Date: 12 October 2018 at 09:27:21 AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Oct 12
Post of the Day
Billionaires are the leading cause of climate change
As the world faces environmental disaster on a biblical scale, it’s important to remember exactly who brought us here.
https://www.gq.com/story/billionaires-climate-change
Today’s Celebration
Battle of Sarandi – Uruguay
Columbus Day – Honduras, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia
Day of Liberation from the French – Laos
Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race) – Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Puerto Rico
Discovery Day – Bahamas
Discovery of America – Argentina
Fair at McLean’s Town – Bahamas
Independence Day – Equatorial Guinea
National Day – Spain
Our Lady of Aparecida – Brazil
Hispanic Day – Spain
Climate Change
Role of ‘natural factors’ on recent climate change underestimated, research shows
Pioneering new research has given a new perspective on the crucial role that ‘natural factors’ play in global warming.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/uoe-ro101018.php
Wind holds key to climate change turnaround
Research co-led by a University of Delaware professor could help bring about the kind of far-reaching changes deemed necessary in the UN’s dire new climate change report. He found that when westerly winds in the Antarctic Ocean strengthen during the austral summer (Oct.-Feb.), surface waters in the region acidify faster than can be accounted for by increases in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere alone.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/uod-whk100918.php
With thick ice gone, Arctic sea ice changes more slowly
The Arctic Ocean’s sea ice blanket has already lost most of its old ice and two-thirds of its thickness. The younger ice is thinning more slowly and variably.
Billionaires are the leading cause of climate change
As the world faces environmental disaster on a biblical scale, it’s important to remember exactly who brought us here.
https://www.gq.com/story/billionaires-climate-change
“Climate justice” is the antidote for your climate change paralysis
Mary Robinson’s new book highlights frontline activists coping with a new reality.
Can we quit coal in time to avoid climate change catastrophe?
Angela Lavoipierre and Stephen Smiley
The latest IPCC report warns the world has just 12 years to avoid a climate change catastrophe. Scientists are telling us that by quitting coal quickly, we could stave it off, but is that even possible?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-11/can-we-quit-coal-in-time/10361552
Climate change will make the next global crash the worst
Larry Elliott
The response to climate change looks similar to the response to the financial crisis: fail to recognise there is a problem until it is too late; panic; then muddle through. That’s a sobering prospect.
The science is clear: we have to start creating our low-carbon future today
Alan Finkel
The latest UN climate report makes it clear that the task of limiting climate change is urgent and huge. We must start to transform our economy today, but it will bring rewards as well as challenges.
Archaeology can help us prepare for climates ahead – not just look back
Amy Prendergast
Remains of meals at Haua Fteah cave reveal a lot about past climates in in the Gebel Akhdar region of Libya.
National
PM returns serve on energy ‘anarchy’
Claims Australia’s energy policy has descended into anarchy are rubbish, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/pm-returns-serve-on-energy-anarchy
Investor money flows to renewables not coal
Policy uncertainty is the biggest barrier to investment in the energy sector amid concerns about the flood of cheap renewable projects.
https://www.afr.com/news/politics/investor-money-flows-to-renewables-not-coal-20181011-h16ibw
Climate change may pose threat to rule of law [$]
Inadequately mitigated climate change could undo our social order and the rule of law itself, says Justice Francois Kunc.
Energy chief: Power would stay on if coal was phased out
The comments are at odds with claims by the Morrison government that phasing out coal would disrupt electricity supplies.
‘Politics making it hard for politicians to do right thing: energy chief
Industry chiefs say ever-changing government rules have helped create domestic gas shortages and the potential need to import gas but further intervention in the sector will not help.
Natural-born weedkillers [$]
Biological products effective in curbing weeds are being blocked even as chemical herbicides face resistance.
No targets, Taylor warns states [$]
The Energy Minister has warned the states against derailing any attempt to legislate more reliability into the national energy grid.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan tells big business to leave climate policy to Canberra [$]
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan has warned big business not to form its own policy on greenhouse gas emissions in the wake of the dumping of the National Energy Guarantee, telling it to leave policy to the democratic process.
Shorten admits coal hard reality [$]
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has softened Labor’s stance on coal exports and power stations, while urging people to stop “dumbing down” the energy debate.
Drought Co-ordinator unsure where $50m for drought-affected farmers is going [$]
Drought Co-ordinator Major General Stephen Day has said he does not know where the approximately $50 million donated to drought-affected farmers is going.
How can gas imports be the answer in Australia? [$]
Jennifer Hewett
Australia has hundreds of years of natural gas, but we are seriously talking about importing gas. What happened?
Business set to leave Coalition behind [$]
Phillip Coorey
Appeasing the political cancers on the right of the Liberal Party has left business furious and ready to adopt its own emissions reduction scheme.
Canavan resists gas price control [$]
Matthew Stevens
Senator Matt Canavan has emerged a pretty rare beast in the ministry of our federal government. He apparently believes in markets. At least, to a point.
Solution to energy crisis should fall back on the market [$]
The AFR View
Why is the one of world’s biggest exporters of liquefied natural gas now thinking about importing LNG to deal with domestic gas shortages?
Maddening moment in immigration debate
David Crowe
Politicians are right to raise the challenge of rapid migration and the congestion in the big cities. But their endless talk highlights their impotence.
We need more carbon in our soil to help Australian farmers through the drought
Nanthi Bolan
Adapting to climate change means improving soil health, so it can hold more water (even during droughts).
Farmers’ climate denial begins to wane as reality bites
Sarah Ann Wheeler and Céline Nauges
Many farmers are now facing a future in which it is much harder to make a living off the land.
https://theconversation.com/farmers-climate-denial-begins-to-wane-as-reality-bites-103906
Malcolm Turnbull is gone but son Alex keeps the climate faith
Michelle Grattan
Alex Turnbull said in his video the IPCC report “frankly was terrifying … and it’s seemingly insane to me that we could not be doing something about this and soon”.
Newsflash. For most, energy remains affordable
Ben Phillips
It’s low-income earners and renters who are paying more.
https://theconversation.com/newsflash-for-most-energy-remains-affordable-104541
Anarchy! What big energy really thinks of consumer power
Giles Parkinson
Pick up the speech of any senior executive from a big utility – network, generator or retailer – or the head of most energy “institutions” and it doesn’t take you long to discover what their key “message” is. “This is all about the consumer,” they insist. “The consumer must come first.”
https://reneweconomy.com.au/anarchy-what-big-energy-really-thinks-of-consumer-power-32245/
Can Australia kick its coal habit by 2040? [$]
Nicky Ison
The IPCC report says we need to get out of coal by 2040. It’s a stark proposition for the political class, but can we do it? Absolutely.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2018/10/11/ipcc-report-australia-coal/
Victoria
Sydney Councils negotiate renewable energy deal
Allens has advised the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils on a long-term power purchase agreement with Origin Energy.
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/24221-sydney-councils-negotiate-renewable-energy-deal
New South Wales
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ACT
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Queensland
Laws failing to protect Great Barrier Reef from fertiliser run-off, documents show
A $261 million Queensland Government water quality program is failing to protect the Great Barrier Reef from fertiliser run-off, with sugar cane farmers still using excessive chemicals on their properties, Right to Information documents obtained by the ABC reveal.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-11/laws-not-stopping-fertilser-runoff-to-reef/10348718
‘No time to mess around’: Reef Foundation starts $400m donation drive
The controversial recipient of a $443.4 million grant from the Turnbull government reveals its plans to raise almost as much money by itself.
Legal bid to delay land-clearing over risk to Great Barrier Reef
Kingvale station’s proposed clearing of 2,000 hectares could be held up for months
Real-time fuel price monitoring comes to Queensland in December
Motorists will soon be able to compare prices at bowsers across the state in real-time, as fuel costs skyrocket.
South Australia
Trio of Tasmanian devil joeys unveiled at Monarto Zoo in ‘perfect’ health
Three of the newest (and cutest) additions at Monarto Zoo have wooed zoo keepers in Adelaide today, with a trio of Tasmanian devil joeys given their first health check.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-11/tassie-devils-get-first-health-check-in-adelaide/10365956
Leigh Creek Energy starts gas production at SA project [$]
Leigh Creek Energy has started gas production at its pilot plant in the state’s Far North and will run it for two to three months to collect data.
$7.4m coastal path project hits a wall [$]
Plans for a $7.4m coastal path project at a popular metropolitan beach have hit a rocky patch with environmental campaigners threatening legal action in a bid to stop it.
Bushfire season early in part of SA
Parts of South Australia will kick off the official fire danger season early because of dry conditions.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/bushfire-season-early-in-part-of-sa
Federal health meeting considers silicosis
A meeting of state and federal health ministers in Adelaide will consider the worsening issue of silicosis, with fears thousands have been affected.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/federal-health-meeting-considers-silicosis-163044223–spt.html
Tasmania
Tasmania’s salmon farms shooting thousands of non-lethal ‘beanbag’ rounds at seals
More than 8,700 beanbag bullets have been fired at seals around aquaculture sites in Tasmania since 2013, documents reveal.
Northern Territory
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Western Australia
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Sustainability
Constitutional uncertainty and political disputes put Green Brexit at risk, research shows
A Green Brexit could be under threat without greater cooperation between devolved nations and the UK government, a study led by the University of Sheffield has found.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/uos-cua101018.php
Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable
The study is the first to quantify how food production and consumption affects the planetary boundaries that describe a safe operating space for humanity beyond which Earth’s vital systems could become unstable.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/src-f1b100518.php
Aid agencies eye solar power to replace volatile, costly fuel
Cheap, reliable and hard to hijack, the sun could be an ideal energy source in many war zones and disaster areas, prompting aid agencies to consider ditching costly fuel for solar power.
A new path to solving a longstanding fusion challenge
A design developed at MIT suggests a solution to a longstanding problem for next-generation fusion power plants: how to get rid of excess heat they generate.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/miot-anp100918.php
People burning wet wood on inefficient stoves ‘poisoning themselves’
Study highlights ‘shocking contribution’ of domestic wood and coal fires to air pollution, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK
Long-term exposure to ozone has significant impacts on human health
A new study has utilized a novel method to estimate long-term ozone exposure and previously reported epidemiological results to quantify the health burden from long-term ozone exposure in three major regions of the world. The research, by Duke University (USA) and the University of York (UK), estimates that 266,000 (confidence interval: 186,000-338,000) premature mortalities across Europe, the USA and China in 2015 were attributable to long-term exposure to ozone (O3).
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/ip-let101118.php
Nature Conservation
‘Wildlife crime makes us all poorer’, says Theresa May
Ongoing animal slaughter must be treated with same severity as drug and people trafficking, say leaders from 80 nations gathered in London
Inside the resort that’s a pinup for coral reefs
The Nukubati island resort has established its green credentials well ahead of most, making it the UN’s poster child for coral reefs.
Now for something completely different …
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Maelor Himbury
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
0393741902
0432406862