A Tragedy of Privacy

By Jason van Tol|2026-06-11T08:50:00+00:002026-06-11|Economics, Education, Politics|

A Tragedy of Privacy

When I picked my daughter up after school today she was really tired; by the last couple weeks of term she’s usually pretty worn out. Nevertheless, as we drove off she told me with youthful enthusiasm that her and a couple of friends were going to start a business over the weekend.

“Oh?” I replied, “so what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to bring a pop-up table, and sell oranges, lemons, limes, and other citrus.”

“Where are you going to get those?” I inquired.

“From the orchard!”

“Hmm, I’m not sure the landlord would like that.”

She went on to explain that […]

What is the Capitalocene?

By Jason van Tol|2024-04-15T20:30:18+00:002024-02-13|Economics, History, Politics, Science|

What is the Capitalocene?

This piece was one I was preparing for The Conversation but was eventually rejected by the editor as not being fit for purpose. While this was disappointing to me, I figured I might as well post it here rather than letting it rot on my hard drive. What follows was the latest edit:

The word “Capitalocene” was coined in 2009 by Swedish professor of human ecology Andreas Malm, and is slowly becoming more widely used.

The word comes from ‘Capital’, as in capitalism, and ‘-ocene’, which refers to a measure of geological time, […]

Students are not Citizens – Australia’s New Educational Policy

By Jason van Tol|2023-12-14T23:54:33+00:002022-11-08|Ecology, Education, Politics|

Students are not Citizens – Australia’s New Educational Policy

This article was originally published in February 2020 with slight editorial modifications in the Echo here.

Last December the Education Council of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) adopted a new educational policy – the Alice Springs Education Declaration – in which reference to climate change and the inclusion of sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority were removed, and students were reconceived, no longer as citizens, but as apolitical ‘members of the community’. To understand the significance of this new policy it’s necessary to describe the history of its […]

A Lithium Coup d’Etat

By Jason van Tol|2023-12-14T23:54:51+00:002022-11-08|Ecology, Politics|

A Lithium Coup d’Etat

This article was originally published in January 2020 in the Echo with slight editorial modifications here.

You’re all set to buy to the latest iPhone or its Android equivalent, the last thing on your mind is the recent overthrow of Bolivia’s government. Why should it be?

Your phone, like power tools, electric cars, and many other battery-powered technologies, depend on lithium for their energy supply. Being the lightest metal and highly reactive makes lithium a prime candidate for batteries, which are needed to help carry forth the renewable energy revolution now under […]

Perspecticide and Psychological Warfare

By Jason van Tol|2023-12-14T23:55:05+00:002022-10-16|Politics|

Perspecticide and Psychological Warfare

I recently finished reading Mindf*ck: Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Plot to Break the World, by Christopher Wylie. Wylie was the whistle-blower on Cambridge Analytica’s nefarious behaviour. Like most people I spoke to after reading it, I had a general idea that CA was a shady organisation that committed some crimes by using people’s social media data. What I learned from reading the book, however, was much more detail on what exactly they did, how they did it, and just how unscrupulous and dangerous it was.

CA was backed by billionaire Robert Mercer, who provided about 15 million dollars […]

June 2026