Post of the Day
Shorten’s climate policy would hit more big polluters harder and set electric car target
Michelle Grattan
A Shorten government would add about 100 high polluters to those subject to an emissions cap, and drastically slash the present cap’s level, under the opposition’s climate policy released on Monday.
Today’s Celebration
Captain Regents Day – San Marino
Cyprus National Day – Cyprus
Republic Day – Iran
Youth Day – Benin
National Tree Planting Day – Tanzania
Civil Service Day – Thailand
National Advance Care Planning Week
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Climate Change
Climate change could soon melt years worth of human poop at Alaska park
Over 66 tons of frozen feces left by climbers on the Alaska summit over many decades is expected to start thawing out of the glacier this summer.
Climate change and when human nature can be to deny nature
Why do so many people in regional and rural areas not believe in climate change? The answer could have more to do with human nature than scientific reasoning.
Mozambique shows how climate change could affect the world’s most vulnerable
“This is one of the poorest places in the world, which is paying the price of climate change provoked mostly, not only but mostly, by the developed world.”
National
Labor has promised to get Australia’s 250 biggest polluting companies to cut their emissions if the party wins the next election.
Power stations allowed to pollute: expert
Australia has some catching up to do if it wants to stop power stations from emitting high levels of pollution due to lax state controls, a study has found.
Are Australia’s efforts to reduce emissions enough to meet our Paris target?
The Government insists Australia is on track to meet its Paris target by 2030, but the Government’s own data tells a different story.
Labor exempts farmers but curbs land clearing [$]
Labor will exempt the agricultural sector from carbon targets but will crack down on land clearing and wants farmers to supply cheaper offsets to help businesses with the cost of abatement.
Labor proposes tax breaks for businesses to buy electric cars
Bill Shorten will today unveil Labor’s climate change policy aimed at cutting emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, including a push to dramatically increase the number of electric cars on Australian roads.
Australia’s first manufactured electric car ‘nothing like Tesla’
It took a German engineer who spoke limited English three years — and flat-pack parts sourced from China and Taiwan — to build the first electric car to be manufactured in Australia.
Snail farmer struggling to keep up with demand as alternative meat popularity soars
Snails, ants and even fried cockroaches are increasingly popping up on menus throughout Australia, and one South Australian snail breeder says she is struggling to keep up with demand.
‘Woefully dirty’: government accused over Australia’s failure to cut vehicle emissions
Australia has not set efficiency standards, despite years of talking, in contrast to China, India, Japan, US and EU
Four in five ‘congestion busting’ projects in Liberal marginal Brisbane electorates
The Coalition is poised to top-up its $1 billion urban congestion fund in Tuesday’s budget.
LNG prices set to fall by a third, in blow to energy giants
LNG prices are forecast to drop by a third in the coming months following a steep decline in the oil price, hitting the earnings of some of Australia’s biggest energy companies.
A record share of Australians say humans cause climate change: poll
There’s been a sharp decline in the proportion of Australians who think the federal government is doing a good job tackling climate change
Coal-fired power, coal mines continue to head toxic pollutants list
Toxic pollutants in Australia continue to be dominated by the nation’s coal-fired power stations and coal mintes, with one plant’s shift to continuous monitoring suggesting pollution levels may be understated.
‘You reap what you sow’: why furious rural voters are pulling the plug on the Nationals
Gabrielle Chan
While the drought has exacerbated water woes, there is wider discontent about health, education and transport
Bill Shorten treads gently with careful climate change plan
Shane Wright
The environment has claimed many political victims since the 2007 election.
Australia in the slow lane as Coalition stalls on EV strategy
Bryce Gaton
The Coalition will not release it’s electric car strategy until next year.
Labor tries to have it both ways on carbon emissions
Sarah Martin
Bill Shorten is vowing his ambitious climate change policy will not kill off heavy industry, but is refusing to detail how Labor will protect the nation’s 250 biggest polluters.
Climate plan’s hidden costs [$]
Graham Lloyd
Labor has announced the emissions reduction plan many thought Turnbull would deliver.
Don’t waste chance for recycling boom
SMH editorial
Australia’s recycling crisis just intensified dramatically, and could cause the decline and even demise of a multibillion-dollar industry employing 50,000 people. Or it could prove its greatest fillip. As the Asian market collapses, with a growing number of nations refusing the world’s refuse, success or catastrophe in Australia is in our hands.
Labor’s CO2 policy demands close scrutiny [$]
Telegraph editorial
Labor leader Bill Shorten’s plan to cut industrial emissions by 45 per cent during the coming decade would clearly involve some kind of carbon trading scheme — despite Labor leader Bill Shorten’s pledge that there will be no carbon tax or carbon pricing mechanism.
Shorten’s climate policy would hit more big polluters harder and set electric car target
Michelle Grattan
A Shorten government would add about 100 high polluters to those subject to an emissions cap, and drastically slash the present cap’s level, under the opposition’s climate policy released on Monday.
Victoria
Mercury emissions from Victoria’s coal-fired power plants top nation
Victoria’s three coal-fired power stations belched more than a tonne of mercury into the atmosphere last financial year, new analysis reveals, prompting calls for the Andrews government to step in and curb their emissions.
New South Wales
Gladys Berejiklian’s new cabinet lineup gives renewed focus to NSW regions
Nationals MPs are given prominent roles in areas that hurt the Coalition at the election
Growing global demand has seen NSW coal export volumes more than double since 2001.
Tensions on the rise as Sydneysiders compete for green space
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Our parks and playing fields are a flash point as the city copes with population growth and higher density living.
Bleaching has struck the southernmost coral reef in the world
Tess Moriarty et al
This month corals in Lord Howe Island Marine Park began showing signs of bleaching. The 145,000 hectare marine park contains the most southerly coral reef in the world, in one of the most isolated ecosystems on the planet.
Queensland
Cyclone blow-in ladybird may be the answer to farmers’ psyllid woes
A chance discovery of a ladybird “possibly carried in on a cyclone” may be the answer to controlling destructive pests that cause millions of dollars of damage to vegetable crops a year.
How carbon farming is helping regenerate the outback
The demand for carbon farming projects is growing in south-west Queensland with one Indigenous group looking to the initiative to regenerate the bush.
Researchers fear decades of damage to Cape York rainforest from Cyclone Trevor
Researchers have touched down in the Iron Range rainforest in Cape York, Queensland to map the damage in the aftermath of Cyclone Trevor.
Five green bridges for Brisbane at $550 million price tag
Brisbane’s incoming lord mayor Adrian Schrinner has announced the council will seek funding contributions from state and federal governments to help fund the bridges.
South Australia
Clive Palmer’s nuclear power plan for SA knocked back by Coalition
A push by the United Australia Party for nuclear power has been swiftly rejected by the Federal Government.
Tasmania
Federal funding pledge for Sorell-Hobart Hwy link [$]
New funding for the Tasman Highway between Hobart and Sorell will be included in tomorrow’s Federal Budget, as the Coalition targets Tasmania’s crucial marginal seats.
Northern Territory
Nobody’s sure why these goannas are resisting cane toad marauders
Since a group of volunteers began tracking goannas in Darwin bushland, they’ve been mystified by a colony of at least 50 that have survived the cane toad invasion.
Western Australia
This remote community has fixed its own water supply, once tainted with uranium
Innovative technology that captures water from the air has solved a water contamination problem that threatened to shut down a small WA community.
WA’s top docs to investigate the impact of climate change on the public health system
The state’s former chief health officer Professor Tarun Weeramanthri will make recommendations how to strengthen health services in the face of climate change.
Sustainability
Japan to oppose new or expanded coal-fired power plants in blow to Australian exports
Australia’s top export market for thermal coal gives further signs of dramatic energy pivot to renewables
French anti-pollution activists unimpressed by EU’s green record
Outside the French Mediterranean port of Marseille, at Fos-sur-Mer, one of the largest industrial and port zones in Europe has been spewing a noxious cocktail of fumes for years. And few residents think EU pledges to clean up the continent will make a difference anytime soon.
Plastic bags, or paper? Here’s what to consider when you hit the grocery store
Plastic and paper both have downsides. Here are a few broad lessons to keep in mind.
A tale of two Delhis: Deadly air exposes rich-poor divide
So-called eco-eateries, offering cleaner air as well as modern menus to the well heeled are beyond reach for the poor, who have little means of escaping the deadly smog which coats the city for much of the year.
China’s losing its taste for nuclear power. That’s bad news.
Once nuclear’s strongest booster, China is growing wary about its cost and safety.
We need to treat the world like it’s a house on fire
Robert Speiser
A house is burning while the children play inside. The kids don’t want to stop their game. It’s an ancient story with a riddle: How to lure them out?
Nature Conservation
Population explosion fuelling rapid reduction of wildlife on African savannah, study shows
‘Urgent need to rethink how we manage the boundaries of protected areas’, says international team of scientists
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