Post of the Day
Research identifies all the different ways the sea supports human wellbeing
A study led by the University of Liverpool that catalogued all of the links between marine biodiversity and the different ways we rely on the sea found more than 30 ways it supports well-being including providing a source of nutrition, supplying raw materials and supporting recreational activities.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180822101330.htm
Today’s Celebration
Constitution Day – Georgia
Independence Day – Ukraine
National Flag Day – Kazakhstan, Liberia
More about Aug 24 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_24
National
Renewable hydrogen could match gas, battery storage on cost by 2025: CSIRO
CSIRO report says Australia has “urgent” opportunity to establish national renewable hydrogen industry, with cost competitiveness “firmly on the horizon.”
Put pollies in the dock: APA [$]
APA chief Mick McCormack said politicians should be questioned if a royal commission on energy companies was ever called.
MPs push for Paris climate exit under Dutton
Conservative MPs would ramp up the pressure on a Dutton government to exit the Paris climate agreement, opening up Australia to the risk of trade sanctions, stalling negotiations with the European Union and critically endangering relationships with the Pacific.
Perhaps the worst policy botch ever
Don Aitkin
Ahead of all consumers is a series of higher prices for both gas and electricity, whatever the politicians say now.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19907
Australia’s fossil fuel export trilemma
Alex Lenferna
It’s long past time Australia joined other countries and committed to no new coal mines or oil and gas wells.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-fossil-fuel-export-trilemma-21338/
Absolutely daft’: How did we end up getting climate policy so wrong?
Peter Hannam
With the combustion of the Turnbull government on Thursday, the parallels with Emperor Nero supposedly playing his lyre as Rome blazed around him are unmistakable.
Australia’s great power failure [$]
Warren Mundine
Where power policies fail, governments follow. It’s time politicians stopped lying about what is possible, and embraced what’s achievable.
Victoria
Action urged as Victoria faces summer blackouts
The electricity grid operator says there is a one in three chance of power failure this summer unless action is taken.
New South Wales
Police issue warning after truckloads of waste containing asbestos goes missing
A NSW man faces criminal charges after about 17,000 tonnes of asbestos-filled material disappears from a major Sydney development site.
Dial-A-Dump sold to Bingo Industries for $577.5m
NSW-based recycling and waste management business Dial-A-Dump Industries has been sold to ASX-listed company Bingo Industries.
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/23888-dial-a-dump-sold-to-bingo-industries-for-577-5m
Marine park plan stinks like rotten fish [$]
Al McGlashan is angry. The State government has sucker-punched anglers with plans to ban fishing in many Sydney spots.
Queensland
Queensland pumps money into $2 billion battery “gigafactory” study
Queensland government to provide up to $3.1m for feasibility study into proposed $2bn lithium-ion battery “giga-factory” in Townsville.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/queensland-pumps-money-into-2-billion-battery-gigafactory-study-19023/
South Australia
Aboriginal group ‘just want to be included’ in vote on proposed nuclear waste dump in SA
The Human Rights Commission is asked to decide whether an Aboriginal group should have a say on the location of a proposed nuclear waste dump in regional South Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/sa-nuclear-waste-dump-vote-in-discrimination-claim/10157678
Green thinking starts with us [$]
Kara Jung
An Adelaide Council has shirked its responsibility to ban single-use plastics at events, putting the plan in the too-hard basket. But it’s decisions like these we need to rally against if we are going to reverse the damage of plastics in our oceans.
Tasmania
Tassie devils facing deadly new threat [$]
A new study has found the second type of Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease is becoming invisible to the animal’s immune system and could spread rapidly.
Western Australia
Alinta plans big solar farm to help power Fortescue mines
Alinta plans a big solar farm to help power the Christmas Creek iron ore mine in the Pilbara, and other Fortescue mining operations.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/alinta-plans-big-solar-farm-to-help-power-fortescue-mines-38619/
Sustainability
Air pollution reduces global life expectancy by more than one year, study finds
Air pollution shortens human lives by more than a year, according to researchers from UT Austin.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uota-apr082218.php
Monsanto faces a surge in lawsuits following cancer ruling
The number of legal cases against the firm has soared after a court ruled its products had caused cancer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45288660
We know the wrong way to deal with e-waste. But what should we do instead?
A handful of firms around the world are working to develop environmentally responsible recycling and disposal strategies. Here’s what they have to teach the rest of us.
https://ensia.com/features/e-waste/
3M knew! Toxic Teflon cover-up was decades long
The EPA has delayed releasing study results showing that 3M knew it was producing toxic chemicals.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/22/3m-knew-toxic-teflon-cover-up-was-decades-long/
Oil’s surge clouds clean-air quest in emerging economies
Oil’s rebound from the biggest price crash in a generation is sparking another revival: the use of cheaper, dirtier fuel in Southeast Asia’s two most-populous nations.
Cruise ships: A dirty kind of luxury
The results of a new survey on cruise ship pollution don’t exactly inspire confidence.
https://www.dw.com/en/cruise-ships-a-dirty-kind-of-luxury/g-45190968
Chemists make breakthrough on road to creating a rechargeable lithium-oxygen battery
Chemists from the University of Waterloo have successfully resolved two of the most challenging issues surrounding lithium-oxygen batteries, and in the process created a working battery with near 100 per cent coulombic efficiency.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uow-cmb082318.php
Report confirms wind technology advancements continue to drive down wind energy prices
Wind energy pricing remains attractive, according to an annual report released by the U.S. Department of Energy and prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). At an average of around 2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), prices offered by newly built wind projects in the United States are being driven lower by technology advancements and cost reductions.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/dbnl-rcw082318.php
Europe to ban halogen lightbulbs
After nearly 60 years of lighting homes halogens will be replaced with more energy efficient LEDs
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/23/europe-to-ban-halogen-lightbulbs
Ban diesel cars from cities, say half of UK drivers in poll
Almost three-quarters of motorists also think toxic air in their area is damaging their health
Landslides triggered by human activity on the rise
More than 50,000 people were killed by landslides around the world between 2004 and 2016, according to a new study by researchers at UK’s Sheffield University.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/egu-ltb082118.php
Nature Conservation
Bird feared extinct rediscovered in the Bahamas
One of the rarest birds in the western hemisphere, the Bahama Nuthatch, has been rediscovered by research teams searching the island of Grand Bahama.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uoea-bfe082218.php
Murky lakes now surpass clear, blue lakes in US
New research reveals that many lakes in the continental United States are becoming murkier, with potentially negative consequences for water quality and aquatic life.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180822082521.htm
Research identifies all the different ways the sea supports human wellbeing
A study led by the University of Liverpool that catalogued all of the links between marine biodiversity and the different ways we rely on the sea found more than 30 ways it supports well-being including providing a source of nutrition, supplying raw materials and supporting recreational activities.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180822101330.htm
Species-rich forests better compensate environmental impacts
To offset CO2 emissions, China is reforesting. If a mixture of tree species instead of monocultures were planted, much more carbon could be stored. An international team has shown that species-rich forest ecosystems take up more CO2 from the atmosphere and store more carbon in biomass and soil, making them more effective against climate change.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180822082651.htm
Nearly 40,000 giraffe parts have been imported to the US in last 10 years
Researchers from the Humane Society found 52 US locations in which giraffe products continue to be sold
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/23/giraffe-parts-humane-society-report
Police seize 1,100 turtles from Europe’s biggest illegal farm
Spanish police cooperating with other European countries shut down a farm in Mallorca selling endangered species of turtles for up to $16,000 each.
‘They are taking out a generation of tuna’: overfishing causes crisis in Philippines
Men like Raul Gomez have been catching tuna for 40 years, but as fisheries in the region edge closer to collapse, he spends longer at sea to catch ever smaller tuna
Mexico’s natural wonders are under threat. Can a poet save them?
Mexico’s environmental marvels are on borrowed time, but poet Homero Aridjis is fighting to change that
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/23/the-man-who-would-save-mexicos-natural-wonders
Now for something completely different …
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