Post of the Day
Billions of litres of water ‘missing’ from Murray-Darling Basin, study claims
According to a damning new report, the Government has exaggerated the amount of water being returned to the Murray-Darling, which may account for some of the river’s ecological issues.
Today’s Celebration
Alamo Day – United States of America
Foundation Day – Norfolk Island
Independence Day – Ghana
National No Smoking Day – Ireland
Lent – Christianity
Ash Wednesday – Christianity
World Day of Prayer – Christianity
Climate Change
Investors Hungry for Action on Climate Change
A multi-trillion dollar investor coalition is demanding that the world’s largest fast-food brands, including McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, and KFC, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use in their supply chains.
Weatherwatch: why short memories may be bad for the climate
Unusual weather may not seem so if we forget how things used to be
Mining giant BHP has joined billionaire Bill Gates in backing a bold plan to pull carbon dioxide out of thin air.
The world talks about climate change while Kiribati waits…and suffers
As public discussion on climate change and ways to arrest its impact continue around the world, one of many low-lying atolls in the Pacific wrestles with the issue right now.
Why good politics and good climate science don’t mix
As the U.S. confronts what to do about climate change, human psychology leaves climate-conscious politicians in a tough spot.
The Silencing Of The Climate Emergency, And What We Should Do About It
Richard Hil and Gideon Polya
Breaking the silence of the climate emergency is key to our future survival.
National
The Power Behind a Not-So Rubbish Cause
For 30 years, the first weekend of March has brought Australians of all walks of life together to do a simple, yet effective act – pick up rubbish. As CEO of Clean Up Australia, Terrie-Anne Johnson is leading the charge.
Climate change puts additional pressure on vulnerable frogs
Already devastated by a fungus made worse by changing temperatures, Australia’s frogs are at risk because of water availability and lack of refuge
Burnside says Greens would not block Labor’s climate change policies
As Greens candidate for Kooyong, Julian Burnside sets up a four-way contest with Josh Frydenberg, Liberal-turned-independent Oliver Yates and Labor
Coalition says Labor must use Kyoto credits – but also that they make little difference
Angus Taylor says while carryover credits are ‘relatively small’ part of carbon budget, any decision to ditch them would be catastrophic
Billions of litres of water ‘missing’ from Murray-Darling Basin, study claims
According to a damning new report, the Government has exaggerated the amount of water being returned to the Murray-Darling, which may account for some of the river’s ecological issues.
‘Alchemy’ turns CO2 into coal [$]
Australian scientists have found a way to ‘rewind the emissions clock’.
Dingoes should remain a distinct species in Australia
Since the arrival of British settlers over 230 years ago, most Australians have assumed dingoes are a breed of wild dog. But 20 leading researchers have confirmed in a new study that the dingo is actually a unique, Australian species in its own right.
The downside of Rio’s $9.9 billion dividend
Scott Phillips
The company is implicitly saying: “Trust us… we’ll keep your cash and turn it into even more”.
Out of sight, out of luck: the hidden victims of Australia’s deadly heatwaves
Graham Readfearn
Extreme weather events are causing severe damage to native flora and fauna, but the casualties are slipping under the radar
Did Morrison and Taylor listen when Snowy belled the cat on coal costs?
Giles Parkinson
Prime minister Scott Morrison and energy minister Angus Taylor have been leading Australians into an Alice-in-Wonderland world where – at least in regard to greenhouse gas emissions – up is down and down is up.
An end to endings: how to stop more Australian species going extinct
John Woinarski et al
We need nature. It gives us inspiration, health, resources, life. But we are losing it. Extinction is the most acute and irreversible manifestation of this loss.
Why does the AFR print such utter garbage about battery storage?
Giles Parkinson
The AFR is not done with battery storage. On Monday, it publishes opinion piece so ridiculous and so misinformed it beggars belief.
Swapping billionaires in the energy wars
Matthew Stevens
From Andrew Forrest to Sanjeev Gupta, James Baulderstone looks to have swapped billionaires in his quest to engineer sustainable solutions to the east coast energy challenge.
How to lose water, waste money and wreck the environment
Ross Gittins
Why does the tiny native-timber logging industry get the kid-glove treatment from governments?
Victoria
Victoria announces planning rule change to smooth way for renewables boom
Victoria government changes state planning rules for grid connections for large-scale solar and wind energy development.
Bushfire threat in Victoria’s east eases
Dozens of fires continue to burn out of control in Victoria’s east as calmer conditions reduce the bushfire threat.
Victoria’s bushfires expected to burn for weeks as authorities cop flak
Fires have ripped through Victoria, destroying homes and putting thousands of firefighters under pressure.
Vic councils find new recycling processors
Some of the Victorian councils forced to send recycling to landfill when the largest processor was shut down over safety concerns have found solutions.
Gas ‘crisis’ forcing businesses to shut: ACCC
Manufacturing businesses are being driven out of Australia by soaring gas prices, the competition watchdog has warned, as Victoria faces renewed pressure to dump its ban on onshore drilling.
Premier rejects gas ban claims [$]
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he accepts some forms of renewable energy are cheaper than others.
Melissa Price links Victoria bushfires to climate change [$]
Environment Minister Melissa Price has linked this week’s devastating bushfires in Victoria to climate change, saying there is “no doubt” of its impact on Australia
Green ideology makes bushfires worse [$]
Miranda Devine
Failing to manage fuel loads is the main driver of Victoria’s latest fires, writes Miranda Devine. So why is the Morrison government falling for green propaganda blaming climate change?
New South Wales
NSW Deputy Premier backflips on brumby debate
John Barilaro rejects suggestions he has backflipped on the plan for brumby management, but now says he supports culling half of all feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park.
‘Travesty’: fourth fish kill looms as study finds phantom water savings
Residents at Menindee are bracing for a fourth mass fish kill in the Darling River in about three months, as a new paper finds water savings in the Murray Darling Basin may be just one-tenth the amount modelled.
Labor gas ban vow ‘a jobs killer’ [$]
Labor leader Michael Daley has come under attack for his pledge to oppose Santos’ $3.6 billion coal-seam gas project at Narrabri.
ACT
‘It is ultimately just asphalt’: Recycled glass, plastic laid in road trial
A combination of glass bottles, plastic bags and used printer cartridges has been combined with reclaimed asphalt to make up a new kind of road surface that was laid in Gungahlin on Tuesday as part of an ACT trial.
Nature park at Mount Ainslie is for remembrance, not cars: advocates
Richard Thwaites knows better than most the struggle that first won protection for Remembrance Nature Park and turned it into a place honouring those who have served in war.
Queensland
‘Gross negligence’: Company cleared ‘sacred’ Indigenous land in Queensland
A construction company has been ordered to pay over $430,000 for deliberately bulldozing an indigenous heritage site in central Queensland.
Adani to fight allegation of releasing sediment during cyclone
Adani will plead not guilty to releasing sediment water eight times over the allowed limit into the Great Barrier Reef during Cyclone Debbie in 2017.
Labor to cut Chinese stake in Cubbie station [$]
A Labor Federal Government would make Chinese textile giant Ruyi Shandong comply with the law and wind down its 80 per cent stake in Australia’s largest irrigated cotton property, Cubbie Station.
A former Labor MP has warned opposition to Adani’s Carmichael coalmine has been fuelled by fears of foreigners.
Eco hut plan may create conflict [$]
Mike O’Connor
Opening national parks to privately owned, eco-friendly lodges is a great idea but it won’t come cheap and has the added complication of being pitched by a company directed by the Tourism and Events Queensland chairman.
Not enough: The Government’s neglect of our “devastated” koalas
Sue Arnold
In its further pursuit of talkfests without resolution, the Queensland Government invited a bunch of koala conservation organisations, carers and wildlife hospital representatives to a workshop in mid-February.
South Australia
Adelaide’s public transport users need a more powerful voice
David Washington
It’s no wonder that public transport users are the bottom of the policy pile when the best-connected and most well-resourced transport lobby group in South Australia represents motorists.
Opal capital Coober Pedy ‘on knife-edge’ as desert town faces water problem
The only thing more precious than opal at Coober Pedy is water and it is under threat.
Southern residents left wondering: where will our recycling go? [$]
Onkaparinga Council is refusing to say what will happen to household recycling following the sudden closure of SKM Recycling, which was paying the council for its yellow bin material.
Tasmania
Council’s plastic ban bid wins support and ire [$]
A global fast-food giant has expressed interest in working with the Hobart City Council on its implementation of a bylaw banning plastic takeaway items.
Western Australia
Battle against Yeelirrie uranium mine continues for traditional owners and Conservation Council
Traditional owners and the Conservation Council of WA are continuing their fight against a proposed uranium mine, fearing unique subterranean fauna in the project area will be made extinct if it proceeds.
Sustainability
South Africa celebrates opening of another solar plus storage plant
ENGIE announced early February the completion and commercial operation of one of South Africa’s largest renewable energy projects, the 100 MW Kathu Solar Park
Record renewable energy share of 56.5% for German system operator 50Hertz
German grid operator 50Hertz says 56.5% of the electricity consumed in 2018 across its grid area was supplied by renewable energy sources.
Rate of plastic pollution is predicted to double by 2030. Here are the ways we can stop it
A new report finds that the amount of plastic pollution we create is set to double by 2030, and recommends a global treaty to address our plastic waste “crisis”.
‘Nothing should be classified as waste’: crisis is opportunity for Veena Sahajwalla
Products may be superficially old or damaged but their basic elements can always be reused, the materials engineer says
What laws work best to cut plastic pollution
Experts have recommended how the United States can drastically curb the use of throwaway plastics with new federal legislation.
For Fukushima’s nuclear disaster, robots may be the only hope
Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsumani caused the worst nuclear disaster in history. Send in the robots.
Tomorrow′s transportation will be electric and shared
What will climate-friendly traffic look like in the future? Social scientist Andreas Knie believes that people won’t own cars, will fly much less and use electric public transportation.
The government has no clue what’s in your beauty products. Beautycounter is finding out
16h
The six-year-old startup has teamed up with researchers at Tufts University to better understand the murky ingredients that go into personal care products.
Waste ash from coal-fired power plants contaminated water in 39 states with toxic substances: report
Waste ash from hundreds of coal-fired power plants has contaminated groundwater in 39 states with toxic substances like arsenic, lithium and mercury, according to a report by two environmental groups that was based on data the plants reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Toxic exposure at work kills one worker every 15 seconds
Around the world, a worker dies from exposure to toxics in their workplace every 15 seconds, according to a 2018 UN report.
Chemicals found in carpets, floors and clothes damage sperm
Chemicals found in household items are damaging the sperm of both men and their dogs, research has found.
NREL pioneers cleaner route to upcycle plastics into superior products
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered a method of plastics upcycling — transforming discarded products into new, high-value materials of better quality and environmental value — that could economically incentivize the recycling of waste plastics and help solve one of the world’s most looming pollution problems.
Thirsty planet: Climate change and population growth are making the world’s water woes more urgent
Simon Long
And they are exacerbated by bad management.
Nature Conservation
Marine heat waves threaten fish, corals
Fish, corals and other marine life are threatened by the rising frequency of ocean heat waves, a scientific study shows.
Drone technology provides greater insight into life of Antarctic blue whales
The use of innovative technologies such as drones and echosounders is helping researchers in the Southern Ocean unravel the mysteries of the largest species that has ever lived.
China, India lead the way in making the world greener
The two countries are expanding forests and cultivating farmlands to create new green space.
Study: climate change is leading to unpredictable ecosystem disruption for migratory birds
Using data on 77 North American migratory bird species from the eBird citizen-science program, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology say that, in as little as four decades, it may be very difficult to predict how climate change will affect migratory bird populations and the ecosystems they inhabit.
Guatemala: Proposed new park on indigenous land treads fine ethical line
Community leaders and environmental groups are working to expand protected areas around a mountain cloaked in rare cloud forest in central Guatemala that is home to several indigenous communities.
For the first time, we can measure the human footprint on Antarctica
Shaun Brooks and Julia Jabour
Most people picture Antarctica as a frozen continent of wilderness, but people have been living – and building – there for decades. Now, for the first time, we can reveal the human footprint across the entire continent
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