Daily Links Jun 20

‘Full toolbox’ needed to solve the climate change problem
Solving the climate change problem means transitioning to an energy system that emits little or no greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. According to new work from a team of experts including Carnegie’s Ken Caldeira, achieving a near-zero-emissions energy system will depend on being able
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/cifs-tn061517.php

Fighting global warming and climate change requires a broad energy portfolio
Can the continental United States make a rapid, reliable and low-cost transition to an energy system that relies almost exclusively on wind, solar and hydroelectric power? While there is growing excitement for this vision, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by 21 of the nation’s leading energy experts, including David G. Victor and George R. Tynan from the University of California San Diego, describes a more complicated reality
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/uoc–fgw061417.php

Merkel: Pope urged her to fight for Paris climate deal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Pope Francis encouraged her to work to preserve the Paris climate accord despite the U.S. withdrawal and shared her aim to “bring down walls,” and not build them.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/3941518157565122454

Deadly Heatwaves Expected to Continue to Rise
Seventy-four percent of the world’s population will be exposed to deadly heatwaves by 2100 if carbon gas emissions continue to rise at current rates, according to a new study. Even if emissions are …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619120507.htm

Reasons to be cheerful, despite Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement
The US has dropped out of the Paris Climate Agreement, but India, China and the EU are stepping up to be the new global leaders on climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jun/19/reasons-to-be-cheerful-despite-trump-withdrawing-from-the-paris-agreement

Jesus wants me to care about global warming
Mick Pope
There are theological issues we can beg to differ on, issues over which there is no consensus among scholars, or where there are textual difficulties, and so on. And then there is simply bad theology.
http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/Engage-Mail/jesus-wants-me-to-care-about-global-warming

Power bills top voter concerns
More than two-thirds of voters want politicians to first fix power prices and energy security
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll/power-prices-top-of-voter-concerns-on-energy-policy-says-newspoll/news-story/1da43176088e2dbb8675cf056fd4fc8d

PM urged to decide on Finkel
Small business is urging Malcolm Turnbull to haul his backbench into line and bring forward a decision on energy policy.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/turnbull-urged-by-business-to-decide-on-finkel-energy-review/news-story/51e0d980e502f6dd1e0310791710039a

Australian miners ‘lack innovation plan’
http://www.afr.com/business/mining/australian-miners-dont-have-a-longterm-innovation-plan-report-20170619-gwts96

Basin savings target effectively reduced
A PACKAGE of environmental works and measures could see the amount of water to be recovered under the Murray Darling Basin Plan effectively reduced by more than 600 gigalitres.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/murraydarling-basin-plan-water-savings-target-effectively-reduced/news-story/2d67607ae821e6693780d4f34a350284

Minerals Council steps up lobbying of Coalition MPs for new coal plant
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minerals-council-steps-up-coal-lobbying-as-agl-calls-for-end-to-political-gridlock-20170619-gwu60q.html

One Nation confirms it will vote against clean energy target in Senate
Coalition’s hopes of negotiating with crossbench to pass legislation struck a fatal blow as pressure mounts for a bipartisan position with Labor on energy
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/19/one-nation-confirms-it-will-vote-against-clean-energy-target-in-senate

Coalition’s war on cheap power: When fools design energy policy
Giles Parkinson
Billed as a “once in a generation” opportunity to bring Australia’s energy market into the 21st Century, the Finkel Review is rapidly being reduced to absurdist arguments about the lights going out – by the very government that commissioned it. So much for Grid 2.0.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/coalitions-war-on-cheap-power-when-fools-design-energy-policy-57221/

Know your NEM: Focus on renewables and transmission plans
David Leitch
In the past week, future prices fell again in all states. The downtrend is now firmly established and prices in the out years are significantly lower than in 2018. That’s particularly noticeable in Victoria.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/know-nem-focus-renewables-transmission-plans-90372/

The Finkel Report: Back To The Future And The 1960s
Ian McAuley
The Finkel Report is not only too accommodating of the Coalition’s coal fetish, as Ben Eltham points out. It’s also too conservative from an engineering perspective because it’s constructed around a 1960s model of electricity supply
https://newmatilda.com/2017/06/18/the-finkel-report-back-to-the-future-and-the-1960s/

How Australia’s climate policies came to be poisoned by pragmatism
Michael Slezak
A history of failure has left Australia with virtually no genuinely independent advice on climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/17/how-australias-climate-policies-came-to-be-poisoned-by-pragmatism

We’ll pay a price for confused energy targets
Nyunngai Warren Mundine,
IF Australia rejects energy technologies we have a competitive advantage over in favour of those we don’t, the consumer is certain to pay a high price.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/australia-will-pay-for-renewable-energy-targets/news-story/86372ff75a9ab5ee020f4b6dc48a5ad5

Australians, stop treating your country like a tip
Sue Bailey
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/dont-treat-australia-like-a-rubbish-tip–ban-plastic-bags-straws-and-cups-20170618-gwtly8.html

‘Utter dysfunction’: who is to blame for surging power bills
Clancy Yeates
http://www.theage.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/carbon-dysfunction-drives-surging-electricity-bills-20170618-gwtqqw.html

Are heatwaves ‘worsening’ and have ‘hot days’ doubled in Australia in the last 50 years?
Andrew King, University of Melbourne
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie told Q&A that heatwaves were ‘worsening’ in Australia and ‘hot days’ had doubled in the last 50 years. Let’s take a look at the evidence.
https://theconversation.com/are-heatwaves-worsening-and-have-hot-days-doubled-in-australia-in-the-last-50-years-79337

We need our country; our country needs us
John Woinarski
In a report published today, the Pew Charitable Trust compiled a series of perspectives on how people living in remote and rural Australia see their lives and country. We interviewed about 12 groups over the course of a year, trying to understand the intricate relationships between our people and our nature.
https://theconversation.com/we-need-our-country-our-country-needs-us-77944

City train use set to double
AVERAGE weekday boardings on metropolitan trains are set to double from 750,000 to 1.5 million by 2031 as demand for reliable and convenient travel grows.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/future-melbourne/average-weekday-boarding-on-metropolitan-trains-set-to-double-by-2031/news-story/8b8f887a07455691f095420c94e3e971

Heyfield mill considers imports
IMPORTED timber could be processed at Heyfield’s timber mill as its owners consider how it might remain open without the assistance of the Victorian Government.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/heyfield-timber-mill-considers-using-imports/news-story/292c102e071ab8656f21e5270c38090a

Possum protection debate fuels rival forest counts
Deep in thick Victorian forest, conservationists and logging advocates are conducting rival counts of the elusive Leadbeater’s possum, as they argue over whether the species deserves special protection from the timber industry.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-20/push-for-possum-protection-changes/8593862

Fire concerns at 17 Melbourne buildings ‘close to resolution’: Mayor
Melbourne’s Lord Mayor says the council is “very close” to resolving issues with potentially dangerous cladding at 17 of the city’s buildings, amid heightened safety concerns following London’s tower fire disaster.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-19/melbourne-aluminium-cladding-robert-doyle-close-to-resolution/8630562

Looking forward 2050: managing population growth for all Victorians – interim report
Victorian Population Policy Taskforce
Population growth in Victoria and Melbourne is the most pressing challenge and opportunity, of this and the next generation. Victoria is currently growing by 100,000 people a year with 92 per cent of these new Victorians moving to Greater Melbourne.
http://apo.org.au/node/95086

Why Sydneysiders are leaving their bikes at home
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-cyclists-lag-the-rest-of-australia-as-fewer-choose-to-ride-survey-20170619-gwtrxy.html

Chart reveals once-in-a-decade weather event
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/remarkable-high-pressure-shielding-much-of-australia-from-winters-wrath-20170618-gwtqzo.html

Clover’s fighting a losing WestConnex battle
Christine Forster
THE ratepayers of the City of Sydney hardly needed more proof of Clover Moore’s reckless disregard for their hard-earned cash — and then WestConnex comes along
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/projectsydney/christine-forster-clovers-still-fighting-a-losing-westconnex-battle/news-story/7f9911f6058b041fd937b71a5f879c52

Natural gas powerhouse in Cape York
A MINING exploration firm says the Bamaga Basin could be home to trillions of cubic feet of natural gas able to provide Northern Australia with reliable energy.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/empower-indigenous-communities-to-become-miners-not-be-mined/news-story/8e83dee03e65fa179e9216444b4494f9

Koalas are being attacked by cattle, horses as trees are felled
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/koalas-are-being-attacked-by-cattle-horses-as-trees-are-felled-wildlife-carer-20170619-gwtucn.html

The last line of defence: Indigenous rights and Adani’s land deal
Morgan brigg et al
The Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Family Council (W&J) is involved in a remarkable struggle to assert their Indigenous rights in opposition to the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mine. Despite the company’s board-level decision to proceed, the mine has not cleared all legal hurdles.
https://theconversation.com/the-last-line-of-defence-indigenous-rights-and-adanis-land-deal-79561

Local governments to lobby for electric car support
Adelaide City Council harnesses the support of the country’s local governments to push for a national approach to electric car rules and regulations.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-20/adelaide-council-pushes-for-national-electric-car-stimulus/8632640

Perth on track for warmest start to winter since 1897
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-on-track-for-warmest-start-to-winter-since-1897-20170619-gwu32z.html

A near-disaster at a federal nuclear weapons laboratory takes a hidden toll on America’s arsenal.
Repeated safety lapses hobble Los Alamos National Laboratory’s work on the cores of U.S. nuclear warheads.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/3941518157565123246

Study of oil and gas drilling finds pollution and connections to earthquakes.
Fracking pollutes, causes quakes, new analysis says.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/2460133000468978551

Watch John Oliver expose Trump administration’s coal industry lies.
On ‘Last Week Tonight,’ John Oliver slammed the Trump administration for its inaccurate statements and dated policies on the coal industry.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/3941518157565125002

Could Renewable ‘Power-by-Wire’ Help Fix China’s Air Pollution Problems?
Bringing renewable power ‘by wire’ from western China to its power-hungry Eastern cities could have benefits for both local air quality and global climate change, new research has …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170616121707.htm

Mercury pollution costs billions in lost earning potential in Kenya.
Mining communities Kenya are losing more than 174 -342 billion shilling in earning potential every year due to mercury contamination, according to a new study published in The Journal of Environmental Management.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/2460133000468978560

Global warming brews big trouble in coffee birthplace Ethiopia
Rising temperatures are set to wipe out half of Ethiopia’s coffee-growing areas, with loss of certain locations likened to France losing a great wine region
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/19/global-warming-brews-big-trouble-coffee-birthplace-ethiopia

Inexpensive Organic Material Gives Safe Batteries a Longer Life
Modern batteries power everything from cars to cell phones, but they are far from perfect – they catch fire, they perform poorly in cold weather and they have relatively short lifecycles, among other issues. Now researchers from the University of Houston have described a new class of material that addresses many of those concerns in Nature Materials.
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/51559

Using sunlight to the max
Materials called transition-metal carbides have remarkable properties that open new possibilities in water desalination and wastewater treatment.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/kauo-ust061817.php

Next-gen solvents capture carbon with half the energy
U.S. energy production could increase with the help of an improved carbon capture technology that use about half the energy of today’s standard technologies.
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/51560

Freshwater from salt water using only solar energy
Modular, off-grid desalination technology could supply families, towns
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/ru-ffs061917.php

Playing political games.
Evaggelos Vallianatos HuffPost
Glyphosate illustrates the tragedy of pesticides.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/2460133000468978538

Does the Grenfell Tower fire mean we should stop building residential towers?
Alan Davies
The Grenfell Tower fire was the result of flawed policy on public housing, not some inherent flaw in the high-rise residential building type
https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2017/06/19/does-grenfell-tower-fire-mean-we-stop-building-residential-towers/

Questions for our energy future
Judith Sloan
Much of the rest of the world sees a future in coal, but not coal-rich Australia.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/judith-sloan/four-questions-for-politicians-considering-australias-energy-future/news-story/ee3a85d0a1b58c6bbf537494c81e3f70

What’s the best step you’ve taken to reduce waste?
Alexandra Spring
Australians have been spurred into action to reduce their rubbish by the ABC’s War on Waste.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/20/whats-the-best-step-youve-taken-to-reduce-waste-share-your-tips

Conservationists: Imperiled Atlantic salmon decline worsens.
Fewer of North America’s Atlantic salmon are making it back to rivers to spawn, which bodes poorly for the future of the imperiled fish, an international conservation group says
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/3941518157565124993

Monitoring Soil Structure Changes After Compaction
Soil compaction is a global threat to soil ecosystem services, causing tremendous costs to society. The costs of soil compaction are borne by the cumulative loss of soil …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619092213.htm

Plastic pollution in the Antarctic worse than expected
The continent is considered to be a pristine wilderness compared to other regions and was thought to be relatively free from plastic pollution. However new findings by scientists from University of Hull and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have revealed that recorded levels of microplastics are five times higher than you would expect to find from local sources such as research stations and ships.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/51556

Deaths of migrating wildebeests key to Serengeti’s vibrant ecosystem
Wildebeest carcasses, casualties of the world’s largest overland animal migration, pile up annually on the banks of the Mara River in Africa and play a crucial role in vibrant ecosystem of the Serengeti plains, a new Yale-led study has found.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/yu-dom061517.php

Chimp revolutionary’s warning: ‘In 100 years I don’t know what will be left’
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/dr-jane-goodall-on-the-magical-moments-of-her-chimp-work-20170618-gwtnl9.html

Mozambique: 6,000 animals to rewild park is part-funded by trophy hunting
Donation of animals by Zimbabwe wildlife conservancy to stock war-torn park could not have happened without big-spending hunters
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2017/jun/19/rewilding-mozambique-trophy-hunting-elephants-giraffe-poaching-zimbabwe-sango-save-zinave