Post of the Day
What climate organizers can learn from two centuries of Indigenous resistance
In “Our History Is the Future,” Nick Estes examines the tradition of Indigenous resistance that gave rise to today’s fights against fossil fuel development.
Today’s Celebration
Baron Bliss Day Belize
Land Surveyors Day – Ukraine
Teachers’ Day – Lebanon
Climate Change
What climate organizers can learn from two centuries of Indigenous resistance
In “Our History Is the Future,” Nick Estes examines the tradition of Indigenous resistance that gave rise to today’s fights against fossil fuel development.
The rapid demise of coal has burnished the country’s climate credentials.
Geoengineering debate shifts to UN environment assembly
Countries will discuss whether to commission a study of technologies to blunt the effects of climate change.
God and the earth: Evangelical take on climate change
Conservative Christians have long opposed climate science, saying human induced warming goes against God’s omnipotence. Opinions divide on whether that thinking might slowly be changing.
Trump’s climate policies face 6 big legal battles this year
State attorneys general are gearing up to fight some noxious policies.
A desperate call for government action as climate targets fall in the race for jobs
Kathryn Diss
As governments around the globe grapple with ways to mitigate climate change, they must manage the competing demands of saving a planet while keeping the economy going
The sun dominates climate change
Tim Ball and Tom Harris
Why are the public generally unaware of the important research that connects variations in the output of the Sun with climate change?
National
Abbott backs down on Paris climate agreement opposition, prompting slapdown from Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull ridicules former prime minister Tony Abbott’s comments amid abandoning his calls to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.
Renewable energy summit calls for tougher politicians and a future without coal
As coal-dependent regions ponder the inevitable transition to a post-coal future, experts are calling for political parties to adopt “a long-term view” on renewable energy rather than looking to the next election.
Defence minister’s nuclear industry wish
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne wishes Australia established a nuclear energy industry in the 1950s, but he cannot see it happening in the future.
Morrison government hit by new internal dispute over coal
Policy gulf is being blamed for the government delay in deciding support for a shortlist of new projects.
MPs seize on power hardship to renew coal push
A record number of households are being forced onto hardship programs to pay off their electricity bills as they struggle to cope with rising power prices. A group of Coalition backbenchers have seized on the new data to bolster their push for the government to help build new coal-fired power plants, claiming it would help drive down prices.
Boiling point: the behavioural stormfront that follows disaster
Climate change is driving a spike in the demand for domestic violence services across Australia, researchers warn, prompting calls for an overhaul of the way communities respond to natural disasters.
Wind and solar plants hit by massive de-ratings in congested grid
Major wind and solar farms hit by significant de-rating as AEMO adjusts marginal loss factors. Some facing 20% cut in output.
Energy bosses clash with Shorten [$]
Energy and resources chiefs argue the market case for a low-emissions power plant will be strengthened by Labor’s targets.
Climate Change Authority
This paper provides an overview of climate change policies at the Australian and state and territory government levels. The paper also discusses climate change adaptation policies and Australia’s contributions to international climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Dear Tony, your change of heart on the Paris treaty is as insincere as it is desperate
Katharine Murphy
That the former PM said Australia should stay in the Paris agreement during his debate with Warringah challenger Zali Steggall says it all
Scared Abbott backflips – again [$]
Phillip Coorey
It is impossible to unpick the logic behind Tony Abbott’s latest backflip because there is none. Other than panic.
Tony Abbott’s Paris backflip reveals the emptiness of last year’s leadership madness
David Crowe
The threat of an election defeat has just forced Tony Abbott to reveal the emptiness of the climate change argument that brought the government to a halt last year.
The death of “baseload” power in Australia, and the rise of “cycling”
Paul McArdle
Baseload power is already under threat in Australia, with new data showing the scale of the transition in the NEM, and how radically different the supply mix will…
Coalition loses the plot as window closes on fantasy coal plans
Giles Parkinson
Craig Kelly hasn’t been very noisy of late – too preoccupied, it seems, on filling his Facebook page with some of the biggest nonsense you will find anywhere about climate hoaxes, renewables and batteries.
Judith Sloan
There are reasons the ubiquitous gas hydrogen is not widely used as fuel, and talk of jobs is premature.
Climate policies: Twelve dumped in half a decade [$]
Karen Middleton
Still cautious after the pink batts program, the government’s climate policies fail to properly engage with energy efficiency.
Victoria
Recycling company charged with environmental offences over huge Coolaroo blaze
SKM Recycling and its director are charged with environmental offences following a 2017 fire at their recycling facility at Coolaroo, in Melbourne’s north, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says.
New Victorian wind farm to power 115,000 homes
Work has begun on a new $275 million wind farm in Victoria able to power more than 115,000 homes.
Victoria bushfires: 29 homes destroyed in Bunyip forest blazes
Country Fire Authority says inspection of damaged properties showed 67 outbuildings also lost
Poll finds strong majority support for declaring a climate emergency
Overwhelming support for Melbourne to declare a climate emergency will be a shock to those climate advocacy organisations that have steadfastly refused to use such language.
Default electricity offer could slash hundreds from household bills
Almost 150,000 Victorian households and 45,000 small businesses signed up to the worst electricity offers on the market will have their bills slashed by hundreds of dollars from July 1.
Car travel and a taste for meat fuel rise in greenhouse gas emissions
Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising in defiance of the Andrews government’s renewable energy push, mostly due to surging traffic on the roads and cattle, sheep and pig farming.
New South Wales
Irrigators without water signal electoral challenge in safe Liberal seat
Despite Liberal MP Sussan Ley defying her cabinet colleagues and calling for Farrer irrigators to have access to more water, the political pressure is beginning to rub in ways not seen before.
Fish kill farmer files police complaint alleging he felt ‘intimidated’ by cotton rep
A farmer at the centre of the Menindee fish kill story has lodged a complaint with police, alleging he felt “intimidated” by a staff member of lobby group Cotton Australia.
Process ‘not followed’ in Warragamba plan
Parts of the Blue Mountains are being assessed for Aboriginal cultural values but a plan to raise Warragamba Dam wall is threatening what isn’t yet fully known.
Coal miner lodges plan to appeal against landmark NSW climate verdict
The developer of a controversial coal mine in NSW plans to appeal a landmark decision that blocked the project in part on climate change grounds.
Protected feral horses causing environmental havoc
Traditional owners and locals are concerned about the effect of feral horses in a NSW national park, which are now protected under new a new law.
Wilcannia: The town with no water
Since the Darling River ran dry six months ago, Wilcannia’s residents have been left to truck in drinking water. Politicians blame the drought, but locals cite mismanagement and corruption.
Queensland
Adani accused of ‘deceptive conduct’ in campaign criticising state government
Consumer and corporate regulators urged to investigate ‘patently false’ statements in advertisements
‘Nice and dirty’: Rio’s new mine taps aluminium boom
Construction jobs always involve a few risks, but for the workers who built Rio Tinto’s new $2.6 billion Amrun bauxite mine on Cape York, some of the safety procedures were particularly unique
South Australia
Tourism, property sales ‘key’ to Leigh Creek’s future [$]
At the northern tip of the Flinders Ranges, former coalmining town Leigh Creek faces an uncertain future — but the locals remain optimistic about turning the area’s fortunes around.
Gums may have to go to get rid of birds [$]
A whole raft of gum trees might be removed from Burton as a last resort in tackling the corella plague.
Tasmania
Concrete painting of humans’ impact on environment wins iconic landscape award
Melbourne-based artist Piers Greville wins the 2019 Glover Prize with his piece depicting the “controversy” of a man-made Tasmanian lake.
Tasmanian honey industry in crisis as bees starve to death
Dry conditions and bushfires are killing off bees, affecting the state’s honey supply and forcing producers to downsize.
Deer hunting a fair-game tradition family wants to see continue
It’s open season for deer hunting in Tasmania, where it regularly evokes some less traditional positions as an environmental issue.
Cable car company welcomes heritage push [$]
Hobart City Council may embark on a $100,000 journey to have kunanyi/Mt Wellington placed on the National Heritage List.
Western Australia
Woodside attacks ‘red tape gone mad’ as Premier shoots down emissions policy
Mark McGowan says he will not endorse the Environmental Protection Authority’s new carbon emissions guidelines, saying they go too far and could damage WA’s economy — concerns echoed by the mining sector.
Bushfire warning downgraded in WA’s north
A watch and act alert for a bushfire south of Port Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has been downgraded to an advice notice.
WA’s plan to curb emissions ‘unworkable’, says Morrison
But analysts say guidelines are practical, cost effective and not unprecedented
New Kwinana power plant to create 800 jobs
A massive renewable energy project is set to create a jobs boom in Perth’s south.
Sustainability
How population has shaped the world, from wars to the election of Trump
What do World War II, the fall of the Soviet Union, the election of Donald Trump and Brexit have in common? They’ve all been shaped by population, according to one demographer.
Footage of cracks in North Ayrshire nuclear reactor released
EDF Energy says cracks in offline Hunterston B reactor growing faster than expected
‘They chose us because we were rural and poor’: when environmental racism and climate change collide
The environmental movement has a long history in America’s south – yet people of color and impoverished communities continue to face dangerous pollution
Dutch to close Amsterdam coal-fired power plant four years early
A 2018 court order instructed the government to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced from 1990 levels by at least 25 percent by the end of 2020
Preserve the planet with Fancy Work
Richard Glover
Being “good with your hands” seems to have skipped a generation. But making your own stuff is the joy of a new generation.
Research Check: do we need to worry about glyphosate in our beer and wine?
Ian Musgrave
The amount of alcohol you’d have to drink before glyphosate posed even a negligible risk would harm you well before the glyphosate would.
Nature Conservation
Solomon Islands threatens to blacklist companies after ‘irreversible’ oil spill disaster
Solomon Islands’ caretaker Prime Minister says a UNESCO World Heritage site is unlikely to recover after a ship leaked 100 tonnes of oil nearby.
Solomon Island oil spill clean-up could cost $50m, experts say
Australia leads operation to remove remaining 600 tonnes of oil from the stricken vessel MV Solomon Trader
The Fukushima nuclear disaster’s legacy: An inescapable stigma
Pockets of innovation, like a drone testing field, have some hoping the region sheds its notoriety. But it’s not that simple.
Pollution kills moss surrounding aluminium plants
Aluminium plants around the country pollute the surrounding areas, killing moss around the plants.
Saving the Cerrado: Six commodities traders to disclose supply chain data
Cargill, Bunge, ADM, Louis Dreyfus, Glencore Agriculture, and Chinese firm COFCO have agreed to reveal soy supply chain data for 25 “high risk” areas – a step toward zero deforestation.
Can jaguar tourism save Bolivia’s fast dwindling forests?
Few countries in the tropics have seen their trees chopped down as quickly as Bolivia did between 2001 and 2017.
Honey, we shrunk the bee and insect species that feed us
Elizabeth Farrelly
Human self-interest is leaving nature flailing for its life. The impending extinction of tiny creatures is evidence of our huge impact on the planet.
The showbiz of conservation: PETA, Google and Steve Irwin
Binoy Kampmark
Irwin, the organisation tweeted, ‘was killed while harassing a ray; he dangled his baby while feeding a crocodile and wrestled wild animals who were minding their own business.’
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
93741902
0432406862