Daily Links Aug 12

Howsoever the earth and humans were created, humans don’t have the ability to live underwater. So Happy Clapper, when you’re off to meet with your Pacific Islander counterparts and they tell you how much of their land is already underwater, I’d advise against asking them ‘how good are gills?’

From: Maelor Himbury <maelor@melbpc.org.au>
Date: 12 August 2019 at 9:00:15 am AEST
Subject: Daily Links Aug 12

Post of the Day

Why we should listen to teenagers speak about climate crisis

Dave Eggers

As the International Congress of Youth Voices kicks off in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Guardian invited young delegates to write about their fight against the climate crisis

 

Today’s Celebration

Father’s Day – Samoa and Tokelau

HM the Queen’s Birthday – Thailand

Heroes’ Day – Zimbabwe

Carnival Monday – Grenada

Glorious Twelfth – UK

Didgoroba – Georgia

NGO Day – Iran

Eid al-Adha – Islam

International Youth Day

World Elephant Day

OCD and Anxiety Disorders Week

More about Aug 12

 

Climate Change

Climate change set to dominate this week’s Pacific Island Forum

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will face increased pressure to boost Australia’s climate change commitments when he attends the Pacific Island Forum this week.

 

A climate plea to Scott Morrison from a churchman of the Pacific’s sinking nations

The Pacific region’s church leaders are asking Australia’s Prime Minister to act to protect God’s creation as he prepares to meet leaders in Tuvalu on Tuesday.

 

‘Radical change’ needed to address climate change’s impact on food security – Tearfund

The world must move away from fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy sources, Tearfund has said, after the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that food security was coming under increasing threat.

 

Climate critics escalate personal attacks on teen activist

Greta Thunberg, at age 16, has quickly become one of the most visible climate activists in the world. Her detractors increasingly rely on ad hominem attacks to blunt her influence.

 

Why we should listen to teenagers speak about climate crisis

Dave Eggers

As the International Congress of Youth Voices kicks off in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Guardian invited young delegates to write about their fight against the climate crisis

 

National

Nuclear energy inquiry: is Angus Taylor’s move logical or just for the backbench?

Minister says the debate is different this time around, but critics say it’s best left to experts rather than ‘energy illiterate MPs’

 

‘Extremely vulnerable’: Agencies fear bigger fish kills this summer

Fish kills in the Murray-Darling Basin this year could dwarf those of last summer unless major rains arrive, with agencies preparing emergency response teams to minimise damage to dwindling native species.

 

Indigenous Australians Minister rules out judicial inquiry into Native Title

The federal government says it has no plans for a royal commission into native title “at this time”.

 

Morrison government’s farm ‘invasion’ laws are overkill says Law Council

The Law Council says the Morrison government’s planned “farm invasion” laws are overkill and could stifle legitimate debate about animal rights and food production.

 

How will hospitals cope with climate change’s impact on our health?

Marianne Cannon

We need to end the burning of fossil fuels. The alternative is that we sleepwalk into a bleak future and our children will turn and ask us why we didn’t do more to prevent it.

 

Why stay in school if our planet will die?

Adrian Wildhaber

I am a year 12 student currently in the middle of my HSC trials. One of my subjects is geography, so I was interested to read that in 2022 the syllabus will change to include study on the impacts of climate change on people and the environment.

 

Climate debate hijacked [$]

Chris Kenny

The extinction rebellion this country really needs is found on a bushwalk, not glued to a road.

 

New South Wales

No time to review dam report: NSW elders

Traditional owners say they have been given five weeks to assess a confidential 2000-page report into the impact of raising the Warragamba Dam wall, as proposed by the NSW government.

 

Horse hurdle for Hunter coal mine [$]

A coal venture has it a major hurdle with its plans to reopen a mine in the Hunter Valley thoroughbred region.

 

‘They actually started to build’: Why this place was chosen as the ‘perfect’ site for a nuclear reactor

Jervis Bay — one of Australia’s world-renowned coastal tourist hotspots, celebrated for its idyllic white beaches, nearly became home to Australia’s first nuclear power plant.

 

ACT

Sharp increases to ACT energy prices stall but shopping around offers savings

Canberrans are losing as much as $500 a year by failing to actively seek out a better deal on electricity and gas prices, a recent energy report shows.

 

Nature holds key to limitless renewable fuel supplies: ANU scientists

Scientists in Canberra have identified a process used by plants which they say could be harnessed to make a limitless supply of cheap renewable hydrogen fuel and position Australia as a world-leader.

 

Canberra nature strip planting guidelines and rules a long time in the making

Canberra Times editorial

Canberrans will welcome the ability to grow plants on the nature strips outside their homes, a policy a long time in the making.

 

Queensland

Cawarral – bushfire

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) crews remain on scene at a bushfire burning near Cawarral Road, Cawarral. Firefighters have contained the blaze and will continue to work in the area throughout the evening.

 

Extinction Rebellion: hitting a nerve at Australia’s climate flashpoint

The amorphous climate action group has fired up activists and opponents alike as it tries to shut down Brisbane

 

Polarised Qld needs ‘novel leadership’ amid protests

It’s a hotbed of civil action, reacting to a perceived shift to the right, expert says.

 

Firms in fear of latest greenie tactic [$]

An extreme ‘dob-in-a-contractor’ campaign is forcing businesses to turn down work from Adani or keep it secret because of anti-mining protesters.

 

Big two to take fight to activists [$]

Two of Queensland’s most successful businessmen have had a gutful of destructive anti-mining protesters, and are taking the fight to them.

 

The type of anti-Adani activism that’s not OK [$]

Renee Viellaris

There are two types of green activist. And one of them is going to dangerous lengths.

 

Former Labor mining minister Tony McGrady says its time for the ALP to publicise its support for mining [$]

Labor Party elder Tony McGrady is leading a push within the party to back the mining industry, saying it is time to stop allowing opponents to have the upper hand.

 

Push for new body to monitor reef [$]

Coalition MPs have rallied behind calls for a new body to oversee the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Reef science beyond latte crowd [$]

Peter Ridd

We may be focusing on the wrong issues that face the reef and damaging every major industry in the north to protect it.

 

Go-ahead ‘to open flood of projects’ [$]

Michael McCormack says the Palaszczuk government’s go-ahead for the $84m Emu Swamp Dam could propel a new round of major projects.

 

South Australia

Citizen scientists: It’s only natural to help out [$]

Boomers are exploring their interests while advancing scientific knowledge in citizen science projects with extra benefits for mental health and wellbeing.

 

Pilloried for the truth [$]

Chris Kenny

A reporter gave an account of the cause of SA’s blackout – and was treated with derision.

 

SA must not be left high and dry [$]

Christopher Pyne

The worst thing that could possibly happen for SA would be for the Murray-Darling Plan to be ripped up and for a return to the Rafferty’s rules of the past. Yet that is exactly what some SA politicians are advocating.


Northern Territory

Eleven years, millions of dollars and no closer to eradicating weed of ‘national significance’

Officials working in weed management for the Northern Territory Government cannot accurately say how much gamba grass remains in its declared ‘eradication zone’, despite more than a decade of effort to stop it.

 

Western Australia

A rapidly growing herd of feral camels is wreaking havoc for Australian farmers

More than 300,000 feral camels are wreaking havoc across the outback – with one farmer claiming he had to shoot as many as two every minute to protect cattle and save precious water.

 

$77b fracking, ports and pipeline project proposed for west Kimberley

A network of oil wells that involve fracking in the Great Sandy Desert, connected by pipelines to new and existing ports, may become Australia’s biggest oil producing project.

 

Sustainability

No Water, No Wife: How Climate Change is Linked to Trafficking

Farmer suicides over failed crops and crippling debt have left “drought orphans” and widows, who often fall prey to traffickers looking to push them into prostitution, said Singh.

 

‘We were burying 10 children a year’: how toilets are saving lives in Madagascar

One village in the country has seen the tragic consequences of poor sanitation. Now it has come together to turn things around

 

‘Greta effect’ leads to boom in children’s environmental books

The 16-year-old climate change activist has galvanised young people to read more about saving the planet

 

How eliminating food waste can help the fight against climate change

People may not realize it, but eliminating food waste is an important way to reduce CO2 emissions.

 

Greta and ‘flight shame’ are fuelling a carbon offset boom [$]

Sales of so-called carbon offsets are soaring: Myclimate, a Swiss nonprofit whose clients include Deutsche Lufthansa, reported a five-fold uptake in its credits in a year.

 

Environmental destruction is a war crime, but it’s almost impossible to fall foul of the laws

Shireen Daft

It was defoliants, seen here during Operation Ranch Hand in the Vietnam War, that prompted action to protect the environment during conflicts

 

Nature Conservation

Greta Thunberg takes climate fight to Germany’s threatened Hambach Forest

The felling of ancient woodland to make way for a giant coal mine brings together two linked battles for the activist

 

Knowledge ‘our best hope’ in fight to save our oceans, explorer says

Humanity is in a race to understand and reverse the destruction of life in our oceans and the wider world before climate change and other threats get out of control, Sylvia Earle, a renowned US-based scientist and explorer says.

 

 

 

Maelor Himbury

6 Florence St Niddrie 3042

93741902

0432406862