Post of the Day
Two-hour ‘dose’ of nature significantly boosts health – study
Researchers say simply sitting and enjoying the peace has mental and physical benefits
Today’s Celebration
Commemoration Day of victims of the Communist Terror – Latvia
Day of Mourning and Hope Lithuania
Memorial Day for the Victims of Repression – Armenia
National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Nazi German Concentration and Death Camps – Poland
Flag Day United States of America
Liberation Day Falkland Islands
Climate Change
Michael E. Mann took climate change deniers to court. They apologized
Renowned climate scientist Michael E. Mann got an apology Friday from a think tank that published an interview attacking his reputation. In the fight against climate disinformation, experts like him are turning to new arenas.
How scientists use the color of the ocean to determine the impacts of climate change
As climate change continues to warm the oceans, researchers have turned to microscopic sediments to observe trends.
A metal-free, sustainable approach to CO2 reduction
Researchers in Japan present an organic catalyst for carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction that is inexpensive, readily available and recyclable. As the level of catalytic activity can be tuned by the solvent conditions, their findings could open up many new directions for converting CO2 to industrially useful organic compounds.
Carbon-neutral fuels move a step closer
Chemists have developed an efficient process for converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, a key ingredient of synthetic fuels and materials.
Will climate change kill everyone – or just lots and lots of people?
The debate over whether climate change will end life on Earth, explained.
Two degrees: global warming up close and personal
Landscape architect John Mongard on the urgent need to plan and design landscapes not for image and amenity, but for survival.
National
Sick and injured wildlife crisis looms as stressed carers struggle with costs
The ranks of overstressed and underfunded wildlife carers are dwindling while animal hospitals struggle to care for a rising tide of sick and injured animals.
Native animals as pets helps fight reptile smuggling
Allowing people to have native animals as pets could be the key to saving Australia’s fauna and guard against reptile smuggling, academic says.
Was a mine as big as Adani’s approved during the election campaign?
Following the election, Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon described the debate surrounding the Adani mine in Queensland as “crazy”, saying that a mine just as big had been approved in the state during the campaign. Is he correct?
Business opportunities up for grabs in clean energy transition
Advances in energy technologies and digitalization are opening up new opportunities for businesses to prosper in a clean economy, a new Accenture Strategy report for The Climate Group shows.
Activists to ramp up pressure on companies over climate during AGM season
Companies face hostile shareholders as Westpac acknowledges a ‘variance’ with Business Council of Australia
Too many hurdles for local renewables investments [$]
The appetite for investment for renewable projects globally was making it harder to invest in Australia.
Depths of our drought revealed
Analysis suggests current conditions are more extreme than those experienced during the millennium drought.
Why networks think battery storage may be smarter choice than more poles and wires
Australia is poised for a transformation of its electricity system – but not in the ways you’ve heard before. In recent months, transmission companies around the world have been…
As Angus Taylor ducks, weaves and dithers, China zooms past
Simon Holmes à Court
Australia could be a post-carbon superpower – but the energy minister must seize the day
Nuclear power exits Australia’s energy debate, enters culture wars
Jim Green
In Australia, support for nuclear power is increasingly marginalised to the far-right – support for nuclear power has become a sign of tribal loyalty.
Green hydrogen costs may fall as quickly as solar, but Australia still needs some luck
Giles Parkinson
The cost of electrolysers to create hydrogen are likely to fall by more than 70 per cent over the next decade – matching the recent dramatic cost falls of solar PV and battery storage – but it may still not be enough to provide Australia with a breakthrough in green hydrogen exports.
Undocumented plant extinctions are a big problem in Australia – here’s why they go unnoticed
David Coates
A recent global survey found almost 600 plants have gone extinct. And this figure is likely to be an underestimate.
Hogsback would like to know what the thousands of activists did to fill in their time before they heard of Adani.
Corporations start to question Business Council’s climate denialism [$]
Bernard Keane
Companies are finally starting to work out what the Business Council’s climate change policy is: vaguely supporting action, then sabotaging any efforts to actually do anything.
Why take action on climate change? Jobs and exports.{$]
Doug Hendrie
There may be a better future just around the corner; all we have to do is shake ourselves free of the past.
Victoria
North East Link bidders to hit $50m jackpot – if they don’t win contract
Tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers money is being paid to companies who fail to win contracts to build Melbourne’s two major transport projects.
Scepticism over whether Uber’s flying taxis would reduce congestion
Uber’s plan to introduce flying taxis in Melbourne within four years might be technologically possible, according to experts, but its claims the fleet will reduce road congestion have been met with scepticism.
New South Wales
Blue Mountains wilderness would be ‘permanently’ changed by raising dam wall, leak reveals
Draft report says Warragamba dam changes would affect Aboriginal historical sites
Sydney CBD congestion tax would hit wealthy hardest: analysis
Critics have argued such charges could hit low-income earners the hardest but a new analysis finds otherwise.
ACT
156 feral deer shot in ACT aerial cull
The ACT government shot over 150 deer in Murrumbidgee and Molonglo River corridors as part of an aerial cull last week.
Canberra Liberals float idea of new ACT water body
Opposition leader Alistair Coe has floated the idea of establishing an ACT water authority as part of a wider shakeup of the territory’s public service if the Liberals win the next election.
Queensland
Adani mine gets final nod from Queensland government
Adani has won a crucial approval for managing groundwater that allows the company to begin building its controversial coal mine in central Queensland.
Fed govt supported coal mine: Adani chair
The chair of Adani, which is planning to build a coal mine in Queensland, says the Indian company has received good government support in the past eight years.
Adani’s opponents vow to fight to the end
Adani hopes to export coal within two years after gaining the final approval needed to build its Carmichael mine, but opponents say they’ll continue to fight.
Science versus jobs: water expert on Adani
A former Queensland government water chief who fears the effects of Adani’s coal mine says there’s been “an attack on science, versus the politics of jobs”.
Adani has its environmental approvals, so what happens now?
Indian mining firm Adani says it expects to start work on its coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin within weeks, creating thousands of jobs. But how exactly will that future unfold from here?
Queensland says federal water decision on Adani ‘reeked of political interference’
Sussan Ley suggests government could be open to looking at strengthened conditions Queensland had imposed
Adani approval opens Galilee basin to six other mine projects
Six other mine projects are in the pipeline for Queensland’s Galilee basin, on top of the Adani project which passed its last environmental hurdle on Thursday
‘The way you spell jobs in Queensland is A-D-A-N-I’
The Morrison government is hailing the approval for the Adani coal mine as a “historic day” and a “great win” for jobs.
Greens foreshadow legal challenges to Adani approval
The Adani mine could be further mired in legal challenges, as the Greens vow the fight against the project is not yet over.
Adani faces stoush over pipeline [$]
Construction can begin on the Carmichael mine but Adani will need to go through another assessment process and possible legal challenge before it can build a crucial water pipeline to the mine site.
How to get a job at Adani’s $1b Carmichael mega-mine [$]
Now Adani’s Carmichael mine has jumped the final hurdle, jobs will soon be flowing. Here’s how to land a job with Adani, including tips for success + current vacancies >>
Once the night parrot’s enemy, feral cats could soon be key to rare bird’s survival
In a bid to boost the population of one of Australia’s rarest birds, researchers from the University of Queensland embark on a new feral cat control program.
Job-seeker program boosts environment
Logan City Council is helping to promote a program that benefits the environment, our parks and job-seekers.
Five things you didn’t know about the Brisbane River [$]
Known by locals as the brown snake, there’s much more to the Brisbane River than meets the eye.
Queensland’s tick-and-flick groundwater approval for Adani could spell disaster for ancient oasis
ACF media release
“Today’s announcement looks like a plan to monitor the destruction of the springs.”
Chasing losses: Australia’s bad bet on Adani
Climate Council media release
The Climate Council has slammed the Queensland Government’s conditional approval of the Adani Carmichael coal mine’s groundwater modelling plan, saying opening up the Galilee Basin is a climate disaster.
Adani approval bad news for corals and wildlife on World Heritage Great Barrier Reef
AMCS media release
A Palaszczuk government decision to give a key environmental approval to Adani’s coal mine puts millions of corals and ocean wildlife on the state’s iconic Great Barrier Reef at risk, says the Australian Marine Conservation Council (AMCS).
Adani has the green light. Will it put its money where its mouth is?
Josh Robertson
The most divisive project in recent Australian history can finally break ground. But sceptics still struggle to see how Adani will turn a profit from a remote thermal coal mine in the era of the Paris climate agreement.
Adani decision must not be last word in climate fight
SMH editorial
The controversial Adani coal mine has been approved but that must not stop the crucial debate on how Australia can transition to a low-carbon economy.
After Adani approval for Carmichael mine, let’s move on [$]
Mark Ludlow
After 3156 days the political games over Adani’s Carmichael mine are over. Maybe.
A (belated) victory for common sense [$]
Courier Mail editorial
Let’s get moving. These three words sum up the immediate response of relief from the majority of Queenslanders at the news the Adani coal mine and infrastructure project has been given the final green light, paving the way for work boots on the ground and twin-cabs at the work sites.
Critics circle over Palaszczuk Adani inaction [$]
Steven Wardhill
The Palaszczuk Government could have decided to prohibit new thermal coal mines or it could have set deadlines for bureaucrats to make decisions about Adani faster so it was approved long ago. It did neither, and now it has to face the fallout.
Morrison can’t support Adani and call the Pacific family [$]
Joseph Moeono-Kolio
Australia’s decision to put profits over people finds expression in a Prime Minister and political system completely beholden to the whims of coal executives.
Mines could reinvigorate rural Australia [$]
Daily Telegraph editorial
Let’s hope yesterday’s approval of the Adani mine in Queensland starts a trend where governments of all stripes stand up to noisy activists who have made it their mission to deny Australians cheap energy.
Adani approval in line with energy trends [$]
Australian editorial
Australia’s slow, inefficient processes erode competitiveness.
Adani is cleared to start digging its coal mine – six key questions answered
Adrian Werner and Matthew Currell
Adani Australia CEO Lucas Dow has now collected all the necessary approvals.
South Australia
The last straw: Time to phase out plastics [$]
Stacey Lee
Sooner or later, SA will have to ban single-use plastics. We should start planning now so we avoid the laughable furore the eastern states had when plastic bags were banned.
Northern Territory
Fracking to start ‘as soon as possible’ [$]
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association says after almost three years of activity lost to the Gunner Government’s moratorium and its resolution, it hopes to start exploration in the NT “as soon as possible”
Western Australia
Synergy’s dire finances revealed: Power retailer stares down a $180 million loss
WA power provider Synergy will slump to almost $180 million in losses over the next four years, according to figures released in State Parliament, as the financial position of the state-owned utility deteriorates.
Sustainability
World’s largest sovereign wealth fund to dump billions in coal investments
Norway’s parliament has approved tighter investment rules that could see it ditch its stakes in mining giants Glencore, BHP and Anglo American, as well as energy generator AGL.
UK to be left with five coal power stations after latest closure
News comes as National Grid announces greenest winter for energy use after mild weather
Revealed: UK government failing to tackle rise of serious air pollutant
Investigation reveals no plan is in place to tackle increase in levels of agricultural ammonia, a gas contributing to thousands of deaths in UK alone
Drastic shift in city lifestyles urged to avert climate crisis
You bound out of bed in your wood-framed eco-home, throw on a rented dress, jump on an electric bike and head to the “tool library” to borrow a trowel to plant your vegetable patch.
Artificial intelligence has designs on the cities of the future
Experts believe artificial intelligence will help architects and planners design the towns and cities the world needs to cope with climate change and population growth.
Renewable energy capacity now exceeds coal in U.S.
Renewable energy now generates more electricity in the United States than coal. Solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal totaled 21.56 percent of U.S. generating capacity as of April, according to a report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Coal, meanwhile, accounted for just 21.55 percent of capacity, down from 23.04 percent last year.
The Pentagon emits more greenhouse gases than Portugal, study finds
Pentagon released 59m metric tons of carbon dioxide and other warming gases in 2017, research shows
Dangerous waters: The world’s most important oil route is under threat
The Strait of Hormuz, sometimes described as the world’s most important oil choke point, is a gateway for almost a third of all crude oil and other petroleum products carried by tanker.
Environmental activists acknowledge that their court action is a “baptism of fire” for the new minister, who is just two weeks into her job.
Kenyans protest bid to build East Africa’s first coal plant
Scores of Kenyans on Wednesday protested a project to build a coal power station near the Lamu archipelago, a popular tourist spot that includes a UNESCO World Heritage site and vibrant marine life.
Roundup ingredient found in cereals marketed toward kids: Study
A key chemical used in controversial pesticide Roundup is found in a number of name-brand cereals and granolas, a study out Wednesday found.
Of course we’re ingesting plastic, it’s everywhere you turn [$]
Jane Fynes-Clinton
Shocking revelations on how much plastic we’re all ingesting are enough to make anyone gag. The magnitude of our plastic problem should have us all panicking.
Corporations are poisoning people in Puerto Rico with coal ash
Jack Aponte
Rates of cancer and asthma have risen in Guayama since AES Corporation opened its coal-fired power plant.
City temperatures and city economics, a hidden relationship between sun and wind and profits
Silvia Tavares and Taha Chaiechi
Good urban design and walkability boost local economic activity by increasing public activity, but cities need to pay more attention to the effects of microclimates on streets and public spaces.
Nature Conservation
Squid could thrive under climate change
When scientists subjected two-toned pygmy squid and bigfin reef squid to CO2levels projected for the end of the century, they received some surprising results.
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