http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20394
Post of the Day
Climate change is a poor people’s issue
Poor and working communities stand to gain the most from protections against corporations that expose them to pollution.
Today’s Celebration
National Culture Day – Kiribati
Naadam Festival – Mongolia
Birth Anniversary of Guru Rinpoche – Bhutan
National Tree Day – Mexico
Flemish Community Day – Belgium
Bandoneon Day – Argentina
Eleventh Night – Northern Ireland
Maritime Day – China
Srebrenica Genocide Memorial Day – Bosnia Herzegovina
National Day of Remembrance of Genocide Victims – Poland
Climate Change
The Powerpoint that got a climate scientist disinvited from a Shell conference
Last Wednesday, the day before he was scheduled to appear, Peter Kalmus was disinvited from what the oil giant billed as “an action-oriented day of dialogue focused on accelerating the energy transition.”
UK’s climate advisers slam govt progress
A report by the UK government’s climate advisers has called for urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions to meet the country’s new net zero target.
What motivates the biggest climate change deniers?
If you think it won’t affect you, you might be a social dominant. If you say it’s overstated, you could be authoritarian.
It’s the end of the world as they know it
The distinct burden of being a climate scientist.
Climate change is a poor people’s issue
Poor and working communities stand to gain the most from protections against corporations that expose them to pollution.
How climate change got labeled a ‘crisis’
Advocates for action against climate change have been working for more than a decade to label the issue a crisis. The term has now gone mainstream.
National
Keep religious freedom law simple: senator
Attorney-General Christian Porter says his religious beliefs have nothing to do with his ability to draft legislation to protect people from discrimination.
David Attenborough takes aim at Australia for lack of climate action
Legendary natural historian, David Attenborough, has outlined a dire future for the world if climate change is not addressed immediately.
UN to investigate potential human rights abuses in Australia
Alleged human rights violations in Australia and the treatment of prisoners will soon be scrutinised by the United Nations in a landmark visit, in the wake of the case of an intellectually impaired Indigenous boy who was kept naked in a Brisbane watch house.
Australia urged to invest in recycling manufacturing after Indonesia sends rubbish back
Kickstart the domestic market so Asian countries rejecting Australian waste is no longer a problem, industry suggests
Chinese expert warns against investing in new coal mines
Chinese engineer and academic Peggy Liu says Australia should closely question decisions to invest hundreds of million of dollars in new mines.
Fire and cyclones: How Australia’s capital cities handle climate change
Australia’s local governments are taking matters into their own hands to tackle climate change, bracing for the impact of natural disasters while bringing their cities over to renewable energy.
‘Climate change? Really not for us’
Strongly conservative people are less likely to support action on climate change, new research has found.
Approval sought to adjust plan [$]
Water Minister David Littleproud will push through plans to make the Murray-Darling Basin Plan more transparent.
AEMO pushes storage, new links as renewables head for 60% share
The Australian Energy Market Operator, charged with keeping the lights on as it shepherds the country’s grid through a renewable energy revolution, has turned its focus once again on the needs for more storage and more and bigger links between the various state networks.
Building power system resilience with pumped hydro energy storage
Australian Energy Market Operator
This paper provides new perspectives and deeper analysis on the role pumped hydro energy storage and strategic transmission developments can play in lowering costs to consumers.
Murray-Darling success: 18 Sydney Harbours returned to rivers while towns thrive
Steve Whan
The cost to taxpayers – about $4000 a megalitre – might sound high, but consider the communities saved and the jobs created.
Antagonising irrigation is not constructive [$]
Luke Simpkins
Irrigation farming adds billions of dollars to the NSW and Australian economies each year. Irrigation farms can in most cases be with the same family for generations, or for larger businesses, employ many Australians.
Farmers have reason to be salty over water deal [$]
Andrew Bolt
Our governments are spending billions to take scarce water off farmers to change a huge salt lake into a fresh one. Are they crazy?
Fraught politics of basin plan [$]
Australian editorial
An ABC report on the Murray-Darling unleashes ill feeling.
Only science can flush out truth about Murray [$]
Tory Shepherd
It’s hard for us to look at the bigger picture when there’s one right in front of us screaming about water rorts. Science is the way to tackle both the immediate and future threats.
Michelle Pini
Following the Four Corners exposé on the Murray-Darling Basin, executive editor Michelle Pini interviews two of the program’s key experts who are scathing about the Government’s management of the Basin Plan.
We organised a conference for 570 people without using plastic. Here’s how it went
Elizabeth Sinclair et al
This year’s national conference of the Australian Marine Science Association is a plastic-free zone, as marine scientists aim to reduce the environmental burden of throwaway plastic.
Going Nuclear in the Antipodes: Australia’s megadeath complex
Binoy Kampmark
The nuclear call doing the rounds in Canberra is a bit of old man’s bravado, and a glowering approach to the non-proliferation thrust of the current international regime.
Nuclear war between super funds
Jim Green
Even at 30% penetration, the high estimate for nuclear (US$192 / megawatt-hour (MWh)) is far higher than the high estimates for coal ($144), solar PV ($88), onshore wind ($84), and gas ($75).
Victoria
‘Enough’s enough’: EPA slaps ban on SKM Recycling plant accepting waste
Victoria’s environmental watchdog orders a recycling plant in Melbourne’s west to stop accepting waste, months after it was briefly shut down amid compliance concerns.
Local youth pass bill to ban single-use plastic bags
Strathbogie Shire’s Youth Parliament team successfully passed a bill to ban single-use plastic bags at the 32nd YMCA Victoria Youth Parliament Program.
Company behind Campbellfield fire collapses, taxpayers could foot bill
The company behind one of the state’s largest stockpiles of toxic waste and a factory where a catastrophic industrial blaze burnt for days has collapsed, leaving taxpayers to potentially foot a multimillion-dollar clean-up bill.
Victoria needs energy link backup as coal closes down [$]
Australia’s energy market authority has warned Victoria needs another link to New South Wales as early coal plant closures place major pressure on the state’s energy grid.
New South Wales
Parks fund cuts could lead to extinctions
A former NSW park ranger has warned cuts to national park funding has resulted in poor invasive weed and pest management which is threatening native species.
Face recognition, flying cars loom for NSW
Transport Minister Andrew Constance has outlined a vision for the future of transport in NSW, including payment for travel via facial recognition.
WestConnex tunnels between Haberfield and Homebush to open this weekend
The first underground stage of the nation’s biggest road infrastructure project, WestConnex, is expected to open this Saturday with motorists to pay $4.27 to use the tunnel between Homebush and Haberfield on Sydney’s M4.
NSW deputy premier vows to open up Murray Valley national park to logging
John Barilaro wants to remove protection by either de-gazetting the entire park or reducing its size
Japan walks away from new coal, denting prospects for NSW coal exports
Export market for NSW coal faces further pressures as Japan cancels two-thirds of planned new coal power.
EnergyAustralia calls the Piper and heads back to the trenches
Despite the 60 MW capacity upgrade at Mt Piper, EnergyAustralia is struggling
Queensland
Protester ‘swarm’ to disrupt Brisbane CBD in peak hour on Thursday
Commuters are being warned of delays in Brisbane’s CBD on Thursday morning, with another climate protest planned.
TransLink holds $5 million in unused fares from expired Go Cards
People with expired Go Cards can apply to get the leftover balance refunded, with millions of dollars up for grabs.
LNP rolls out welcome mat for Adani protest [$]
Browned off It might seem an odd reception, but federal LNP ministers have welcomed a renewed crusade by anti-Adani ringleader Bob Brown.
Elder to fight Adani ‘intimidation’ [$]
An Aboriginal elder who led the fight against Adani’s Carmichael mine has vowed to fight what he describes as the mining giant’s unfair and intimidatory attempts to silence him, and punish him for resisting the mine, by using the power of the bankruptcy court, his lawyer says.
South Australia
While some states are dealing with endangered animals, SA is dealing with a population explosion
Kangaroos, corellas, fur seals, koalas and even Cape Barren geese could face culling if a parliamentary inquiry’s recommendations are adopted to control overpopulated native and pest species. The committee also heard creating industry from culled animal products could be part of the solution.
What looks like a wetland turns out to be a toxic acid pond [$]
Hundreds of birds are dying each year after mistaking Olympic Dam’s evaporation ponds for wetlands. Environment campaigners want the miner to stop using them.
$4.7m Port Noarlunga riverbank gets green light — but sacred trees face the axe [$]
The $4.7 million plan to transform Port Noarlunga’s riverbank — but sacred trees will be on the chopping block in order to put up a parking lot.
Nuke dump ‘expanded’ — but no site chosen yet [$]
A source claims there is a preferred site for the nuclear waste dump and it’ll be 60 per cent bigger – but the Federal Government says nowhere is favoured yet.
Shifting sands: why SA pays for an endless cycle of beach replenishment
South Australians are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to walk along sandy metropolitan beaches. And we’ll spend hundreds of millions more to keep them.
Tasmania
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Northern Territory
Uluru inundated with human waste as tourists flock to the rock ahead of its closure
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park’s overflow campground, nearby roadhouses, and the resort at Yulara are at capacity as tourists flood the area to climb the rock before its permanent closure in October, reportedly forcing tourists to camp illegally on the side of the road.
Council plastic ban to be enforced from 2020 [$]
Market stalls who don’t abide by Darwin council’s single-use plastic ban next year won’t have their permits renewed as the council cracks down
Western Australia
Risen Energy begins construction of biggest solar farm in W.A.
Risen begins construction of biggest solar farm in West Australia, adding to that state’s renewable resurgence.
Sustainability
London’s ethical pub changing the world one beer at a time
Employing the homeless and offering beer brewed from left over bread, The Green Vic in London’s trendy Shoreditch district is aiming to be the world’s most ethical pub.
Brazil court convicts Vale for dam rupture
A Brazil court has ruled that mining giant Vale is responsible for damages caused by the rupture of a tailings dam in January that killed at least 240 people.
The Meat Mogul’s Case For Lab-Grown Beef
“If we can make the meat without the animal, why wouldn’t we do that?”
Cleaning up oil spills with mussel power
The chemicals that enable mussels to cling to rocks and boat hulls may soon provide a solution for cleaning up oil spills and purifying water.
Plastic has a big carbon footprint — but that isn’t the whole story
Largely overlooked is how making plastic affects the environment. Plastic is a big contributor to global warming. So are its alternatives.
Solar power with a free side of drinking water
An integrated system seamlessly harnesses sunlight to cogenerate electricity and fresh water.
20 overlooked benefits of distributed solar energy
Study outlines advantages of solar on rooftops, other developed areas
The population bomb that failed to detonate
Michael Madigan
It was a time of space exploration — putting man on the moon, and living in fear for the future of mankind. Now, 50 years later, we must ask what those fears that gripped the world were really about.
Nature Conservation
Japan whalewatching boom calls future of commercial whaling into question
As Japanese whaling resumes, some are questioning if the whalewatching business will supercede demands for the delicacy.
Five things to know about blue-green algae. (Yeah, it’s bad. And it’s getting worse.)
Blue-green algae blooms have been growing more frequent, both in Florida and elsewhere in the United States. Mississippi just closed all 21 of its beaches because of a bloom.
New research helps predict locations of blue whales so ships can avoid them
A new model based on daily oceanographic data and the movements of tagged whales has opened the potential for stakeholders to see where in the ocean endangered blue whales are most likely to be so that ships can avoid hitting them.
Now for something completely different …
Has the ABC’s Four Corners passed its use-by date?
Mark Poynter
Promoting favoured causes by ignoring inconvenient truths and/or alternative views is not true investigative journalism.
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