Daily Links Dec 6

New Zealand ready to stand up on climate change Jacinda Ardern says
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told former US Vice President Al Gore that New Zealand has a history of standing up on big issues, and climate change is the one at the moment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11953596 

Why remote Antarctica is so important in a warming world
The Antarctic Treaty was signed 58 years ago today, protecting the continent for peace and science.
https://theconversation.com/why-remote-antarctica-is-so-important-in-a-warming-world-88197 

Solar unlimited: How to use inverters to get past export limits
Solar panel system owners are becoming more and more ambitious about what they want from their PV systems, and are now installing 10kW + PV arrays and over-sizing their inverters.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/solar-unlimited-how-to-use-inverters-to-get-past-export-limits-25620/

Renewable Energy Market Report – NEG causes jump in prices
Market uncertainty created by proposed National Energy Guarantee has caused longer term LGC prices to jump, while STC market worried about oversupply.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/renewable-energy-market-report-neg-causes-jump-prices-75858/ 

Forestry MIS ‘saga’ started with the Nationals
The Nationals were behind a policy that gave rise to the agribusiness managed investment schemes that later collapsed.
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/forestry-mis-saga-started-with-national-party-20171205-gzz6ku 

Majority of Australians are tossing their clothes in the bin
Australians are churning through clothes at an unprecedented rate, with 75 per cent of us throwing at least one item of clothing in the bin in the past year.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/fast-fashion-seventy-five-per-cent-of-australians-tossing-clothing-in-the-bin-20171205-gzzbas.html 

How bushwalkers could be harming native plants
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/dozens-of-native-plant-species-at-immediate-risk-from-fungus-import-botanist-20171204-gzyrko.html 

Cuts lift hopes for uranium
Australia’s uranium plays hope for a rebound after the second major cut to supply in the space of a month.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/output-cuts-lift-hopes-for-uranium-price-recovery/news-story/b215db0941c4503582e0a9a243a486fa 

Renewables ‘depend’ on resources
Increased renewable power will require more steel, copper and other mined resources than fossil fuel or uranium plants.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/renewables-use-more-resources-than-other-energy-production-bhp-chief/news-story/677f03a74f642ac336cbcd75e7a28595 

‘Sound judgment’ strips anti-wind Waubra Foundation of its low-tax status
A prominent anti-wind farm group has been stripped of its status as a tax-deductible charity status in a potentially landmark legal decision that could affect treatment of other groups claiming to promote health.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/sound-judgment-strips-antiwind-waubra-foundation-of-its-lowtax-status-20171205-gzz19v.html

The secret world of Australia’s solar and energy contract prices
Giles Parkinson
Around the world, energy auctions have tracked the stunning falls in the cost of solar. But in Australia, auction results are not released, typical of a market that trades in ignorance and scarcity, for the benefit of the incumbents rather than the consumer.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/the-secret-world-of-australias-solar-and-energy-contract-prices-46139/ 

Will the NEG alone really lead to low prices and high reliabilty?
David Leitch
Modelling presented by Energy Security Board in favour of the NEG looks, kindly put, implausible. The old aphorism is that if it looks long it probably is. So why are we building policy around it?
http://reneweconomy.com.au/will-neg-alone-really-lead-low-prices-high-reliabilty-99798/ 

Stay out of Melbourne beaches – the EPA says it could make you sick
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dont-go-in-the-water-environment-protection-authority-warns-20171204-gzysnt.html

Water pollution threats, dangerous surf conditions result in Sydney beach closures
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/water-pollution-threats-dangerous-surf-conditions-result-in-sydney-beach-closures-20171205-gzzcem.html

Seqwater ‘ignored’ consistent forecasts of flooding rain in 2011, court hears
A Sydney court is told Seqwater dam engineers were preoccupied about the “adverse media effects” and “major embarrassment” of unnecessary water releases just weeks before the 2011 Brisbane and Ipswich flood.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/seqwater-ignored-consistent-weather-predictions-of-flooding-rain/9228766 

Live coral sex show gears up for second gala performance on Great Barrier Reef
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/lifestyle/live-coral-sex-show-gears-up-for-second-gala-performance-on-great-barrier-reef/news-story/e7928031fb8d1dad19c590b287a6bd30 

Stop Adani protests heat up
As the decision deadline looms for the $1 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) loan to Adani for construction of rail infrastructure for the Galilee Basin mega coalmine, a rash of protests erupted in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and at Adani’s work sites near Belyando in Central Queensland.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/stop-adani-protests-heat

Adani Carmichael mine: Green activists ‘hijack’ debate
The traditional owners backing the Adani mine say the choice is to either support the mine or continue to have lives dogged by generational disadvantage.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/adani-carmichael-mine-green-activists-hijack-debate/news-story/5ec169e75d0f152dba1627a1f4a0472d

Salmon industry experts in town for salmon conference
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/salmon-industry-experts-in-town-for-salmon-conference/news-story/bf6f73fde726e53e3068c1d81beacea0

Chemical in soft plastics causes key changes in human placentas, Pitt study reveals
There’s new evidence that the chemicals known as phthalates in plastics and other products alter two key hormones and a molecule that mediates inflammation in the human placenta.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2017/12/05/Chemical-in-soft-plastics-cause-key-changes-in-human-placentas-Pitt-study-shows/stories/201711280002 

World Soil Day: Two-fifths of arable land in Bangladesh lacks organic matter
The pressure to produce more crops from the same amount of land has caused two-fifths of the total arable land area of Bangladesh to become deficient in organic elements and other nutrients, experts have warned.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/environment/2017/12/05/world-soil-day-two-fifths-arable-land-bangladesh-lacks-organic-matter/ 

Once they start composting, people find other ways to be ‘green’
With new city program, residents increased energy, water conservation
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/osu-ots120517.php

Hearing hybrid and electric vehicles while quieting noise pollution
The European Union is requiring future hybrid and pure electric vehicles to be equipped with ‘acoustic vehicle alerting systems’ to alert pedestrians of their approach — but what about the downsides this noise poses?
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/asoa-hha112917.php

People love parklets, and businesses can help make them happen
Amelia Thorpe, UNSW
https://theconversation.com/people-love-parklets-and-businesses-can-help-make-them-happen-87172 

65 years on from the Great Smog nothing has changed. We’re still choking
Andrew Simms
The anniversary of Smog Day rings out a grim warning: 18,000 people still die every day from air pollution
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/05/smog-day-warning-18000-die-london-great-smog-1952-air-pollution

Trump’s plan to slash protections for two major national monuments
Donald Trump is set to become the first US President in half a century to scale back land protections for national monuments, slashing the size of two protected sites in Utah.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/trump-plan-to-slash-protections-for-two-major-national-monuments/9228194 

Sea turtles’ sad fate: From restaurant menus to plastic ‘soup’
Turtles confuse plastic debris,, bobbing and fluttering about in the ocean currents, for jellyfish or other prey. To their peril.
http://www.straitstimes.com/world/sea-turtles-sad-fate-from-restaurant-menus-to-plastic-soup 

UN commits to stop ocean plastic waste
Nations will resolve to end plastic pollution in our seas, but their agreement has no timetable.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42239895

Extreme seasonal changes in Amazon river levels threaten forest conservation by indigenous people
Rivers in the Amazon are cycling between increasingly severe states of flood and drought, as predicted by climate change models, and the results are directly impacting local wildlife and the indigenous people who protect the forest, a new study shows.
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/extreme-seasonal-changes-in-amazon-river-levels-threaten-forest-conservation-by-indigenous-people/ 

Russia, U.S. and other nations restrict fishing in thawing Arctic
In a “landmark agreement,” eight nations and the European Union reached an agreement to impose a moratorium on fishing in newly ice-free areas in the high Arctic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/world/europe/russia-arctic-ocean-fishing-thaw.html?smid=tw-nytclimate&smtyp=cur 

Lake Chad: The world’s most complex humanitarian disaster
Boko Haram, climate change, predatory armies, and extreme hunger are converging on a marginalized population in Central Africa.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/lake-chad-the-worlds-most-complex-humanitarian-disaster 

The next great western land war has begun
An in-depth look at the GOP’s full-scale assault on our 640 million acres of public land
https://www.outsideonline.com/2264721/the-next-great-western-land-war 

IUCN Red List: Wild crops listed as threatened
Wild relatives of modern crops deemed crucial for food security are threatened with extinction.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42204575

Quick sand, dirty money
Illegal sand mining in South Africa is starving beaches of sand, ruining rivers, and endangering lives.
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/quick-sand-dirty-money/

Study finds variation within species is a critical aspect of biodiversity
Researchers compared the ecological consequences of variation within species and among species, and found similar effects in many cases
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/uoc–sfv120517.php

Animal agriculture is choking the Earth and making us sick. We must act now
James Cameron and Suzy Amis Cameron
If we want the US’s majestic national parks, clean air and water for future generations we must press leaders to address food’s environmental impact
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/04/animal-agriculture-choking-earth-making-sick-climate-food-environmental-impact-james-cameron-suzy-amis-cameron