Post of the Day
Explaining Adani: why would a billionaire persist with a mine that will probably lose money?
John Quiggin
The road to Adani. There are more hurdles to overcome, and Gautam Adani might have to put up his own money.
Today’s Celebration
Martyr’s Day – Uganda
Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana’s Birthday – Thailand
Opium Suppression Movement Day – Taiwan
Independence Declaration Day – Montenegro
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Awareness Month
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month
Care For Your Grandparents Month
Climate Change
As climate change worsens, some people might decide to DIY a solution
What happens when someone wants to go it alone on fixing the climate?
National
Nationals MPs push for nuclear inquiry
Two Queensland Nationals MPs want a parliamentary committee to investigate using nuclear energy, but Labor is daring them to say where a reactor would be built.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese announces frontbench
Newly sworn-in leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese reveals his shadow ministry line-up, including a spot for Bill Shorten, in the wake of last month’s federal election.
Roundup cancer link: Australian firms consider lawsuits over exposure to weedkiller
Sydney councils and Victorian state government reviewing use of glyphosate after US court awards couple US$2bn
National electricity market becoming riskier as stresses mount: report
Australia’s main electricity grid is “facing an escalation of risk” as operational challenges increase and policymakers struggle to develop a coherent strategy to climate change, a new report has found.
ALP in race to embrace coal [$]
Joel Fitzgibbon promises Labor backing for any mining project that doesn’t need taxpayer funding and meets strict environmental tests.
Albo signals shift on coal with frontbench [$]
Labor Queenslanders have won out of Anthony Albanese’s frontbench reshuffle in moves that suggest Labor could change its position on mining but still face a battle over climate change.
Labor and the Greens have to join forces – for the climate’s sake
Greg Jericho
For some it’s the option of last resort. But how much action on climate change has either party driven alone?
How to finish off manufacturing: become the world’s biggest gas exporter
Ross Gittins
Did you know Australia has now over taken Qatar to be the largest exporter of natural gas in the world?
Time to flick climate emergency switch: a plea to our new Parliament
Ian Dunlop
A former oil, gas and coal industry executive appeals to members of the newly elected Parliament to wake up to the urgency of the climate threat to humanity.
Sims’ $7 gas claim ‘wrong on so many levels’
Matthew Stevens
It is “asinine” to suggest that an underperforming gas industry should subsize the rest of the economy, says a leading energy analyst.
Veena Sahajwalla
Most people believe their recycled household waste ends up in landfill.
ABC’s climate panic turns off sceptical voters [$]
Chris Mitchell
This word is clickbait to the ABC and Guardian Australia in the way the word sex is to the Daily Mail.
Time to have a debate about the nuclear option [$]
John Barilaro
Elections are the ultimate battle of ideas and both the NSW and federal elections were named by many analysts as ‘polls on energy and emissions policy’ but, the real solution that seems to tick every box was hardly raised at all.
“Congestion busting” just got harder: Scott Morrison accelerates population rush
Stephen Saunders believes that we need to start a conversation about our ever-growing population.
How forest logging is destroying Australia’s environmental future
Ann Jelinek
The devastation of forests has wide-reaching implications, from species extinction to climate heating.
Victoria
Recycling may become Vic essential service
Victoria’s trouble-plagued recycling industry might be listed as an essential service like water and energy, with the environment minister ordering a review.
It’s legit, miss: The kids who litter to save the environment
Rubbish doesn’t magically disappear: the new program which lets kids track discarded plastic bottles through waterways.
Pocket parks to pop up all over Melbourne
Dozens of new parks will soon be appearing across Melbourne as part of a state government plan to make the city greener. Find out if your suburb is on the list.
Cooperative way to produce a solar solution
Dan Musil
Humans have used solar energy to heat water for thousands of years, and modern solar hot water technology has been around much longer than solar PV panels. Similarly, humans have tended to cooperate. You could say cooperation, like the sun, has been with us since day one.
Where there’s trash, there’s trouble [$]
Andrew Rule
There’s a reason The Sopranos characters were in the “waste disposal” business – the dodgy side of the industry sweeps up disgraced ex-cops and other toxic characters.
New South Wales
NSW wind farm gets construction go-ahead
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has provided debt funding for construction of a New South Wales wind farm.
Land-clearing rates rocketed in year before NSW laws were loosened
Some 20,200 hectares were cleared for crops, pasture or thinning – or about 70 times the size of Sydney’s central business district.
Performance of Sydney’s inner west buses worse in private hands
The punctuality of buses in Sydney’s inner west has worsened since a private company replaced the state-owned operator last year, new figures show.
Water levels in crucial NSW dams drop to record lows
With towns across New South Wales at risk of running out of water within months, there are renewed calls for an urgent upgrade of water storage infrastructure.
Glitches fail to deter commuters as 546,000 people board metro trains
More than 72,000 commuters on average travelled on Sydney’s new $7.3 billion metro line each day during its first working week despite teething problems dogging some services, making it almost as busy as the Eastern Suburbs rail line.
LNG terminal ‘can double capacity’ [$]
Australia’s first LNG import terminal, financed by iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest, could double its planned capacity to plug an expected shortfall of gas on the nation’s east coast.
More ways to get cash for your recycling [$]
Money-savvy recyclers could pocket a refund for more types of empty bottles than ever before, with the State Government leaving the lid open to expanding its container refund scheme to include a whole host of popular vessels.
ACT
ACT Scientific Committee advises government against future wild eastern bettong releases
The ACT’s Scientific Committee has advised the government against future wild releases of vulnerable eastern bettongs, after 67 died in a failed Lower Cotter experiment.
Dead cats, birds and blue-green algae put a dampener on Lake Tuggeranong living
Canberrans and territory newcomers coughing up cash to secure real estate along Tuggeranong’s lakefront are being shut in by blue-green algae, and shafted by people using the lake as a dumping ground.
Queensland
Schrinner pledge of greener suburbs ‘nothing new’, Labor says
The lord mayor promised his upcoming budget would have millions more for greening the city.
Shayne Neumann backs Adani, says party must get behind coal mining if it hopes to win government.
Trad’s shock admission on Labor’s Adani play [$]
Embattled Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, who faces losing her Brisbane seat at next state election, has taken to social media to defend her government against a two-pronged attack over the controversial Adani mine.
Explaining Adani: why would a billionaire persist with a mine that will probably lose money?
John Quiggin
The road to Adani. There are more hurdles to overcome, and Gautam Adani might have to put up his own money.
Tasmania
Hydro Tasmania confirms Basslink outage due to fault at a converter station
Hydro Tasmania confirms the Basslink interconnector, which links Tasmania to the national electricity grid, has experienced an outage but expects it to return to service on Monday.
School Strike 4 Climate group seeks meeting with Youth Minister Richard Colbeck
A leading figure in Launceston’s School Strike 4 Climate movement is seeking to meet with the new federal Youth Minister Richard Colbeck to discuss local young people’s concerns about climate change.
Sustainability
Why renewable energy and clean air must be an agenda for Modi in second term
India is burning up more coal to supply cheap electricity to its 1.3 billion people, resulting in polluted air across vast stretches.
Why India must increase focus on energy storage solutions
Sunil Jain
Battery storage is rapidly becoming cheaper with the increase in manufacturing capacity, apart from being quicker to implement. However, till such a time that it becomes cost effective, developers would still be wary of large-scale implementations
The terrifying parallels we can draw to Chernobyl disaster [$]
Karen Brooks
The Chernobyl TV series is being described as the highest-rated show of all time, possibly because it depicts men in power who refused to accept the knowledge, proven science and warnings of lauded experts.
Floating cities: the future or a washed-up idea?
Brydon T. Wang
Oceanix, a proposed floating city, has captured the attention of the UN.
How Monsanto manipulates journalists and academics
Carey Gillam
Monsanto’s own emails and documents reveal a disinformation campaign to hide its weedkiller’s possible links to cancer.
‘Why it’s time to stop giving aviation and shipping sectors an easy ride on pollution’
Colm McCarthy
Since Ireland’s contribution to the world’s carbon emissions is tiny, whatever efforts can be made in this country will have a negligible direct effect.
Nature Conservation
MPs to debate returning huge swathes of Britain to natural habitat in ‘rewilding’ scheme
MPs will have to debate returning vast swathes of land to wildernesses after a petition calling for mass rewilding gained more than 100,000 signatures.
Rise of the extinction deniers
Just like climate deniers, they’re out to obfuscate and debase scientists and conservationists – and maybe get rid of a few pesky species in the process.
A one-of-a-kind research station for climate change
A team of Israeli scientists is experimenting with changes in rainfall patterns to determine how native vegetation will adapt to new climatic conditions.
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
93741902
0432406862