The Climate Series: Quarry Vision. Guy Pearse on coal and climate change. With Peter Mares

In conversation with ABC Radio National's Peter Mares, Guy Pearse discusses the ideas that form the basis for his recent Quarterly Essay, Quarry Vision - Coal, Climate Change and the End of the Resources Boom. 'Quarry vision' is the belief that Australia's greatest asset is its mineral and energy resources, coal above all. How has this distorted our national politics and stymied action on climate change? Guy Pearse dissects the Rudd government's climate change response: from the Garnaut report to the silver bullet of "clean coal" and beyond. He exposes the world of the carbon lobbyists, the future of the coal industry and challenges the economic orthodoxy. Quarry vision, he argues, is a trap and a blind faith we can no longer afford.

Guy Pearse is a former member of the Liberal Party and was a speechwriter for former environment minister Robert Hill. He has also been an industry lobbyist, consultant and spin doctor. In 2007, after his research and concerns were dismissed by his political colleagues, he exposed the dirty politics behind Australia's response to climate change on Four Corners and in his book High & Dry.

Featuring the nation's leading minds in their fields, the Climate Series conversations are a survey of the latest thinking about climate change: its impacts, the outlook and the steps required to address it.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, March 2009

(Part 1 of 2)

Click here for Part 2 [9]