For decades, Arctic Alaska has provided US mainland states with plentiful oil supplies. As reserves in the Prudhoe Bay fields decrease, however, the USA has been forced to consider new options to guarantee the nation's energy security. While debates continue to rage about its reliance on foreign...

Uncertainty around long-term droughts and water scarcity has been increasing as the impacts of El Nino cycles are felt globally. Understanding how the effects of these events are manifested on the ground in communities is particularly important if governments and associated agencies are to...

Water conservation, distribution and management are highly contested in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. During the height of the Millennium Drought calls from local politicians and community leaders alike suggested that there was a need to ‘drought-proof’ not only the Hunter region,...

Mobility, housing and population movements have long been a concern of planners, demographers and geographers alike. More recently, focus has turned to the phenomenon known as the ‘sea’ and/or ‘tree change’ with various studies voicing concern about the implications involved in these...

Threats to rural livelihoods and rural landscapes have increased over time as developed nations in particular look for cheaper and more locally based alternatives to traditional energy sources to drive national economies. In NSW, through the expansion of coal mines and coal seam gas, small towns...

For more than a decade, nation states globally have been actively engaged in the exploration of unconventional fuel sources such as tight oil, shale gas and coal bed methane. As technology has developed over time, these newer sources of hydrocarbon, once thought economically nonviable, are now...