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Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Top State experts in economics and the environment will convene at The University of Western Australia on Friday for the symposium A Green ‘New Deal'?  Confronting Climate Change and the Financial Crisis.

Taking its title from former US President Roosevelt's ‘New Deal', designed to rescue the US from the grips of the Great Depression, the concept of a ‘Green New Deal' is gaining recognition among industry and academics.

A ‘Green New Deal' is an attempt to develop a single approach to address the three main policy challenges of our time: climate change, peak oil and the financial crisis.

The symposium will bring together key players in the debates about these issues, in order to breathe new life into the case for urgent and coordinated public policy action, including UWA's Winthrop Professor, Dr Carmen Lawrence, chair of the final session.  She says there may not be one solution but the challenges require leadership and the "expression of some excitement".

According to Dr Lawrence, there is not enough coordination between political will and public concern surrounding green economics to make a real change: "Too much of the discussion is about burdens and costs and too little is about the opportunities and benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"The academic and scientific communities are trying hard to communicate the message about the urgency of reducing emissions and some of the corporate sectors are taking heed, but there is still alarmingly little action," she said.

The symposium will be preceded by a free public lecture by Andrew Glikson, Earth and Paleo-climate Scientist from the Australian National University at 6pm tomorrow .

WHAT: Symposium - A Green ‘New Deal'?  Confronting Climate Change and the Financial Crisis

WHEN: Friday, September 18, 9am - 5.30pm

WHERE: University Club Case Study Room, Hackett Drive Entrance 1, car park 3

Limited places are still available.  To register, please go to https://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/greendeal

Media references

Audrey Barton (Institute of Advanced Studies)  (+61 8)  6488 4797
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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