Post of the Day
Climate change’s giant impact on the economy: 4 key issues
Many of the big economic questions in coming decades will come down to just how extreme the weather will be, and how to value the future versus the present.
Today’s Celebration
Rescuer’s Day – Belarus
Epiphany – Eastern Christianity
Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF)
Berlin International Green Week
Climate Change
The smelly side of climate change
Rising sea levels, heavier rainfalls, and declining snow cover are causing a shitload of problems for wastewater treatment.
Climate change’s giant impact on the economy: 4 key issues
Many of the big economic questions in coming decades will come down to just how extreme the weather will be, and how to value the future versus the present.
Why Antarctica’s sea ice cover is so low (and no, it’s not just about climate change)
Julie Arblaster et al
Antarctic sea ice cover fell to an all-time low recently and hasn’t yet recovered. Why? The initial answers could lie in an unlikely place – the tropics.
The next president must make climate change the top priority
Jay Inslee
Climate change can’t wait. Neither can the next president.
Climate headline catchy but false [$]
Bjorn Lomborg
An alarming report claims “catastrophic warming” will make last year’s natural disasters look like a picnic. There’s just one problem.
National
Climate priority for bank boss [$]
Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake has called for a ‘significant and urgent’ rise in clean energy investment.
Australia to become self sufficient in engineered timber by 2020
This sustainable and beautiful building material has largely been sourced from Europe, but get ready for a local revolution.
Chinese in $6bn clean coal plan [$]
Power baron Trevor St Baker plans to develop high-efficiency, low-emissions coal plants in Victoria and NSW.
Morrison’s climate confusion caps off a disconcerting week [$]
Charlie Lewis
Heatwaves, coffee and coal: this is the cognitive dissonance of climate change policy playing out in real time.
Victoria
Melbourne town halls, universities powered by renewables [$]
Melbourne has become the first Australian municipality to have its town halls and other infrastructure powered by renewable energy from a wind farm.
New South Wales
Another Murray cod dead at Menindee as locals brace for another kill
Murray-Darling commissioner offer to include Menindee fish kill in inquiry rejected by South Australia attorney general
Blair challenges NSW Labor to water debate
NSW Regional Water Minister Niall Blair and the state’s opposition water spokesman Chris Minns both say they’re willing to debate water policy.
NSW drought: The devastating reality of conditions in the Murray-Darling [$]
These are the extraordinary images of a persistently desolating drought ravaging the New South Wales Murray-Darling basin. Photographer Jenny Evans brings to light how the local communities are affected by drought and clean water shortages
Under the pump: cotton industry rejects blame for ailing Darling River
This week, the only sign of vegetation on the 40-square kilometres of irrigable land at the Darling Farms outside Bourke was the odd weed.
$3bn funding to power Snowy [$]
Snowy Hydro has locked in up to $3bn in debt funding for the Snowy 2.0 expansion.
Dead stinking fish send a message
Jack Waterford
A floating monument to greed, corruption, maladministration and disastrous environmental management.
ACT
Climate change preparation key as Canberra beats heatwave record
Canberra has experienced its longest run of days above 40 degrees, with the temperature hitting 40.1 at 3.41pm on Friday afternoon, while experts say the city needs to quickly adapt to more extreme heat driven by climate change.
Can a growing city cut carbon emissions to zero?
Penny Sackett, Frank Jotzo & Will Steffen
Canberra’s main challenges are to switch to electricity-powered transport and heating.
Queensland
Council could face lawsuits over Lime scooters [$]
They’re the scooters taking Brisbane by storm but there’s a legal issue looming which could land Brisbane City Council with a stack of lawsuits from injured riders.
South Australia
Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission won’t look at fish kills
The South Australian Government refuses an offer from the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission to investigate recent fish kills in the lower Darling River amid a stoush between the Attorney-General and the commissioner.
Murray Royal Commissioner forecasts “criticism of government conduct”
Murray Darling Basin Royal Commissioner Bret Walker has expressed concerns about the Marshall Government’s plans for his final report when he delivers it within days, as he forecasts a scathing assessment of “many governmental decisions and processes”.
Shutdown contains lead levels [$]
Drastic action by the operator of a South Australian lead smelter has averted a breach of its licence conditions.
In the land of Storm Boy, the cultural heritage of the Coorong is under threat
Kelly D. Wiltshire,
The Coorong’s Indigenous heritage is threatened by off-road vehicles and climate change.
Penalties for animal cruelty double in SA, but is this enough to stop animal abuse?
Alexandra Whittaker and Rochelle Morton
Our research compared penalties for animal cruelty issued before and after the law change in SA. We found the penalties did in fact increase, but reports of abuse haven’t decreased.
Tasmania
Community urged to stop dumping rubbish in charity donation bins
Across the state, charity donation bins are being littered with used nappies, glass and rotten food.
Northern Territory
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Western Australia
Cane toads spotted in shady parts of WA
Researchers monitoring cane toads in WA have found some moving during the day, rather than at night, because some gorges provide enough shade for the pest.
Sustainability
Pollutionwatch: transport’s true cost to the environment
Europe’s polluting behaviours are subsidised by taxes and a lowering of quality of life
Windfarm industry urges UK to lift onshore subsidies ban
Firms say 800 renewable projects ready to plug gap left after Wylfa nuclear plant scrapped
Think you have a food allergy? You might be wrong, study says
If you think you have a food allergy, you might be incorrect, according to a new report.
The first fight about Democrats’ climate Green New Deal
A key activist group has quietly dropped its support for carbon-capture technology, which scientists say will be crucial to fighting global warming.
More trees are the answer to cool down our cities
Marco Amati and Lauren Rickards
Leaving trees in the ground and planting new ones could help future proof new development sites against extreme heat.
Squaring the world’s waste circle will take more than many imagine
Ross Gittins
If you think we’ve been standing still – even going backwards – on reconciling the economy with the natural environment, that’s not wholly true. While our refusal to get real on climate change drags on, we’ve started our journey to the nirvana of a “circular economy”.
How to feed a growing population healthy food without ruining the planet
Alessandro R Demaio et al
We need to change how we produce, ship, eat and waste food to improve our health and that of the planet.
Recycling is not enough. Zero-packaging stores show we can kick our plastic addiction
Sabrina Chakori and Ammar Abdul Aziz
Zero-packaging stores provide a systemic solution to a globalised food industry dependent on plastic packaging.
Nature Conservation
Cleaning New York’s filthy harbor, one oyster at a time
The New York Harbor for years has been polluted and depleted of marine life. But one nonprofit is working to clean the murky water and revive its long-lost ecosystem — one oyster at a time.
Europe’s most important river is running dry
The Rhine waterway, critical to moving coal, car parts, food and thousands of other goods, risks becoming impassable because of climate change.
Now for something completely different …
Ten ways teacher librarians improve literacy in schools
Margaret Kristin Merga
Librarians are qualified to help struggling readers enjoy and improve at reading.
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