The ecologically perfect utopian model-building of Australian climate change intellectuals | Verity Burgmann

Summary: Changing the Climate: Utopia, Dystopia and Catastrophe | Verity Burgmann Auberon Waugh noted in 1989 that the ‘broken-down socialist bandwagon’ was transferring its disappointed passengers to ‘the shiny new green machine, bound for the same destination – Utopia – where you can boss other people about’. In 1893, utopian socialist William Lane led 700 Australians to Paraguay to build a perfect collectivist society that would serve as an inspiration around the world. More than a century later, Tim Flannery proposed the creation of Geothermia, a new city on the NSW/South Australia/Queensland border that would harness the site’s abundance of natural gas reserves, geothermal and solar energy, arguing that such a city could be completely energy-efficient and provide a model for future urban development worldwide. This paper explores the utopian model-building theme in the writings of Australian climate change public intellectuals, who seek via such imaginings to motivate the public to activism and politicians to action to mitigate climate change. Verity Burgmann is Professor in the Political Science Department, University of Melbourne. She specialises in studies of labour and social movements and has published extensively in labour history, racism and the history and politics of protest movements. Other areas of expertise include stratification in Australian society and the history of political ideas.