http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/dan-cass/ Dan Cass is a lobbyist with over 20 years’ experience working in the environment movement, both in Australia and overseas. He is principal of Dan Cass & Co. Dan has a B.Sc. (Hons) in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Melbourne and used to be a science museum curator. As a student he worked for Australia’s first climate campaigning organisation, Greenhouse Action Australia. Dan enjoys Melbourne bars, books, art, great coffee, ‘The Internet’ and his new Onya 8 bike. He misses Sydney’s surf beaches, museums and that Harbour. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Clean-bowled-in-cricket-but-theyll-clean-us-up-in-energy/ Watching a Test match is a great teacher of the virtues that make for success in life: determination, strategy and simply keeping your eye on the ball. Anyone watching India knows that they are beating Australia hands down at all three. India is set to win while the complacent, lucky country seems sure to waste its natural advantages. Obviously, after the events at the MCG yesterday, I am talking not of cricket, but of energy security. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Clean-bowled-in-cricket-but-theyll-clean-us-up-in-energy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Clean-bowled-in-cricket-but-theyll-clean-us-up-in-energy/#item7455 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:00:48 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/mean-green-american-fighting-machines/ When the US Marine Corp establish themselves a new home in Darwin, they will bring some seriously green equipment and ideas to our shores. This is because in the three years of his Presidency, Barack Obama has actively led the US Department of Defense to embrace renewable energy and a strategic awareness of climate change. The officer in charge of greening the marines is Colonel Bob ‘Brutus’ Charette, a career soldier. As Director of E2O, the Expeditionary Energy Office, Colonel Charette has been on the road in 2011 with a fascinating presentation that shows how seriously America’s defense force is fighting its fatal addiction to oil. The Colonel jokes that when his commander told him to establish the E2O he said that his only qualification is wasting energy, as a jet pilot and commander. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/mean-green-american-fighting-machines/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/mean-green-american-fighting-machines/#item7181 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:40:05 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-carbon-tax-is-a-done-deal-now-stop-your-whingeing/ You’ve put a price on carbon and stumped up $13 billion dollars for renewable energy. It doesn’t sound very hard when you say it quickly. Actually, it has been excruciatingly hard. Is there anyone who isn’t completely sick and tired of the whole debate? From the moment Tony Abbott got the leadership, he and his dogged faction of supporters in the media have been biting and snarling at anyone associated with climate action. As Laurie Oakes wrote of Mr Abbott recently, “His style is pure attack dog, as feral as you’d get.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-carbon-tax-is-a-done-deal-now-stop-your-whingeing/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-carbon-tax-is-a-done-deal-now-stop-your-whingeing/#item7101 Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:25:56 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/visionary-millionaire-puts-the-art-into-hobart/ I have just returned from three days in Hobart, attending the opening of MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It is a $200 million, quixotic project of Tasmanian businessman David Walsh. Walsh commissioned the museum from architect Nonda Katsalidis, filled it with his own art and made admission free. Walsh has a scientific mind but an artistic temperament. In his interview with Andrew Frost he says that if he could make art, he would. He has an intellectual fascination with Darwinian evolution, time, ancient cultures and the dark areas of our humanity. The inaugural exhibition is called Monanism, a play on the word onanism (masturbation). MONA and Monanism were exciting and I want to put down a few thoughts now, while the experience is fresh in my mind. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/visionary-millionaire-puts-the-art-into-hobart/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/visionary-millionaire-puts-the-art-into-hobart/#item4964 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:55:14 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-can-the-us-learn-from-the-australian-oil-spill/ President Obama’s administration and BP’s critics in Congress will be keen to read the Montara oil spill report that Mr David Borthwick, AO PSM gives to Australia’s Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson today. Mr Ferguson has been a staunch defender of the operator of the Montara facility and a proud booster of the oil industry generally. It is surprising then, that Australia is not one of the 17 countries who have offered to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the US State Department (Although BP has used some Australian resources in the clean up.) Minister Ferguson is under pressure to release the Montara report quickly, because of the the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Minister’s office has said that he needs ‘a few days’ to read the report, after which it will be put in the public domain. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-can-the-us-learn-from-the-australian-oil-spill/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-can-the-us-learn-from-the-australian-oil-spill/#item3349 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:50:21 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dinner-with-malcolm-a-chance-for-the-libs-to-regroup/ Last July I had dinner with Malcolm Fraser and a small group in the Karagheusian Room in University House at the University of Melbourne. The dinner was in honour of my brother in law Gerry Simpson, who had just delivered his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, entitled “War Crimes Trials, Solemnity and the Problem of Evil”. The evening displayed symbols of ancient, privileged University traditions that clash with contemporary political life. Waiters served us pre-Master Chef dishes on good china, surrounded by walnut antique furniture from Paris and a Brueghel III oil painting peered down on us through the centuries. Mr Fraser was relaxed and comfortable. Our conversations turned to climate change, of course. I said I thought the legal profession should do more to litigate against polluters and regulators. I understand that there is no climate law under which to run cases, but if the planet is burning, that is enough of a smoking gun for this bush lawyer. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dinner-with-malcolm-a-chance-for-the-libs-to-regroup/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dinner-with-malcolm-a-chance-for-the-libs-to-regroup/#item3167 Wed, 26 May 2010 01:35:38 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-climate-is-a-key-challenge-this-budget-fails-to-meet-it/ If this Budget is supposed to get Australia doing its part in solving “the greatest moral challenge of our time”, then it is a failure. While there is $652 million over 4 years in new money for clean energy, this pales into insignificance compared with, for example, $27.7 billion over 6 years for roads. As I said yesterday, this is a very unclear budget, lacking a clear strategy on energy and other resources. Treasurer Wayne Swan said in his speech that climate change (which he mentioned 4 times)  is one of “three key challenges”  for the Budget, along with the return to full economic capacity after the GFC and and the costs of an ageing population. But the funding announced fell far short of this rhetoric. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-climate-is-a-key-challenge-this-budget-fails-to-meet-it/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-climate-is-a-key-challenge-this-budget-fails-to-meet-it/#item3052 Tue, 11 May 2010 18:30:53 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/last-minute-budget-item-run-the-lodge-on-solar/ For three weeks I have been anxiously waiting for an answer from President Barack Obama. Not to me, unfortunately, but to my old friend Danny Kennedy, who recently met POTUS in the Rose Garden of the White House. Danny Kennedy is a solar entrepreneur in San Franscisco. His company Sungevity has offered to install a US$108,000, 17.85kW solar PV system on the roof of the White House, which would supply 81% of its electricity needs. The Secret Service can even see a handy photoshopped image of the rig, to check the security implications. The public campaign behind the solar offer, Solar on the White House, or ‘Globama’ is not merely a smart PR exercise. Danny and other ambitious green capitalists know that the political economy is built not just of steel and dollars but stories and symbols. When we change these things, we change the rules that shape political reality. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/last-minute-budget-item-run-the-lodge-on-solar/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/last-minute-budget-item-run-the-lodge-on-solar/#item3036 Mon, 10 May 2010 00:48:18 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/volt-heads-can-rev-up-as-ive-test-driven-the-future/ Last week I was bored to death reading coal industry propaganda and needed some inspiration, so I took $50,000 worth of new green technology for a test drive. The Prius is the worlds first and biggest selling hybrid car, meaning it has both an electric motor and a petrol engine, which work in tandem to minimize petrol consumption. It also features a HUD heads up display, like in a military jet and solar panels built into the roof. If Captain Planet had a car, this would be it. The market for hybrid cars is driven (sorry) by both Peak Oil and climate change. Peak Oil is the term for ecological limits as they apply to crude oil, or more specifically, the point in history at which oil production reaches a peak. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/volt-heads-can-rev-up-as-ive-test-driven-the-future/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/volt-heads-can-rev-up-as-ive-test-driven-the-future/#item855 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:45:17 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/solar-power-puts-china-and-japan-on-top-of-the-world/ This week there is an amazing discussion going on in Tokyo between Chinese and Japanese companies, academics and Government representatives about how to cooperate in the area of new energy. It is part of the ‘PVJapan Solar Power/Photovoltaic 2009’ conference and trade show. Both countries are realizing that the new kind of economy we need to cut greenhouse gases, is itself going to become an opportunity for jobs and development.  Japan’s PM Mr. Taro Aso raised the stakes back on June 9 when he said that solar power and electric cars are the foundation of Japan’s future economic growth and the way out of the financial crisis. He announced that by 2020 Japan’s new low-carbon sector will be a 50 trillion yen market ($AU650 billion), employing 1.4 million people. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Dan Cass) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/solar-power-puts-china-and-japan-on-top-of-the-world/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/solar-power-puts-china-and-japan-on-top-of-the-world/#item489 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:25:17 +0000 Dan Cass | Author bios | The Punch