Blog

I write about climate, human rights, biodiversity, and uncomfortable truths. From the wisdom of First Nations caring for Country to the global action needed to protect ecosystems and ensure intergenerational equity, these stories are personal, political, and urgent. They aim to inspire hope.

Explore my Yeah But... series for sharp takes on deflection, denial, and double standards. And scroll through Climate Conscious Man's reflections on what it means to live responsibly on a heating planet.

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Australia’s Crocodile Tears in the Pacific

Anthony Albanese’s social media is currently full of the Pacific. Photos from Tuvalu. Pacific leaders in floral blue shirts. Smiling children. Listening faces. Blue water surrounding islands whose future is threatened by rising seas. “Climate change isn’t a future challenge for the Pacific. It’s a daily reality,” Albanese posted from Tuvalu this week. He also declared that the Pacific is on the “front line” of climate change and that for some island nations it represents a th

Gregory Andrews

8 hours ago4 min read

Genocide in Gaza: Will Australia say the word?

There’s extraordinary aerial footage of Gaza circulating again on social media: street after street, neighbourhood after neighbourhood, flattened. Reduced to rubble. It’s not new footage. It was filmed over a year ago in August 2025. But that’s what makes it more confronting. Israel’s destruction of Gaza has continued after these images were recorded. By June 2026, UN satellite analysis estimated that Israel had bombed over 82 per cent of structures in Gaza. Israel has droppe

Gregory Andrews

6 days ago3 min read

What Australia Needs Now from the Greens

David Shoebridge’s election as Greens leader could be good news for Australia. He brings intellectual rigour and a willingness to challenge dysfunction and abuse of power. I also saw something of his character in November 2023, when he visited me during my #ClimateHungerStrike outside Parliament House. He sat down beside me on the grass and struck me as sincere and compassionate. That encounter stayed with me. I’d like more Australians to experience that side of him. My first

Gregory Andrews

7 days ago4 min read

Angus Taylor Abolishing His Own Policies!

The Coalition has just unveiled what it calls its new energy policy. But read the measures and it's difficult to describe this as just an energy policy. It's a plan to dismantle the majority of Australia’s existing climate action framework. Angus Taylor says he would repeal the Climate Change Act, remove the legislated net-zero target, abolish the Safeguard Mechanism, repeal the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, revoke offshore wind zones, and remove federal prohibitions on nu

Gregory Andrews

Sep 283 min read

Climate and National Security: why is Albanese keeping the evidence secret?

Something extraordinary happened in New York this week. The UK Government briefed foreign ministers from around the world - including Australia - on the findings of a national security assessment warning about the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change and ecosystem collapse. The report was prepared by Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee. It examined what could happen if systems such as the Amazon and Congo rainforests begin to collapse. Among the risks id

Gregory Andrews

Sep 284 min read

Seven red flags. Would you ignore your own health check?

Imagine sitting opposite your doctor during a check up and they advise that seven of your nine major health indicators are outside the safe range. Your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and four other measures are all sounding the alarm. Worse, all of the indicators are getting worse. You’d take notice right? You’d ask what needs to change. And you’d probably start doing something about it. You wouldn’t wait until every indicator was flashing red. Yet that’s effectivel

Gregory Andrews

Sep 263 min read

We're Killing the World’s Oceans

The ocean can still look beautiful while life beneath it is dying. Blue water, sunshine and even a tidy beach tell us very little about the health of what lies below. Tasmania, for example, has lost around 95 per cent of its giant kelp forests. Warmer, nutrient-poor waters and pressure from sea urchins are stripping away underwater forests that provide food and shelter for marine life. As a former Threatened Species Commissioner, I find these losses deeply troubling. Country

Gregory Andrews

Sep 213 min read

Citizen COP comes to Canberra

Last year I rode my bike all the way from Canberra to AlterCOP in Brisbane. This year, the spirit of that people-powered climate and nature gathering is growing into something even bigger: Citizen COP Australia 2026. And I don't need to ride anywhere. Citizen COP is being led nationally by People for Nature as a decentralised, citizen-led program running alongside the two major global COPs this year: Biological Diversity COP from 19-30 October 2026, and Climate COP from 9-20

Gregory Andrews

Sep 203 min read

Climate Crisis, Extinction Crisis - when an artwork became collective

Yesterday I took Climate Crisis, Extinction Crisis to the lawns of Parliament House. The work began as a mixed-media assessment for my art school studies at Canberra Institute of Technology: a six-metre calico banner painted in red ochre and built up with kangaroo skin. From the beginning, I wanted it to do more than meet assessment requirements and then sit on a shelf. I wanted it to communicate something publicly, which is why the idea moved to Parliament House. The banner

Gregory Andrews

Sep 182 min read

Climate Crisis, Extinction Crisis - performative artwork at Parliament House

Today, Thursday 17 September, I’ll be outside Australian Parliament House creating a new performative, participatory and ephemeral artwork: “Climate Crisis, Extinction Crisis”. Over the course of the day I’ll make a six-metre work using calico, red ochre and kangaroo skin. Climate Crisis Extinction Crisis will emerge first in ochre onto the calico, and then be built up with pieces of kangaroo skin. The materials are important. Kangaroo skin brings the body of a native Austral

Gregory Andrews

Sep 163 min read

Sentinels of the skies: what disappearing birds are telling us

BirdLife International’s new State of the World’s Birds report has delivered a warning about the health of our planet - and how we should respond. When I’m out birding, I’m paying attention to more than the names and calls of the birds. Which species are there? What are they feeding on? What habitat is supporting them? What might be missing? These questions are all inseparable. Because birds tell us about Country. Their presence, behaviour and seasonal movements help us under

Gregory Andrews

Sep 143 min read

The Sound of the Australian Bush at Night

There are some sounds that instantly tell you where you are. Magpies warbling at dawn, cicadas screaming on a hot summer afternoon, kookaburras laughing from the trees. And for me, one of the great sounds of the Australian bush at night is the quiet, haunting call of a Boobook Owl: boo-book … boo-book. Or, as generations of Australians have also heard it, mopoke … mopoke. The Australian Boobook (Ninox boobook) is our smallest and most widespread owl. Most of us are probably f

Gregory Andrews

Sep 113 min read

Australia As Trump’s Minion

Donald Trump is posting maps showing Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Central America and the Caribbean under the American flag. This isn't normal. It's not funny. And it shouldn't be brushed off as just another outrageous social media post from a man who thrives on outrage. Other countries are looking at what the US is becoming and asking serious questions. Can it still be trusted? Does it respect the sovereignty of its allies? Will it follow international law, or simply

Gregory Andrews

Sep 103 min read

The Quiet Disappearance of Winter

Australia’s winter didn’t disappear in one spectacular heatwave. The cold simply didn’t arrive. In Sydney this winter, not one day failed to reach at least 15 degrees - the first winter since observations began in 1859 without a day below 15°C. Canberra had just one day below 10°C. Brisbane had only two below 20°C. These weren’t isolated bursts of unseasonable heat. They were the disappearance of the cold days that once defined the season. Nationally, winter 2026 was Australi

Gregory Andrews

Sep 34 min read

Collapsing Glaciers, Climate Change and Human Security

For the people of Nepal, climate change isn't just an environmental issue. When a glacier collapses, it's a question of who lives, who dies, who has water, who has a home and whether an entire community remains habitable. That's human security. This week’s catastrophic flooding in Nepal is an appalling illustration of what that means. A huge mass of ice, rock and debris collapsed high in the Himalayas, generating a devastating surge through valleys and settlements below. Hund

Gregory Andrews

Aug 283 min read

Branching Out in Namadgi: connecting people with Country at Nursery Swamp

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of leading a group into one of the ACT’s most remarkable, and perhaps least appreciated, natural places: Nursery Swamp in Namadgi National Park. The walk was part of Branching Out, an ACT Conservation Council initiative designed to help more Canberrans get out into nature, learn about the landscapes around us and build stronger connections with Country. And Nursery Swamp is a pretty extraordinary place to do it. Nestled high in Namadgi Nationa

Gregory Andrews

Aug 252 min read

Godzilla El Niño Is Here - and It Isn’t Even the Biggest Problem

Something's badly wrong when ski resorts run out of winter before winter does. Selwyn Ski Resort just closed early because there simply isn't enough snow. And here in Canberra, it's still winter and I’m wearing a sleeveless shirt. One warm day is weather. But when the local warning signs are lining up with extraordinary changes and data from across the planet, we should pay attention. Out in the Pacific, Godzilla is stirring. Scientists call it a very strong or “Super” El Niñ

Gregory Andrews

Aug 243 min read

Our Native Forests are worth more standing

For today’s #FloraAndFaunaFriday, the iconic species isn’t a single animal or plant. It's the entire forest. Spotted gums rising like pale columns above an ancient under-storey of burrawangs. Between and among them are hollows, fallen timber, leaf litter, fungi, insects, orchids, birds, bats and marsupials. Beneath them, roots and soil organisms hold water, store carbon and keep the whole living system functioning. This isn't simply a collection of trees waiting to become tim

Gregory Andrews

Aug 213 min read

80% of Australians Are Not Antisemitic

A NSW Supreme Court judge has demolished the politically convenient lie that criticism of Israel is hatred of Jewish people. Almost four in every five Australians view Israel unfavourably. Are we all antisemites? Of course not. And now a NSW Supreme Court judge has said so with a clarity that many Australian politicians, officials and media commentators conspicuously lack. In State of NSW vs Farhat, Justice Desmond Fagan rejected the dangerous conflation of criticism of Israe

Gregory Andrews

Aug 202 min read

The Evolution of Climate Denial: And Where Australia Sits

Climate denial used to be easy to recognise. It told us global warming was a hoax, scientists were conspiring for grant money and a day of snow disproved decades of evidence. It sounds just like Donald Trump or Pauline Hanson. Of course that kind of denial remains alive and dangerous. But it’s no longer the only - or even the most politically effective - way to obstruct climate action. Climate denial has evolved. It's learned to accept the science while denying what the scien

Gregory Andrews

Aug 173 min read