Post of the Day
Climate change: time to act not blame
Jennifer Sanger
Last summer, as I watched the Tasmanian bushfires tearing through the wilderness, I was overwhelmed with grief. The places that I loved were being destroyed.
Today’s Celebration
San Jacinto Day in Nicaragua
Hindi Day in India
Children’s Day in Nepal
Exaltation of the Cross in Western Christianity
National
Laws pass making it illegal to use websites, social media to incite trespass on farms
People who use a carriage service such as websites and social media to incite others to break into farms could be sent to jail under new laws passed through Federal Parliament.
Fact check zombie: Did the Coalition inherit an emissions deficit from Labor?
The Coalition repeated a claim on emissions which Fact Check has previously found to be misleading three times this week in Parliament.
Temperatures 10 degrees above average forecast as 130 bushfires continue to burn
Bureau of Meteorology says stubborn high pressure system will create hot and dry conditions over weekend and next week
‘I don’t know how we come back from this’: Australia’s big dry sucks life from once-proud towns
Guardian Australia reports from three communities hard hit by one of the worst droughts in living memory
‘Proactively looking’: Clean energy fund to invest $100m in startups
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation still has close to $100 million left to invest.
Purpose before profit: How ethical investment is transforming Australian retail
Australian retailers are vying for the increasing number of ethical dollars in the pockets of retail and institutional investors.
McCormack calls for Australia to ‘get serious’ about water security
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack will issue a rallying cry for Australia to “get serious” about water security when he officially launches a new authority to address falling stores of urban and regional water.
Fight over land-clearing ‘socialism’ [$]
The High Court has opened the way for a David-and-Goliath constitutional battle over land-clearing bans.
Barons tap rich opportunity [$]
There is a new class of wealth in Australia: water barons who own a limited resource but no land.
Frustrated farmers gather to demand action on climate change
Extreme weather variabilities have farmers like Robert Lee, who has just watched more of his cattle leave for greener pastures, on edge.
BHP sharpens climate stand [$]
BHP’s CEO is making no apologies for the miner’s stance on climate issues.
Behind Snowy’s big battery bet [$]
Negative pricing has swung from an issue in renewables-heavy South Australia to spread along the eastern seaboard.
Generating powerful trouble [$]
Judith Sloan
Wholesale prices have never been higher, despite the increase of renewable energy.
Littleproud’s gaffe and PM’s reluctance only reinforce Australia’s climate reputation
Adam Morton
Most major players, including China, remain committed to the Paris process in a way Australia apparently is not
Climate change: time to act not blame
Jennifer Sanger
Last summer, as I watched the Tasmanian bushfires tearing through the wilderness, I was overwhelmed with grief. The places that I loved were being destroyed.
Malcolm Turnbull’s son gives him a lesson in nuclear power [$]
Aaron Patrick
Could nuclear power be the solution to Australia’s energy dilemma? Or will giant batteries and other forms of power storage be able to avert what looks like a crisis in the making?
Saturday Paper editorial
This is what happens when your chief climate policy is prayer. Rainforests burn in the spring. Bushfires rage in two states before it is even summer. Rivers are silted with dead fish. Drought wrecks the inland.
Victoria
Climbing ban followed complaint [$]
Traditional owners complained about rock climbing in the Grampians just weeks before sweeping bans were imposed.
Opening floodgates to rising prices [$]
Investors and governments have surged into the water market, causing prices to skyrocket in Victoria’s Murray region.
Nats to face off over Murray-Darling water use [$]
Victorian and federal MPs are set to clash over the Murray-Darling Basin plan at the National Party’s federal conference as dairy and fruit producers plead for help with drought and soaring water prices.
New South Wales
‘Tropical vagrants’ helping growth of coral reef off Sydney
As water temperatures rise, a sub-tropical species of coral burgeoning off the coast of Sydney has scientists asking whether the city can produce a reef of its own.
‘Problematic’: Dry forests, hazard burning lag set up busy fire season
Early season heat, rapidly drying out forests on Sydney’s edge and a shortfall in hazard-reduction burning are combining to raise the threat of big bushfires.
Mark Graham has had a harrowing week with friends and neighbours battling a bushfire that destroyed his cabin and scorched deep into the nearby rainforests of north-eastern NSW.
Byron Shire Council mulls plan to shut off the town’s street lights, both to be environmentally responsible and reduce emissions — and save money.
Queensland
Sarabah bushfire threat downgraded as authorities keep watch on Queensland blazes
Fire-weary residents at Sarabah in Queensland’s Scenic Rim get a reprieve as authorities downgrade the bushfire warning level in the area, but conditions are expected to worsen in southern Queensland on Saturday.
Climate change pushing Queensland’s bushfire and cyclone seasons on a collision course
Queensland’s bushfire and cyclone seasons could collide later this year as the state cops a battering from climate change, the state’s Emergency Services Minister has warned.
Hit hard by fires and drought, Stanthorpe given millions to truck in water
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced millions in emergency water funds for the Southern Downs towns already struggling with drought and fire.
Tasmania
Development threatens privately-owned home of unique Tasmanian orchids
Among the old-growth gums and wildlife of Milford Forest are two critically endangered orchids that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. But their habitat could be at risk due to a planned highway upgrade.
Western Australia
They will fight them on the beaches: The Fish Army mobilises on WA’s next environmental front line
A new brand of militant activists hope to derail the WA Government’s plans to build an outer harbour by waging an environmental war similar to the successful campaign to kill off the Roe 8 highway expansion.
Sheep producers turn to drone ‘warfare’ to strike deadly wild dogs from the air
It has been a tough decade for pastoralist Bob Grinham who has watched wild dogs ravage his sheep, terrorise his lambs, and shrink his local community.
Sustainability
Swap your plastic waste for food in the Philippines
One person’s trash can be another person’s meal for some villagers in the Philippines with a rice-for-plastics programme launched to help the environment and feed the public.
Greenpeace fossil fuel protesters hang from bridge
Greenpeace activists suspended themselves from the Fred Hartman Bridge in Houston to protest the use of fossil fuels and to challenge Democratic presidential candidates preparing for a debate, local media reported.
How to speed up your renovation and save on energy bills [$]
Energy-efficient construction technology used mainly for commercial buildings is now being applied to private dwellings.
Beijing air improving, but getting worse in China’s provinces
But other regions appeared to be moving backward as local authorities sought to stoke growth amid an economic slowdown.
The riddle, and controversy, of all that missing plastic
The contentious Ocean Cleanup campaign has an idea where marine plastic ends up. But it’s already stirring debate.
Nature Conservation
Donald Trump is axing another Obama rule
The Trump administration revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many US wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers.
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