Post of the Day
Yes, it’s worth arguing with science deniers — and here are some techniques you can use
Plus: A fake news game that seems to inoculate players against fake news.
Today’s Celebration
Canada Day – Canada
Communist Party Foundation – China
Emancipation Day – St. Eustatius
Emancipation Day – Sint Maarten
Freedom Day – Suriname
Constitution Day – Cayman Islands
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day – Hong Kong
Independence Day – Burundi
Independence Day – Rwanda
Republic Day – Somalia
Republic Day – Ghana
Sir Seretse Khama Day – Botswana
Territory Day – British Virgin Islands
National Festival of Tree Planting (Van Mahotsav) – India
Climate Change
Tiny nations challenge Australia’s carbon ‘carryover credits’
The conference that wrapped debated among other things, the rules of the Paris climate agreement.
Climate change: May urges G20 to follow UK lead on CO2
World leaders reaffirm their commitment to tackling climate change after Theresa May urged them to do more.
Yes, it’s worth arguing with science deniers — and here are some techniques you can use
Plus: A fake news game that seems to inoculate players against fake news.
Caring for planet is a moral responsibility
Thea Ormerod
I am a grandmother with eight grandchildren. Sometimes I lie awake at night worrying about how our changing climate is going to affect their future.
National
‘We’re close’: Action on gas prices to deliver PM $158 billion tax package
Centre Alliance is confident it has secured a deal with the Morrison government on a plan to bring down gas prices in exchange for voting for the $158 billion tax package.
Coal ash a ‘ticking time bomb’: report
Australian communities are at serious health risk from the “ticking time bomb” that is coal ash, according to a new report.
Minister rubbishes bag claim [$]
Waste reduction minister Trevor Evans has dismissed concerns that bans on plastic bags have led to a weaker economy.
Elderly who can’t afford heating ‘suffering and dying at home’ [$]
A study has revealed the number of elderly people dying in their cold homes or being rushed to hospital because they can’t afford heating has risen 34 per cent in 10 years. The study’s release comes as Bupa — which came under fire during the aged care royal commission — takes over the armed forces healthcare contract from Monday.
Victoria
Divers and fisherman clash over Port Phillip Bay’s spider crab slaughter
It’s renowned as one of the greatest animal migrations in the world. Every winter, tens of thousands of giant spider crabs wander up from the depths of Port Phillip Bay into the shallows to shed their shells.
Labor stalls on action plan as greater glider slides towards extinction
With its shagpile coat and teddy bear ears, the greater glider is one of Australia’s most photogenic animals, for those patient enough to put in the hours required to catch a glimpse of the forest-dwelling recluse.
Award-winning sheep farmers sue AGL over wind farm construction
A farming couple whose sheep produced award-winning ultra-fine wool are suing energy giant AGL for $2.3 million for negligence, accusing it of destroying their business after more than half their flock died amid construction of a wind farm next door.
Hunt welcomes gas project delay [$]
Long-time opponent Greg Hunt has applauded AGL’s decision to delay Australia’s first LNG plant off the Mornington Peninsula.
The Snowy Hydro is calling on the Victorian government to help it prevent blackouts.
New South Wales
Forests flooding while rivers run dry: two tales of one river system
There’s a link between expanding irrigation industries, fish kills in Menindee Lakes and an internationally recognised wetland hundreds of kilometres away.
ACT
It’s time to start minimising plastic
Canberra Times editorial
It’s time for Canberrans to take action to reduce their plastic waste. As reported today, it isn’t difficult and it doesn’t have to be inconvenient, it just takes a little commitment to change daily habits.
Destruction of Aboriginal scarred trees demonstrates that Canberra’s heritage laws need to change
Canberra Times editorial
Two intriguing stories involving ACT heritage appeared on these pages last week.
Queensland
Mount Coot-tha residents fighting quarry over house and health concerns
There are calls to investigate blasting at a Brisbane quarry amid complaints of cracking concrete, inaccurate monitoring and even a silica dust storm.
The push for genetically modified crops to combat climate change food shortages
Regulators need to embrace genetically modified crops to prevent global food shortages caused by climate change, a leading plant scientist says.
South Australia
Good times are flowing for Murray growers [$]
Irrigation allocations in South Australia are slowly creeping up, and are now double the low figures released months ago.
Half of public transport users say fares ‘are too high’ [$]
Adelaide’s public transport doesn’t offer value for money, about half of its users believe — and the minister says the buses, trains and trams must improve.
Confusion on power bills as $171 discount kicks in [$]
A new electricity bill system begins today aimed at capping prices for some people — but research shows many people wrongly believe they’re going to be better off.
Surfers have no chill over Bight oil drilling [$]
Ultimately, scientists, politicians and bureaucrats will decide if the massive oil reserves under The Bight are unearthed — but another usually quiet group has emerged as the loudest roadblock.
Liberals facing new mining bill test [$]
Yorke Peninsula farmers are white hot with anger as the State Government pushes ahead with its controversial Mining Bill — as four Liberal backbenchers once again prepare to cross the floor.
Tasmania
Campaign’s challenge: Rethink your use of plastic
Two Launceston businesses have a challenge for their regional counterparts: rethink your relationship to plastic in July.
Plovers suspected victims of botched bird cull [$]
Native birds found dead in New Norfolk’s Tynwald Park are suspected victims of the Derwent Valley Council’s bird cull.
Sustainability
Beijing wages war on pollution while investing billions to support coal overseas
China remains the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions — where air pollution is still responsible for more than 1 million premature deaths a year — but also contributed to almost a third of the global renewables investment in 2018.
Carbon monoxide exposure in homes is a risk – here’s how to protect yourself
Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning in Australia in recent years have focused attention on faulty or unflued gas heaters – here’s what you need to know.
NZ single-use plastic bag ban begins
New regulations come into force in New Zealand on Monday banning single-use plastic shopping bags.
Why lead is dangerous, and the damage it does
Christopher P. Holstege
Everything is a toxin, or has the potential to be, in the field of toxicology. In the 1500s, Swiss physician Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, coined his famous dictum: “What is there that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison.”
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.
Nature Conservation
Abandoned fishing nets pulled from Pacific Ocean in clean-up expedition
In a mission to clean up trash floating in the ocean, the non-profit Ocean Voyages Institute environmental group removes 40 tonnes of abandoned fishing nets from an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Twitchers have a treasure trove of data to aid seabirds as numbers drop
Since keen birdwatchers are active along coastlines around the world, they can supply information that would otherwise be costly and difficult to gather, researchers say.
Dolphin researchers say NZ’s proposed protection plan is flawed and misleading
Elisabeth Slooten and Steve Dawson
The New Zealand government recently proposed a plan to manage what it considers to be threats to Hector’s dolphins, an endemic species found only in coastal waters. This includes the North Island subspecies Māui dolphin.
Now for something completely different …
‘It is not a pipe dream’: five things Australia could do now to end poverty
In New Zealand and Canada, poverty rates are falling dramatically. What would it take to lift the forgotten Australians living in poverty?
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