Post of the Day
We went to the moon. Why can’t we solve climate change?
Calling climate action a moon shot isn’t an perfect parallel — but maybe we should try it anyway.
Today’s Celebration
Independence Day – Colombia
Lao Women Union’s Day – Laos
Seventeenth of Tammuz – Judaism
National Tree Planting Day – Central African Republic
Friend’s Day – Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay
Lempira Day – Honduras
Birthday of Crown Prince Haakon – Norway
Climate Change
10 technologies that could combat climate change as food demand soars
A new study from the World Bank and UN finds we’ll need ways to boost yields faster than ever before to prevent agricultural emissions from soaring.
We went to the moon. Why can’t we solve climate change?
Calling climate action a moon shot isn’t an perfect parallel — but maybe we should try it anyway.
National
Cute or a curse: What’s really going on with Australia’s corellas?
Corellas were once an inland bird but are now living in coastal areas in huge numbers which is causing human-wildlife conflict. What has driven their sea change and what are the solutions?
Solar industry fights back against surge of climate trolls on social media
The trolls are out and hunting in packs. One solar industry veteran has decided to fight back.
Australia home battery industry at risk as CEC backs bunker mentality
Battery storage companies fear for future in Australia after CEC decides to support strict new standards that will send price of installation rocketing.
Wind farms ruffling more than feathers
Environment groups have too willingly ignored threats to wildlife if they conflicted with renewable energy projects.
‘Dark satanic mills’: Tony Abbott continues his crusade against wind turbines
Former PM doesn’t want wind farms ‘spoiling our landscape’ and praises Angus Taylor for supporting coal-fired power
Murray Darling Basin drought officially worst on record
The devastating drought across Australia’s east has reached uncharted territory, with the weather bureau officially declaring it the Murray Darling Basin’s worst dry spell.
Carbon price key to hydrogen [$]
Australia’s ambition to export hydrogen may be scuppered if a carbon price isn’t part of the policy equation.
The federal government is watching the $1 billion stockpile of Australian coal delayed at Chinese ports ‘very closely’.
Change is inevitable. If we embrace it we win; resist it, we lose
Ross Gittins
Will Australia’s future over the next 40 years be bright or pretty ordinary? It could go either way, depending on how we respond to the challenges facing us. So what do we have to do to rise to the occasion?
Regional centres must secure their climate and energy future
David Craven
With no credible federal approach to climate change in sight on the horizon, it’s time for our regional cities to step up to meet the challenge of climate change.
Cooler-headed strategy needed [$]
Australian editorial
The opportunity costs of renewable energy must be faced.
Victoria
A huge amount of recyclables will go into landfill if we collapse, embattled recycler warns
SKM Recycling, which services more than 30 Victorian councils, is facing liquidation as creditors chase their debts. The company says its closure could trigger a major crisis that could see an additional 400,000 tonnes of recyclables sent to landfill each year.
‘Nothing but weeds’: The paddocks are green, but there are no nutrients
The paddocks of Gippsland look green, but farmers are still in drought and have lost as much as 70 per cent of their regular income.
Brimbank calls for environmental Justice for West
Brimbank Council is calling for urgent intervention from the State Government to find a solution to deliver the Upper Stony Creek Transformation Project in Sunshine North.
Brimbank commits to new energy agreement
Brimbank Council has committed to the purchase of 100 per cent renewable electricity for its large facilities, small facilities and street lights through the Local Government Power Purchasing Agreement.
A group of volunteers is busy propagating old fruit tree varieties for the Werribee Park Heritage Orchard.
Residents fear ‘deafening’ noise from third Melbourne Airport runway
People living in flight path say Melbourne Airport’s sudden change of mind on direction of third runway will result in an ‘unbelievable’ increase in noise from planes flying over their homes.
New South Wales
$270k fine for millions of litres of sewage in Sydney waterway
Sydney Water has been convicted over two sewage overflow incidents where untreated wastewater reached a stream and nearby beach in Sydney’s southeast.
NSW to loan up to $14,000 to homes for rooftop solar and batteries
NSW to offer households interest-free loans of up to $14,000 to install solar and storage, but concerns raised about cost benefits and if it will repeat problems in Victoria….
FRV lands finance for Goonumbla solar farm, to deliver cheap power to Snowy
FRV lands finance for Goonumbla solar farm, as first of “landmark” pricing solar projects from Snowy Hydro tender gets under way.
Barbarians at the gate: Don’t let them destroy Murray Valley National Park
Laurie Patton
John Barilaro intends removing statutory protections of the 42,000 hectare Murray Valley National Park to allow logging,
ACT
‘Very sad’: Canberra’s biggest horse paddocks to be replaced by housing
Ginninderry will be Canberra’s next major housing district, but right in the path of the bulldozers is a community of horse lovers who face losing not only their paddocks, but their community.
Queensland
Great Barrier Reef agency breaks government ties to warn of climate warning
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says an urgent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is needed to protect the future of the reef.
Oysters deployed to fight seagrass-smothering ‘snotweed’ scourge
A respected marine scientist warns that seagrass beds in Queensland are being smothered by ‘snotweed’ algae. But there are ways to fight the foul gunk, and other states are starting to take notice of the method.
State and council argue over koala habitat cost
Brisbane City Council and the Queensland government are arguing over acquiring six hectares of koala habitat at Nathan, four months after an earlier disagreement at the Belmont Rifle Range.
Howard Smith Wharves shared pathway still needs upgrade, cyclists say
The shared gravel pathway is a key link between the New Farm Riverwalk and the city.
Adani is far from a done deal [$]
Chris Woods
Crikey looks at the many hurdles Adani still has to clear in order to get its mine up and running.
South Australia
Fourth huge solar and battery project approved for South Australia
S.A. government green-lights EPS Energy plans to install a 280MW solar plus battery project near Port Pirie – the fourth huge solar and battery project in the state.
Tasmania
Tasmania’s Forest Practices Code to be updated for the first time in four years
Proposed changes to forest practices plans have been released which include amendments to how plans refer to native forest harvesting and stocking standards.
Let’s not sell off the wind farm [$]
Much of the opposition of Bob Brown and his Green colleagues to renewable energy is hypocritical, but some of the concerns they have raised regarding the state’s energy future deserve examination
Brown boycott speaks volumes [$]
Gerard Henderson
The left won’t label the environmental activist as an anti-wind brigade member.
The Robbins Island wind farm debate [$]
Bob Brown
The Australian moved in for the kill last week. Back-to-back front pages, on Monday and Tuesday, after I sounded the alarm about the impact on endangered birds if the Robbins Island wind farm in Tasmania’s north-west goes ahead.
Northern Territory
NT government backs 10GW solar and storage plant, biggest in world
Plans to build the world’s largest solar plant in the Australia desert, and use it to help power Singapore, have taken a significant step forward after winning Major Project Status from the Northern Territory government.
Sustainability
Across the globe, urban developments conceived by corporations have been pitched as technological and eco-friendly utopias, but many are prohibitively expensive and catalysts for land dispossession and social inequality.
Glyphosate woes prompt calls to split up Bayer
Austria may become the first European country to ban the use of the weedkiller.
Barcelona poised to introduce congestion charge in bid to cut pollution
Barcelona’s left-wing mayor said Wednesday she was considering a congestion charge in Spain’s second largest city to reduce traffic and air pollution.
Menstrual cups: Study finds they’re safe to use — and women like them
A new study finds that reusable menstrual cups are just as effective as tampons and pads and have no associated health risks.
Carbon calculator: how taking one flight emits as much as many people do in a year
Even short-haul flights produce huge amounts of CO2, figures show
Is the ‘activist generation’ too anxious about the future?
Greg Callaghan
Young people are worried about the state of the world – and parents need to teach them how to cope.
Nature Conservation
Congo government opens Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park to oil exploration
Conservationists were alarmed that the government would consider opening up parks and peatlands of international importance for oil exploration.
12,000 L of oil spilled into ocean off Newfoundland, causing oil rig shutdown
Production was stopped on Wednesday evening after thousands of litres of oil leaked from a storage container aboard the Hibernia oil platform off the coast of St. John’s.
The ocean is teeming with microplastic
The ocean is a mess of microplastic — and it’s trickling into humans’ food systems.
The Porcupine caribou herd is one of the last large, healthy, migratory caribou herds on the planet. But these caribou are threatened by oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge
Give endangered jaguars legal rights, Argentina campaigners ask court
With fewer than 20 left in the South American country’s Gran Chaco forest – the big cats could be classed as a ‘non-human person’
Indon closing Komodo Island to save dragon
The Indonesian government says it will ban tourism and relocate residents on popular destination Komodo Island in a bid to protect its wildlife.
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