Post of the Day
‘We need everyone’: Greta Thunberg calls on adults to join climate strikes
Global general strike on 20 September could be historic turning point, say activists
Today’s Celebration
Battle of Pichincha – Ecuador
Bermuda Day– Bermuda
Commonwealth Day – Belize
Liberation Day – Eritrea
Sts. Cyrilus and Methodius Day – Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Climate Change
Global temperature change attributable to external factors, confirms new study
Researchers at the University of Oxford have confirmed that human activity and other external factors are responsible for the rise in global temperature.
‘We need everyone’: Greta Thunberg calls on adults to join climate strikes
Global general strike on 20 September could be historic turning point, say activists
‘I feel empowered and scared’: pupils speak before climate strike
We asked children around the world to tell us why they will be taking part in Friday’s climate strikes. Here’s what they said
Global electricity access grows—but we’re not on track for 2030 sustainable energy goals
International report points to progress on electricity access, but finds clean cooking solutions and renewable energy in transportation and heating need to be bolstered.
Climate change affecting developing nations most: United Nations
UN officials said developing nations were facing the brunt of climate change despite contributing little to the problem.
Eco-anxiety in the Age of Climate Change
“Eco-anxiety” and trauma from natural disasters will be on the rise along with sea levels.
Climate change may make the Arctic tundra a drier landscape
Lakes may shrink and some may disappear
Warming Signs Podcast: Why women hold the key to curbing climate change
Join Kait for a chat with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, author of Project Drawdown, and find out why we need women if we want the world to stop warming.
2040: hope and action in the climate crisis
John Wiseman
A new movie highlights the importance of radical hope and courageous action in responding to the climate crisis
Dealing with climate change: three scenarios
Peter McMahon
The scenario technique identifies three possible futures to aid critical thinking about climate change. Will basic social and political values survive?
National
Labor’s carbon target stacks up: Burke
Labor will be going back to the drawing board on how it would reduce carbon emissions but shouldn’t ditch its reduction target, frontbencher Tony Burke says.
Bring on the energy ‘big sticks’, says electricity company
While most energy companies have urged the newly elected Scott Morrison government to back off its ‘big sticks’ plan to drive down power prices, one electricity company says they cannot come soon enough.
‘Big problems’ on energy prices – industry pleads for action
The government needs to ease the transition to cleaner energy, not stand in its way and make it more costly, industry bosses say.
‘We have lost Australia for now,’ warns climate scientist in wake of election
The unexpected victory of conservatives in Australia’s election is bad news for the future of global climate action, warn climate experts.
BHP sees early end for thermal coal, plugs in to electric future
The Coalition government may think that electric vehicles may signal the end of the traditional Aussie weekend, but the country’s biggest mining group BHP sees it as the future of its mining business.
Solar Insiders Podcast: Is Australia now un-investible for big solar?
The shock-waves from the Coalition election win are being felt beyond Australia’s shores. Nigel Morris reports back from Intersolar in Munich and why some big developers are changing their…
Labor’s federal election loss revealed my bias as an inner-city teen
Ava Kalinauskas
How could I have been so ignorant?
If you think less immigration will solve Australia’s problems, you’re wrong; but neither will more
Cameron Allen
More by luck than design, recent recent levels of immigration seem to be in a ‘goldilocks zone’ that balances economic, social and environmental objectives.
Victoria
Climate warriors protest in Vic for change
Thousands of climate activists will take to the streets of Melbourne to call on the federal government to take action on climate change.
Advice sought to fix Vic recycling woes
Victoria’s government has called in infrastructure experts to help solve the state’s recycling crisis.
Take your e-waste to a better place
The Victorian Government is banning all e-waste from going to landfill from July 1 2019.
Electric waste trucks arrive in Casey
The City of Casey’s recycling of hard-waste is becoming carbon neutral with several new electric trucks joining the fleet at WM Waste Management as part of a new waste contract.
New South Wales
Food or energy? The battle for Australia’s prime agricultural land
Four foreign-owned energy companies are racing to get their large-scale solar projects off the ground on farmland in the NSW Southern Riverina.
NSW towns including Dubbo and Tamworth face water emergency within months
In some central and western areas on Murray-Darling no ground water can be accessed by bores, as dams run close to dry
Calls to approve Narrabri coal seam gas project [$]
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan is ramping up pressure on the NSW government to approve a key gas project and secure the future of the state’s reliable energy after Labor’s shock federal election loss spurred Queensland to fast-track the Adani coal mine.
Coal seam gas could revive struggling small towns [$]
Telegraph editorial
The mood has changed and the people of NSW have spoken: Coal seam gas exploration would provide jobs to people who most need them and power to the state. It’s time for the government to get on board.
Why Sydney residents use 30% more water per day than Melburnians [$]
Ian Wright
Melbourne’s water supplies are running low after years of drought.
ACT
Camels, coyotes, Myna birds: government expands pest list
The common Myna bird, spotted in backyards across Australia, would become a declared pest under proposed changes the ACT government is seeking public comment on.
Thousands of tonnes of ACT food waste could be recycled
Up to 40,000 tonnes of Canberrans’ food waste could be turned into compost each year, under an ACT Greens proposal to allow the waste into the city’s new green bins.
Queensland
Qlders await release of Adani timeline
A timeline for Adani’s central Queensland coal mine could be known on Friday after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ordered it be fixed.
Adani wants Carmichael mine signed off in weeks, not months {$]
Adani Mining chief executive Lucas Dow said they had a constructive meeting with senior bureaucrats about approvals for the $2 billion Carmichael mine.
Union warns Qld over ’emboldened’ Adani
The construction union is warning Queensland’s premier to get iron clad jobs guarantees in any deal with mining giant Adani over its proposed coal mine.
Qld threatens ‘Quexit’ over Adani
A regional Queensland mayor says authorities must find a balanced and responsible way to deliver thermal coal from the Galilee Basin.
Who Trad blames for Adani saga [$]
Treasurer Jackie Trad has gone on the offensive ahead of today’s announcement of a timeline to resolve the Adani mine saga.
Finch loses out in Adani talks [$]
High-level crisis talks have resolved an impasse over a protection plan for an endangered finch that has stalled the Adani project.
Adani row threatens to tear union apart [$]
Two of the most powerful divisions in the militant CFMEU have taken opposing positions in the battle over the future of the Adani Carmichael coalmine.
Graziers face ‘green drought’ as dams run dry and disease threatens stock
Despite recent rains, graziers in western Queensland are now amid what some call a ‘green drought’ as dams run dry and disease threatens stock.
Yarrabilba leads way on improving environment
Queensland’s Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp addresses a recent CELab workshop.
Residents of Yarrabilba will help drive an Australia-first initiative aimed at reducing energy consumption and waste.
It’s easy to dismiss Queenslanders as coal-addicted bogans, but it’s more complex than that
Amanda Cahill
Everyone loses when we sideline the people at the forefront of the transition to a zero emissions economy
Coal catastrophe: why Scott Morrison can’t give in to Queensland triumphalism
Katharine Murphy
The government would be wrong to imagine all of Australia possesses the sensibilities of coal communities in Queensland
Understanding the 2019 federal election results and what to do about climate change
Bernie Masters
In Queensland, the ALP was devastated electorally because voters put jobs above climate change.
South Australia
Bigger turbines on the way for Yorke farmland [$]
In a plan that looks likely to win approval, 170 turbines at a height of 220m will be built on the Yorke Peninsula. Locals are worried that farmland will become an industrial landscape.
Public shut out of lodge ruling [$]
“I’m sure you’d like to have a say and we’d love to be in a position to let you, but unfortunately, we’re not.” The public have been excluded from a panel considering a controversial accommodation project.
State Government boost to beat climate change [$]
Metropolitan councils will be able to tackle the impacts of climate change with the help of $2 million in State Government grants.
Tasmania
Budget lacks environment, climate plan: critics
Tasmanian government spending on environmental protection is set to decrease across the next three years, with critics lashing Thursday’s budget as “unforgivable”.
Tourism sector faces climate fight [$]
Tasmania must not be complacent about the risk climate change poses to its tourism sector, a leading researcher and member of the Climate Council has warned.
Northern Territory
Hidden national park waterfalls will soon be open to visitors — but will it come at a cost?
The NT Government will spend $17.5 million on road and infrastructure upgrades at Litchfield National Park, expected to open up new waterfalls, swimming spots and mountain bike trails to the public. But could that effort be countered by charging visitors an entry fee?
Rio Tinto accused of ‘cutting corners’ on safety amid mystery over executive’s departure
Multinational mining giant Rio Tinto is accused of “putting production over safety” at a Northern Territory mine site by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and employees.
Western Australia
Perth teen takes climate change to task
Jacob Cassey is just 14, but he’s already got experience in project management, leading a team of kids and adults in the redesign of their Millennium Kids website to help tackle climate change.
Alinta gets regulatory approval for W.A.’s biggest wind farm
Alinta wins regulatory approval for Yandin wind farm, which will be biggest in Western Australia.
Juwi and Neoen in court battle over Degrussa solar and storage project
Two leading French and German renewable energy giants have become embroiled in a battle over payments at the landmark solar and battery storage facility at the Degrussa copper mine in Western Australia.
Sustainability
Artificial photosynthesis transforms carbon dioxide into liquefiable fuels
Chemists at the University of Illinois have successfully produced fuels using water, carbon dioxide and visible light through artificial photosynthesis. By converting carbon dioxide into more complex molecules like propane, green energy technology is now one step closer to using excess CO2 to store solar energy — in the form of chemical bonds — for use when the sun is not shining and in times of peak demand.
Charging into the future — novel rock salt for use in rechargeable magnesium batteries
By synthesizing novel material for electrode that facilitates reversing of the chemistry of ions, a group of researchers led by Professor Idemoto from Tokyo University of Science combat the wasteful aspects of energy sources by laying an important foundation for the production of next-generation rechargeable magnesium secondary batteries.
China cuts carbon emission with microalgae, produces electricity with crop residue
China has developed a new method to cut carbon emissions using microalgae.
Key insight into solar material’s soaring efficiency
How the performance of cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells is improved by the addition of selenium
Nature Conservation
New approach for determining conservation threat for species with little data
University of British Columbia researchers have found a new way to identify which marine species are threatened and what is threatening them, even if these species lack data.
Fish fences across the tropical seas having large-scale devastating effects
Huge fish fences which are commonly used in tropical seas are causing extensive social, ecological and economic damage and are threatening marine biodiversity and human livelihoods, according to a new study.
Natural environments favor ‘good’ bacteria
A new study has shown that restoring environments to include a wider range of species can promote ‘good’ bacteria over ‘bad’ — with potential benefits for human health.
Humans causing shrinking of nature as larger animals die off
Average size of wild animals predicted to fall by a quarter in 100 years through extinctions
Oiling the wheels of injustice
After a quarter of a century of legal battles, indigenous communities in the Amazon are still awaiting justice for the damage inflicted on their environments and health by Texaco, which was taken over by US oil giant Chevron.
As extinctions loom, biodiversity warnings fail to resonate with governments, media
Ecological collapse and species loss threaten humanity as much as climate change. Conservationists say we’re not listening.
Conservation goals compete at the expense of biodiversity
With an ever-growing list of threats facing biodiversity on multiple scales, conservationists struggle to determine which to address. A common reaction is to prioritize their efforts on threats to individual species or management areas, but researchers say this narrow-minded approach is detrimental to the overall goal of saving species and ecosystems worldwide. Instead, they say large-scale, long-term collaboration is the answer.
Ecologists find bush dog, native of South America, in remote central Costa Rica
Wildlife ecologists who are studying different conservation practices in the forests of Costa Rica recently made a startling discovery on a wildlife camera trap — wild bush dogs documented farther north than ever before and at the highest elevation.
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