Post of the Day
Most habitat clearing concentrated in just 12 federal electorates, study finds
Scientists say the greatest loss of threatened species habitat has been in the agriculture minister’s electorate
Today’s Celebration
Parent’s Day – South Korea
Veterans’ Day – Norway
Miguel Hidalgo’s Birthday – Mexico
Women’s Historic Night – Norway
Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War
Climate Change
To combat climate change, start from the ground up (with dirt)
Dirt is dead, but soil is alive — packed with nutrients and boasting properties that keep carbon out of the atmosphere.
Arctic Rivers Provide Fingerprint of Carbon Release from Thawing Permafrost
The feedback between a warming climate and accelerated release of carbon currently frozen into permafrost around the Arctic is one of the grand challenges in current climate research.
Melting permafrost is harming equipment that measures it
Rapidly melting permafrost is ripping up the landscape, wrecking scientific equipment and making climate change even worse for all of us.
Climate anxiety is real, but there’s something you can do about it
There’s no clinical definition, but climate anxiety and grief or solastalgia — “the distress that is produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment” — has become a huge concern.
Global health benefits of climate action offset costs
New research in Nature Communications finds that immediate, dramatic cuts in global emissions — aggressive enough to meet the Paris Climate Agreement — are economically sound if human health benefits are factored in.
National
Richard Di Natale hits back at Scott Morrison, says Coalition are the ‘real extremists’
The Greens leader accuses the Government of being “extremists” for not taking tougher action on climate change, hitting back at the Prime Minister’s claims his party presents a “bigger risk” than the United Australia Party.
‘Appalling’ policy inaction draws former UN climate leader into federal election
Former UN climate change czar Christiana Figueres sensationally intervenes in the Australian election, publicly backing four female independent candidates and calling out “appalling inaction in Canberra” on climate change.
‘On a dark path’: Coalition defends record after extinctions accelerate
The Morrison government has defended Australia’s efforts to protect threatened species a day after a global study detailed the prospect of a million species becoming extinct because of humans.
Fijian PM to call for climate leadership
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has admitted Australia’s emissions have increased, as a new report warns major change is needed to protect the environment.
Supertrawlers have Aust ‘in their sights’
A report from two environmental groups says Australia must protect local fisheries by broadening its supertrawler ban beyond just six boats.
Most habitat clearing concentrated in just 12 federal electorates, study finds
Scientists say the greatest loss of threatened species habitat has been in the agriculture minister’s electorate
UN environment warning: 10 key points and what Australia must do
From native species to Indigenous land management and water efficiency: Australia’s role in the extinction crisis
PM shifts attack on Labor to ‘green tape’ he says costs Australian jobs
Scott Morrison has vowed to stem the growth of environmental rules, claiming Labor wants to “hypercharge an Environment Protection Authority”.
Call to overhaul ‘mishmash’ of battery standards after house fire
Consumer advocates have called for stronger safety regulations for lithium-ion batteries after a house fire was thought to be caused by an e-bike battery.
Rising coal and gas costs push Australia electricity prices to record highs
Electricity prices across much of Australia’s main grid rose to record highs in the first quarter of 2019, the Australian Energy Market Operator notes in its latest quarterly report, and it puts the blame on the record heatwave, rising coal and gas costs, and the rising cost of hydro power because of the drought.
Trader’s grip on 14pc of water [$]
One of Australia’s largest water speculators has gained massive market power, taking control of 161,000 megalitres of allocation water in the southern Murray Darling Basin over 2018.
Tax deductions for carbon credits purchased to meet Labor’s ambitions could punch a $10bn budget hole.
Labor pledges new fundraising laws in attempt to alienate maligned charities boss
Labor has pledged to reduce red tape on Australia’s charities and create national fundraising laws in a “fix” that is also designed to sideline maligned charities commissioner Gary Johns.
Satya Marar
The United States has lowered its greenhouse gas output to levels unseen since the early 1990s, despite ripping up the Paris climate deal. This was achieved not by punishing families and businesses with taxes or expensive and unreliable electricity.
David Attenborough has a message for our leaders. Did they hear it?
Michael Slezak
What does the science tell us about the adequacy of the climate policies the parties are spruiking? And how do they compare to what other countries are doing?
Tony Abbott bet me $100 the climate will not change in 10 years
Cassie Flanagan Willanski
The former Australian prime minister is so confident climate change is nothing to worry about he put money on it
The obsessive focus on imaginary costs of climate action is harming our prosperity
Erwin Jackson
With Australia’s current policy, the government is saying to business to sit on their hands and do little for another decade
Big batteries displace coal, and lower costs in frequency markets
Giles Parkinson
New big batteries lower costs in frequency markets, and cash in on morning and evening peaks, while pumped hydro still struggles to make money in spot market.
Is this report enough to bring climate to the election? [$]
Benjamin Millar and Bernard Keane
The 2019 election campaign has been put into stark relief by a report saying that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction — many within decades.
Chris Graham
Science schmience. Why would anyone believe the world’s most eminent scientists about the growing threat of climate change, when you can simply check your IQ at the door and watch Sydney shock jock Alan Jones and “barrel girl” Peta Credlin do science on Sky News the way it was meant to be done… with visual aids available at all leading supermarkets.
Victoria
Police set to swoop after sugar glider dealers caught on station CCTV
Three women are being sought over the alleged trade of a live sugar glider at a Melbourne train station.
Farmers say an incentive and ending ban on pros will help cull deer.
Melbourne’s CBD shouldn’t be a privilege for some [$]
Matt Johnston
Connecting the CBD and the suburbs has been critical to helping Victoria thrive. But Melbourne is fast becoming a tale of two cities and suburban Melburnians are fast finding themselves on the outside.
New South Wales
SBS News travelled to the coastal town of Gerringong to hear what voters in NSW’s most marginal seat care about most this federal election.
Nile, Latham say mine shareholders left ‘high and dry’ after corruption finding
Christian Democrats leader Fred Nile and NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham have gone into bat for investors after NuCoal was stripped of its Doyles Creek mining exploration licence following a corruption probe.
Energy regulator lowers NSW power bills for all but country households
Power bills will start to fall in New South Wales from 1 July for everyone but country households after the energy regulator cut the amount of money grid operators can charge consumers.
Berejiklian government creates new climate change division in the public service
The Berejiklian government has further staked its commitment to tackling climate change by setting up a new division in the public sector dedicated to developing policy on energy and climate change.
Queensland
The key marginal electorate that climate change will ‘devastate’, according to experts
The Central Queensland seat of Capricornia could be hit particularly hard by climate change, a new report says.
Adani refuses to commit to size of ‘scaled-down’ Carmichael coalmine
Company pursues approvals based on original plans for 60m-tonne megamine
Brisbane City Council to invest $20m future fund revenue in parks
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner will raise ‘frequent’ problems where ministerial delegation is used to “quietly” clear bushland with the new Koala Advisory Council.
Brisbane City Council will spend up to $20 million each year, raised from its “future fund”, to buy bushland and create new parks, lord mayor Adrian Schrinner announced on Tuesday morning.
Queensland solar industry in “chaos,” with no clarity on rule change
CEC says Queensland government’s looming large-scale solar installation rule change contradicts itself – making it both confusing and potentially industry-crippling.
Premier won’t meet with Adani until mine approvals finalised [$]
ADANI will not score a meeting with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to discuss its Galilee Basin project until after its approvals have been finalised.
‘Green tape’ hurts infrastructure [$]
Delayed environmental approvals are expected to contribute to a significant downturn in infrastructure projects in Queensland.
What’s Queensland got to lose, except perhaps Adani? [$]
Graham Young
The LNP thinks it will hold most seats in Queensland but that confidence could yet be as misplaced as it was during the Super Saturday byelections.
Why Adani’s finch plan was rejected, and what comes next
Samantha Hepburn and April Reside
Adani’s plan to manage an endangered finch was rejected last week by the Queensland government, stalling progress on the Carmichael mine.
South Australia
Wind curtailment falls to one per cent in South Australia
Curtailment of wind generation in South Australia falls to just one per cent in latest quarter.
Western Australia
Prescribed burns having ‘profound’ impact on honey industry, say beekeepers
The commercial honey industry in WA says the state’s prescribed burn programme is costing the industry hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sustainability
Bad news for renewable energy: Capacity addition becomes flat for the first time in 17 years
2018 was the first time since 2001 that growth in renewable power capacity failed to increase year on year.
Vegans call for ‘suffering’ label as seafood industry slams ‘fishless tuna’
It looks like canned tuna, tastes like canned tuna, but contains none of it. A new soy-based “fishless tuna” has upset the seafood industry by using a similar name and packaging and marketing itself as a more sustainable alternative.
Raise taxes on firms that harm nature, OECD tells G7 countries
Report calls for change of priorities and culture to avert catastrophic biodiversity loss
Election driven power demand in India hits coal wall
CIL production rose 1% in April when peak power demand touched 9%
South Africa taken to court after doubling coal-emission limits
South Africa’s government is facing a legal challenge over its decision last year to double the amount of sulfur dioxide that coal-fired power plants and refineries can emit.
Edinburgh city centre goes car-free to combat air pollution
Roads in central Edinburgh closed to vehicles for the first time on Sunday as the Scottish capital joined the Open Streets movement to combat air pollution.
As pesticide turns up in more places, safety concerns mount
As scientists discover neonicotinoid pesticides in unexpected locations and associated with health problems, a growing body of research challenges the assumption these are safer and less likely to spread than other types of pesticide.
The cost of the Green New Deal versus doing nothing
Republicans keep saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s plan is too expensive. But their own plan—to ignore the climate crisis—is even more so.
Experimental device generates electricity from the coldness of the universe
A drawback of solar panels is that they require sunlight to generate electricity. Some have observed that for a device on Earth facing space, the chilling outflow of energy from the device can be harvested using the same kind of optoelectronic physics we have used to harness solar energy. New work looks to provide a potential path to generating electricity like solar cells but that can power electronics at night.
The EPA is meant to protect us. The Monsanto trials suggest it isn’t doing that
Nathan Donley and Carey Gillam
Three public trials involving Monsanto have raised troubling questions about lax oversight of all pesticides by the US Environmental Protection Agency
Nature Conservation
Humanity must save insects to save ourselves, leading scientist warns
Insects are ‘the glue in nature’, says Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, underpinning the food and water we rely on
Protecting vanilla′s only natural pollinators in Mexico
Vanilla’s native Mexico is the only place in the world where the fragrant orchid is pollinated without human help. But pesticides threaten to wipe out the insects that do the job, in turn threatening human livelihoods.
Muskoxen are shrinking and freezing to death in Arctic from climate change
Unusual weather brought by climate change is making it tough for muskoxen to get food—and sometimes even entombs them in ice.
Bengal tigers may not survive climate change
The tigers of the Bangladesh Sundarbans may be gone in fifty years, according to a new study.
Genetic Adaptation to Climate Change
New research has shown that the threat of range losses for some species as a result of climate change could be overestimated because of the ability of certain animals to adapt to rising temperatures
Africa’s wildlife threatened with extinction as natural landscapes wither
NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with Emma Archer, geographer from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, about the current state of biodiversity within Africa in light of the United Nations’ report.
I’ve always wondered: are water crystals bad for the environment?
Michelle Ryan
Gardeners use water crystals to drought-proof their plants.
Now for something completely different …
Six million Aussies ‘drink to get drunk’
A new poll suggests 47 per cent of Australian drinkers – about six million people – drink to get drunk.
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