Post of the Day
Three surprising solutions to climate change
We know what we have to do to avoid a climate catastrophe: eat a plant-rich diet, change our energy mix, electrify transport, reverse deforestation.
Today’s Celebration
King Kamehameha Day (Hawaii) – United States of America
International Men’s Health Week
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week
Climate Change
Three surprising solutions to climate change
We know what we have to do to avoid a climate catastrophe: eat a plant-rich diet, change our energy mix, electrify transport, reverse deforestation.
See the drastic toll climate change is taking on our oceans
For World Oceans Day, we look at the impact our carbon emissions are having, from the shore to the deep sea.
Three islands disappeared in the past year. Is climate change to blame?
The same forces that sunk the remote islands could put coastlines around the world at risk, scientists say.
Labour plans to bring in a 10-hour week to tackle climate change
The report called for ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of British society’ to cut carbon emissions. John McDonnell called it a ‘vital contribution’ to the debate.
‘We all owe Al Gore an apology’: More people see climate change in record flooding
Research shows more people are linking climate change to extreme weather events, like the ongoing flooding in America’s heartland. Experts are hoping it also inspires action.
Greta Thunberg, Fridays for Future movement win Amnesty human rights award
Amnesty has awarded Swedish student activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement a human rights award. The movement has seen tens of thousands of students spend Fridays demanding climate action.
′Cartoons for Future′: Artists react to the climate crisis
Building on the “Fridays for Future” demonstrations, an exhibition in Dortmund shows 100 cartoons by international artists commenting on the climate emergency.
Mountain-dwellers can adapt to melting glaciers without caring about climate change
For many people, climate change feels like a distant threat — something that happens far away, or far off in the future. Scientists and climate communicators often think that if everyone saw the devastating impacts of climate change, we’d all be more likely to accept it as real, and that accepting climate science is essential to taking action against it. A new study, published this month in Regional Environmental Change, challenges the latter part of this assumption.
National
‘Big stick’ energy bill: Coalition MP wants economy-wide power to break up big companies
Keith Pitt says laws that target price-gouging energy companies should be extended to all big businesses
Centre Alliance seeks energy plan in exchange for tax cut support
Key Senate crossbenchers will demand the government come up with a plan to stop “abhorrent” energy price rises before supporting the Coalition’s signature $158 billion income tax cuts.
$12bn flows into renewables [$]
Investors in Australian renewable energy projects are ignoring federal policy uncertainty and focusing on state-based targets.
Ditch the jobs v environment slogan and get on with doing both
Jerff Angel
Protecting the environment is not a job destroyer. It’s the opposite.
Victoria
Big projects, bigger bills: Massive construction boom comes at a cost
Melbourne has never had a transport construction boom such as this. Toll roads, underground rail lines, level crossing removals, railway stations, all built at a pace that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. But it isn’t coming cheap.
Is this Australia’s cleanest, greenest supermarket?
The green credentials of this brand new Melbourne Woolies go way beyond its fruit and veg section — and anything other supermarket you’ve ever seen. What makes it so special?
Community rocked by ‘land grab’ [$]
A government body being set up to manage the Great Ocean Road has come under attack from conservationists.
The free tram zone is a gimmick that needs to go
Nicola Philp
The idea of freebies is always thought to be attractive to the public. It’s why companies insist on plying us with drink bottles, bags and caps just for being part of an event.
New South Wales
‘Just to get votes?’: Wilcannia locals fear $30m weir pledge won’t go ahead
Wilcannia locals worry their weir won’t ever be built, despite State and Federal Government pre-election promises.
Shipping company under pressure to salvage containers lost at sea
Authorities are fed up with a Taiwanese shipping company’s slow response to salvaging containers it lost at sea near Newcastle one year ago, with one commercial fisherman saying he is still catching up to 20 push bikes in nets.
Sydney lawyer involved in $34m global carbon credit con [$]
Bankruptcy proceedings have begun in Sydney against a solicitor who owes part of $34 million after a British based company persuaded investors to plough their savings into reforestation in Australia and the Amazon and rice farm harvests.
No backdown on waste plant [$]
Waste king Ian Malouf is pushing ahead with plans for a waste-to-energy plant near Sydney.
ACT
‘Significant’ Aboriginal site found on Bungendore farm
Out on David Watson’s Bungendore farm there’s a hill where you can look out to Lake George and the Brindabellas.
Single-use plastic ban is the next step
Canberra Times editorial
The ACT’s status as Australia’s most geographically compact, and yet one of the nation’s best educated and affluent, jurisdictions means we are uniquely situated to explore progressive measures that would be hard to sell elsewhere.
Queensland
Scientists say desert springs face ‘extinction’ under Adani mine plan
The Adani coal mine is set to receive a decision from the Queensland government on its groundwater management plan later this week.
Land clearing battle moves to High Court
The Court of Appeal decision has implications for half of all the land in southeast Queensland.
In a case affecting tens of millions of hectares, developers have moved to take their fight over which level of government gets the final say over land clearing in Queensland to Australia’s highest court.
Qld to sign Adani royalties deal if mine approved
The Palaszczuk government will have to strike a royalties agreement with Indian energy company Adani if it gains final environmental approvals on Thursday.
Green activists killing reef tourism [$]
Claims by environmental groups that the Great Barrier Reef is dying have pushed the local tourism industry to the point of ‘near recession’.
Premier gives ‘grounds for appeal’ [$]
Environmental lawyers have flagged Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s intervention as possible grounds for an Adani appeal.
Last-ditch attempt to warn of coalmine harm
Groundwater experts from around Australia have repeated calls for further investigations into the potential effects on heritage groundwater reserves in central Queensland if the giant Adani Carmichael coalmine gets the final regulatory go-ahead this week
Queen Jackie versus Snow White Palaszczuk [$]
Paul Gleeson
The Queensland Labor Government has been the leader of the anti-Adani cheer squad, prepared to invent legislative obstacles to appease their socialist mates. May 18 changed everything. To suggest otherwise is fanciful, and frankly, an insult to our intelligence.
South Australia
Oil price slump won’t stop push to drill in Bight
The worldwide price of oil has fallen by more than $US10 a barrel in recent weeks, but the cheaper price has not fazed a Norwegian company’s plan to drill in the Great Australian Bight.
Tasmania
‘Significant investment’ needed to prevent National Trust closures
Without an urgent injection of funds, some of Tasmania’s iconic National Trust properties may close.
Northern Territory
You shouldn’t climb this sacred monolith [$]
Many tourists see it as a personal challenge to climb to the top of one of Australia’s most famous landmarks but this is why it’s so controversial.
Western Australia
EPA promises ‘dinkum’ consultation on new round of carbon pollution guidelines
The WA Environmental Protection Authority will publish carbon pollution guidelines by December.
Sustainability
Scottish Power to build vast battery to improve wind energy supply
Energy firm says project will be big step towards continuous renewable power for UK
Western nations are having to find ways to process waste.
Deaths caused by air pollution in Brazil increase 14 percent in ten years
A study by the Ministry of Health shows that the number of deaths classified as resulting from air pollution has increased 14 percent in ten years. There were 38,782 deaths in 2006 and 44,228 in 2016, according to the study “Saúde Brasil 2018”, released this week on World Environment Day.
Magnetism: An unexpected push for the hydrogen economy
For the first time, scientists have applied a magnetic field that directly enhanced the production of hydrogen via water splitting. The results have been published in Nature Energy. The simplicity of the discovery opens opportunities for implementing magnetic enhancement in water splitting, bringing the hydrogen-based economy closer.
Light energy and biomass can be converted to diesel fuel and hydrogen [$]
A research group led by Professor WANG Feng at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently developed a method to produce diesel fuel and hydrogen by exploiting light energy (solar energy or artificial light energy) and biomass-derived feedstocks.
Clarifying the Economic Value of Adjusting the Power Consumption
The economic value of demand response that adjusts the power consumption has not been clarified. A control method for maximizing cost-effectiveness of demand response is developed.
Climate change antidote: Going green with city forests
Concerns about climate change and urbanization spur cities to plant and preserve trees. How Baltimore became a green model.
Justice through citizen science: How ‘chemical fingerprinting’ could change public health
The technology exists to hold polluters accountable, but can it now be used to help monitor pollution and prevent toxic messes?
Church and mammon driving tailings disclosures [$]
Matthew Stevens
Big investors want standardised transparency on dam risks and modelling from a wide world of miners.
Nature Conservation
‘Frightening’ number of plant extinctions found in global survey
Study shows 571 species wiped out, and scientists say figure is likely to be big underestimate
European food industry driving deforestation and climate change, report says
The European food industry’s inability to source commodities that are sustainability produced is fuelling deforestation and driving climate change, according to new data.
Scientist makes case for stabilizing forest carbon to help mitigate climate change
There’s no doubt that climate change is affecting ecosystems as well as the lifestyles of plants and animals around the globe. As temperatures rise, so do the complexity of the issues. Scientists, both in the United States and around the world, are actively pursuing mitigation solutions while providing governments with the understanding of natural hazards to help stem the effects of climate change.
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