Post of the Day
More than 28,000 species are officially threatened, with more likely to come
Peter Kyne
More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The list, updated on Thursday night, has assessed the extinction risk of almost 106,000 species and found more than a quarter are in trouble.
Today’s Celebration
Martyrs’ Day in Myanmar
Sandinista Revolution Day in Nicaragua
Climate Change
This map shows how hot you’re going to get without climate action
If we continue business as usual, by the middle of the century the average number of days that feel hotter than 100 degrees will more than double.
How artificial intelligence can tackle climate change
The biggest challenge on the planet might benefit from machine learning to help with solutions. Here are a just a few.
Younger voters mobilizing to make US federal election about climate change
Climate change has skyrocketed to the top of many lists of issues voters care about the most – particularly younger voters.
Oceans need geoengineering, not the atmosphere
Solar geoengineering is a bandaid on symptoms that would leave the cause untouched, but it’s unclear if that’s as true for oceanic carbon geoengineering.
Could Antarctica be refrozen? Don’t laugh
In a hypothetical future, the once-pristine Antarctic landscape is cluttered with cutting-edge machinery to help refreeze the desolate continent. Scientists see it as an extreme measure to avoid catastrophic sea-level rise.
Rising CO2, climate change projected to reduce availability of nutrients worldwide
The most comprehensive synthesis of climate change impacts on the global availability of nutrients to date finds that, over the next 30 years, climate change and higher CO2 could significantly reduce the availability of critical nutrients, representing another challenge to global development and the fight to end undernutrition.
Desertification: Interview with UNCCD lead scientist Barron Orr
Barron Orr talks about UNCCD’s efforts to tackle land loss and degradation and what he hopes will be achieved at the CoP this year in Delhi.
‘Climate despair’ is making people give up on life
“It’s super painful to be a human being right now at this point in history.”
National
Minister flags ‘ambitious’ recycling targets to kickstart waste market
States will be required to spend agreed portion of procurement budget on recycled materials for public projects
Scientists suggest dog food levy to fund dingo conservation
A levy on dog food has been suggested as a way to raise money for conservation efforts for dingoes, with researchers hoping some of the billions spent on domestic dogs could be used to help their wild cousins.
A landmark decision will cut power bills for all — but big business is the real winner
Craig Memery and Anna Livsey
Today the energy market regulator made a decision that’s a big win for consumers. But unfortunately households won’t see the full benefits that business will. Here’s why.
Would memes and freebies cut down your power use? [$]
Australian households are often confused and distrustful of energy companies, researchers from Melbourne have found. But they’ve come up with some quirky ways to turn that around.
‘Nappy influencers’ driving shift from disposables to cloth
If anybody has a reason to use disposable nappies, it’s Amy and Justin Ward. As parents of triplets, they realised just how much waste they were generating and made the switch to cloth nappies.
How you could be paid to use less electricity
Dan Cass
During peak demand for power, you may not need as much as others. “Demand response” will soon reward industry for using less, but households have the same deal.
Drought and climate change are driving high water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin
Neal Hughes
High water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin are blamed on foreign investors and corporate speculators. The simple truth is they are caused mostly by lack of rain.
Could ‘flygskam’ take off in a country like Australia?
Jason Murphy
We know that plane travel is terrible for the environment, but ‘flight shame’ probably won’t bring us towards a real solution.
Domestic gas price a farce [$]
Cory Bernardi
The PM could quickly resolve the issue of high prices for resources under our feet.
Energy reform wheels turning [$]
John Durie
The slow response to Warwick Parer’s report tells you something about energy reform in this country.
Renewables fixation limits [$]
David Byers
Intermittent energy sources can’t do it all but carbon capture and storage is proven.
Victoria
Massive new transmissions network to lower prices and stabilise the power grid
A $370 million plan to feed Victoria’s booming renewable sector into the national energy grid would deliver almost double the benefit.
State ‘reckless’ over renewables [$]
Victoria’s energy targets have been savaged by the federal government over who will foot the $370 million bill for upgrading transmission.
Lender charges into batteries [$]
The federal government’s green loans agency looks to fund large-scale batteries and new grid solutions.
‘No limits’: Victoria’s biggest solar farm paves way for more
It produces enough electricity to power 48,000 Victorian households, and removes emissions equivalent to taking 77,000 cars off the roads.
New South Wales
Sydney cladding crisis would take $1 billion to fix, strata body warns
The state’s peak strata body organisation has warned that apartment owners will foot the bill for building defects unless the NSW government spends hundreds of millions to fix the “systemic crisis”.
‘The largest ever claim’: WestConnex might be opening, but the legal fights rage
The spaghetti interchange the state government is building for the WestConnex motorway at St Peters is set to open next year – but it is touch and go whether it will be finished before litigation over its construction is concluded.
All-in against the big dry ravaging our bush [$]
Anna Caldwell Yesterday’s historic Bush Summit in Dubbo saw a range or proposals to combat drought — and now those fine ideas must be converted into meaningful policies.
NSW worried about risks of multi-billion solar loans program
NSW hopes to launch multi-billion dollar solar loan program this summer, but is cautious about the risks involved and has approached CEFC for funding.
ACT
No sign of ACT cladding audit into potentially dangerous cladding
Canberrans might have to wait another year before they find out which public buildings contain the potentially combustible aluminium cladding.
Certifier let go after raising concerns about light rail project safety
The independent electrical certifier on stage one of Canberra’s light rail project raised concerns about electrical installations being carried out by unlicensed workers and not meeting Australian Standards, then was told its services were no longer required.
As developers encroach on our open spaces, where do the horses go?
Ginninderry will be Canberra’s next major housing district, taking up most of the empty land at Canberra’s north-west edge. But right in the path of the bulldozers is a community of horse lovers who have been there for generations and face losing not only their paddocks, but their community.
Queensland
Federal Government Body Sounds Climate Alarm Over Reef
A key Federal Government body has identified climate change as the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef and is calling for greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced as urgently as possible.
South Australia
Peanut butter-loving bilbies help researchers understand how they can thrive in the wild
The vulnerable species breeds year-round in captivity and arid zones — but a study of re-introduced populations on the Eyre Peninsula suggests that may not be the case in southern parts of Australia.
Alinta signs up for huge solar and battery project in South Australia
200MW S.A. solar project that proposes to add “one of the largest” batteries in the Southern Hemisphere secured power purchase agreement with major utility, Alinta Energy.
Tasmania
Cassy O’Connor says wind farms need standards in place to mitigate any negative outcomes
Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says she remains concerned about the $1.6 billion Robbins Island wind farm proposal because there was not yet enough detail about the project.
Island owners respond to Bob Brown with offer [$]
The family that owns the island on which Tasmania’s most controversial wind farm could be built has responded to former Greens leader Bob Brown’s campaign against the proposal with an offer.
Taller, faster, better, stronger: wind towers are only getting bigger
Bob Brown’s opposition to a wind farm in Tasmania highlights the growing size of wind turbines. There is a reason why they are getting bigger.
A view to powering Tasmania with wind [$]
John Keith and Chauncey Hammond
The harvest of the world’s best wind resource will benefit everyone.
Northern Territory
Native wallaby brought back from brink of extinction
The rufous hare-wallaby hasn’t been seen in the wild of Central Australia since the early 1990s, but that’s all changing at Newhaven Station.
Work starts on NT’s largest solar farm in race to 50pc renewables by 2030
One of the world’s major oil and gas companies, Eni, starts building the Northern Territory’s largest solar farm — boosting the NT’s renewable energy use by up to 4 per cent.
Crack-odiles! Do our crocs have a drug problem? [$]
The Territory’s Power and Water Corporation is monitoring crocs and other animals that frequent Darwin’s waste ponds to ensure they are not being affected by drugs and other substances flushed down the loo
More than 500 bushfires across Greater Darwin [$]
There have already been 516 bushfires in the Greater Darwin area this year, officials say
Defence signs contract to power Darwin bases with solar and battery storage
Defence bases in Darwin to source solar and battery storage after deal signed with Lendlease.
Western Australia
Cash for cans, bucks for bottles: Here’s how WA’s container deposit scheme will work
The long-awaited container deposit scheme will be launched next year, with a 10 cent refund on offer for every eligible container returned. But not all containers can be cashed in, and the scheme comes with a cost.
Energy giant ATCO unveils $3.6m clean energy hub
The launch comes as the State Government opens a Renewable Hydrogen Fund, designed to position WA as a world leader in the production and export of the environmentally-friendly energy source.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan has held talks with Woodside and Shell over the delay in developing the Browse gas field.
Sustainability
Coal is here to stay, says new global chief [$]
The new Australian head of the world’s coal industry body says rising demand from developing countries means the commodity “isn’t going away” and more co-operation is needed to support cleaner technologies to offset environmental concerns.
Ag’s climate challenge: Grow 50% more food without more land or emissions
It means less beef, less food waste and reforestation on a grand scale, among other key steps, say authors of a new United Nations and WRI report.
VW emissions cheating scandal increased children’s pollution exposure
Increased air pollution impacted low birth weights and asthma attacks, a federal economist says.
Want to save the environment? Subsidize e-bikes.
When it comes to CO2 emission reduction, it’s no contest between e-bikes and electric cars.
Can we stomach using recycled water in agriculture?
Worldwide, over 80% of wastewater is released untreated into the environment. Cleaning that water and recycling it for use in agriculture could cut down on pollution of lakes and streams and slow the rate at which food production depletes freshwater.
Nature Conservation
‘Wanted, dead or fried’: Calls to cull lionfish in Cyprus after population explosion
An EU-funded project places Cyprus on the frontline to deal with an invasion of marauding lionfish munching their way through the eastern Mediterranean.
Climate change has displaced 55 species from UK over the last decade, study finds
Scientists used social media among other methods to identify the rare sightings of species not native to the United Kingdom.
Protecting a forgotten treasure trove of biodiversity
The lesser-known Cerrado biome in Brazil is a hotspot of biodiversity, but it is being destroyed at an alarming rate by unsustainable agricultural activities. A study calls attention to this forgotten region and urges the international community to support measures for its protection.
IUCN red list reveals wildlife destruction from treetop to ocean floor
Latest list shows extinction now threatens a third of all assessed species, from monkeys to rhino rays.
More than 28,000 species are officially threatened, with more likely to come
Peter Kyne
More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The list, updated on Thursday night, has assessed the extinction risk of almost 106,000 species and found more than a quarter are in trouble.
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