Post of the Day
Climate change: 18 months to save the world
We will not combat climate change if our energy use continues unchecked – we need to change our relationship with energy.
Today’s Celebration
Freedom Day – Equatorial Guinea
Anniversary of the Killing of Pidjiguiti – Guinea-Bissau
Independence Day – Niger
Flag Day – Venezuela
Arbor Day – Niger
San Salvador Day – El Salvaor
Food Day – Canada
Climate Change
July may set global record as hottest in recorded history, UN says
A week after a European heatwave shattered all-time records, the United Nations says the planet may have just experienced the hottest July on record — following on from the warmest-ever June.
Record heatwave ‘made much more likely’ by human impact on climate
Scientists say July at least equalled and may have beaten hottest month on record
Greenland has massive ice melt after European heatwave
A heatwave that smashed records in five European countries is now over Greenland, accelerating the melting of its ice sheet and causing massive Arctic ice loss.
How climate change could trigger the next global financial crisis
The Federal Reserve should act aggressively to reduce that risk, a leading economic historian argues.
Climate change could be making us fatter, dumber and more depressed: report
A new report has found climate change is having some unexpected consequences for people living in the Asia Pacific region.
Climate change: 18 months to save the world
We will not combat climate change if our energy use continues unchecked – we need to change our relationship with energy.
What the Welsh Government has done since it declared a climate change emergency
It has been three months since politicians declared the emergency.
How West Africa is using data to fight climate change
Climate change will hit Africa particularly hard, fueling drought, heat and crop failures. Researchers are working to prepare the west of the continent for this scenario — with help from Germany.
In 2014, a French television channel broadcast fictional weather reports envisioning temperatures in 2050. Just five years later, real weather forecasts show the future appears to have arrived decades early.
Cutting pollution won’t cause global warming spike, study finds
Fears that efforts to reduce air pollution could dramatically speed up the process of global warming have been allayed with the publication of a landmark new study.
Batteries power BHP’s nickel push [$]
The transformation of BHP’s once-ailing nickel operations into a key supplier to the battery market is all but complete.
Japan’s Inpex warns against carbon price
The energy producer that funded Japan’s largest ever overseas investment has cautioned Scott Morrison against introducing a carbon price, warning changes to climate policy may hinder future LNG expansions and push investment offshore.
The most beautiful apocalypse you could imagine
Waleed Aly
A photo of melted ice sheets in Greenland looks somehow alluring – the gleaming ice intercut with dazzlingly blue water is hardly the image of hell on Earth it actually connotes.
New Zealand shows Australia how it’s done on emissions policy, climate
Michael Mazengarb
New Zealand to wind back free carbon permits to industrial emitters as Ardern ramps up climate action in preparation for zero-carbon goal.
We’re power-poor but renewables-rich [$]
Alan Kohler
There is so much solar and wind power either being built or about to be built that the grid can’t handle it.
ReNu’s solar fantasy crashes and burns [$]
Terry McCrann
Reality has caught up with the renewable energy company
National
Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund fails to increase carbon abatement, data shows
The Federal Government’s central climate change policy appears to be in reverse, with its total carbon abatement going backwards over the past six months.
Why a higher bushfire risk is ‘the new normal’
Australian summers are set to get drier and hotter — so how will fire risk change over the next 100 years?
Just one in 20 Australian news stories about drought mention climate change
Scientists say increasing temperatures worsen drought, but the link has rarely been made in the media in the past two years
Emissions auction flop rams home climate policy failures as Taylor blames election timing
Ninth ERF auction proves complete flop, awarding just $850k in contracts, and achieving just 0.0085% of emissions reductions needed to meet Australia’s 2030 target.
Renewable Energy Market Report: All eyes on LGC surplus
With the 2020 Large-scale Renewable Energy Target all but met, attention is focused on the LGC surplus in the pivotal 2019 compliance year.
Does it pass the tub test? Call for shoppers to BYO containers [$]
Environment Minister Sussan Ley says the plastic bag ban is no longer enough to reduce plastic waste and wants shoppers to be allowed to use their own containers at the deli counter.
‘Unaware’ Gerard Henderson defends Angus Taylor over grasslands saga
Amanda Meade
Sydney Institute executive director fails to mention minister’s wife is on institute’s board.
Will an inspector-general fix the Murray-Darling mess? [$]
Jennine Khalik
The Department of Agriculture’s new body will attempt to address allegations of maladministration and water theft in the beleaguered Murray-Darling Basin.
Victoria
How future-proofing forests could create hybrid trees impervious to climate change
Eucalypts are dying in Victoria as the Earth’s temperature rises. But ecologists have come up with a homegrown solution that could see our native species weather climate change for a long time to come.
‘Too big to fail’ waste company declared insolvent in another blow to recycling
The company at the centre of Victoria’s recycling crisis will be wound up after being declared insolvent by a court, with more than $5 million in debts.
Boroondara recyclables won’t go to landfill
The City of Boroondara, through its recycling collection contractor Cleanaway, has been able to secure a contract with VISY to receive and process 100 per cent of the City’s kerbside recycling collections.
River Committee has say on City to River
Wimmera River Improvement Committee (WRIC) has had its say on the City to River Draft Masterplan and is encouraging the Horsham community to do the same.
A legacy of zero emissions beer and solar bulk buys moves Yarra towards zero emissions by 2030
If laid end to end, solar panels installed through the Yarra Energy Foundation as part of its mission to cut energy carbon emissions in Yarra to zero, would stretch to over 25 kilometres.
Activists vow blockade over ‘climate criminals’
Climate change activists are planning to descend on the city in a “S11-style” protest to shut down an international mining conference in Melbourne in October.
It’s time for Victoria to right the solar ship – before it sinks
Warwick Johnston
Victoria’s rooftop solar rebate has now entered nightmare territory. There are four possible options available to the state government for ‘fixing’ the scheme.
New South Wales
Murdered environment officer’s partner ‘gutted’ by illegal land-clearing amnesty
Five years after her partner was murdered at work, a New South Wales woman says she is shattered by an amnesty for those who broke the laws he was trying to enforce.
AGL defers coal-fired power plant closures in bid to avoid summer blackouts
The Federal Government has applauded a decision by the energy giant, but environmental groups say the move is “risky and irresponsible.”
‘Bacterial Russian roulette’ in popular Sydney river swimming spots
Some of the most popular swimming spots on the Nepean River often exceed levels of E.coli bacteria that would trigger alerts in other cities, research shows.
What happens to a remote island’s ecosystem when you remove rats and mice?
A research project is underway to determine the impact of the controversial Lord Howe Island rodent eradication program on a threatened currawong species and wider ecosystem.
James Colley
Won’t someone think of the children? Not in a ‘handing them a better world’ sense, of course
Sydney stuck with the bad decisions of those blinded by big piles of dosh
Elizabeth Farrelly
Crown casino and the hole in the ground in Moore Park are monuments to the dizzy incompetence of a government hopelessly infatuated with Big Money.
Queensland
Cubbie Station sells down foreign investment stake
A Chinese conglomerate has negotiated the sale of part of Australia’s largest cotton farm, Cubbie Station, almost four years after the company was ordered to sell down its stake.
Breast implants, dentures and 2,550 rubber thongs litter Cape York beach
On a remote stretch of beach on the west coast of Cape York, rangers were stunned to see the extent of the rubbish strewn across an area used by turtles during nesting season.
More coal mines on map for Queensland as government calls for tenders
Just weeks after Adani was given its final environmental approvals from the Queensland government, more parts of the state will be opened for coal mining.
Queensland’s first new dam in a decade to be built in parched Granite Belt
Queensland’s drought-wracked Granite Belt, home to the towns of Stanthorpe and Warwick, will finally have a secure water supply after the state government agreed to co-fund a new dam on the Severn River.
‘Dramatic’ decline in Australia’s neglected piece of land
The wet tropics region that stretches across nearly 900,000ha of World Heritage-listed land covers a fraction of 1 per cent of Australia’s land mass, but is home to about 50 per cent of all the nation’s species. But with Australia’s star, the Great Barrier Reef, allocated a “game changing” $500 million in funding last year, there are fears the rainforest is becoming the neglected, poor cousin of the reef.
South Australia
“Our own base rejected us”: Labor warned on ‘pro-environment’ agenda
State Labor has been warned not to alienate its working-class base by being aggressively “pro-environment”, with data showing swings against the party in heartland booths.
Another legal challenge over nuclear waste dump site [$]
Another legal bid has been launched to stop the Kimba radioactive waste dump community ballot, leading to further delays for a decision on the best site for a new storage facility.
SA Water should refund our overcharged water bills [$]
In this week’s Off the Record, we argue householders and businesses should get a refund for paying too much for water, BankSA’s chief spreads his wings and the $20 million local council secret that got out.
Our driest July in 12 years [$]
SA has just experienced its driest first seven months of the year since 1970. And the outlook for the start of spring is still dry.
Single-use plastics: South Australian groups lining up for trial [$]
South Australia’s nation-leading plan to ban single-use plastics has prompted groups to line up to take part in a plastic-free trial.
Tasmania
This island generates 50 per cent of its energy from wind and solar power
At just under 1,100 square kilometres, King Island is only a speck in the ocean on the map between Victoria and Tasmania. But the Bass Strait island boasts a renewable energy network that supplies 50 per cent of its needs.
Recycling collections continue as normal
Hobart residents are urged to continue their household recycling habits, as the City of Hobart seeks information around the ongoing operation of recycling services in Tasmania.
Northern Territory
Territory solar company in strife [$]
A leading Darwin solar energy company has gone into voluntary administration
Western Australia
Government abandoned Roe 8, but still buying property for it
The state government was buying up property in Hamilton Hill that had been earmarked for the controversial Roe Highway extension more than a year after Labor dropped plans for the project.
Cormann backs the road to 10,000 jobs
Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has weighed into the growing brawl over a push to revive the Perth Freight Link.
Sustainability
Turf it out: Is it time to say goodbye to artificial grass?
It’s neat, easy – and a staggering £2bn global market. But as plastic grass takes over our cities, some say that it’s green only in color.
These stars are serious about saving the environment
These days, championing environmental causes can seem like the trendy thing for the rich and famous to get involved in. Yet, for these actors, models and princes, it’s more than just a passing fad.
Food waste, the hidden climate change driver
As experts gather in Geneva to finalize the most detailed scientific assessment yet of how we use the land we live off, one phenomenon to which…
Why the real toy story is a pile of crap
Monica Dux
Modern children are awash with playthings – it’s no wonder they’re not really valued.
Lighting the way to a lean and green smart energy solution
David McDonald
Intelligent lighting technology eliminates the use of mercury thereby reducing both carbon emissions and the amount of old lighting ending up in landfill.
There’s no evidence 5G is going to harm our health, so let’s stop worrying about it
Sarah Loughran
Should we be concerned about the health effects of 5G? The short answer is no – there’s no substantiated evidence that the electromagnetic energy used by mobile telecommunications causes harm.
Nature Conservation
Bearded vultures soar again in Alps after breeding scheme
Record 35 chicks expected to leave nests this year in successful wildlife comeback
Freshwater is getting neglected when it comes to plastic pollution research
Plastic pollution in lakes and rivers is on the research back burner—that’s a problem.
Whose fault is plastic waste in the ocean?
Rich countries with good recycling infrastructure hold Southeast Asia responsible for plastic waste polluting the sea. A fact-check shows that’s not fair.
This Irish teenager may have a solution for a plastic-free ocean
A teenage boy from Ireland may have found a way to rescue our oceans from plastic pollution.
Animals can’t adapt fast enough for climate change
“…while these species are adapting, it’s just not happening fast enough.”
Researchers say firefly populations are dying out due to human development, pesticides
Researchers are warning that firefly populations are dying out and that human causes are to blame.
Now for something completely different …
Worried about your memory? Try these ancient indigenous techniques
Forget Sudoku and cryptic crosswords, Australia’s senior memory champion draws on indigenous cultures from around the world for memory techniques.
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