Where to blog?

[Ben R]

Thanks John. Whether to avoid blogs infested with 'negative flat
earthers'? I think one does need to have a strategy to approach them.
Mine is:

- Don't respond to negativity in kind i.e. ignore most rantings
- Take some 'flat earth' satements as an opportunity to list good
science websites and facts e.g. for global warming - 'why don't you
look up webpages from NOAA, NASA, CSIRO, showing the 'hockey stick
graphs and melting ice caps?" It will probably have no effect on them
but other readers might look them up.
- Don't give up. Of the 29 postings on my article, 15 were positive /
adding information. Of the negatives, there were 4 from one blogger
and two from another two and these were unsubstantiated rantings.
That to me says intelligent reasoning is winning here.

Re the role of WA 2020, there are many questions to consider. e.g.

-Do we start publishing more whole articles of up to say 1000 words?
-Do we publish blogger's responses in a similar way to On-Line
Opinion?
-How wide is our audience? Is it worth trying to expand it?
-Do we vet and exclude articles that do not come up to standard and
risk wearing the 'left wing think tank' label (i.e. be more like The
Australia Institute?)
-Expanding would mean a paid employee or very dedicated volunteer How
to get such a person?

[Peter McMahon]

Well not much response to this post, which is the problem. WA2020 was
originally set up as a shell into which anyone could fit WA-related
research or activity. The aim was to concentrate and consolidate an
alternative narrative for WA development. The activist world is
notoriously fragile because it cannot attract the resources private
interests or governments can. Furthermore, the trends in tertiary
education mitigate against academics doing activist orientated work
for which they get little or no official recognition, such as workload
points.
The irony is that sustainability issues are becoming THE hot political
topic. Indeed, the next WA election will likely be about the boom and
associated costs to WA, given increasing energy and water problems.
Because of this, a revitalised Labor would stand a reasonable chance
because Premier Barnett has placed all his eggs in the boom continuing
for some years and keeping concern about costs down. However, The West
has been doing stories on the costs and concern is rising.
So, anyone interested in developing this website should get in touch
and we can consider options.