Post of the Day
Australia’s climate change inaction is now bipartisan. Protest is all we have left
Jeff Sparrow
Queensland Labor gearing up to criminalise activism is only a taste of the kind of intimidation that’s likely to come
Today’s Celebration
Victory over Germany in the Battle of Kursk – Russia
Flag Day – Ukraine
Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Fascism and Communism – Romania
Krishna Janmashtami – Hinduism
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism
International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
Climate Change
Beating a retreat: Scientists make a case for a climate evacuation plan
Low-lying islands, coastal towns and cities will need to be abandoned in the future as climate change gets worse. Researchers say it’s time to start preparing for equitable and managed relocation, rather than leaving it to a last minute, chaotic retreat.
Weather balloons: Climate science or literally just littering?
They collect vital climate information, but weather balloons are also a daily contributor to plastic pollution levels — it’s a dilemma the Bureau of Meteorology is struggling to solve.
July was the hottest month ever on Earth. Now massive wildfires are burning across the globe.
Scientists say it’s no surprise wildfires have broken out after the warmest July on record globally.
And now the forecast: yet another sunny day for the planet [$]
Bjorn Lomborg
We’re wealthier, wiser and seldom seen such peace. But we need to ensure the cure for climate change isn’t more painful than the disease.
Not acting on climate crisis is at our peril
Alon Ben-Meir
The scientific evidence is overwhelming, and denying that climate change is already upon us, especially as the president and his party does, flies in the face of the indisputably dire consequences.
National
Gas producers have cut prices but retailers haven’t passed it on, finds ACCC
The prospect of supply exceeding demand in the domestic gas market has done little to ease prices or the excessive margins charged by retailers, argues the ACCC.
Deputy PM apologises for comment former Pacific island leader says was like ‘drunk’ remark
Nationals leader Michael McCormack says he is sorry for comments about Pacific Islanders being able to survive the ravages of climate change by taking fruit-picking jobs in Australia.
Australia to ban local ivory and rhino horn trade
Up to 50,000 elephants and around 1,000 rhinos are killed worldwide each year for their ivory and horns, and Australia wants to put an end to local sales.
Boss of $10b clean energy fund says ‘government can sell us if it wants’
Private investment funds are circling Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation hoping for a sale of the $10 billion government-owned organisation, as its head flags a major shift in how taxpayer funds are used to support the booming industry.
Energy users slam ‘Band-Aid on top of a Band-Aid’ [$]
Large energy users have called on the federal and state governments to resolve their differences on energy policy, saying the use of emergency reserves was not a long-term solution to the nation’s energy problems.
2019 Electricity statement of opportunities
Australian Energy Market Operator
The 2019 report forecasts a continued elevated risk of expected unserved energy over the next ten years. Compared to last year’s forecast, and based on improved model representation of input uncertainties, AEMO observes greater risks of load shedding due to uncontrollable, but increasingly likely, high impact events such as coincident unplanned outages.
We need a national renewables approach, or some states – like NSW – will miss out
Scott Hamilton et al
State renewable energy targets have been driving energy investment in Australia. ‘Where and when’ the generation and transmission build occurs varies substantially under a national approach.
Australia’s renewables revolution goes far beyond energy [$]
HGuy Rundle
Bob Brown’s opposition to a new wind farm project isn’t a sign of failure, it’s a further victory. The way we live is fundamentally changing.
How can Australia have third-world power blackouts? [$]
AFR View
No wonder business fixed investment, economic growth and wages growth are sub-par.
Don’t panic — the lights will probably stay on this summer
Stephen Long
Breathless media coverage warned that millions of Australians are facing blackouts this summer. But the details of the report that triggered the panic are far less scary than the headlines.
Australia’s climate change inaction is now bipartisan. Protest is all we have left
Jeff Sparrow
Queensland Labor gearing up to criminalise activism is only a taste of the kind of intimidation that’s likely to come
AEMO worries about ageing coal fleet and summer extremes, wants new tools
Giles Parkinson
The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued a sobering warning for the coming summer, saying it has fears about the risk of “multiple” failures of ageing coal and gas plants in the fierce summer heat, and has pleaded for new tools and mechanisms that can help it manage the grid and keep the lights on.
Victoria
Melbourne loses 15,000 megalitres of water annually from logging, study finds
Researchers say the Thomson catchment is missing out each year on the amount of water used by 250,000 people
Victorian Premier issues Western Hwy protesters ultimatum over sacred tree stalemate
The clock is ticking on a final ultimatum given to protesters trying to block Victoria’s $692 million Western Highway upgrade.
‘Deal with it now’: SKM’s glass mountain a tragedy waiting to happen
SKM’s glass mountains a “catastrophic” fire risk, a magistrate has been warned.
New South Wales
Kosciuszko’s brumby backers are vandalising a national treasure
Graeme Worboys and Jamie Pittock
The NSW government’s Wild Horse Heritage Act has undermined 75 years of protection to water and alpine species. It’s time to repeal it and fix the damage
Emergency crews battle bushfire near homes at Lake Macquarie
Emergency crews have worked into the night battling an out-of-control fire near homes at Belmont in the Hunter region.
Brumby bill ‘monetised’ feral horse treks in Kosciuszko: MP
A NSW Labor MP has accused a former member of using the state’s controversial Brumby bill to help monetise his horse trekking business in the Monaro.
NSW gives green light to 200MW Avonlie solar farm
RES Group’s 200MW solar and storage project proposed for NSW Riverina region wins development consent from state planning department.
State government to allow shooting of deer
Exclusive Farmers and private landholders will get incentives to shoot feral deer following a major regulation change by the state government.
Call time on Nationals’ energy market agrarian socialism
SMH editorial
NSW should stop subsidising the country energy network and sell it off.
ACT
ACT light rail stage two cost and timing could blow out, economist warns
The budget and timing for Canberra’s new stages of light rail could blow out under the nationwide glut of rail projects in the pipeline, a leading economist has warned.
Queensland
Dunwich North Stradbroke Island bushfire
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) advises there is a bushfire in Dunwich.
Narangba north Brisbane bushfire
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) advises there is a bushfire in Narangba.
Sugarcane farmers support group working to undermine Great Barrier Reef science
Farmers United says ‘we know in our hearts and minds’ experts are wrong about run-off damaging the reef
Canavan: more mines for India [$]
India’s demand for Australian coal could see the equivalent of ‘three to four new Adani-sized coalmines’ required.
Mining giants seek huge wind and solar projects to justify CopperString 2.0
A $1 billion plan to extend the National Electricity Market almost 1000km across northern Queensland to a region with a world class minerals industry has set in motion what is being described as “Australia’s largest industrial de-carbonisation initiative.”
Silent majority must find its voice [$]
Michael Madigan
Climate change activists are to be congratulated for the effectiveness of their campaign against the Adani mine.
Some ‘sinister tactics’ those brave protesters in Queensland could have used but also didn’t
First Dog on the Moon
In case you were wondering: civil disobedience is supposed to be inconvenient. If it wasn’t there wouldn’t be any point in doing it would there
South Australia
City council told to budget for climate change, insurance risks
Property prices in the city could drop and negligence lawsuits could rise as a direct consequence of climate change, the Adelaide City Council has been warned.
GM crops: to ban or not to ban? That’s not the question
Rachel A. Ankeny
A government-commissioned report estimated that South Australia’s ban on genetically modified crops cost canola growers A$33 million since 2004.
Tasmania
‘Clearly they’ve gone too far’: War of words over uni club’s debate about killing politicians
A spat breaks out between a university debating club and student Liberals over a debate about assassinating political leaders who don’t act on climate change.
Recyclable stockpile will be staying put [$]
Southern Tasmanians are being urged to continue to recycle while a solution is sought to deal with the current crisis in the industry.
Group forms to fight island wind farm plan [$]
A new group says Robbins Island is a great place for wind – but not for wind turbines.
Fishers urge rethink of snapper ban [$]
Groups representing anglers and fishing businesses will meet the fisheries minister on Friday, urging him to reconsider a snapper ban they say will devastate their industry.
Sustainability
Russian nuclear accident: Medics fear ‘radioactive patients’
Arctic hospital staff did not know that military test victims were irradiated.
PFAS water contamination still not government-controlled
There are people across the United States of America who are literally living off of bottled water because they cannot drink the water coming out of their tap.
Nature Conservation
UN Chief ‘deeply concerned’ as Amazon fires surge
“I’m deeply concerned by the fires in the Amazon rainforest. In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter.
‘If our Earth dies, we all die’: 73,000 fires in Brazil this year and most were in the Amazon
Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of the year – the highest number for any year since 2013.
White-tailed eagles return to southern Britain after 240 years
Conservationists hope release of six eaglets on Isle of Wight will mirror Scotland success
Shocking rate of plant extinctions in South Africa
Plant extinctions from South Africa’s three biodiversity hot spots represent 45.4 percent of all extinctions from 10 of the world’s 36 hotspots, new research finds.
These researchers are 3D printing coral reefs
These researchers are 3D printing coral reefs in an attempt to save them before they’re destroyed by the overheating ocean.
Bees are dying by the millions in Brazil and pesticides are to blame
Under the Bolsonaro administration, Brazil has witnessed record pesticide sales and bee deaths.
Are we really protecting rivers from pollution? It’s hard to say, and that’s a problem
More public and private resources than ever are being directed to protecting and preserving aquatic ecosystems and watersheds. Whether mandated for land development, farming or in response to the growing severity and number of natural disasters – scientists found evidence that decades of watershed restoration and mitigation projects have taken place, but their impact is mostly perceived; data is relatively undocumented — or simply missing.
Amazon fires: the world’s lungs are filling with smoke
Robert Muggah
Fires are raging through the Amazon rainforest after Brazil’s president set about dismantling the country’s environmental regulations.
Plants are going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historical norm
Jaco Le Roux et al
Plant extinctions have skyrocketed, driven in large part by land clearing and climate change.
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