Daily Links Jun 28

We’ll surprise surprise, the Craik (ex-NFF boss Wendy Craig) Review on conservation laws and the agricultural sector is used by the Minister to say that farming interests should be considered before deciding whether to list threatened species. On how many fronts can we conduct simultaneous campaigns?

Post of the Day

Political change is the first step to stopping the climate crisis

Every answer has a cost. Every choice exacts a penalty. A new book reminds readers there are no easy answers to the climate crisis.

 

Today’s Celebration

Constitution Day – Ukraine

Remembrance Day of the Poznań June 1956 – Poland

Vidovdan (Orthodox) – Serbia

Family Day – Vietnam

Arbor Day – Nicaragua

M’Guine Sauveur table servie pour maitresse Erzulie, Tenaisse, Mambo – Voudun

Red Nose Day

World Scleroderma Day

Insurance Awareness Day

Tau Day

More about Jun 28

 

Climate Change

Worst is still to come”: Sizzling Europe battles wildfires, health risks

New records are being set as Europe swelters, sparking forest fires – and debates over public nudity.

 

Britain’s new emissions target becomes law

Britain has become the first among the major G7 countries to set a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions, to be achieved by 2050 under law.

 

Political change is the first step to stopping the climate crisis

Every answer has a cost. Every choice exacts a penalty. A new book reminds readers there are no easy answers to the climate crisis.

 

Acting like climate change really is an emergency

Christy Ferguson

Solutions to global warming must be implemented at a scale and pace to match the crisis.

 

National

Aust slammed over energy ‘policy vacuum’

A climate expert has slammed Australia’s renewable energy ‘policy vacuum’, which he says could cost jobs..

 

Power prices fall as customers shop around and competition increases

Australian Energy Market Commission reports a big improvement on last year as new retailers drive lower prices

 

Government urged to set up $1bn fund to help farmers protect the environment

Long-awaited review says government should consider farming interests before listing threatened species

 

Threatened species panel should include agriculture sector: report

The federal government should take advice from the agriculture sector when deciding on protections for threatened animals and plants, says an official report that recommends spending $1 billion encouraging farmers and others to protect the environment.

 

The head-spinning confusion of power bills

Jennifer Hewett

The government is imposing a new form of price regulation on the electricity market on Monday. But will it make much difference to household bills?

 

Growing case for nuclear [$]

Tania Constable

Momentum is building to right the wrong of two decades ago that banned nuclear energy.

 

Access across Australia: mapping 30-minute cities, how do our capitals compare?

David Levinson and Hao Wu

Accessibility – the ease of reaching valued opportunities such as jobs, workers and shops – is the whole reason cities exist. There is no reason to locate anywhere but to be near things, far from things, or to possess things. Access measures this.

 

Victoria

‘We want it gone’: Residents angry after bankrupt businessman spared jail over abandoned dump

It’s a dangerous eyesore in one of the state’s highest-risk grassfire zones, but Geelong residents are still fighting to have an abandoned waste dump cleaned up years after it opened — with the man responsible spared jail.

 

Melbourne Airport’s long-awaited third runway could change direction

Passengers at Melbourne Airport face several years of increasing congestion and delays after its managers decided to put their long-held plan for a third runway on hold, in favour of building it running in another direction.

 

Clogged city: Melbourne’s traffic slowing down more than anywhere else in Australia

You’re not wrong; the commute on Melbourne’s major roads has got a lot worse in the last five years.

 

Why your water bill is about to jump [$]

It’s a bill hike that will hit metropolitan homes — but residents in regional areas will get some relief.

 

Which of these five designs for Sydney Road do you think will work?

Fresh designs of a long-awaited Sydney Road overhaul have been released by VicRoads, but permanent and protected cycling lanes are still not guaranteed.

 

Sydney Road? You might as well get out and walk

Matt Holden

As a resident of the inner north who owns a bike, a car, numerous mykis and a sturdy pair of walking shoes, I use all the transport modes to get up and down Sydney Road, and I can say that none of them is perfect.

 

Power bills put vulnerable at greater risk [$]

Rita Panahi

Rising power bills annoy most Victorians but for the vulnerable they can be a risk to their wellbeing.

 

New South Wales

End of the line for Sydney’s ‘sweat set’ trains

While many commuters will welcome their retirement, many long-time drivers and guards are sad to see most of them head to the scrap yard.

 

NSW EPA’s role as ‘strong cop’ to be boosted by end of ‘two-hat’ chief

The NSW Environment Protection Authority will split its most senior role into two, more than four years after an upper house inquiry into the agency made such a move its top recommendation.

 

Audit Office blasts land-clearing rules as ‘weak’, enforcement ‘rare’

The NSW Audit Office has issued a scathing assessment of the Berejiklian government’s reform of the native vegetation laws, finding land-clearing was “not effectively regulated” with “few tangible outcomes” for breaches.

 

Why it’s so hard to catch a big snapper in NSW [$]

Al McGlashan says being good looking and tasty, and pathetic NSW Fisheries management, is not good news for these fish.

 

Why Sydney’s climate emergency is an example of action from below [$]

Kishor Napier-Raman

As national governments continue to drag their feet and prop up dying fossil fuel industries, climate action will rely on action from local governments.

 

ACT

‘When one of them gets destroyed, part of us gets destroyed with it’: Indigenous scar trees cut down

Two eucalyptus trees with significant value to Canberra’s Indigenous community have been “wrongly removed”, and in one case turned into mulch, prompting traditional custodians to call for tougher penalties to ensure their history does not get destroyed.

 

Unable to recycle plastic bottle caps, Tim found a better use for them

When Tim Miller and his family began recycling bottles and cans in Canberra, they soon ran into a problem. What should they do with the non-recyclable lids? The answer involves a charity in Victoria and brightly coloured plastic limbs.

 

Queensland

Queensland mine shut after worker death

A worker has died in a wall collapse at a central Queensland coal mine.

 

Why the state wants the Cultural Centre metro station moved

The Queensland government wants the plan to send buses underground, opening up new public space at South Bank.

 

Climate change activists in canoe block Brisbane’s Victoria Bridge

Four climate change activists in a canoe blocked traffic in the heart of Brisbane during the Thursday morning peak-hour and forced a major emergency services response.

 

Noxious weed spreads as pollies fight over funds

A highly noxious weed native to Africa is spreading through western Queensland as state and federal politicians squabble over a $10m war chest created to eradicate the threat.

 

Risen Energy will add battery to Queensland “merchant” solar farm

Developers of the 100MW Yarranlea solar farm in Queensland’s Darling Downs have flagged plans to add large-scale battery storage to the “merchant” project.

 

First generation produced at Australia’s largest wind farm

First generation has been achieved at Australia’s largest wind farm, the 453MW Coopers Gap wind farm located north-west of Brisbane.

 

Protest ‘tantrums’ alienate anti-Adani movement [$]

Paul Williams

Setting aside the very real concerns many have about a coal mine that potentially threatens groundwater, local animal species and the Great Barrier Reef, green activists glueing themselves to a Brisbane city street was clearly inappropriate – even counter-productive.

 

Adani’s rules: the media misses out on secret flying visit [$]

Bob Brown

Gautam Adani’s media strategy for his Galilee Basin coal mine leaves a lot to be desired, especially with so many questions still unanswered.

 

South Australia

Govt unveils board to reform SA public transport

The State Government has looked interstate and overseas to fill three out of four positions on a board appointed to lead reform of South Australia’s public transport system.

 

Call for inquiry into KI trail lodges [$]

A federal inquiry is needed into plans for high-end accommodation on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, the local MP says.

 

The cost of using the wrong bin [$]

Ratepayers could save more than $10 million overnight on the rising Solid Waste Levy if people stopped putting food scraps – nearly half of all waste – in the rubbish bin.

 

Australia’s first unsubsidised big battery installed in South Australia

Australia’s first unsubsidised big battery has been installed at Lincoln Gap near Port Augusta, in a major milestone for Australia’s clean energy sector and the emergence of cost-effective zero-emissions energy storage.


Tasmania

Tasmania plots more mainland power cables

A Tasmanian energy kingpin is planning to capitalise on Australia’s shift to renewable power through a series of power interconnectors with the mainland.

 

Proponents say threats have soured case [$]

The couple behind the Lake Malbena proposal have revealed just how far the personal threats have gone and the toll the public response has had on their family.

 

Why not give skippy the snip? [$]

An animal conservation group wants to stop an annual wallaby cull by offering a humane solution involving vets with tranquilliser darts.

 

Northern Territory

High bushfire threat already hitting parts of Northern Australia as hot, dry trend continues

A decade of dry conditions and lower rainfall has left parts of northern Australia facing an early and “above normal” bushfire risk in parts of northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

 

Western Australia

Perth’s June deluge fails to make up for parched summer and autumn

Perth is experiencing its wettest month in 14 years, but the deluge is not enough to catapult the city to its average rainfall for the year to date.

 

Sustainability

Electric vehicle tech ‘underestimated’

Public perception underestimates the capability of electric vehicle technology, according to a business director helping to convert part of London’s bus fleet.

 

Study: Air pollution raises risk of high blood pressure

Long-term exposure to air pollution could raise your risk of high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome, a new study suggests.

 

The voyage to curb marine pollution

Marine pollution is a ticking time bomb that policymakers and shipping operators must address. While the challenge can’t be eradicated, it can be mitigated against and significantly reduced via ‘green’ shoreside connections white at berth.

 

Anti-Chinese protests sparked in Gambia by fishing pollution

Local residents allege since the factory arrived in Gunjur, swathes of dead fish and mammals have washed up on the beach.

 

Solar energy could turn the Belt and Road Initiative green

The region covered by the Belt and Road Initiative has significant potential to be powered by solar energy, researchers report n the journal Joule. Less than 4% of the maximum solar potential of the region could meet the BRI’s electricity demand for 2030. The research suggests a possible solution to reduce BRI countries’ need for fossil fuels as they develop. This is the first time the renewable energy potential of the region is quantified.

 

Climate impact of clouds made from airplane contrails may triple by 2050

A new Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics study found that the climate impact of contrail cirrus will triple by 2050.

 

Air pollution is linked to low intelligence in babies

Pregnant mothers exposed to higher levels of air pollution have children with lower IQs, according to a study that also found folic acid supplements may help to protect a foetus’s developing brain.

 

How to produce natural gas while storing carbon dioxide

New research shows that injecting air and carbon dioxide into methane ice deposits buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico could unlock vast natural gas energy resources while helping fight climate change by trapping the carbon dioxide underground.

 

Packaging environmental harm is child’s play

Alice Clarke

Remember when you were a kid, and pass the parcel was one of the best party games? It didn’t matter whether it was your birthday or not – you got to unwrap a present, and just maybe there’d be a little lolly or toy car in that layer.

 

Trump is quietly leading us closer to nuclear disaster

Steven Andreasen

Underground nuclear explosive testing isn’t worth the consequences.

 

Nature Conservation

Bees kept for honey are killing wild species by spreading disease, study suggests

Nineteen per cent of flowers sampled near domestic beehives had viruses on them.

 

Corals can survive in acidified ocean conditions, but have lower density skeletons

Coral reefs face many challenges to their survival, including the global acidification of seawater as a result of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. A new study led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz shows that at least three Caribbean coral species can survive and grow under conditions of ocean acidification more severe than those expected to occur during this century, although the density of their skeletons was lower than normal.

 

Academia can help humans and large carnivores coexist

Euan Ritchie et al

Academia can play an important role by helping institutions break out of their silos to improve large carnivore conservation.