Filters: a cigarette engineering hoax that harms both smokers and the environment
Kathryn Barnsley, University of Tasmania and Haydn Walters, University of Tasmania
https://theconversation.com/filters-a-cigarette-engineering-hoax-that-harms-both-smokers-and-the-environment-85393
Today’s Celebration
Boss Day United States of America
Dictionary Day United States of America
Hurricane Thanksgiving Day (only if no hurricanes occurred) US Virgin Islands
St. Gallus Day Switzerland
Anniversary of the Pope’s election Vatican City State
Ether Day United States of America
National Feral Cat Day United States of America
World Food Day http://www.fao.org/world-food-day/home/en/
Blue Knot Day http://www.blueknot.org.au/BlueKnotDay
National Water Week http://www.awa.asn.au/
National Nutrition Week http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/national-nutrition-week
National Carer’s Week http://www.carersweek.com.au/
Sock it to Suicide Week http://www.whitewreath.com/
Anti Poverty Week http://www.antipovertyweek.org.au/about/about-anti-poverty-week
Week Without Violence http://www.nifvs.org.au/event-directory/week-without-violence/
More about Oct 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_16
Climate Change
Don’t consign poor countries to wild storms and flooding.
Hugh Sealy Newsweek
Wealthy nations caused the problem but are not doing enough to solve it.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-4566925153911790826
National
Clean Energy Target not certain to lower power prices: ACCC Chairman
It is not clear that a Clean Energy Target would lower power prices, the head of the competition watchdog has said in comments likely to deal the troubled policy a death blow.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-16/clean-energy-target-not-certain-to-lower-power-prices/9052094
Market power drives energy costs: ACCC
The ACCC’s preliminary report into the energy market has identified a raft for factors for price hikes, warning skyrocketing prices are Australia’s biggest economic crisis.
http://www.afr.com/news/accc-blames-big-three-market-power-for-price-hikes-20171014-gz156f
Network costs the main driver of electricity prices: ACCC
A huge increase in electricity network costs – driven by regulation and over investment – has been the number-one cause …
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4988818/network-costs-the-main-driver-of-electricity-prices-accc/?cs=7
Investment funds ride renewable energy gift horse
http://www.afr.com/business/investment-funds-plugging-into-renewable-energy-assets-for-big-returns-20171013-gz0ivf
Australia’s household power prices rose 63% in past decade, says watchdog
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says lack of competition is behind ‘severe electricity affordability problem’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/15/australias-household-power-prices-rose-63-in-past-decade-says-watchdog
Dumping clean energy target is ‘dealbreaker’ for Labor’s support
Shadow climate change minister Mark Butler says scrapping the target ‘won’t get the support of the Labor party’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/15/dumping-clean-energy-target-is-dealbreaker-for-labors-support-on-energy-policy
‘This is the future’: solar-powered family car hailed by experts
As the annual solar race across Australia wraps up, a Dutch entry averaged 69kmh from Darwin to Adelaide and resupplied the grid
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/this-is-the-future-solar-powered-family-car-hailed-by-experts
Time to bid a sad farewell to the great Australian backyard
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/diary-of-a-first-home-buyer-week-4-farewell-to-the-aussie-backyard-20171013-gz0shl.html
Energy prices will put heat on Turnbull government when Parliament returns
Jennifer Hewett
http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/energy-prices-will-put-heat-on-turnbull-government-when-parliament-returns-20171015-gz19qg
Why Tony Abbott’s climate snow job mistakes Australia for Europe
Greg Jericho
Conservatives cheering climate change always ignore how Australia’s economy will be among the hardest hit
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2017/oct/15/why-tony-abbotts-climate-snow-job-mistakes-australia-for-europe
Overdosing on a double shot of political stupidity
Rowan Dean
HOW do you best like your political stupidity served up? Neat, in a double shot, or watered down with a huge dollop of hypocrisy? That’s the basic choice facing Australians at the next federal election.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-overdosing-on-a-double-shot-of-political-stupidity/news-story/d45e034a2f7707c8ba77ea83f09d8d9c
Energy crisis will leave the poor powerless
Andrew Bolt
WITH power prices so high, the very poor would have little real choice when summer heats up. They will sweat so the rich may have air con
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/australias-poor-left-powerless-by-soaring-prices-and-green-energy/news-story/886bed44d4a5bcabf7f09562aa6e09a5
Turnbull prophet of his own doom on energy policy
Jessica Irvine
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/malcolm-turnbull-prophet-of-his-own-doom-on-energy-policy-20171014-gz1510.html
We’re paying the price for climate alarmism
Tim Blair
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/tim-blair-were-paying-the-price-for-climate-alarmism/news-story/4bd7b580a369fa5f7068102c0ccf57f5
Victoria
Anger over warehouse plans for toxic Fawkner site
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/anger-from-fawkner-locals-over-exagent-orange-site-poised-for-redevelopment-20171013-gz0nv1.html
From coal community to pioneers of renewables
Gene Efron
The closure of Victoria’s largest coal-fired power station in March, Hazelwood, was expected to unsettle the Latrobe Valley following decades of coal dependency. Instead, it transformed the region into a leading advocate for renewable energy; a shining example for other communities.
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4984057/from-coal-community-to-pioneers-of-renewables/?cs=97
How Melbourne’s west was greened
Casey Furlong et al
Urban greening projects in Melbourne’s west are contributing to making the region cooler, more pleasant and healthier to live in and travel through. The key to this success is the Greening the West initiative. Since 2011 this has brought together 23 organisations that, by the end of 2018, will have collectively planted more than 1 million trees in Melbourne’s west.
https://theconversation.com/how-melbournes-west-was-greened-84700
More sightings of an endangered species don’t always mean it’s recovering
David Lindenmeyer
If more sightings of an endangered species are recorded, does that mean its numbers are increasing? Australia’s native forest logging industry is arguing yes.
https://theconversation.com/more-sightings-of-an-endangered-species-dont-always-mean-its-recovering-85381
New South Wales
Sydney commuters to benefit from thousands of new public transport services from November
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-commuters-to-benefit-from-thousands-of-new-public-transport-services-from-november-20171015-gz16iv.html
Queensland
Campaigners from 1960s return to fight for Great Barrier Reef
Fifty years on from the first battle to save the Great Barrier Reef, conservationists and scientists say the fight is far from over as they revisit the site where the battle for the reef began.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-15/great-barrier-reef-50-years-on-campaigners-return-ellison-reef/9050106
Adani’s Carmichael coalmine won’t go ahead, Greens leader says
Richard Di Natale ‘confident’ if project can’t be stopped in parliament or for financial reasons, Australians will stand in front of bulldozers
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/adanis-carmichael-coalmine-wont-go-ahead-greens-leader-says
Adani’s grand start a washout
AFTER eight years of court battles and bureaucracy, Adani’s plans for a grand start to its development on the massive Carmichael mine and rail project have been wrecked.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/adanis-grand-start-to-carmichael-mine-and-rail-project-cancelled/news-story/72689a32a0063a9c99bcb2dabd779bb1
Government has the power, but doesn’t act
Courier Mail editorial
Queensland’s oppressive electricity prices are in many ways a textbook example of Newton’s Third Law – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-government-has-the-power-but-doesnt-act/news-story/5132f337eb4c739b625c5746b8e6d259
Tasmania
Ancient Aboriginal burning techniques return to Cape Barren Island
Traditional Aboriginal burning is being reintroduced to Cape Barren Island as part of a state-first program between the Tasmania Fire Service and a group of Aboriginal rangers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-15/cool-burning-healing-the-land-on-cape-barren-island/9051570
Rare white echnida spotted
A RARE albino echidna has been found in the wild at Coles Bay on the East Coast.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/new-footage-of-an-albino-echnida-has-captured-hearts-on-social-media/news-story/6110431e5ae6bc1d9c3999ec6130d64e
Northern Territory
Probe into cause of fish kill at Vesteys
Darwin City Council has been busy cleaning up large quantities of dead fish decomposing in and around the mangroves near Vesteys Lake
http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/darwin-city-council-investigating-cause-of-fish-kill-at-mangroves-near-vesteys-lake/news-story/814238a67d63460c90cc5d4cb74ed453
Embattled sandalwood producer controls largest pool of Top End water
Embattled Indian sandalwood producer Quintis controls the largest volume of licenced water in the NT, significantly more than any other agricultural, industrial or government entity, ABC Rural can reveal.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-10-16/sandalwood-quintis-controls-largest-amount-of-water-in-top-end/9018262
Western Australia
Aboriginal elders on mission to identify protesters in historic Kimberley photo
Their memories may be fading, but Aboriginal elders in the Kimberley are working off a faded black and white photograph to identify people present at a historic land rights protest.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-15/mission-to-identify-kimberley-land-rights-protestors/9048492
Bushfire threatens lives, homes in remote Pilbara community
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/bushfire-threatens-lives-homes-in-remote-pilbara-community-20171015-gz15qi.html
Sustainability
Wild is the wind: the resource that could power the world
Wind isn’t just mysterious, destructive and exhilarating – capturing just 2% of it would solve the planet’s energy needs at a stroke. And as the windiest country in Europe, Britain is at the forefront of this green revolution
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/wild-is-the-wind-the-resource-that-could-power-the-world
The eco guide to radical materials
Cotton has a disastrous foorprint, leather is destroying the Amazon, polyester threatens the ozone layer. Luckily there are some new fabrics on the way
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/the-eco-guide-to-radical-materials
Plastic bottle deposit return scheme could save England’s councils £35m a year
Cash-strapped councils would save money thanks to reduced littering and landfill charges as well as having less recycling bins to collect, says report
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/11/plastic-bottle-deposit-return-scheme-could-save-englands-councils-35m-a-year
Sperm counts, testicular cancers, and the environment
Niels E Skakkebaek
A recent meta-analysis by Levine and colleagues showing significant declines in sperm counts among men in the Western world caught considerable media attention. The Levine study followed a similar report in The BMJ 25 years ago. Should we be concerned? Is male reproductive health really at risk?
http://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j4517
Filters: a cigarette engineering hoax that harms both smokers and the environment
Kathryn Barnsley, University of Tasmania and Haydn Walters, University of Tasmania
https://theconversation.com/filters-a-cigarette-engineering-hoax-that-harms-both-smokers-and-the-environment-85393
Nature Conservation
David Attenborough urges action on plastics after filming Blue Planet II
Naturalist says experience making second series of BBC show revealed devastating threat posed to oceans by plastic
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/david-attenborough-urges-immediate-action-on-plastics-blue-planet
Parrot expert left waiting
Critically endangered orange-bellied parrots may not survive this migration season.
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4988053/parrot-expert-left-waiting/?cs=95
Maelor Himbury