Tim Flannery

In May 2020, The Australian Newspaper wrote an article titled, Professor Tim Flannery laments his 'colossal failure' on climate activism. Flannery stated, “to look back on my 20 years of climate activism as a colossal failure”.

Insights wrote in March 2020, Tim Flannery’s grandiosely titled Life is a collection of writings. In the replicated chapter on Darwin, Flannery takes the well-worn but somewhat simplistic and distorted path of describing how Darwin’s evolutionary theory clashed with religious certainty.

The New York Times wrote, Flannery’s credibility on issues of toxicity is further undercut by repeated misstatements or overstatements of what the science reveals. In a section on nuclear power, he describes how biologists, after the Chernobyl disaster, found that certain Mediterranean shrimp species had extraordinarily high concentrations of the radionuclide polonium 210 in some organs. Flannery ominously notes that this was the poison used to murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. But he fails to note that a paper published in the journal Science in 1982, four years before Chernobyl, described precisely the same high level of polonium 210 in the same organs of the same shrimp species collected in the Atlantic, accounting for it as the result of natural radiation.

Sixty thousand or more years ago human technology was developing at what we would consider to be an imperceptible pace. Yet it was fast enough to give the first Australasians complete mastery over the ‘new lands’. Freed from the ecological constraints of their homeland and armed with weapons honed in the relentless arms race of Eurasia, the colonisers of the ‘new lands’ were poised to become the world’s first future eaters.

Flannery argues the hypothesis that at current population growth rate levels, Australasia is living beyond its population carrying capacity, to the extent that its biological stability has been damaged. European colonisation of Australia and New Caledonia brought its own artefacts and ways suitable in the ‘old world’, and yet struggle to adapt its "culture to biological reality". This reality is evident in Australia, where unpredictable climate combined with a lack of natural life giving resources have created a flora and fauna that have adapted over millennia to be extraordinarily efficient in the consumption of energy.

In July 2018 he played a role in the Kwaio Reconciliation programme in the Solomon Islands, which put an end to a 91-year-old cycle of killings that stemmed from the murders in 1927 of British Colonial officers Bell and Gillies by Kwaio leader Basiana and his followers.

In August 2017 Flannery hosted an episode of ABC Catalyst investigating how carefully managed seaweed growth could contribute to combating climate change via the sequestration of atmospheric carbon to the ocean floor. In January 2018 Flannery appeared on the ABC's Science program exploring whether humans are becoming a new 'Mass Extinction Event', in addition to outlining the '5 Things You Need to Know About Climate Change'.

The ABC reported in August 2016, Geothermal power project closes in SA as technology deemed not financially viable.

In February 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald wrote an article titled, Tim Flannery: a man for all climates. Flannery was criticised for making inflammatory statements.

On 19 September 2013, Flannery was sacked from his position as head of the Climate Commission in a phone call from new Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt. It was also announced that the Commission would be dismantled and its remit handled by the Department of Environment.

By 6 October 2013, Flannery and the other commissioners had launched a new body called the Climate Council. Flannery told ABC News that the organisation stated that it had the same goals as the former Climate Commission, to provide independent information on the science of climate change. Amanda McKenzie was appointed as CEO. Between 24 September and 6 October the new Climate Council had raised $1 million in funding from a public appeal, sufficient to keep the organisation operating for 12 months.

The synopsis of the work regards three waves of human migration in these regions. These waves of people Flannery describes as "future eaters". The first wave was the migration to Australia and New Guinea from south-east Asia approximately 40 000 – 60 000 years ago. The second was Polynesian migration to New Zealand and surrounding islands 800 – 3500 years ago. The third and final wave Flannery describes is European colonisation at the end of the eighteenth century.

The Future Eaters was made into a documentary series for ABC Television and was republished in late 2013.

That said, Howard – along with many others – remains unconvinced as to Flannery's proposed solutions. Flannery joined calls for the cessation/reduction of conventional coal-fired power generation in Australia in the medium term, the source of most of the nation's electricity. Flannery claims that conventional coal burning will lose its social license to operate, as has asbestos.

In March 2012, The Conversation wrote an article titled, Climate and floods: Flannery is no expert, but neither are the experts.

Flannery was an advisor on climate change to South Australian Premier Mike Rann, and was a member of the Queensland Climate Change Council established by the Queensland Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation Andrew McNamara. In February 2011 it was announced that Flannery had been appointed to head the Climate Change Commission established by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to explain climate change and the need for a carbon price to the public.

On 10 February 2011, Flannery was appointed as the Chief Commissioner of the Climate Commission by the Australian Government. The Commission was a panel of leading scientists and business experts whose mandate was to provide an "independent and reliable" source of information for all Australians.

Andrew Bolt from the Herald Sun wrote an article in 2011, It pays to check out Tim Flannery's predictions about climate change. The article provides discredits claims Flannery made regarding capital cities will be without drinking water in a few years. Secondly, the detailed failure of Flannery recommending and influencing the Rudd Government to award $90 million dollars to Geodynamics in the Cooper Basin. Flannery has for years been a Geodynamics shareholder, a vested interest he sometimes declares. The technology Flannery said was "relatively straighforward" wasn't. One of Geodynamics' five wells at Innamincka collapsed in an explosion that damaged two others. All had to be plugged with cement. The project was hit by the kind of floods Flannery didn't predict in a warming world. The technological and financing difficulties mean there is no certainty now that a commercial-scale plant will ever get built, let alone prove viable, so it's no surprise the company's share price has almost halved in four months.

In an interview on Radio National’s Breakfast program on 24 September 2010, Flannery explained: ‘I’ve begun to think I’ve misunderstood the scientific process. The reductionist science that I’ve practised all of my life is very good for answering small questions but I learnt as we looked at the climate problem that we can’t use reductionist science to examine that system, we have to create a model world, a virtual world.’

In 2009, Flannery joined the project "Soldiers of Peace", a move against all wars and for a global peace.

In May 2008 Flannery created controversy by suggesting that sulphur could be dispersed into the atmosphere to help block the sun leading to global dimming, in order to counteract the effects of global warming.

In 2007, Flannery became professor in the Climate Risk Concentration of Research Excellence at Macquarie University. He left Macquarie University in mid-2013. Flannery is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, and a Governor of WWF-Australia. He has contributed to over 143 scientific papers.

Flannery's work in raising the profile of environmental issues was key to his being named Australian of the Year in 2007. Awarding the prize, former Prime Minister John Howard said that the scientist "has encouraged Australians into new ways of thinking about our environmental history and future ecological challenges."

In late 2007, Flannery suggested that the Japanese whaling involving the relatively common minke whale may be sustainable:

Flannery has achieved prominence through his environmental activism. His advocacy on two issues in particular, population levels and carbon emissions, culminated in being named Australian of the Year (2007) at a time when environmental issues were becoming prominent in Australian public debate.

In October 2006 Flannery quoted a US Navy study stating that, there may be, "no Arctic icecap in Summer in the next five to 15 years. He also quoted NASA's Professor James Hansen, "arguably the world authority on climate change" who said, "we have just a decade to avert a 25-metre rise of the sea". In February 2007, as he explained how increased soil evaporation impacts on runoff, he said "even the [existing amount of] rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems" and in June 2007, he said that, "Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months".

The book won international acclaim. Bill Bryson concluded that "It would be hard to imagine a better or more important book." The Weather Makers was honoured in 2006 as 'Book of the Year' at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

In 2006 Flannery was in support of nuclear power as a possible solution for reducing Australia's carbon emissions, however in 2007 changed his position against it. In May 2007 he told a business gathering in Sydney that while nuclear energy does have a role elsewhere in the world, Australia's abundance of renewable resources rule out the need for nuclear power in the near term. He does however feel that Australia should and will have to supply its uranium to those other countries that do not have access to renewables like Australia does.

Flannery was named Australian Humanist of the Year in 2005, and Australian of the Year in 2007. Until mid-2013 he was a professor at Macquarie University and held the Panasonic Chair in Environmental Sustainability. He was also chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council, an international group of business and other leaders that coordinated a business response to climate change and assisted the Danish government in the lead up to COP 15. In 2015, the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue recognized Tim Flannery for using dialogue and authentic engagement to build global consensus for action around climate change. His sometimes controversial views on shutting down conventional coal-fired power stations for electricity generation in the medium term are frequently cited in the media.

The specific name of the Greater Monkey-faced Bat (Pteralopex flanneryi), described in 2005, honours Flannery.

In September 2005 Flannery said, "There are hot rocks in South Australia that potentially have enough embedded energy in them to run Australia's economy for the best part of a century". Also for the Cooper Basin, he proposed the establishment of a fully sustainable city where, "hundreds of thousands of people would live", utilising these geothermal energy reserves. He named the city, "Geothermia". Subsequently, in 2007, an exploration company was established. The company expected to raise at least $11.5m on the Australian Stock Exchange. Flannery took up shares in the company. In 2010, the Federal Government provided the company with another $90m for the development work. In August 2016, the geothermal energy project closed as it was not financially viable.

In May 2004 Flannery said, in light of the city's water crisis, that, "I think there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis"., a warning reiterated in 2007. In April 2005, he said, "water is going to be in short supply across the eastern states". In June 2005 warning that "the ongoing drought could leave Sydney’s dams dry in just two years". Water security remains a major issue across eastern Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote an article in 2004, The Flannery eaters, the reporting of pier reviews of Flannery's views.

Flannery has held various academic positions throughout his career. He spent many years in Adelaide, including a spell as professor at the University of Adelaide, and 7 years as director of the South Australian Museum. He was also principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, during which time he worked to save the bandicoot population on North Head. In 1999 he held the year-long visiting chair of Australian studies at Harvard University. In 2002, Flannery was appointed as chair of South Australia's [Environmental Sustainability Board (South Australia)].

In 1994, Flannery published The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People.

When, in the concluding chapters of The Future Eaters (1994), Flannery discusses how to "utilise our few renewable resources in the least destructive way", he remarks that

Flannery's early research concerned the evolution of mammals in Australasia. As part of his doctoral studies, he described 29 new fossil kangaroo species including 11 new genera and three new subfamilies. In the 1990s, Flannery published The Mammals Of New Guinea (Cornell Press) and Prehistoric Mammals Of Australia and New Guinea (Johns Hopkins Press), the most comprehensive reference works on the subjects. Through the 1990s, Flannery surveyed the mammals of Melanesia – discovering 29 new species – and took a leading role in conservation efforts in the region.

In 1980, Flannery discovered dinosaur fossils on the southern coast of Victoria and in 1985 had a role in the ground-breaking discovery of Cretaceous mammal fossils in Australia. This latter find extended the Australian mammal fossil record back 80 million years. During the 1980s, Flannery described most of the known Pleistocene megafaunal species in New Guinea as well as the fossil record of the phalangerids, a family of possums.

Flannery was raised in a Catholic family in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, close to Port Phillip Bay, where he learned to fish and scuba dive and became aware of marine pollution and its effects on living organisms. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at La Trobe University in 1977, and then took a change of direction to complete a Master of Science degree in Earth Science at Monash University in 1981. He then left Melbourne for Sydney, enjoying its subtropical climate and species diversity. In 1984, Flannery earned a doctorate at the University of New South Wales in Palaeontology for his work on the evolution of macropods (kangaroos).

Timothy Fridtjof Flannery FAA (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, and public scientist. Having discovered more than 30 mammal species (including new species of tree kangaroos), he served as the Chief Commissioner of the Climate Commission, a Federal Government body providing information on climate change to the Australian public. On 23 September 2013, Flannery announced that he would join other sacked commissioners to form the independent Climate Council, that would be funded by the community.