Ideas At The House

To try and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, 190 countries have committed to limiting global temperature increase to below 2°C. To achieve this, 60-80% of the world’s existing carbon or fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground. Nevertheless, billions of dollars of investments in coal, oil and gas have gone ahead, resting on the speculative bubble of climate change denial or delay. If these assets become stranded by climate action, their revaluation could trigger the next (larger) global financial crisis. So, what’s at risk? Our economy and your retirement savings. Australia’s economy depends on coal exports and around 55% of your superannuation is invested in high-carbon, high-risk assets. Our political system looks chronically incapable of dealing with climate change—but can we trust our financial institutions to do better?John Hewson is the former leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and Chair of the Asset Owners Disclosure Project. He has worked as an economist for the Austr

More of us now live in cities than ever before, and the spaces we live in are increasingly governed by agendas of safety and security. Arguing against safety may seem counter-intuitive. However, a culture of safety brings limitations and fears that have the capacity to turn us into passive spectators in our own lives, especially in cities where high land values create dense areas of exclusion. Yet there is always a city within the city to explore. Underground and in the sky, the secret arteries of infrastructure and the forbidden heights of buildings are open to urban explorers who want to reclaim lost history and their right to roam the urban wilds. Bradley Garrett argues that rather than accepting the pre-packaged, safe, passively consumed entertainment on offer, we must make our own adventures by embracing the unsafe city as our playground.Bradley Garrett is an American researcher, explorer and social/cultural geographer at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Explore Everything: Place-hacking the

The stories of Anders Behring Breivik and Lance Armstrong may seem to have little in common, but each shows the consequences of the epidemic of narcissism that marks our age. Our lives no longer centre on social and family groups, but have become highly individualistic. We are primed for narcissism by consumer culture, changing family dynamics and growing inequality. A society full of people who are self-obsessed, have a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others is not going to be a happy place. It’s time we looked at the sources of this epidemic and how it can be stopped.Anne Manne is an Australian writer and social commentator. She is the author of Motherhood: How should we care for our children?, So This is Life: Scenes from a country childhood and soon to be published The Life of I: The new culture of narcissism. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Life is painful. It's full of doubt and uncertainty. And it ends, in this world anyway, with death. For many, the antidote to this pain has been religion. The appeal is obvious: comforting stories, a clear sense of right and wrong and eternal life as the carrot at the end. Even New Atheists such as Alain De Botton have retrieved some of the comfort traditionally offered by the church. But has the church taken up the easy sell of "ending suffering" and promising answers to unanswerable questions.In contrast to this "Good News," Peter Rollins argues for a radical and initially disturbing Gospel: we can't be satisfied, life is tough, and we don't know the secret. We should attack the idea of God as that which makes us whole, removes our suffering, and offers us the truth. Rollins is less concerned with the question of life after death than with the possibility of a life before death, and his "churches" challenge escapist versions of spirituality, inviting us to embrace complexity, ambiguity and pain. Doubt is pa

A legal figure like no other, Michael Kirby carefully trod the line between judicial impartiality and outspoken human rights advocacy throughout a distinguished thirty five year career that included thirteen years on the High Court of Australia. Watch as Kirby returns to Sydney Opera House to discuss his new and very intimate authorised biography Michael Kirby: Law, Love & Life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Remote assistants respond to calls and emails. Life coaches assist with personal decisions. Smartphone apps tell us where to eat dinner. Nameologists help choose names for babies that will be raised by live-in au pairs.Welcome to an emerging world, where the individual is a client in every interaction. Traditional functions of family and friends have been replaced by hired help and consultants. It may save us time, what do we lose by handing over control of our personal lives to third-parties? Who are we if our jobs, our houses, our furniture, and our spouses are all recommended to us by experts or algorithms. If we are the sum of our decisions, then what's left when those decisions have been handed over entirely to others? Sociologist Arlie Hochschild looks at the long-term consequences of a frictionless existence and the implications of replacing the community with a marketplace in favour of faster, lonelier lives.Arlie Hochschild is a professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley

In the course of his career, Geoffrey Robertson has been involved in many of the key human rights issues of recent history. In his session at the Opera House he talks about his latest book 'Mullahs without Mercy' which brings together his thinking about nuclear weapons and their dangers in the Iranian context, but also looks at the human rights record of the Iranian regime. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are two Americas. In one, bankers get golden parachutes, insider traders return to society as well-paid consultants, and influence is for sale. In the other, opportunity is scarce and forgiveness scarcer, jail awaits those caught possessing recreational drugs, and cries for help are ignored. Society preaches forgiveness for the rich and retribution for the poor. Entrenched inequality and its companion, poverty, are the dark side of the American dream for a citizenry united by name, but not by rules.Is the divide fair, the result of natural winners and losers, or is it built into the system? We know that inequality is bad for the rich as well as the poor, and that more equal countries are healthier and happier, but this knowledge won't bring change by itself. What can be done when those with the power to change the divide are those that benefit most from it? As long as the more equal won't let go, the less equal will suffer.From his journalist days on the crime beat through to his work on shows like The

One of the most extraordinary things about the history of sexuality has been the lack of evidence-based information about women's sexual needs and desires. From folklore to Freud, hysteria to penis-envy, women as sexual beings have been misunderstood, brainwashed, silenced and demonised. Daniel Bergner brings together all of the research on the topic, old and new, in a definitive and groundbreaking account of what we now know and understand about women's sexuality. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's been more than 20 years since we first became anxious about sports shoes made in sweatshops, and yet cheap and fashionable clothing still seems like an unqualified good -- another gift of the globalisation boom years to consumers in developed countries. But as the recent factory fires in Bangladesh have reaffirmed, it's a gift that comes at a terrible cost not only to others but also to the environment. As we deal with guilt and the mountain of waste that 'fast fashion' produces, others deal with Dickensian conditions and subsistence wages, while the carbon footprint of our fluctuating wardrobes continue to expand. Is there a way out of this Faustian bargain that has seen fashion become a destructive force? Lucy Siegle is a British journalist focusing on the environmental, sustainability and ethics See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2010, journalist Jennifer Senior's magazine story, All Joy and No Fun, became an overnight sensation with its blunt declaration that parents love their children and hate their lives. Anyone who experiences or observes the agony and ecstasy of modern parenting knows that children bring both happiness and misery. We spend more time with our children, but feel guilty about the quality of our parenting and our children are more accomplished yet more depressed than ever before. What does it all mean? Jennifer Senior has expanded her idea into a new best-selling book and while she might not have all the answers, her questions cast some much needed light on the reality of parenting today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991, Elman Ali Ahmed became an ardent peace activist, spreading the mantra "put down the gun, pick up the pen" until his assassination in 1996. Three years ago, his 19-year-old daughter Ilwad Elman returned to Somalia and now runs the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu with her mother, Fartun Adan. In a country ranked the fifth worst place in the world to be a woman, Ilwad and her mother work with victims of rape, and towards the rehabilitation of child soldiers. For this extraordinary young woman, changing the world means carrying on the work of her parents and rebuilding Somalia, one project at a time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy has been one of the most visible reporters of the dramatic events in Egypt in recent years. In parallel with her coverage of revolutionary politics has been her call for social and sexual revolutions. Beaten, sexually assaulted and detained by riot police in Cairo in 2011, she called for a holistic campaign against sexual violence in Egypt. Her views on misogyny in the Arab world and what she describes as ' the Islamist hatred of women' have stirred controversy and link the quest for political freedom with radical freedom for women. What does the future hold for both of these revolutions?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The news is everywhere and we check it constantly - but what is it doing to our minds?A part of modern society that we take for granted, almost a replacement for religion, the news can be all consuming – but at what cost to the individual? Alain de Botton, bestselling author of Religion for Atheists and sell out success at the Opera House in 2012, dismantles our fixations and neuroses on a range of news categories in News: A User’s Manual. From politics to murders, from economics to celebrities, from the weather to paparazzi shows— he will submits them to unusually intense analysis.He raises questions like: How come disaster stories are often so uplifting? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? Why do we enjoy politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far off lands often so . . . boring?In The News: A User’s Manual, De Botton shares the ultimate manual for our news-addicted age, one sure to bring calm, understanding and a measure of sanity to our daily (and sometimes even hourly)

Drug taking has moved from being outlawed behaviour, seen only on the fringes of society, to a widely accepted activity, even when illegal. In Britain, for all the talk of a "war on drugs," no one ever tried to wage one. Instead, drug taking has become more and more legally and socially acceptable. We frame drug-taking as either a harmless diversion or, when taken to excess in the form of addiction, as an illness that needs to be cured. Regardless of the impact on physical and mental health, the hard truth is that self-stupefaction of any kind is morally wrong. Drug taking is pure self-indulgence. It prioritises personal pleasure and instant gratification in a way that wreaks havoc with any kind of ethical framework. If we don't want to succumb to a culture of violence, greed, and selfishness, we should make sure that the moral argument about drugs is not pushed aside. Not even the most rabid advocate of legalisation would argue that more drug taking would be a good thing, so let's have the courage to deter i

When natural resources like timber, water and mineral deposits can be extracted from ecosystems, they become assets with dollar values that can be bought and sold internationally and enable developing countries to grow and participate in the global economy. If growth is the key to emerging from poverty, then this might seem like a good thing. But what if these same resources being sold to richer nations come from an ecosystem that people depend on for their livelihood? What if new growth is actually proportional to the creation of new poverty?The cult of 'growth' has dictated policy for decades. But if well-being, not growth, is our goal, selling resources that bring long term wellbeing to communities for short term gain is a very bad deal. Hard as it may be for the West to understand, protecting the ecological resources of communities might be more important than GDP figures.Vandana Shiva holds a PhD in physics, but is best known as an environmental, and anti-globalisation activist and as a leading figure of

When someone commits a crime, we want them punished. If wrongdoers go to prison more often and for longer, everyone seems happy. But we live in a system where people do eventually come out of prison and rejoin the community. And this is where what has happened to them in prison really starts to matter. If prisons are a rank breeding ground for recidivism, where drug use is unchecked and non-violent offenders are initiated into the criminal world, do you want someone who has spent time there living near you? Or would you rather see them going straight back to jail? As incarceration rates grow, if we want anyone who has been to jail to have a chance in life, maybe we need to look at a different approach: the kind of prison model that could make a killer a good neighbour.Erwin James is a convicted murderer and Guardian journalist. James was released in August 2004 having served 20 years of a life sentence.Chair: Hamish Macdonald is an Australian broadcaster and news presenter. He is the host and creator of the N

In the US, 40% of women are out earning their partners; females are recipients of more -- and higher -- degrees than their male counterparts; and 75% of couples in fertility clinics are requesting girls over boys.While men once dominated thanks largely to their size and strength, this advantage has been eroded in a post-industrial society. Male-dominated sectors like manufacturing continue to decline in the West while health care and services where women dominate are in the ascendant.The boys club has begun to dissipate. Not only are feminine traits like social intelligence and open communication increasingly in demand, but women are also increasingly adopting traditional male traits such as aggression. Men, on the other hand, are struggling to make the same move in the other direction. If the past belonged to men, then the future belongs to women. A social equilibrium that existed for millennia has been disrupted -- how will the parts settle after the upheaval? Does the rise of women mean the end of men? And

Few people would argue with the wonders of connectivity, communication and access to infinite quantities of information that the Internet has enabled. But our understanding of the digital future is shaped by those who are making it, and they often have a vested commercial interest in a mass audience buying what they offer. If we take off our rose-coloured glasses, we see that the wonder-gadgets and techno-solutionism can become just another way to sell us things and if we're not the customer, we're generally the product. The lofty ideals of the early Internet have been hijacked to give every digital touchpoint an illusory benevolence. But the reality is much more ambiguous. The digital future has not been written. We need to avoid utopian complacency and think about our digital lives so we can make sure the Internet lives up to its promise, not its darkest possibilities.Evgeny Morozov is a Belarusian writer and researcher whose commentary on technology has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journ

There's a flaw in the way we choose our life partners. We pair up based (mostly) on preferences outside of the bedroom, and hope that what happens in the bedroom will match up. Infidelity is not the end of the world, it's a reality of long-term relationships. We accept the good and the bad when it comes to our partner's jobs, families, and failures, but quickly default to divorce when we yield to natural temptation.It's time to stop fooling ourselves and accept that outdated concepts of "proper" sex are torpedoing discussions needed to reach mature sexual compromises. Many of the relationships that we think of as monogamous are actually probably 'monogomish': mostly monogamous, but with bits on the side. If we really want to protect the sanctity of marriage, we need to make it our playground, not our prison.Dan Savage is the author of the internationally syndicated advice column Savage Love, host of the popular podcast Savage Lovecast. He is also an essayist whose work has featured in the New York Times and o