Date: 22 February 2019 at 08:44:20 AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Feb 22
Post of the Day
Complete world map of tree diversity
New statistical model eliminates blank spaces
Today’s Celebration
Independence Day – St. Lucia
People Power Day – Philippines
Unity Day – Syria
Crime Victims Day – Poland
Cat Day – Japan
Scout Movement Founders’ Day (B-P Day)
Climate Change
Greta Thunberg tells EU: your climate targets need doubling
Swede, 16, says EU cannot just ‘wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge’
Earth may be 140 years away from reaching carbon levels not seen in 56 million years
Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth’s last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations, new research finds.
Cold-temperature variability important in evaluating climate change
New research highlights the importance of considering cold temperature variability, and not just warming temperatures, when evaluating the impact of climate change.
Gen X has survived its gloomy formative years. Now we will have to deal with climate change
Jason Wilson
The baby boomers gave us Trump and Brexit. Can my generation age more gracefully?
National
Amazon-backed Rivian targets Australia for electric utes
Rivian CEO and founder says Australia is an important market, following investment from internet giant Amazon.
Origin sees renewables doubling in three years, eyes multiple big battery options
Origin looking at new grid batteries, seeks to contract 500MW wind at low $50/MWh, and predicts Australia renewables capacity to double in next three years
Dollar tumbles as Chinese ports slap shock ban on Australian coal imports
Australian coal producers suffer another savage hit, with Chinese authorities placing an indefinite ban on imports ahead of a strict new regime of quotas.
The industry is falling apart’: New cladding alert pushes crisis into the suburbs
Thousands more properties could now be caught up in Australia’s cladding crisis, as authorities issue an alert warning against the use of another nine types of the material, including cladding commonly used on single-storey suburban homes.
Don’t fund big energy companies: ACCC
The big three power companies could get taxpayer-funded help for new energy generation unless the government steps in, the consumer watchdog warns.
Climate change-related litigation was once seen as joke, but it could soon become business reality
CEOs of Australia’s largest companies are hearing the message and realising that on issues like climate change the need to act is not just a moral one.
Coalition’s $1bn climate top-up [$]
The Coalition is planning to add $1 billion to the government’s Emissions Reduction Fund as part of its new direct action plan.
“It’s proof!” Coalition endorses Murdoch’s “carbon cut apocalypse” beat up
Giles Parkinson
The Murdoch media campaign against climate policies and renewables plumbed new depths on Thursday, with a front page lead story in The Australian promoting patently absurd costings that were quickly endorsed by the Coalition government as “proof” of the dangers of Labor’s proposed energy and climate policies.
Australian headlines are designed to scare people into not acting on climate change
Erwin Jackson
As we head into another cycle of climate change politics beware the economic doomsayers
Glencore’s coal cap a loose fit [$]
Matthew Stevens
Glencore’s new flexible coal production cap is a cleverly faceted but classically self-serving response to the relentless external pressures of the climate change lobby, some coal rivals have said.
What’s good for the world, is good for Glencore and its coal profits
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Ivan Glasenberg is no altruist. Anti-coal lobbyists may be euphoric about Glencore’s cap on coal production, but it’s even better news for shareholders.
Jennifer Hewett
The economic and political contradictions of the coal issue can’t be neatly squared away in a country so heavily dependent on the commodity as its most valuable export.
The coal, hard facts: Australia could follow Germany’s phase-out model
Frank Jotzo and Andreas Loeschel
As Glencore limits coal production, there’s a model for Australia to phase it out altogether, write experts from the Australian-German Energy Transition Hub.
ALP will need a wrecking ball [$]
Angus Taylor
The opposition seems determined to lead the nation towards economic harakiri to meet its emissions reduction target.
Labor’s costly emissions arrogance [$]
Judith Sloan
Brian Fisher is no slouch when it comes to the modelling of economic impacts of emissions reduction targets.
Coal has a role to play in easing global poverty [$]
Daniel Wild
Reliable power Those who cheer the idea of the end of coal are also cheering a much poorer future, not just for Australians but for people all around the globe.
Why I won’t let my kids join the climate strike [$]
Louise Roberts
The idea of school kids wagging school to protest climate change, egged on by radical teachers, horrifies me, writes Louise Roberts. School is for learning, not activism.
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Victoria
Explainer: It’s an Instagrammers’ delight, but why does this Melbourne lake turn pink?
It’s a fleeting phenomenon that seems made for social media feeds, but why does the Westgate Park salt lake — nestled in an industrial part of Melbourne — turn this rosy hue?
Victoria’s recycling crisis goes from bad to worse as another plant shuts down
There are now close to 30 Victorian councils struggling to find somewhere to dispose of their recyclable waste as another major recycling plant stops accepting kerbside collections.
Forestry industry in limbo as Andrews stalls timber release plan
The government has suspended the release of new areas of native forest for logging, in a decision the industry says put has regional businesses in danger.
Australia’s first offshore wind farm stalled by lack of policy
Australia’s first offshore wind farm is delayed due to a lack of regulatory framework. But the Maritime Union says delay it because the Government has a “blind hatred” for renewables.
Airport parking revenue soars to $150m in ‘gold mine’ [$]
Melbourne Airport has been stinging car park users $410,600 a day in fees in a cash grab branded a “money-making gold mine” by the Consumer Action Law Centre.
Unions dig in on West Gate Tunnel stoush [$]
An industrial stoush over the West Gate Tunnel is heating up, with Victoria’s construction unions forcing the consortium running the $6.7 billion project back to the negotiating table as a bitter battle continues.
Premier faces a growing problem [$]
Matt Johnston.
The issues surrounding timber, logging, jobs, conservation and parks will pose tricky questions for the Victorian government this year.
New South Wales
Mass fish kill due to ‘exceptional climate conditions’, Government’s interim report finds
The lower Darling River remains in a critical condition and without significant inflows and more fish deaths are expected, says the Government’ preliminary report.
Mapping gives clearest hint yet of sites for Metro West stations
Sydney developers, councils and residents have been in the dark for months about where stations will be built for a new $18 billion-plus metro rail line between Parramatta and central Sydney.
Narribri ‘potential CSG hub’ [$]
Santos says it expects a NSW industrial hub linked to its $3.6 billion Narrabri CSG project could emerge if it is approved.
CFMEU threatens ALP over coal mine stance [$]
The NSW mining and energy union is considering withholding electoral support for 11 ALP state and federal candidates in NSW because of Labor’s lack of support for coal projects.
Rocky Hill tarnishes rule of law [$]
Henry Ergas
Until legislators vote to ban coalmining, courts are obliged to be dispassionate.
Union gives ALP a coal, hard choice [$]
Telegraph editorial
The coal debate has given the ALP a stark choice: Is it a party devoted to maintaining and improving conditions for working Australians, or one struggling to offer an image of environmental concern while trying to contain rising Greens support in cashed-up urban electorates?
ACT
Canberra must be greener to cope in a hotter future
Barbara Norman
We need greater tree cover, even in areas where housing is becoming denser.
Queensland
Adani nod could take 2 years: Qld official
Queensland’s Resources Investment Commissioner Caoilin Chestnutt says environmental approval for Adani’s Carmichael mine could take up to two years.
Gas shortage to hit Qld LNG plants: study
Two of Queensland’s six LNG export trains off Gladstone could be forced to close by 2025, as there isn’t enough gas to feed them, a study claims.
Great Barrier Reef remediation project begins nine years after Shen Neng 1 grounding
Nine years after the Chinese-owned coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on the Douglas Shoal, efforts to restore the reef are about to begin.
Concerns raised over funding grants to Great Barrier Reef Foundation
The Queensland Government defends giving almost $3.5 million of taxpayer dollars to the controversial Great Barrier Reef Foundation, including more than $100,000 for a smartphone app that is yet to be delivered.
Solution to Queensland’s paradise lost [$]
A prominent developer believes he has the solution to attracting meaningful investment to Queensland’s languishing island resorts.
LNP snaps to it with no-nonsense croc policy [$]
The State Opposition will unveil a plan to swiftly deal with rogue crocodiles, in a move it says strikes the right balance between Labor’s current policy and more extreme measures.
River spills banks in king tide [$]
The force of this week’s “significant” king tide has caused the murky brown waters of the Brisbane River to spill over through the city’s low lying areas.
Adani process: Due diligence or shifting the goalposts? [$]
Courier Mail editorial
An environmental scientist goes head-to-head with Adani Australia’s CEO over whether the black-throated finch is under legitimate threat or had become a political weapon.
Key Adani report being kept a State secret [$]
Des Houghton
The Palaszczuk Government has added to the controversy over Adani mine approvals by refusing to release the final report an issue considered to be a major threat to the project.
South Australia
SA Water on path to “net zero” power bills, with 154MW solar rollout
SA Power Networks subsidiary Enerven awarded contract to deliver SA Water’s 154MW solar and 34MWh storage roll-out.
Santos’s billion dollar bounce back [$]
Santos has had a nearly billion dollar turnaround in its fortunes, posting a set of record numbers.
Tasmania
Land for Gunn’s controversial Tamar Valley pulp mill goes on market
Land which was once to be home to Gunns’ controversial Tamar Valley pulp mill has been placed on the market.
Big tick for wilderness camp plans [$]
A proposal for a luxury standing camp development in World Heritage-listed wilderness has moved another step closer to approval.
Turbocharging tourism in the post-fire Huon [$]
Huon Valley Mayor Bec Enders has dropped some tantalising hints about plans for a major attraction to turbocharge tourism in the bushfire-ravaged region.
Northern Territory
Catching dugongs, fending off crocodiles as rangers risk everything for conservation
Scientists and Indigenous rangers jump into crocodile-inhabited waters to learn more about dugong numbers in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Sustainability
McKinsey says renewables to make up 50% of global generation by 2035
McKinsey says electricity demand will double out to 2050, as transport goes electric, but the share of renewables will soar to 73% in a “clear break” from fossil fuels….
Silicon Valley billionaires are moving into luxurious doomsday bunkers. Here’s why
A growing number of Americans are preparing for social, economic and environmental collapse by moving into remote underground bunkers in the US Midwest — and the owner says there have been “lot of enquiries from Australia”.
Using E. coli to create bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner
Mechanical engineers are working on genetically engineering and optimizing E. coli bacteria to produce bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner.
Indoor exposure to air pollution studied
In an Indoor Air study conducted in a suburb of the city of Kuopio, Finland, relatively short-lasting wood and candle burning of a few hours increased residents’ daily exposure to potentially hazardous particulate air pollution. Associations between indoor air pollutants and building ventilation or cooking were also observed.
Innovative nanocoating technology harnesses sunlight to degrade microplastics
Low density polyethylene film (LDPE) microplastic fragments, successfully degraded in water using visible-light-excited heterogeneous ZnO photocatalysts.
Fossil fuel combustion is the main contributor to black carbon around Arctic
Fossil fuel combustion is the main contributor to black carbon collected at five sites around the Arctic, which has implications for global warming, according to a new study.
Squid could provide an eco-friendly alternative to plastics
The remarkable properties of a recently-discovered squid protein could revolutionize materials in a way that would be unattainable with conventional plastic.
Five insights that could move tourism closer towards sustainability
Jason Paul Mika
Tourism is putting some natural sites under increasing pressure.
Nature Conservation
World’s largest bee not seen for 38 years rediscovered on remote Indonesian island
Insect detectives have rediscovered the world’s largest bee while on expedition on a remote Indonesian Island, 38 years after it was last officially recorded.
Toilet paper wiping out habitat, planet
Americans use more toilet paper than anyone else in the world, helping destroy the habitats of native people and contributing to global warming, studies show.
How coral bleaching threatens Caribbean communities
Analysis reveals Caribbean communities that are most at risk from the social and ecological effects of coral bleaching
Complete world map of tree diversity
New statistical model eliminates blank spaces
Protecting small forests fails to protect bird biodiversity
Forests need better management to maintain ecological integrity
Now for something completely different …
Laws designed to silence: the global crackdown on civil society organizations
Amnesty International
An alarming global trend has surfaced in which states are introducing and using laws to interfere with the right to freedom of association and to hamper the work of civil society organizations and individuals who participate in them. This report shows how this phenomenon is widespread and increasing in all regions.
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