Post of the Day
China and Japan see the future, and it’s not coal: why Australia will be stranded
Martina Linnenluecke
In the short term, our markets such as China and Japan will need our coal, but they are rapidly moving to renewables. Australia needs a plan to do the same.
Today’s Celebration
Independence Day – Gabon
Independence Day – Indonesia
National Honey Bee Day – USA
Prekmurje Union Day – Slovenia
Marcus Garvey Day – Jamaica
Flag Day – Bolivia
International Homeless Animals Day
Climate Change
Australia slammed over climate change fallout
Pacific leaders slam Australia for putting politics ahead of their island neighbours, after the Scott Morrison-led delegation undermined a consensus on a climate change communique.
Exclusive: Michael McCormack says island nations want Australia to shut down industry ‘so they can survive’
The melting Arctic is now open for business
As receding ice opens up new shipping routes, companies see room for profit.
Pacific Island nations will no longer stand for Australia’s inaction on climate change
Michael O’Keefe
The inability to meet Pacific Island expectations on climate change will erode Australia’s leadership credentials and influence in the region
Scott Morrison blasted by Pacific heat while trying to project calm on climate
Katharine Murphy
Things are not under control when it comes to Australia meeting our Paris target, even if Scott Morrison wants us to believe that
Morrison’s Pacific mission more about China than climate change [$]
Sharri Markson
China as much as climate change is the driving issue in the Pacific region.
Australia has lost Pacific’s trust on climate change
SMH editorial
The Prime Minister’s difficult week at the Pacific Islands Forum is the first of many Australia will face until it settles on a climate change policy.
Stepping up for Pacific nations [$]
Australian editorial
Australia proved this week it is the region’s best friend.
Fear of a burning planet: the semantics of climate change
Kishor Napier-Raman
As Scott Morrison showed in Tuvalu this week, language has always been central to the politics of climate change.
Millions of times later, 97 percent climate consensus still faces denial
Dana Nuccitelli
Just like the argument about whether the Earth is round or flat, the science of climate change is settled, with 97 percent of researchers agreeing that our climate crisis is largely manmade. So why do so many members of the American public think the expert consensus is much lower?
National
Turnbull calls Morrison’s approach to climate change ‘real world’
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull defends his successor’s approach to climate change in the wake of the Pacific Islands Forum, saying “you’ve got to cut (Scott) Morrison some slack on this, or give him some understanding.
Meet the woman using maggots to fix our food waste scandal
When Olympia Yarger started farming maggots, it’s because she couldn’t afford to feed sheep, cattle or even chickens.
Newcrest attacks energy chaos [$]
Australia’s biggest gold miner has joined the chorus of business criticism about the lack of direction on energy policy.
Why our trains and roads are likely to remain congested, despite immigration freeze
Josh Gordon
The Government has responded to concerns about congestion in major cities by saying it has dropped immigration levels to ease pressure. But the underlying figures tell a different story
China and Japan see the future, and it’s not coal: why Australia will be stranded
Martina Linnenluecke
In the short term, our markets such as China and Japan will need our coal, but they are rapidly moving to renewables. Australia needs a plan to do the same.
Nuclear power is not immoral but must overcome irrationality [$]
AFR View
The biggest obstacle to nuclear power will be politics, not economics nor engineering.
Nuclear push a sign of PM’s quiet radicalism [$]
Aaron Patrick
The Prime Minister’s willingness to allow a battle over a totemic issue for the left defies his image as conservative and risk averse.
We must ignore the doctor’s orders and treat population growth properly
Crispin Hull
This is not a joke. A patient comes to the doctor and says: “Doc, I have put on quite a bit of weight. I cannot fit into my clothes. I cannot fit into the office chair. And my blood pressure is right up so I suppose my arteries are clogged.”
Crowd cover [$]
Saturday Paper editorial
It’s an old, persistent lie: that traffic is a race issue, that failing infrastructure is the responsibility of migrants rather than the governments that build it. Said often enough, it allows politicians to blame congestion on people who look different. This is a useful trick and it’s one Scott Morrison is playing.
Ending Australia’s recycling chaos [$]
Drew Rooke
With overseas countries rejecting more and more of Australia’s recycling, the federal and state governments are finally working towards a solution – 10 years after industry experts warned of the impending problem.
Terry McCrann
There is a simple obligation that should be required from anyone wanting to supply power into the eastern states power grid.
Victoria
Council welcomes VCAT decision on Bookaar Solar Farm
Corangamite Shire Council has welcomed a decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to refuse a planning permit for Bookaar Solar Farm, near Camperdown.
Councils join for green energy and bill
Swan Hill Rural City Council will join more than 45 other Victorian councils in a bid to power local facilities with 100 per cent renewable energy.
Could this electric bike solve commuter gripes? [$]
A bicycle that weighs under 10kg and fits into a backpack? This compact two wheeler has just become available in Australia — with its Melbourne designers offering the first 1000 customers a hefty discount.
New South Wales
Native Murray cod continue to perish in fish kills along the dwindling Darling River
As heated debate about water policy continues, native fish are continuing to die in the lower Darling River in shrinking residual pools.
New approach to protecting South Coast shorebirds
People’s innate love of nature will be harnessed to protect the NSW South Coast’s endangered shorebirds as this year’s breeding season begins.
Queensland
Bankrupted traditional owner vows to keep opposing Adani
A Queensland traditional owner forced into bankruptcy by Adani after failed legal actions says it means nothing to him.
Rail company snubs Adani’s controversial mine, as another faces pressure to stay away
Adani’s Queensland coal ambitions still face serious challenges, with a major rail company declining to service its Galilee Basin project and a big investor pressuring another one to do likewise.
How one billionaire could keep three countries hooked on coal for decades
The story of a mining project in Australia helps to explain why the world keeps burning coal despite the profound risk it poses to the future.
Adani court protest deflated [$]
Dozens of anti-Adani protesters outside court in Brisbane were disappointed to learn the company isn’t fronting court.
Stanthorpe could run out of water by December. Now people are stealing it
Police are investigating a spate of suspected water thefts in a Queensland region hit by severe drought.
Reaping rainforest from pine plantations [$]
Scientists say a move to make the Imbil State Forest a conservation park would be a turning point.
Climate protesters consider airport disruption [$]
Climate change activists have been inspired by protesters locking down Hong Kong and they want to copy their tactics.
South Australia
Century-old North Tce trees set for axe in Lot 14 works
Eleven century-old trees along North Terrace are in danger of being chopped down and replaced with pavers, with both the State Government and Adelaide City Council’s administration pushing for their removal as part of the Lot Fourteen development.
The SA students who won’t give up on the climate change strike
A group of South Australian teenagers have taken to the stairs of parliament house every Friday since March demanding urgent action on climate change – and they say they’re not going anywhere.
World-first Adelaide carpark tyred and tested [$]
An Adelaide council is hoping for a big bounce from its involvement with a world-first solution to tackle the tens of millions of used tyres dumped in Australia every year.
Tasmania
Recycling centre hit as crisis deepens [$]
Tasmania may be the next victim of the recycling collapse bloating Victorian landfill.
Plastics pile up amid industry uncertainty [$]
Councils have been criticised for their failure to honestly inform the community about the future of recycling as the stockpile at a recycling facility steadily grows.
Green buses roll out for Cradle visitors [$]
New eco-friendly buses – described as a world-first – have hit the road to transport visitors between Dove Lake and the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre.
Western Australia
Might Perth’s ‘extinction rebellion’ have been the country’s most polite?
It’s a very Perth kind of rebellion. They ask for the government to act, it refuses, then everyone goes safely back home in time for afternoon tea.
Divisive Roe 8 project a ‘political football’
CCCIWA, which has long supported building Roe 8 and 9, said politics had prevented a fair assessment of the project and a “circuit-breaker” was required.
Sustainability
These Indonesian farmers are finding profit in pollution
Residents of East Java’s Bangun village have found a way to reel in profit from a pollution problem by opening their gates to garbage trucks and choosing to turn their fertile fields into rubbish sorting plots.
See the complicated landscape of plastic bans in the US
A new map shows where states have banned plastic—and where states have banned bans on plastic.
The rebirth of nuclear power could come from Bellevue, if Congress approves
A decade after it was founded, TerraPower has been thwarted by the Trump Administration’s China policy. Now it’s banking on Plan B.
The next urban water crisis? Inadequate data clouds the forecast
What is the next center of population and commerce to be roiled by a severely constricted water supply?
There’s a con in congestion: it’s not caused by what you think it is
Elizabeth Farrelly
Congestion isn’t about too many people, or even too little infrastructure.
Nature Conservation
Precision conservation: High tech to the rescue in the Peruvian Amazon
Conservation leaders join successfully with technologists to thwart artisanal gold mining and illegal logging by creating early warning systems and transparency.
Sustainable farming lessons from the Amazon’s ancient inhabitants
The rainforest’s early inhabitants numbered in the millions, and that they managed the landscape intensively, in complex and sustainable ways — offering lessons for how we manage the Amazon today.
Now for something completely different …
No, eating chocolate won’t cure depression
Ben Desbrow
A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we cannot use this type of evidence to promote eating chocolate as a safeguard against depression, a serious, common and sometimes debilitating mental health condition.
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