The Western world is in the grip of a consumption binge that is unique in human history, argue Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss. Rates of stress, depression and obesity are up as we wrestle with the emptiness and endless disappointments of the consumer life. The preface and first chapter of Affluenza are available online.

The Victorian government is considering extending the operating life of the forty-year old Hazelwood Power Station to 2031. The power station is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, and its brown coal allocations would run out in 2009. According to this report, the electricity that Hazelwood would produce could be generated...

In recent years the scientific evidence supporting the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other major environmental pollutants has increased, yet Australians' stated level of concern for the condition of the natural environment has decreased. New polling data shows that young Australians are among the least concerned group in Australia. In this paper Richard...

If government programs aimed at reducing waste are to achieve their stated goal then they cannot continue to avoid the nexus between growing waste generation and rising consumption expenditure, argue Clive Hamilton, Richard Denniss and David Baker. Although highlighting the need to reduce and reuse will be more contentious than exhortations to recycle, such a...

Using detailed survey material, Richard Denniss concludes that the federal government's reliance on private health insurance as a tool of public policy is delivering a disproportionate benefit to high-income earners and those who reside in high-income households. And as private health insurance premiums continue to rise, so too will the cost to the federal government...