Post of the Day
The rich and the dead: United Nations warns of ‘climate apartheid’
A UN Special Rapporteur predicts that climate change will push 120 million people into poverty by 2030 – and only the rich will be left standing.
Today’s Celebration
Independence Day– Argentina
Independence Day – South Sudan
Constitution Day – Palau
Arbor Day – Cambodia
National Children’s Literature Day I- Iran
Nunavut Day – Canada
Climate Change
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez move to declare climate crisis official emergency
Democrats to introduce resolution in House on Tuesday in recognition of extreme threat from global heating
Breaching a ‘carbon threshold’ could lead to mass extinction
Carbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle, with devastating consequences, study finds.
Saudi row over 1.5°C science raises frustration with UN consensus model
Diplomats are losing patience with players like Saudi Arabia blocking progress at international climate talks, instead looking to other forums for action.
Scientists’ warning to humanity: Microbiology and climate change
When it comes to climate change, ignoring the role of microorganisms could have dire consequences, according to a new statement issued by an international team of microbiologists.
The rich and the dead: United Nations warns of ‘climate apartheid’
A UN Special Rapporteur predicts that climate change will push 120 million people into poverty by 2030 – and only the rich will be left standing.
Northern communities face one of biggest climate change risks, study says
A new report from the Canadian Council of Academies says Canada’s northern communities face one of the biggest risks when it comes to climate change.
A new poll shows that Trump’s handling of climate change is deeply unpopular
The economy is the lone issue he receives positive ratings for.
The intersection between climate change, food, and migration
Shenggen Fan
Climate change is driving people out of their homes not only because of the resulting food insecurity, but also due to the political conflicts that it Climate change is driving people out of their homes because of the resulting food insecurity and political conflicts.
It’s high time to create a World Carbon Bank
Kenneth Rogoff
We could use a global carbon tax to give developing countries incentives to phase out coal
Climate change victims: What will you do next?
Joshua Castellino
If climate change is not highest on your agenda it ought to be, and you must act politically and responsibly to make sure your voice counts.
National
Australian woodchip price through the roof amid high Asian demand
Australian companies are enjoying record high woodchip prices, with overseas demand— especially form China — pushing the price for premium chips beyond $260 per bone-dry tonne.
Australia’s emissions reach the highest on record, driven by electricity sector
Fugitive emissions from LNG are also fuelling rising national emissions, Ndever Environmental figures show
Centre Alliance secures government pledge on gas pipeline price-gouging
Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick says the Morrison government has agreed to act against gas pipeline companies who drive up consumer power costs as the Coalition courts the influential minor party.
Wool production, sheep numbers hit 100-year lows as widespread drought continues
The national sheep flock to continues to decline and wool production is at a near-100-year low. With prices at record highs, all everyone needs is rain.
Australia now has more than 9GW of small scale rooftop solar
Australia reaches another key milestone in rooftop solar installations, with 9GW across the country and the 10GW mark likely to be reached by year end.
Evaluating the significance of Australia’s global fossil fuel carbon footprint
Climate Analytics
This report argues that the expansion in the exploitation of fossil fuel resources that Australia is planning goes against the global efforts to combat climate change and is not consistent with the global energy transition required to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
Rage over environmental destruction builds
Sue Arnold
A growing rage over the exponential damage to Australia’s forests, rivers and wildlife, is spreading across the country.
Statement regarding issues raised on Four Corners
David Littleproud
The Coalition is proud to invest in water efficiency projects because they return water to the river system whilst protecting rural jobs and communities rather than decimating them as water buybacks do.
The attempts to pressure charities into political silence don’t happen in isolation
Brad Chilcott
While charities must pass a ‘public benefit’ test, corporations can spend billions on lobbying for their vested self-interest
Our own nuclear weapons? That’s the exact opposite of what we should do
Sue Wareham
Professor Hugh White, emeritus professor of strategic studies at ANU, has suggested that Australia might need to consider acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Murray-Darling plan is a mess — this is how to move forward
Q J Wang and Avril Horne
Taxpayer investments and the water market are making irrigation more efficient. That means less water returning to the Murray-Darling. Here’s what needs to happen next.
The Murray-Darling Basin scandal: economists have seen it coming for decades
John Quiggin
The failure of infrastructure subsidies is no surprise to economists that have studied the problems of the Murray-Darling Basin for decades
For green cities to become mainstream, we need to learn from local success stories and scale up
Jason Alexandra
Greening our cities has become one of the great global imperatives of the 21st century including to tackle climate change. And Australia’s sprawling car-based cities are gradually changing to embrace green or living infrastructure.
Victoria
EPA investigate Vic recycling plant fire
EPA officials are investigating a fire at a west Melbourne plastic recycling plant amid fears of a shutdown.
Vic miner fined over illegal waste storage
A gold exploration company has been fined for agreeing to illegally store industrial waste at its Victorian site during 2014-15.
Australia’s first offshore wind project moves forward with labour market study
Plans for Australia’s first offshore wind farm have taken a step forward, with the project developers launching a labour market study to identify the capability of the Australian market to deliver what would be one of Australia’s largest renewable energy projects.
Echo expands utility’s solar appeal [$]
EnergyAustralia has bought a 49pc stake in Melbourne solar and lighting company Echo Group.
New South Wales
Almost 3000 new weekly bus services to help plug transport gaps
An extra 2850 weekly bus services will be put on routes in Sydney, the Hunter and the South Coast progressively over the next year, hundreds of which will connect commuters from suburbs in the city’s north west to the new $7.3 billion metro rail line.
‘Test for Kean’: Recycling industry wants organic waste curbs lifted
A stoush is looming in the multi-billion dollar recycling industry with the NSW government expected to make permanent a ban on the use of organic waste as fertiliser for farming.
NSW faces ‘huge challenges’ dealing with the exit of AGL Energy’s Liddell coal station in 2022.
EnergyAustralia will boost the capacity of its Mt Piper coal power station, and may expand coal supplies.
Deer shooting restrictions may be relaxed
The NSW Government is planning to relax restrictions on shooting deer as populations “explode”
Telegraph editorial
Deer were first introduced to Australia in the early 1800s by people who had little understanding of how an introduced species can impact flora and fauna. They haven’t caused much serious damage but their population is now out of control.
ACT
A proposed Yass quarry restoration project would see an average of 64 trucks per day hauling clean fill from Canberra for five years, according to a development application lodged with the local council.
Queensland
Review into all Qld mine deaths since 2000
The Queensland government has widened a review into mining health and safety to examine all fatal incidents in mines and quarries since 2000.
‘I want to do my people proud’: Indigenous ranger’s Simpson Desert mission
An Aboriginal elder from south-west Queensland wants to preserve the 60,000-year-old culture and history of his people and the story of their lives in the Simpson Desert before it is too late.
The future is shared in smaller electric cars: Uber
Speaking in Brisbane on Monday, Uber’s global head of urban mobility Colin Tooze outlined the company’s vision.
Powered bicycle dangers force law change for Queensland
The state govt has clarified laws around the use of powered bicycles and mopeds.
Activists target CEOs’ mobiles [$]
Anti-Adani protesters have published the private mobile phone numbers of company executives working with the mining conglomerate.
South Australia
New evidence finds Lower Lakes were historically salty and only recently freshwater [$]
The year is 2009 and South Australians are told a crisis that has gripped the state can be solved only through harsh sacrifice.
Tasmania
Closing the loop on fishy business [$]
Salmon release In an Australian first, 140,000 fish will soon experience their first taste of the sea when they are transported from their land-based facility at Port Huon to open water pens.
Second Tassie council makes climate declaration [$]
A second Tasmanian council has declared a climate emergency as part of action to take its community’s voice to governments.
Northern Territory
Judge deflates Uluru balloon case [$]
A company hired to provide balloon flights over Uluru has tried unsuccessfully to sue Ayers Rock Resort.
Western Australia
Corn grower declares war on waste by eliminating millions of single-use plastic trays
One of Australia’s largest producers of sweet corn and beans has reduced plastic packaging on its produce by 80 per cent, saving hundreds of thousands of disposable plastic trays from entering Australian rubbish each month.
Woodside taking the next step with key LNG projects [$]
Woodside is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to develop its Scarborough and Browse LNG projects.
Sustainability
Indoor carbon dioxide levels could be a health hazard, scientists warn
CO2 in bedrooms and offices may affect cognition and cause kidney and bone problems
Australia just got overtaken by Vietnam for large scale solar installations
Australia has experienced a four-fold jump in large scale solar farms in the last year, but it has still been overtaken by a stunning surge in Vietnam.
Producing graphene from carbon dioxide
Direct synthesis of technological material graphene from greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
‘Protesters as terrorists’: Growing number of US states turn anti-pipeline activism into a crime
Conservative lawmakers have put forward laws criminalizing protests that disrupt the construction and operation of pipelines in at least 18 states since 2017.
Cleaning up China’s dirty air would give solar energy a huge boost
Air pollution from human activities in China has decreased the potential output of solar panels by 13 per cent between 1960 and 2015, resulting in lost electricity generation and revenue.
Window film could even out the indoor temperature using solar energy
A window film with a specially designed molecule could be capable of taking the edge off the worst midday heat and instead distributing it evenly from morning to evening. The molecule has the unique ability to capture energy from the sun’s rays and release it later as heat. This is shown by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, in the scientific journal Advanced Science.
Human waste an asset to economy, environment, study finds
Human waste might be an unpleasant public health burden, but scientists at the University of Illinois see sanitation as a valuable facet of global ecosystems and an overlooked source of nutrients, organic material and water.
Potential for reduced methane from cows
Scientists have shown it is possible to breed cattle to reduce their methane emissions.
Portland State study shows ways to reduce extreme heat in city neighborhoods
Planting more vegetation, using reflective materials on hard surfaces and installing green roofs on buildings can help cool potentially deadly urban heat islands — a phenomenon that exists in nearly all large cities — a new study from Portland State University shows.
Thought experiment: Switzerland without fossil fuels. Can that succeed?
A new study shows how much work still lies ahead of us if Switzerland is to do without fossil fuels in the future. There are two possible solutions: storing large amounts of energy in summer and limiting our demand in winter, or generating energy in the ”sunny south” or ”windy north” of the world and transporting it here.
Donald Trump’s five most dangerous attacks on the environment
Trump’s administration has pursued cuts in environmental protections that are critical to the health of all Americans.
Study: Hanford site PUREX plant could spread plutonium
A study of the Hanford Site nuclear reservation’s PUREX plutonium processing plant found it was deteriorating and at risk of releasing radiaoctive contamination into the environment. It proposed risk reduction.
New imaging method aids in water decontamination
A breakthrough imaging technique developed by Cornell University researchers shows promise in decontaminating water by yielding surprising and important information about catalyst particles that can’t be obtained any other way.
Fashion can never be truly green, so stop the hypocrisy
Julie Burchill
Fashion, more than any other business, depends on built-in obsolescence and the casting off perfectly wearable clothes at regular intervals – how can it ever be sustainable?
African countries and the state of their environments: the best and the worst
Corey Bradshaw and Enrico Di Minin.
Social and economic changes in Africa are being driven by increasing prosperity and heavy foreign investment.
The new frontier [$]
Georgia Wilkins and Charlie Lewis
Mining in Africa’s developing nations can be fraught, with both small cap companies and governments looking to make sizable profits. But who are the winners and losers in this mad dash for cash?
Nature Conservation
Climate change and deforestation together push tropical species towards extinction
Only 38 per cent of tropical forest is ‘wildlife friendly’ as a result of deforestation, increasing the likelihood that vulnerable species will go extinct, say scientists.
Coral bleaching: Altered gene expression may trigger collapse of symbiotic relationship
Researchers have identified the potential genes responsible for coral bleaching caused by temperature elevation.
In Bolsonaro’s Brazil, a showdown over Amazon rainforest
Without action, the loss of another fifth of Brazil’s rainforest will trigger a cascading system collapse called ”dieback“ and release a carbon bomb.
90% of Sri Lanka’s coral reefs dead
Sri Lanka’s state-owned Marine Environment Protection Authority has warned that the country only had 10 per cent of live coral reefs in its oceans as 90 per cent had died due to pollution, illegal fishing methods and excessive climate change.
Why vegans also have blood on their hands
Susie O’Brien
They might preach about their ‘ethical’ choice to abandon meat, but a new book details how thousands of creatures also die for the rice, vegetables and wheat vegans eat. But it’s not likely to stop the claims of moral superiority.
Now for something completely different …
Screen size matters: Consumers less attentive to news content on small screens
If you’re getting your news from a smartphone, size matters.
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