Post of the Day
Cattle urine’s planet-warming power can be curtailed with land restoration
The exceptional climate-altering capabilities of cattle are mainly due to methane, which they blast into the atmosphere during their daily digestive routine. Cattle urine is a lesser-known climate offender. It produces nitrous oxide (N2O), which has warming power far greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main driver of global warming. A new study shows that these N2O emissions can be significantly curbed by healthy cattle pastures.
Today’s Celebration
Day of Azerbaijani Customs – Azerbaijan
Martyr’s Day – India
Saudade Day – Brazil
School Day of Non-violence and Peace
Climate Change
The secret to legislative success for climate activists
The Green New Deal has to be more than just a branding exercise.
With a Green New Deal and Student Strikes For Climate, will young people save us yet?
Why global warming is so cold: how climate change is breaking up the polar vortex
On average, winters are getting warmer and milder across the Northern Hemisphere.
Climate change, not border security, is the real national emergency
Kate Aronoff
Climate change is a legitimate emergency, unlike Trump’s border “crisis,” which is a fabrication sewn of foam-mouthed racism and vain partisan panic.
National
It’s time to ‘take out’ environment ministers who fail on climate, says Oliver Yates
The long-time Liberal party member wants to take on Josh Frydenberg to start a people power campaign
Dutch man’s epic 89,000km drive proves electric cars are viable in Australia
By driving such extreme distances, Wiebe Wakker hopes to bust Australian anxieties about electric vehicles
Industry slams govt’s proposed energy laws
The federal government’s proposed energy laws to lower power prices have been slammed by industry giants and investors, submissions to the Senate show.
Million new jobs promise will hinge on population growth
A fast growing Australia will be the key to meeting Scott Morrison’s new jobs pledge.
Business prepared to power down again for summer
Businesses are expecting to power down more in the summers ahead after the energy market operator leaned heavily on large energy users in its failed attempt to avoid rolling blackouts in Victoria last week.
Snowy Hydro 2.0 – will it ever be built?
It was Malcolm Turnbull’s pet project, so will Snowy Hydro 2.0 survive without him?
Making money out of drought [$]
Speculators are flooding into the Murray Darling Basin’s irrigation markets, snapping up water in the midst of drought, as temporary water prices surge to $700 a megalitre on the Murrumbidgee system and $500 on the Murray.
Two-day power bill hits $1bn [$]
Victoria and South Australia copped a combined $1.1 billion energy cost hit in less than 48 hours last week.
Rich Gilmore is the Australian director of The Nature Conservancy, and is fighting to conserve and restore Australia’s precious landscape by involving sectors across the board, and making them part of the issue
How one think tank poisoned Australia’s climate debate [$]
Kishor Napier-Raman
One of the Institute of Public Affair’s greatest successes has been to stitch climate denialism into the very fabric of the conservative political identity.
Murray-Darling collapse: Carelessness and corruption beyond caring
Bruce Haigh
The collapse of the Darling River system and, with it, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Plan is an example of all that is wrong with Australia.
Graham Lloyd
Why do states with the most “cheapest” sources of energy, wind and solar, have the highest electricity prices?
Victoria
Natural emergency declared after 2,000 flying foxes die in heat
Almost a third of a Victorian town’s native flying fox population is found dead, along with hundreds of other bats in a second town, in what the state environment department describes as an “unprecedented” blow to the endangered species.
Melbourne to swelter but blackouts unlikely, energy operator says
Melbourne is set to swelter through another scorcher less than a week after a stint of extreme heat left more than 200,000 Victorians without power.
Andrews hit for ‘trashing’ reliability [$]
Angus Taylor has accused the Andrews government of ‘deliberately trashing’ the reliability of the Victorian grid.
Energy man’s link to Adani [$]
The renewable-energy advocate challenging Josh Frydenberg served on the board of a company that previously sold coal tenements.
New South Wales
NSW mass fish death clean-up under way
A huge clean-up is underway in NSW’s far west after hundreds of thousands of fish died in the Darling River system at Menindee.
Water donations flow for Darling River communities
More than 100,000 litres of drinking water has been donated to communities along the Darling River as complaints about the quality of mains water supply rise.
‘What are you going to do?’: Minister’s fish kill press conference crashed
Menindee residents crash the NSW Regional Water Minister’s press conference on the banks of the Darling River, after he arrives in the town to inspect hundreds of thousands of dead fish, which suffocated in the latest mass killing.
‘Disgusting, mud-sucking creatures’: The fish surviving Menindee’s mass kills
Once labelled “disgusting mud-sucking creatures” by Barnaby Joyce, the hardy carp surviving through the extreme conditions of the Darling River has experts worrying about the future of local river ecosystems.
ACT
Light rail makes it to last stop, as drivers prepare for city runs
It’s time for drivers to start runs from the Mitchell depot to Civic.
Queensland
Adani mine: environmental laws designed to protect black-throated finch led to bird’s decline
Of 775 projects overlapping bird’s habitat that government assessed over two decades, only one was refused, study reveals
Thousands of Adani jobs left in limbo [$]
Almost 14,500 people have lodged interest in working at Adani’s Carmichael coal mine which remains in limbo after the Palaszczuk Government ordered an 11th hour review.
Great Barrier Reef legal challenge aims to stop killing of sharks
Humane Society will argue shark control measures conflict with authority’s responsibility to protect reef
Morrison pledges SEQ road funding, while Queensland seeks Cross River Rail cash
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled the first part of his push to reduce road congestion in south-east Queensland, but the state’s premier says it is too little too late.
South Australia
SA govt receives Murray-Darling report
The royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin has handed over its report to the South Australian government which will make it public later this week.
E-scooter trial gains momentum [$]
The prospect of electric scooters hitting the Adelaide city streets and footpaths has taken a big step forward after the capital city council gave its support to a trial of the rapid-growing technology during the upcoming festival season.
Simpson Desert gets a new Aboriginal name [$]
The Munga-Thirri-Simpson Desert conservation park and regional reserve now has a new Aboriginal name, agreed with traditional owners after a 20-year push.
Solar projects to make SA an empire of the sun [$]
Plans have been lodged for two new major solar power developments in the Mid North as the state’s renewable energy sector continues to boom, with almost $13 billion worth of projects now in the pipeline.
Tasmania
Smoke blankets Hobart CBD as out-of-control bushfires burn across Tasmania
A thick cloud of smoke descends over Hobart, with Tasmanians feeling the effects of weeks of bushfires, even if they’re kilometres from the main fire front.
Three homes destroyed by bushfires in southern Tasmania
Fire service warns more properties could be lost in Castle Forbes Bay area as crews battle multiple blazes across the state
‘If we don’t get rain, the fires will get bigger and bigger’
Tasmania could look to North America and Europe for reinforcements if the bushfires are not brought under control soon. “If we don’t get substantial rain in the next month maybe, these fires will simply get bigger and bigger and bigger.”
The Parks and Wildlife Service will re-evaluate closures based on conditions
Due to the ongoing threat of fires in a number of areas around the state, the Parks and Wildlife Service has chosen to close Mount Field National Park on Wednesday and Thursday.
Water use plea as bushfires continue to rage [$]
Tasmanians are being asked to avoid non-essential water use during total fire ban days and while bushfires are threatening communities across the state.
Little penguins in peril from tourists’ taunts [$]
Alarming reports of tourists taking selfies with little penguins and poking sticks down their burrows are set to be discussed at a meeting of concerned Bicheno residents.
John Hawkins
Building and Construction Minister Sarah Courtney will today release a new set of revised Liberal hate-driven draft amendments to the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Act.
How long will fire crisis last? [$]
David Bowman
From increasing lightning strikes to exhausted groundwater supplies, climate factors are feeding into our fire seasons
Sustainability
Electric power generated from Wi-fi
The prospect of a world without batteries has been raised by scientists working on a flexible material that converts radio signals into usable electric current.
Partnership to reduce air pollution deaths in Kenya kicks off
Every child under the age of five in Africa is exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution risking their development physically and intellectually.
Australia might have the answer to herbicide-resistant ‘superweeds’
Farmers in Australia have innovated diverse, creative tools to fight herbicide-resistant weeds, which could provide a solution for U.S. farmers.
Hanford contractor docked pay for plutonium issues
Hanford nuclear reservation contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation, owned by Jacobs Engineering, was paid a $10 million incentive fee after the spread of radioactive contamination at a former plutonium plant.
Cattle urine’s planet-warming power can be curtailed with land restoration
The exceptional climate-altering capabilities of cattle are mainly due to methane, which they blast into the atmosphere during their daily digestive routine. Cattle urine is a lesser-known climate offender. It produces nitrous oxide (N2O), which has warming power far greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main driver of global warming. A new study shows that these N2O emissions can be significantly curbed by healthy cattle pastures.
China not ‘walking the walk’ on methane emissions
In China, regulations to reduce methane emissions from coal mining took full effect in 2010 and required methane to be captured or to be converted into carbon dioxide.
Saudi Arabia: we’ll pump the world’s very last barrel of oil
Tsvetana Paraskova
OPEC’s largest producer continues to expect global oil demand to keep rising at least by 2040 and sees itself as the oil producer best equipped to continue meeting that demand.
Nature Conservation
Joshua Tree national park ‘may take 300 years to recover’ from shutdown
National park saw ‘irreparable’ damage including vandalism, ruined trails and trees cut down, says former superintendent
Agency protecting English environment reaches ‘crisis point’
Natural England struggling to protect important sites after suffering budget cuts
Why large forest fires may not be a big threat to some endangered animals
A new study published in The Condor: Ornithological Applications shows that certain endangered owls may continue to persist and even flourish after large forest fires.
Now for something completely different …
6 questions to ask of your not-for-profit board
Being on the board of a not-for-profit has significant legal and reputational risks that can adversely impact livelihoods as much as a business failure, a prominent Australian commissioner has said.
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