Post of the Day
How 300 years of urbanization and farming transformed the planet
Three centuries ago, humans were intensely using just around 5 percent of the Earth’s land. Now, it’s almost half.
Today’s Celebration
Children’s Day – Tunisia
Constitution Day (Kosrae) – Micronesia
Dia de los Maestros – Panama
Hostos Day – Puerto Rico
Human Trafficking Awareness Day – United States
Independence Manifesto – Morocco
Kagami Baraki – Japan
National Unity Day – Nepal
Nature Reserves and National Parks Day – Russia
Republic Day – Albania
Sir John A. Macdonald’s Birthday – Canada
International Parity at Work Day
Learn Your Name In Morse Code Day
Climate Change
Warming oceans likely to raise sea levels 30cm by end of century – study
Seawater temperature is rising faster than predicted, which is likely to worsen extreme weather events around the world
Earth’s magnetic pole is on the move, fast. And we don’t know why
Earth’s magnetic field is what allows us to exist. It deflects harmful radiation. It keeps our water and atmosphere in place. But now it’s acting up — and nobody knows why.
Climate change: Chair of new House panel presses for dramatic response
Democrats retook the House on a platform that pledged action on climate change. Florida Rep. Kathy Castor chairs a panel to address global warming.
National
Aust sea expert wins coveted climate award
An Australian sea level expert awarded a prestigious international science prize says few politicians understand the urgency required to combat climate change.
Policy vacuum won’t stop green power [$]
Wind turbine supplier Vestas says the state-led, piecemeal approach on energy policy will compromise the efficiency of renewables investment.
The stunning chart revealing Australia’s record-breaking run of rising temperatures
If there was any question Australians are enduring a more extreme, topsy-turvy climate, look only to the month just gone.
A year on from Australia’s recycling crisis, what’s changed?
A year after the scale of Australia’s recycling crisis became apparent, governments are still scrambling for an answer and the waste industry says time is running out.
Climate and energy: both sides have explaining to do [$]
The AFR View
Industry and consumers are getting on with the transition of the energy market, with or without the government playing a role.
Cultivating a nation: why the mythos of the Australian farmer is problematic
Christopher Mayes
As a society, we need to address the role of farming in dispossession and violence in the colonial-settler era.
Victoria
Pint-sized pygmy possums make public debut
Seven critically-endangered mountain pygmy possums have been born at a Victorian wildlife sanctuary.
Great Ocean Road is at serious risk from surging sea levels
New research points to sea level rise as a factor in the erosion threat to the Great Ocean Road.
New South Wales
Darling River fish kill: cotton industry says it won’t be ‘the whipping boy’ for disaster
NSW Labor calls for special commission of inquiry into the environmental disaster
What happens when the ‘last resort’ on the Darling River dries out?
The toll on wildlife from this summer’s extreme heat and drought continues to mount in the state’s far-west, days after as many as a million fish died in the region.
#Barnaby: Rotting carcass reveals target of Darling fury [$]
Up to a million dead fish are now rotting in the Darling River, prompting outrage across the country while a macabre scrawled message reveals who an angry community holds responsible.
Orange eyesore sums up Sydney’s light rail debacle [$]
Massive orange road barriers crippling the livelihoods of scores of business owners remain throughout inner Sydney construction zones, flagging the continued delays dogging the city’s embattled $2.1 billion light rail project.
My lattes now save sea turtles [$]
Our fishing guru Al McGlashan vows to reduce his plastic impact on the ocean, one coffee at a time
ACT
Canberra’s dockless share bikes set to roll on. Now for e-scooters?
Canberra’s dockless bike share scheme will continue beyond the trial period’s January 31 end date, as the ACT government gives its strongest signal yet that the service will become a permanent fixture in the nation’s capital.
Queensland
Irukandji warning system in doubt as leading stinger expert departs CSIRO
In the wake of a huge stinger swarm that continues to plague Australia’s east coast, world-renowned expert Lisa-Ann Gershwin is preparing to leave the Government’s peak scientific body after it advised it would not be renewing her contract.
Gun-toting kids should hunt toads: Katter
Maverick crossbench MP Bob Katter has suggested children should be given a 40 cent bounty for killing cane toads with low-powered air rifles.
Why your dog could drive up your power bill [$]
After a series of workers were hospitalised after entering Queensland properties, the state’s electricity providers have implemented new guidelines aimed at keeping employees safe — and it could end hitting you at the hip pocket.
Pauline Hanson, you’re the real pest [$]
Steven Wardill
Pauline Hanson’s call for Newstart recipients to earn their welfare killing cane toads is just another way to cruelly attack the unemployed.
The economics of ‘cash for cane toads’ – a textbook example of perverse incentives
David Smerdon
It is estimated there are now more than 200 million cane toads across Queensland and northern New South Wales.
South Australia
SA to be okay on power in heatwave
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall says the state’s power network is expected to cope with the heatwave conditions heading SA’s way.
NSW fish deaths may extend Murray inquiry
A senior lawyer says it would be the right thing to extend South Australia’s Murray-Darling royal commission to consider the impact of the NSW fish deaths.
Santos extends Moomba gas processing
A three-year deal for Santos to process gas from Beach Energy and Senex Energy at its Moomba plant will ensure an ongoing path to market for the fuel.
Drill the Bight for fuel security, Minister says [$]
Oil exploration Drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight is the nation’s greatest opportunity to strengthen its fuel security, Federal Resources Minister Matthew Canavan says – but opponents say that argument is misleading.
Shortage adds more fuel to Bight debate [$]
Advertiser editorial
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan’s comments today on drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight are sure to ignite further debate.
Plans in parks are not just nimby fodder [$]
Advertiser editorial
Commercial developments in places like the Adelaide parklands or South Australia’s numerous national parks are always going to get people talking.
Tasmania
Fire warning issued for parts of Tasmania as interstate help arrives
Tasmanians are being urged to prepare for two days of fire danger as crews quickly extinguish a blaze at George Town, with others flying from interstate to fight another in the South-West.
Infrastructure plan is ‘under construction’ [$]
An infrastructure plan for Tasmania that was due to be released at the end of 2018 has been delayed, prompting questions about what Infrastructure Tasmania has been doing.
Our first look at Lake Malbena plan [$]
The Launceston couple behind a controversial tourism development within World Heritage-listed wilderness has released a first look at their proposed Halls Island standing camp.
Environment watchdog rules on big rig risk [$]
Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authoritiy has delivered a ruling on the biosecurity risk posed by a visiting oil rig in the River Derwent.
Northern Territory
Alice environmentalist is VP for Conservation Foundation
Councillor and Mayoral contender at the last election, Jimmy Cocking, says his appointment as vice-president of the Australian Conservation Foundation will not affect his work for the town council.
It is time the Federal Government made clear what its funding plans are for Kakadu National Park and the town of Jabiru, Tourism Minister Lauren Moss said yesterday
Western Australia
Bushfire threatens lives, homes in WA
A fast-moving and out-of-control bushfire is threatening lives and homes east of Perth in the Shire of York, with residents warned they may have to flee.
Secret docs reveal deadly blast risk at $63b LNG plant
WA workers at the Ichthys project off the Kimberley coast are in danger due to serious electrical faults that could ignite any gas that escapes, damning internal documents reveal.
Sustainability
Would you bring your own container to the grocery store to reduce waste?
Reusable containers are growing in popularity as people continue to look for new ways to reduce the amount of plastic waste they create, and some businesses are starting to get on board.
Dog food made from insects to go on sale in UK for first time
Globally pets consume 20% of meat and fish, a figure insect pet food could help to reduce
White House now biggest risk in global energy [$]
Confusion over President Trump’s intent is creating grey areas of serious misunderstanding around the Middle East.
Five contentious things people say about cycling
There is lot of general misunderstanding about cycling issues with some regular themes popping up.
Tiny Pacific atoll leaking radioactive waste left over from Cold War
This tropical island is anything but paradise, with toxic waste leaking into the ocean. And it’s right on Australia’s doorstep.
First-Ever Indigenous Peoples March Will Fight Against Injustices Faced Across the Globe
Raising alarm about human rights violations and the global climate crisis, activists from around the world are traveling to Washington, DC for the first annual Indigenous Peoples March, which will kick off at 8 a.m. local time on Jan. 18 outside the U.S. Department of the Interior’s main building.
Social and environmental costs of hydropower are underestimated, study shows
Study shows that deforestation, loss of biodiversity and economic damage done to communities living near dams have not been factored into the cost of these projects. Large dams also ignore the effects of climate change.
New materials could help improve the performance of perovskite solar cells
New research could lead to the design of new materials to help improve the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs).
A new way to measure solar panel degradation
How does one inspect solar panels in real time, in a way that is both cost-effective and time-efficient? Parveen Bhola, and Saurabh Bhardwaj, researchers at India’s Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, have spent the last few years developing and improving statistical and machine learning-based alternatives to enable real-time inspection of solar panels. Their research found a new application for clustering-based computation, which uses past meteorological data to compute performance ratios and degradation rates.
Study: Racial inequality in the deployment of rooftop solar energy in the US
Although the popularity of rooftop solar panels has skyrocketed because of their benefits to consumers and the environment, the deployment has predominantly occurred in white neighborhoods, even after controlling for household income and home ownership, according to a study by researchers from Tufts University and the University of California, Berkeley, published today in the journal Nature Sustainability.
The new Iron Curtain: The pollution divide between Eastern and Western Europe
There is a striking disparity between Eastern and Western Europe- a revitalised Iron Curtain has emerged. Statistics show that Eastern European and Balkan countries suffer the highest air-pollution related deaths in Europe.
Andrew Wheeler, former coal lobbyist, is now overseeing the EPA
Meet the former coal lobbyist who’s replacing Scott Pruitt.
Three miners dead in eleven days: Grim December caps coal industry year in mine safety
Three coal miners died in the last two weeks of a year that also saw coal’s employment continue to decline to a record low in the US.
United Nations instructs Canada to suspend Site C dam construction over Indigenous rights violations
The world’s foremost racial discrimination committee says Canada must work with Indigenous communities to find an alternative to the $10.7 billion hydro project in B.C.
How Japanese design thinking created Marie Kondo
Jenna Price
From the bedrooms and toilets to its extraordinary public transport system, Japan and its culture is tidy by design.
Nature Conservation
Explainer: what causes algal blooms, and how we can stop them
The phenomena of “algae blooms”, when the population of algae in a river rapidly grows and dies, can be devastating to local wildlife, ecosystems and people. But what are algae blooms? What causes them, and can we prevent them?
Trade in ivory from extinct mammoths could be banned
Proposal is intended to protect African elephants from being poached for their tusks
Climate change intensifies war of the birds
University of Groningen (UG) biologists have discovered that climate change has an effect on the regular clashes between great tits and pied flycatchers during the breeding season. In some years, great tits killed 10 percent of the male pied flycatchers.
Murky water keeps fish on edge
Fish become anxious and more cautious when water quality is degraded by sediment, an effect that could stunt their growth and damage their health.
Using drones to tackle climate change
Scientists are using drones to survey woody climbing plants and better understand how they may affect the carbon balance of tropical rainforests.
The best real estate to get animals through climate change
Deep in shady forests and at the bottom of towering canyons, climate refugia could provide the stability that vulnerable species need.
How 300 years of urbanization and farming transformed the planet
Three centuries ago, humans were intensely using just around 5 percent of the Earth’s land. Now, it’s almost half.
Now for something completely different …
Health Check: how do I tell if I’m dehydrated?
Most of us get thirsty when we need to drink more water. But there are other tell-tale signs that not all is well.
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