Report: The media is bad at covering climate change and worse at covering solutions
While President Trump has turned bashing the mainstream media into a form of performance art, sometimes the press does deserve some constructive criticism. For example, look no further than the media’s inadequate coverage of climate change and potential solutions—inadequate, at least, according to a new report by the watchdog group Public Citizen.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40514003/report-the-media-is-bad-at-covering-climate-change-and-worse-at-covering-solutions
Today’s Celebration
Balloon Ascension Day United States of America
Martyr’s Day (National Mourning) Palau Panama
Poetry At Work Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/poetry-at-work-day/
Play God Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/play-god-day/
Climate Change
Report: The media is bad at covering climate change and worse at covering solutions
While President Trump has turned bashing the mainstream media into a form of performance art, sometimes the press does deserve some constructive criticism. For example, look no further than the media’s inadequate coverage of climate change and potential solutions—inadequate, at least, according to a new report by the watchdog group Public Citizen.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40514003/report-the-media-is-bad-at-covering-climate-change-and-worse-at-covering-solutions
Climate-change expert shows how to slay carbon bigfoot
A scientist creates a competition to encourage a grass-roots battle against global warming through individual lifestyle choices.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-change-expert-shows-how-to-slay-carbon-bigfoot/
The bottom of the ocean has started sinking under the weight of melting glaciers
Decades of measurements and predictions of sea level rise could have underestimated the scale of the problem, experts warn, due to scientists not accounting for the weighty, warping effects of our ever burgeoning oceans.
https://www.sciencealert.com/bottom-ocean-literally-sinking-under-weight-melting-glaciers-climate-change
A biological solution to carbon capture and recycling?
Scientists at the University of Dundee have discovered that E. coli bacteria could hold the key to an efficient method of capturing and storing or recycling carbon dioxide.
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/53592
We’re now in global cooling
Matt Ridley
In essence, the world is slipping back into an ice age after a balmy 10,000 years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/global-cooling-a-reality-but-technology-will-help-earth-survive/news-story/aa8ad1725f08ee44d4b2e71af07e6fe8
Penrith swelters while Florida freezes: climate disruption is to blame
Will Steffen
Terms like “global warming” and the mental images they trigger can be misleading when people attempt to understand what is happening to the climate.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/penrith-swelters-while-florida-freezes-climate-disruption-is-to-blame-20180108-h0ewb2.html
Carbon trading is the great green gamble
Graham Lloyd
It was dubbed the fraud of the century. A multi-billion-euro carbon trading sting which a French judge described as unprecedented in the history of financial crimes.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/carbon-trading-is-the-great-green-gamble/news-story/8a0b999fb59c322d4bcd0c11a28f0d81
National
National energy grid survives the heatwave, big test still to come
The national energy grid survived searing temperatures over the weekend but the big test is likely to come at the end of the month as the summer holidays end and kids head back to school.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-08/national-energy-grid-survives-the-heatwave/9310470
An energy policy without evidence
Basing policy merely on how politicians feel isn’t against the law but it won’t deliver cheaper reliable power.
http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/energy-policy-based-on-feelings-doesnt-help-consumers-20180108-h0ez6p
Miners do pay their ‘fair share’ of tax, according to Deloitte report
http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/miners-pay-their-fair-share-of-tax-if-you-count-royalties-report-20180108-h0f0qh.html
Turnbull Government conceals damning climate data
Peter Boyer
The Turnbull Government is negligently concealing its massive climate change policy failure.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/turnbull-government-conceals-damning-climate-data,11087
New South Wales
‘It’s industrial madness,’ says union as coal terminal locks out workers
The Port Kembla Coal Terminal, south of Wollongong, locks out about 60 of its workers as part of an intensifying dispute about its future.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-08/port-kembla-coal-terminal-locks-out-workers-in-pay-dispute/9311662
Sydney was the hottest place on Earth on Sunday
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sydney-clocks-the-hottest-place-on-earth-as-hot-weather-continues-20180107-h0etl6.html
Hundreds of bats ‘boil’ alive and drop from trees in brutal NSW heatwave
Hundreds of dead bats have been found scattered along the ground in the wake of the brutal heatwave that swept across Sydney and much of the country this past weekend.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/38536280/hundreds-of-bats-boil-alive-in-brutal-nsw-heatwave/
Blackouts just ‘par for the course’ says Energy Minister Don Harwin during NSW hot season
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/blackouts-just-par-for-the-course-says-energy-minister-don-harwin-during-nsw-hot-season/news-story/ca9cd9ee278b1114e78831ab9b0178b7
The future of Sydney: a tale of three cities?
Rob Roggema, University of Technology Sydney and Peter Bishop, UCL
The future of Sydney is under constant scrutiny. But before we consider creating a ‘third city’ in Sydney’s west, we should ensure we get the current infrastructure up to international standards.
https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-sydney-a-tale-of-three-cities-88568
Queensland
Great Barrier Reef: Green turtles face extinction as females outnumber males
The study found that 65 to 69 per cent of green turtles in the cooler southern Great Barrier Reef were female while a “staggering” 87 to 99.8 per cent of green turtles in the warmer northern reef were female.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/great-barrier-reef-green-turtles-face-extinction-as-females-outnumber-males/news-story/8562d145f8f081a18d2a449ddcb3f063
Innovative minds to solve Brisbane’s future water challenges
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/innovative-minds-to-solve-brisbane-s-future-water-challenges-20180105-p4yy9u.html
Cyclists are ‘terrified’ to use Queensland roads, even though it’s their right
Anne Savage
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-cyclists-are-terrified-to-use-queensland-roads-even-though-its-their-right/news-story/0da014e3ddb0c19edce7da0774038b03
How can we end the cycle of conflict?
Courier-Mail editorial
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-how-can-we-end-the-cycle-of-conflict/news-story/1bd19f64e674dd3cb0cef84abf85ff23
Best practice eco tourism will benefit our national parks and boost flagging tourist numbers
Brett Godfrey
As the recently appointed chair of Tourism and Events Queensland, it didnt take me long to understand that our states share of the national tourism market was declining.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-best-practice-eco-tourism-will-benefit-our-national-parks-and-boost-flagging-tourist-numbers/news-story/3e6ff19cf2077427ddb5019ce98748c8
South Australia
‘Help us eradicate these pests’
An infestation of carp in a McLaren Flat pond has prompted Onkaparinga Council to develop a plan to eradicate the exotic pest — and until then, local are encouraging everyone to get on down and go fishing.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/south/help-us-eradicate-these-pests/news-story/24a3549b0f7573b7c5774d710c8ca96f
Sustainability
Indefinite moratorium imposed at troubled Bougainville mine
The Bougainville Government imposes an indefinite moratorium on mining at the troubled Panguna site — once the world’s biggest open-cut copper mine.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-08/bougainville-mining-moratorium-panguna-site/9311022
China restricts imports of plastic trash
Move upsets recycling programs worldwide but may lead to better waste management.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/96/i2/China-restricts-imports-plastic-trash.html
The throwaway economy is not cost-free
Use less, re-use, recycle. Three steps to saving the planet.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/07/the-guardian-view-on-recycling-throwaway-economy-is-not-cost-free
Hybrid cabs zoom ahead in Singapore
Close to one-fifth of Singapore’s taxi fleet is made up of petrol-electric hybrid models – up from zero just 10 years ago – and experts say the trend has a positive, if small, impact on air quality.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/hybrid-cabs-zoom-ahead
Use of harmful pesticides ‘massive’ in Nepal
Nepal continues to import thousands of tons of harmful chemicals every year.
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-01-08/use-of-harmful-pesticides-massive-in-country.html
Will Self-Driving Cars Usher in a Transportation Utopia or Dystopia?
The news sounds almost too good to be true.
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/53589
Cape Town, South Africa, may be first coastal city to run out of water
Cape Town, South Africa, could run out of water in a few months. The mountain-capped city is warning its residents about “the day the taps will be turned off.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/capetown-water-crisis-day-zero-looming-2018-1
Water-Based, Eco-Friendly and Energy-Saving Air-Conditioner
A team of researchers has pioneered a new water-based air-conditioning system that cools air to as low as 18 degrees Celsius without the use of energy-intensive compressors and environmentally ..
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180108133239.htm
Yeast May Be the Solution to Toxic Waste Clean-Up
About 46,000 nuclear weapons were produced during the Cold War era, leading to tremendous volumes of acidic radioactive liquid waste seeping into the environment.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180108093714.htm
5 battles to watch in 2018
2017 was an active year for Energy Secretary Rick Perry. He announced a plan to boost nuclear and coal plants by changing electricity markets. He split the Department of Energy’s energy and science divisions. He was photographed handling a falcon in Saudi Arabia.
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060070241
How office plants can fight stress and other workplace nasties
Danica-Lea Larcombe
One excellent way to combat both sick days and stress at work is by filling your office with plants.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-08/how-plants-fight-office-stress/9310704
(At least) five reasons you should wear gardening gloves
Mark Blasovich, University of Queensland
https://theconversation.com/at-least-five-reasons-you-should-wear-gardening-gloves-89451
Nature Conservation
Noise Pollution Causes Chronic Stress in Birds, with Health Consequences for Young
Birds exposed to the persistent noise of natural gas compressors show symptoms remarkably similar to those in humans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, new research shows.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/53593
Trawl of Red Sea surface waters finds little plastic
Researchers are mapping global patterns of marine plastic pollution as alarm grows over floating rubbish. A team led by marine scientist Carlos Duarte from KAUST shows that the level of plastic debris in the Red Sea is relatively low.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/kauo-tor010818.php
Amazon Biodiversity Hotspot to Suffer Even More Losses After Contentious Law Passed
In August 2017, the Bolivian government passed a contentious law that paved the way for construction of a new 190-mile road …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180108121629.htm
North American waterways are becoming saltier and more alkaline
New UMD-led research highlights the need for better regulation of road salt, fertilizers and other salty compounds
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/uom-naw010318.php
Genome Size Affects Whether Plants Become Invasive
Scientist studying the invasive plant Phragmites have found evidence to suggest that the most significant factor in determining whether a plant will become invasive is the size of its …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180107172511.htm
Maelor Himbury