on coal is becoming an increasingly high priority from an energy security perspective; (c) because coal is one of the main contributors to anthropogenic climate change and Australia has some of the largest untapped reserves, most of that resource constitutes 'unburnable carbon'. These three arguments provide a compelling case for the contraction of the Australian coal industry over the next twenty years.

The Journal of Australian Political Economy, No. 69, 2012, pp. 1-15.

Oklahoma and Texas are two of the most conservative political constituencies in the United States... more Oklahoma and Texas are two of the most conservative political constituencies in the United States. Like Australia, both states have extensive fossil fuel resources. But unlike Australia, both have made significant commitments to renewable energy infrastructure over the last decade, with Oklahoma installing 2,000 MW of wind power (more than the whole of Australia) and Texas installing more than 10,000 MW of wind power (more than any other state in the Union). In Oklahoma, most of the wind power development has been driven at the community level, with little support from the state government until very recently. In Texas, most of the wind power development has been driven by industry with the support of key politicians and wealthy industrialists, combined with a renewable portfolio standard that has avoided state and federal government subsidies. In Australia, state and federal support for renewables has been perfunctory and poorly implemented. Apart from the state of South Australia, which derives 20% of its electricity from renewables (primarily wind power) and Tasmania, which derives around 78% of its electricity from hydropower (mostly installed between the 1930s and 1970s), the only form of renewable energy which has grown substantially in recent years is solar photovoltaics, largely through poorly designed but very popular (and quickly abolished) state and territory feed-in tariffs. Dr Lucas will discuss some of the reasons for these very different renewable energy development pathways, and the role which activists have played in promoting and supporting renewables, as well as opposing them, in these different jurisdictions.

Australia has been the world’s largest coal exporter for almost three decades and remains heavily... more Australia has been the world’s largest coal exporter for almost three decades and remains heavily dependent on coal for the vast majority of its electricity production. However, most Australians are not well informed about the extent of the country’s role in the international coal industry, or government plans to more than triple domestic production over the next two decades. Drawing on official government statistics to examine coal’s contribution to the Australian economy over the last fifty years, and to GHG emissions over the last twenty years, it is argued that current government policies rely on understatements of coal’s contribution to climate change and exaggerated assessments of its economic contribution. The industry’s own production forecasts and reserve estimates also raise serious questions about the medium- to long-term viability of the industry based on economic, technological and environmental considerations.

Books by Adam R Lucas

This is the first detailed study of the role of the Church in the commercialization of milling in... more This is the first detailed study of the role of the Church in the commercialization of milling in medieval England. Focusing on the period from the late eleventh to the mid-sixteenth centuries, it examines the estate management practices of more than thirty English religious houses founded by the Benedictines, Cistercians, Augustinians and minor orders, with an emphasis on the role played by mills and milling in the establishment and development of a range of different sized episcopal and conventual foundations.

Contrary to the views espoused by a number of prominent historians of technology since the 1930s, the book demonstrates that patterns of mill acquisition, innovation and exploitation were shaped not only by the size, value and distribution of a house’s estates, but also by environmental and demographic factors, changing cultural attitudes and legal conventions, prevailing and emergent technical traditions, the personal relations of a house with its patrons, tenants, servants and neighbours, and the entrepreneurial and administrative flair of bishops, abbots, priors and other ecclesiastical officials.

The book examines religious houses' contribution to the development of the various milling sectors first categorized by John Langdon in the mid-1990s, including the role of the Augustinians in the non-seigneurial sector. It also discusses the legal status of mills and milling in English law, and attempts to unravel the mysterious origins of suit of mill.

This book is the most comprehensive empirical study to date of the social and technical aspects o... more This book is the most comprehensive empirical study to date of the social and technical aspects of milling during the ancient and medieval periods.

Drawing on the latest archaeological evidence and historical studies, the book examines the chronological development and technical details of handmills, beast mills, watermills and windmills from the first millennium BCE to c. 1500. It discusses the many and varied uses to which mills were turned in the civilisations of Rome, China, Islam and Europe, and the many types of mill that existed.

The book also includes comparative regional studies of the social and economic significance of milling, and tackles several important historiographical issues, such as whether technological stagnation was a characteristic of late Antiquity, whether there was an 'industrial revolution' in the European middle ages based on waterpower, and how contemporary studies in the social shaping of technology can shed light on the study of pre-modern technology.

Paperback reissue of the 2006 hardback.

Catalogue of essays and artwork from a national touring exhibition (2000-2001) about Australia's ... more Catalogue of essays and artwork from a national touring exhibition (2000-2001) about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War from the perspectives of combatants, entertainers, politicians, artists and activists. Curated and edited by Adam Lucas.

Covid 19 & the global political economy, 2022

Handbook of Anti-Environmentalism, 2022

Energy Research & Social Science, 2021

Pearls & Irritations, 2022

Climate Risk Management, 2021

Recycling, 2018

Energy Research & Social Science, 2016

The Journal of Australian Political Economy, No. 69, 2012, pp. 1-15.

Paperback reissue of the 2006 hardback.

Catalogue of essays and artwork from a large-scale exhibition (1997) held at Casula Powerhouse Ar... more Catalogue of essays and artwork from a large-scale exhibition (1997) held at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (Sydney) about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War from the perspectives of combatants, entertainers, politicians, artists and activists. Edited by Adam Lucas.

Technology and Culture, 2020

The early modern period, from roughly 1450 to 1800, was a time of global social and political uph... more The early modern period, from roughly 1450 to 1800, was a time of global social and political upheaval. Driven by rivalry between the great powers of Europe and their efforts to explore, colonize, and conquer new territories, it was an era during which revolutionary changes occurred in science, technology, and culture that continue to shape the modern world. Theologically, it encompassed the cultural revolutions of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Intellectually, it witnessed the radical conceptual shifts that have come to be known as the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Technologically, it saw the first economic transformations arising from the British Agricultural Revolution, while laying the foundations for the Industrial Revolution. Politically, it was punctuated by revolutions in Britain, France, and the Americas, and included extended periods of military conflict throughout Europe, as well as colonial wars in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Arguably the most shameful legacies of this period are the European colonizers’ despoliation of indigenous cultures and an enormous escalation in the slave trade between Europe, West Africa, and the Americas. All these transformations—however they are now interpreted—are fundamental to what it means to be modern.

Encyclopedia of Ancient History , 2021

This article provides a survey of technological change from the late Bronze Age (ca. 1550 BCE) to... more This article provides a survey of technological change from the late Bronze Age (ca. 1550 BCE) to the seventh century CE. It discusses the independent inventions of agriculture, writing, numbers, astronomy, and calendars in the ancient Middle East, Asia, and Mesoamerica, and the development of various technologies by the Greeks and Romans which are now part of the western technical tradition. Narratives of evolution, revolution, stagnation, progress, and development are outlined in relation to various authors, periods, cultures, and technologies. Attitudes toward technological change among different schools of thought in ancient Greece and Rome are also briefly explored.

This is Chapter Nine of 'Ecclesiastical Lordship'. Among other topics, it goes into some detail a... more This is Chapter Nine of 'Ecclesiastical Lordship'. Among other topics, it goes into some detail about the origins of suit of mill as a customary feudal obligation in England, before and after the Conquest.

This paper provides a brief overview of some of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling... more This paper provides a brief overview of some of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling mills, drawing on archaeological
finds and manuscript evidence from medieval and early modern England, Wales, France, Germany and other parts of Continental
Europe. Illustrations of fulling mills from the 1500s and 1600s are compared with medieval accounts of their construction, maintenance
and repair. This evidence suggests that fulling mills were simply conventional watermills with the same waterfeed and
drive mechanisms as grain mills, but which substituted right-angled gearing and millstones with cam-operated trip-hammers, walkstocks
or stamps and fulling troughs. Although there were at least two different designs of fulling mill (an observation supported by
the extant illustrations), it may well be the case that other designs of fulling mill existed in France and other parts of the Continent.

A survey of technological change from the late Bronze Age to the 7th century CE from several diff... more A survey of technological change from the late Bronze Age to the 7th century CE from several different perspectives.

Chapter Four of Wind, Water, Work (Brill, 2006).

Chapter 8 of Wind, Water, Work (2006)

The arguments in this paper have been superseded by those in my most recent book, 'Ecclesiastical... more The arguments in this paper have been superseded by those in my most recent book, 'Ecclesiastical lordship'. Some of the conclusions I drew in this paper I no longer support.

In 1934 and 1935, Lewis Mumford and Marc Bloch published two very different pioneering works in t... more In 1934 and 1935, Lewis Mumford and Marc Bloch published two very different pioneering works in the history of technology, Technics and Civilization and "Avènement et conquêtes du moulin à eau," the first an ambitious attempt to trace the development of technology in human civilizations over several thousand years, the second a historical overview of the development of milling technology from Greco-Roman times to the end of the Middle Ages. 1 What was to prove an extraordinarily influential thesis about the development of medieval technology appeared in both publications, namely, that the second half of the European Middle Ages witnessed a rapid increase not only in the number of mills powered by water and wind but also in the range of industrial processes to which waterpower and wind power were applied. These phenomena were, according to Mumford and Bloch, emblematic of a medieval revolution in the use of power technology that laid the foundations for what happened in the Industrial Revolution Dr. Lucas works as a researcher and policy analyst at the Cabinet Office for the Government of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. His academic research interests include ancient and medieval science and technology, the historical sociology of institutions, and the genealogy of the mechanical philosophy. His book, Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology, will be published by Brill Academic Publishers later this year. The author is grateful to a number of scholars for their assistance with this article, including John Schuster, Richard Holt, John Langdon, Thomas Glick, Colin Rynne, Ö rjan Wikander, and the Technology and Culture referees.

Inventor: unknown, earliest written and physical evidence is from Egypt; earliest technical descr... more Inventor: unknown, earliest written and physical evidence is from Egypt; earliest technical description by Philo of Byzantium in his Pneumatica When: earliest written evidence from Egyptian papyri dated to the 3 rd and 2 nd centuries b.c.e.; earliest physical evidence from Egypt in 2 nd century b.c.e.

Vernacular depictions of watermills and waterpowered machinery from the medieval period are gener... more Vernacular depictions of watermills and waterpowered machinery from the medieval period are generally limited to illuminated manuscript illustrations, stained glass windows, church sculpture and graffiti. Such depictions tend to follow the artistic conventions of the era, with flattened dimensions that are out of perspective and out of scale, and which rarely show any concern with the mechanical workings of the devices represented. The handbooks and technical treatises of Villard de Honnecourt (1235), Giovanni Fontana (c.1430), Mariano Taccola (c.1433), Antonio Averlino (c.1462), Roberto Valturio (1466), the anonymous Hussite engineer (1475), Francesco di Giorgio Martini (c.1484) and Philipp Mönch (1496) display a rapid development in technical illustrative conventions, and all depict waterpowered machinery of various kinds. However, it is not until the late fifteenth century that these technical illustrations are drawn consistently in perspective or to scale, nor are they necessarily accurate depictions of the workings of the machines represented. Waterpowered fulling mills were the most common type of industrial mill in medieval and early modern Europe, yet the designs of these mills are poorly understood. This paper focuses on illustrations of fulling mills from the late medieval and early modern periods and compares them with medieval accounts of their construction, maintenance and repair. Were fulling mills simply conventional watermills with the same waterfeed and drive mechanisms as grain mills, but which substituted right-angled gearing and millstones with cam-operated trip-hammers and fulling troughs, or were they significantly different in their overall design and layout? What do the extant illustrations say about the familiarity of their authors with the workings of the machinery which they represented? Can historians and archaeologists learn more about the workings of medieval machines from such sources as managerial documents like account books than from contemporaneous and later illustrations?

This paper provides a brief overview of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling mills, ... more This paper provides a brief overview of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling mills, but is primarily focused on eliciting further information and speculation from conference attendees about recent archaeological finds and manuscript evidence from medieval France and other parts of Continental Europe. The author will present various illustrations of fulling mills from the late medieval and early modern periods and compare them with medieval accounts of their construction, maintenance and repair. This evidence suggests that fulling mills were simply conventional watermills with the same waterfeed and drive mechanisms as grain mills, but which substituted right-angled gearing and millstones with cam-operated trip-hammers and fulling troughs. Although there were at least two different designs of fulling mill (a fact which is readily apparent from the extant illustrations), it may well be the case that others may know of fulling mills which had significantly different designs and layout, as the medieval French terms for ‘fulling mill’ showed considerable regional variation. Through this paper, it is hoped that more light might be shed on this interesting problem, and that some opportunities for scholarly collaboration with the author may arise.

Paper presented at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds UK, Jul 8, 2015

According to Marc Bloch, the customary obligation of tenants to grind their grain at their lord's... more According to Marc Bloch, the customary obligation of tenants to grind their grain at their lord's mill (secta molendini or milne soken) originated in France in the 9th and 10th centuries and in England in the 11th and 12th centuries. More recently, Richard Holt and John Langdon have argued that the custom almost certainly existed during the late Anglo-Saxon period, and was never as widespread or as strictly enforced in Anglo-Norman England as it was in France. Although Holt and Langdon are undoubtedly correct, how the obligation first came into being and how it was subsequently disseminated has largely remained a mystery. This paper argues that although the custom certainly did exist during Anglo-Saxon times, it was restricted to royal and former royal estates. It was not until the late eleventh century that it became increasingly widespread and an accepted part of life for many households, as a direct result of the 'massive manorial reorganization of the country' that Robin Fleming attributes to the reign of William I.

Paper presented at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Jul 14, 2015

Historians of technology have contended for decades that the development of the medieval milling ... more Historians of technology have contended for decades that the development of the medieval milling industry is of crucial importance to understanding how the transition from feudalism to modernity occurred. However, the two main theories which were generally relied upon to explain why it is important – the industrial revolution of the Middle Ages thesis and the monastic innovation thesis – have proven to be inadequate to the task in a number of respects. Nevertheless, there are elements of both theses which do require further investigation, not least because the initial intuition has proven to be valid that by the eleventh or twelfth century, the number of watermills in medieval Europe can be regarded as having attained an industrial scale.

Even though a sophisticated understanding of how mills and milling developed during the Middle Ages has emerged from medieval social and economic history over the last few decades, the study of the social and economic significance of milling in the Middle Ages has remained relatively peripheral within both the history of technology and medieval history. There are, however, a number of reasons why it should be accorded a more important role. The first is that it tells us some significant things about the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western Europe and the origins of modern industry. Furthermore, because of the extraordinary amount of manual labour required to grind grain to make flour, milling is one of the earliest forms of work to be partially automated. Because grain milling was a primary focus for lordly profit-making, it was also a source of conflict over such issues as land and water rights, who had the right to own and operate mills, the proportion of milled grain paid to millers, and the obligation of manorial tenants to mill their grain at the lord’s mill.

Because the Church was one of the largest and wealthiest landowners in Christendom, an analysis of its role in the social and economic development of the medieval milling industry can provide important insights into the transition towards a market-based economy and the transformation of work practices, property relations and social roles which accompanied those changes.

Paper presented at SHOT Annual meeting, Dearborn (MI)

Although some of the founding members of the Society for the History of Technology were intereste... more Although some of the founding members of the Society for the History of Technology were interested in and wrote extensively on technological change during the period prior to the Industrial Revolution, there has been a notable trend in recent SHOT conferences and in the pages of the society’s journal, Technology and Culture, to focus more exclusively on the historical developments subsequent to the Industrial Revolution. In this paper, the author wishes to draw the attention of SHOT members to some of the details of these trends in the hope of stimulating efforts to improve the profile of early modern and premodern scholarship in the field. In the process, the author presents a case study of his own findings in relation to some long-held assumptions about medieval technology and summarizes why it is important for historians of technology to understand technological development before the Industrial Revolution.

The exposure of most Metascience readers to scholarship about medieval technology is probably lim... more The exposure of most Metascience readers to scholarship about medieval technology is probably limited to the work of the first generation of historians of technology. Lewis Mumford, Lynn White Jr, Bertrand Gille, Robert Forbes (and of slightly later vintage, Jean Gimpel) have all written on the subject for what would be best described as popular or general academic audiences. However, it was arguably not until the late 1970s that serious scholarship on medieval technology began to be pursued, although surprisingly little of this research has come from history of technology specialists. While the topics have included transport, construction, industry, and agriculture, one of the most prolific areas of research has been water technology, which encapsulates all of these topics in some way. Roberta Magnusson's book is a valuable contribution to this emerging field of research, focusing as it does on an important but hitherto neglected aspect of water usage in medieval Europe. Although the title of the book suggests a somewhat broader theme, the author's main focus is upon gravity-fed water-flow systems in medieval cities and monasteries.

Extended interview with San Francisco-based machine performance artists, Mark Pauline and Leslie ... more Extended interview with San Francisco-based machine performance artists, Mark Pauline and Leslie Gladsjo from Survival Research Laboratories.

Interview with Mark Pauline and Leslie Gladsjo from San Francisco-based machine performance colle... more Interview with Mark Pauline and Leslie Gladsjo from San Francisco-based machine performance collective, Survival Research Laboratories.

Interview with Sydney-based artist Philip George about his digital series of paintings, 'Mnemonic... more Interview with Sydney-based artist Philip George about his digital series of paintings, 'Mnemonic Notations'.

Short article about the origins and nature of 'Mad Cow' disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopa... more Short article about the origins and nature of 'Mad Cow' disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and its human variant.

Interview with computer artist, Jon McCormack, about his recent work using self-generating forms ... more Interview with computer artist, Jon McCormack, about his recent work using self-generating forms based on computer algorithms.

Interview with US filmmaker, Leslie Gladsjo, about her recent documentary, 'Truth Under Siege', d... more Interview with US filmmaker, Leslie Gladsjo, about her recent documentary, 'Truth Under Siege', documenting dissident media's reportage of the wars of the Yugoslav succession in the former Yugoslavia.

Article about recent proliferation of emergent diseases previously unknown to science.

Interview with Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Ilya Prigogine, which I had extraordinary difficult... more Interview with Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Ilya Prigogine, which I had extraordinary difficulty publishing in the notoriously conservative and philosophically hide-bound Anglo-Saxon media, also rejected by Metascience, as clearly too controversial for then-editor, Jon Forge!

Interview with English evolutionary biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, about how his theory of morphic ... more Interview with English evolutionary biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, about how his theory of morphic fields develops themes in philosophy and biology that can be empirically tested.

Interviews with chaos scientists Mitchell Feigenbaum and Gavin Brown (later VC of Sydney Uni) for... more Interviews with chaos scientists Mitchell Feigenbaum and Gavin Brown (later VC of Sydney Uni) for JJJFM from the International Chaos Theory Conference at UNSW in 1990. Article features explanations of key terms and background to theory, all of which remained unpublished until now.

Short popular article about the metaphysical implications of quantum theory, broadcast on 2SER FM... more Short popular article about the metaphysical implications of quantum theory, broadcast on 2SER FM from 1990-92 as an educational feature, read by Kathy Lette.

Leonardo, Sep 1993

The author suggests that new concepts in twentieth-century science not only provide commonalities... more The author suggests that new concepts in twentieth-century science not only provide commonalities between the arts, sciences and humanities, they also point to the emergence of a new philosophy of nature with some promising political, sociological and technological implications. These developments demand a thorough-going ethical practise and a fundamental reformulation of accepted notions of creativity, consciousness and natural and social organization. Outlining key concepts and discoveries in twentieth-century science and philosophy, the author draws attention to the existence of a strong organismic or process tradition in Western culture that is re-emerging in various fields of the physical, biological and social sciences. The author asserts that such a change in science and technology will have global ramifications for humans and that it is the amplification of these insights to which artists should turn their attention.

Guidelines for Indigenous employment

Metascience, Aug 12, 2020

De Gruyter eBooks, Nov 15, 2010

Australian Veterinary Journal, 2006

Short article about the origins and nature of &amp;#x27;Mad Cow&amp;#x27; disease... more Short article about the origins and nature of &amp;#x27;Mad Cow&amp;#x27; disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and its human variant.

Scottish Geographical Journal

History Australia, 2022

Ian Lowe AO has been an outspoken advocate for a wide range of environmental and public policy is... more Ian Lowe AO has been an outspoken advocate for a wide range of environmental and public policy issues since the early 1980s. A prolific author with a talent for puncturing the exaggerated claims of obscurantists and ideologues, he has served on many advisory bodies and environmental NGOs over the years, including the Australian Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council (ARPANSA), and as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Lowe’s latest book, Long Half-Life: The Nuclear Industry in Australia, is an overview of the social, political and scientific complexities surrounding Australia’s role in the identification and mining of radioactive ores since the early 1900s, and the development of nuclear energy and weaponry since the 1940s. His position on the development of the nuclear industry is nuanced and critical, informed by his training as an electrical engineer and physicist and long-standing involvement in the Science, Technology and Society (STS) program at Griffith University. While Lowe acknowledges the importance of some forms of nuclear research and the relatively low risks to human health and the environment associated with some of the nuclear industry’s activities, that does not extend to uranium mining, nuclear power, or the development of nuclear weapons. As he explains in twelve lucidly written chapters, all three have borne an intimate connection to one another in Australian politics since the 1940s, most notably in relation to the efforts of successive British and US governments to develop and deploy atomic weaponry. The absurdly overblown claims of a variety of nuclear proponents throughout this period feature prominently in Lowe’s engaging narrative. One of the most scandalous episodes that Lowe documents is how Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies enthusiastically supported the British development of nuclear weapons after the US cordoned off its own research from its wartime allies in the late 1940s. Menzies neither consulted Parliament nor his own Cabinet prior to endorsing the provision of uranium ore to the ‘Motherland’ for its nascent nuclear program, while simultaneously agreeing to host the detonation of an unspecified number of nuclear devices in Australian territory.

Climate Risk Management, 2021

Abstract This two-part paper details the arguments and evidence that have been marshalled by both... more Abstract This two-part paper details the arguments and evidence that have been marshalled by both climate scientists and social scientists to critique the current procedures and methodologies deployed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to represent the risks of anthropogenic forcing and a continuation of business-as-usual. In the first part, the rationale for moving from an atmospheric stabilisation target to an average surface temperature target is explained. This is followed by a discussion of the IPCC’s representations of nonlinear behaviour in relation to climate forcing, and the problems associated with using a single temperature target in assessing climate risk. An outline is then provided of efforts to define what can or should constitute physical, biological and socio-economic indicators of dangerous anthropogenic interference. The paper reviews the IPCC’s representations of sea-level rise to illustrate the argument that it continues to take insufficient account of the paleoclimate record and improved methods of modelling. Part 1 concludes by arguing that the IPCC continues to under-represent the risks associated with DAI. In the second part, the rationale and methodologies for reconfiguring international climate governance are discussed in more detail. Part 2 argues that the currently dominant model of international policymaking is primarily an outcome of compromises made by governments under pressure from powerful polluting industries and their business allies. It is argued that the political economy of international climate governance has produced systematic biases in the kinds of expertise and evidence that national governments deem appropriate for consideration via the IPCC and UNFCCC frameworks, along with the relative importance that is ascribed to them. Drawing on the research of climate scientists and social scientists, some suggestions for how to restructure and refocus the activities of the IPCC, UNFCCC and climate governance more generally are canvassed, including the necessity of creating far more interdisciplinary and democratically accountable structures of expertise for climate policy-making at the national and supra-national levels. Part 2 concludes with a discussion of the kinds of reforms which could be undertaken to reduce the ability of incumbent actors to shape climate policy and politics to their advantage.

Climate Risk Management, 2021

Energy Research & Social Science, 2021

This paper argues that the ability of dominant corporations in the fossil fuel and other pollutin... more This paper argues that the ability of dominant corporations in the fossil fuel and other polluting industries to shape government policy on climate change and energy issues is directly related to their financial interests in particular countries, and emblematic of the crippling effect which they have exercised on the ability of nation states to decarbonise. Using Australia as an exemplar of the many favourable policy outcomes which powerful corporate interests have secured from successive governments in relation to climate and energy policy, it seeks to demonstrate that covert networks of political influence have played a major role in the decisions made and actions implemented in both areas of policymaking over the last fifteen years. Through detailed empirical analysis of a database of current and former senior politicians, political staffers and bureaucrats with employment links to the fossil fuel and resource extraction industries, it argues that these industries have constructed a covert network of lobbyists and revolving door appointments which has ensured that industry interests continue to dominate Australia's energy policy, and that its emissions from fossil fuel use continue to rise. Covert corporate influence in Australia's energy and resource sectors provides an additional layer of explanation for the persistence of structural biases in its financing, policy and regulatory regimes to those accounts which draw on different forms of discourse and policy analysis. Recent research into the CCCM in the US and Canada has clearly revealed the pervasive and disproportionate influence of fossil energy and resource corporations on climate change and energy politics in two of the world's most politically and economically powerful developed countries [22-28]. This paper contributes to North American CCCM research as a comparative study of similar processes in Australia. It also

Technology and Culture, 2020

Technology and Culture, 2005

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2021

The main ambition of Francesc Relan ̃ o’s fascinating book The Shaping of Africa is to show how t... more The main ambition of Francesc Relan ̃ o’s fascinating book The Shaping of Africa is to show how the idea of Africa, as a continent distinct from Europe and Asia, emerged between the late Middle Ages and the early modern period from a mixture of natural philosophical, theological, nautical and popular discourses, as well as from several initially separate traditions of mapmaking. He illustrates in the process that the African interior remained largely a mystery to Europeans until the late nineteenth century. Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Law Publication Details Lucas, A. R. (2005). Book Review: Francesc Relano, The shaping of Africa: cosmographic discourse and cartographic science in late medieval and early modern Europe (2004). British Journal for the History of Science, 38 (4), 477-478. This journal article is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/825 FRANCESC RELAÑO, The Shaping of Africa: Cosmographic Discourse and Cartographic Science in Late Medieval...

A detailed analysis of the Sydney Morning Herald's reportage of the Lucas Heights controversy... more A detailed analysis of the Sydney Morning Herald's reportage of the Lucas Heights controversy reveals significant omissions in the cover-age. In particular, I draw attention to the existence of two competing rationalities within the controversy, that is, the instrumental rationality used by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Australian Federal Government, and the SMH editorial to publicly justify the buildeing of a new reactor, and the ecological rationality advocated by the Sutherland Shire Council's scientific consultants and some individuals within the environmental lobby. I further argue that the full ramifications of the SMH's reportage of this controversy cannot be understood without reference to a number of internationaltrade and diplomacy issues which have not been raised in the context of that reportage. I suggest that, because the SMH editorial shares the same instrumental approach to social and political issues as the Feder...

With the recent re-approval of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, debate over the future... more With the recent re-approval of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, debate over the future of coal has reached fever pitch again. Green groups have argued that Australia should account for the climate impacts of burning coal produced in the country. Meanwhile, the government has once again come out in support of coal to provide cheap power to developing nations. It can be hard to make sense of the different sides. In a paper recently published in Energy Research and Social Science, I looked at the long-term future for coal in Australia. My research suggests the current coal woes are just the beginning. Australia’s failure to reassess its commitment to coal will have serious negative consequences, not only for Australia’s economy, but for the health and well being of millions of people and the global environment.

' lion !O)', 114 of <hom roo-"""" ''''n 30.

This paper provides a brief overview of some of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling... more This paper provides a brief overview of some of the current knowledge concerning medieval fulling mills, drawing on archaelogical finds and manuscript evidence from medieval and early modern England, Wales, France, Germany and other parts of Continental Europe. Illustrations of fulling mills from 1500s and 1600s are compared with medieval accounts of their construction, main tenance and repair. This evidence suggests that fulling mills were simply conventional watermills with the same waterfeed and drive mechanisms as grain mills, but which substituted right-angled gearing and millstones with cam-operated trip-hammers, walk stocks or stamps and fulling troughs. Although there were at least two different designs of fulling mill (an observation supported by the extant illustrations), it may well be the case that other designs of fulling mill existed in France and other parts of the Continent.

Journal of Australian Political Economy, 2012

Early in 2011, the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) published a special issue title... more Early in 2011, the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) published a special issue titled, 'Challenging Climate Change'. It brought together a number of papers by climate change researchers and activists who had been invited during 2009 to contribute their perspectives to a one-day forum covering four different aspects of the climate change debate: carbon markets and the regulation of renewable energy; technological pathways toward sustainability versus a low-tech, ecosufficiency future; climate justice; and the experiences of a variety of environmental NGOs in campaigning for policy reform (Goodman and Rosewarne, 2011: 7). The aim of the forum and those who organized it was to stimulate a more robust debate about climate change policy in Australia and the international negotiations focused on reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Goodman and Rosewarne, 2011: 5).