Date: 1 October 2019 at 8:49:56 am AEST
Subject: Daily Links Oct 1
Post of the Day
Climate change art helps people connect with a challenging topic
Researchers who study the role of art in climate change communication found that it helps engage people, and sometimes even changes their point of view.
Today’s Celebration
National Day – China
Independence Day – Tuvalu
Independence Day – Nigeria
Independence Day – Palau
Independence Day – Cyprus
Unification Day – Cameroon
Investiture of the Captains Regents – San Marino
Arbor Day – Northern Mariana Islands
National Arbor Day – Bolivia
National Black Dog Day – USA
Pancasila Sanctity Day – Indonesia
Lincolnshire Day – England
Children’s Day – Guatemala and El Salvador
Children’s Day – Sri Lanka
International Day of Older Persons
Sexual Violence Awareness Month
Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month
Cyber Security Awareness Month
Climate Change
Jacinda Ardern says she is focused on climate, not the Nobel Prize
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern maintains her government can pass a hotly contested “Zero Carbon Bill” by the end of the year.
‘We are a disease that is infecting our planet’: Jason Momoa urges climate action
Hawaiian-born actor Jason Momoa joined leaders from small island developing states at a special event to urge action to address the devastating impact of climate change on vulnerable countries.
Monsoon rains, floods continue in India
More than 350 people have been killed by rain-related causes in India, Nepal and Bangladesh this monsoon season, which runs from June through September.
‘Time is running out’: Extinction Rebellion activists on why they risked arrest
We talk to some of the hundreds of XR protesters charged with public order offences
‘It’s amazing’ — 100,000 demand action on climate crisis
Climate crusaders take over Vancouver streets.
Meet the millionaires helping to pay for climate protests
Three philanthropists started the Climate Emergency Fund earlier this year, grants from which help climate change protestors spread their message.
‘Greta Thunberg effect’ blamed for surprise Austrian election result
The 16-year-old could be responsible for a tripling of support for Austria’s Greens.
‘He’s our branding guy’: How the young stars of the climate movement are managing their fame
She started by protesting on a park bench, now 14-year-old Alexandria Villaseñor is learning the art of brand management in a hip New York office. Foreign Correspondent goes behind the scenes with three climate kids.
Climate change art helps people connect with a challenging topic
Researchers who study the role of art in climate change communication found that it helps engage people, and sometimes even changes their point of view.
Climate change could pit species against one another as they shift ranges
Species have few good options when it comes to surviving climate change–they can genetically adapt to new conditions, shift their ranges, or both. But new research in PNAS indicates that conflicts between species as they adapt and shift ranges could lead experts to underestimate extinctions, and underscores the importance of landscape connectivity.
Plugging the ozone hole has indirectly helped Antarctic sea ice to increase
A new study demonstrates that the recovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole causes decreases in clouds over Southern Hemisphere (SH) high latitudes and increases in clouds over the SH extratropics. The decrease in clouds leads to a reduction in downward infrared radiation, especially in austral autumn. This results in cooling of the Southern Ocean surface and increasing Antarctic sea ice.
Microbes in warm soils released more carbon than those in cooler soils
Simply by moving tropical soils down a mountainside into warmer environments, a team including Smithsonian scientists Andy Nottingham and Ben Turner discovered that much more CO2 may be released due to increased microbial activity as soils warm.
Climate activist: Why tout development if there’s no future?
An Indian girl who was among the 16 young activists filing a complaint at the United Nations accusing countries of inaction on climate change has taken that step before.
Jump-starting the fight against climate change: The courts
Legal judgments can sharply motivate government agencies, business leaders, and professionals to rethink how they do business.
Misogyny, male rage and the words men use to describe Greta Thunberg
Camilla Nelson and Meg Vertigan
Greta Thunberg’s critics say the climate activist is unstable, hysterical and mentally ill. That’s because she challenges the view that the world is theirs to conquer.
Greta Thunberg is right. Fairy tales of endless growth will destroy us
Jennifer Ellen Good
Growth is driving climate change. But news media ignore the clear connection.
Jake Kornack
When it comes to climate change, the difference between acting now and acting later is the only choice we face.
Climate activists recruiting child soldiers [$]
Jennifer Oriel
The UN generally regards child exploitation as a no-no unless, apparently, the child is useful to a left-wing cause.
The big names terrorising our kids over climate [$]
Andrew Bolt
Doom preachers are the ones stealing our children’s dreams, and it’s time for the hysteria to stop. We must hold them to account and these are the 10 names we should start with.
National
Wind and solar continue rapid growth, help cut Australia’s grid emissions
The growth of wind and solar continued in Australia during the month of September, playing the key role in reducing emissions from Australia’s main grid.
Climate emergency e-petition secures parliamentary record
An online petition calling on federal parliament to declare a climate emergency has received a record amount of support from Australians.
Mike is fighting household plastics from his childhood bedroom
Mike Smith has moved back in with his parents and transformed his childhood bedroom into his startup’s headquarters in a quest to rid Australian laundries, bathrooms and kitchens of single-use plastics.
Water ministers hit back at dam claims [$]
State water ministers have hit back after federal Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie accused them of “dragging their heels” when it comes to building new dams, with Victoria saying there are “no feasible dam proposals” in the state, and Queensland accusing the Morrison government of refusing to provide any funding for the $352m Rookwood Weir project.
Australian media: apoplectic and unapologetic
Christopher Warren
News Corp is fuelling peak denialist hysteria over Greta Thunberg and climate strikers. And, unlike their counterparts in the US, they don’t need to apologise for it.
Scott Morrison wants kids to just be kids? Not in this climate.
Rebekah Holt
Our PM wants kids to stop getting so worked up about climate change. But as a leading child psychiatrist tells Crikey, this kind of dismissive attitude from leaders can leave kids feeling even worse.
Nuclear is too expensive, and takes too long to build
Tim Buckley
Australia needs to focus on safe renewable technologies already commercially proven. Nuclear is hugely expensive and slow to build.
Australia is failing on energy, and it’s burning huge holes in consumer wallets
Giles Parkinson
Australia efforts on emissions are bad enough, but its attitude to energy productivity is woeful. Low targets will be missed, consumers are being hit by higher bills.
Australia’s leaders are sitting on the sidelines. It’s up to the people to take a stand
Marc Stears
Citizen-led movements around the world are voicing their frustration over political impotence. It’s time it happened here too
Peter Boyer
Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, and PM Scott Morrison both spoke at the UN last week. Their speeches are chalk and cheese.
Morrison a ‘bad dad’ for denigrating young climate protesters
Steve Biddulph
A good prime minister and a good father are similar. With his attack on young climate change protesters, Scott Morrison is failing in both categories.
Classroom of Greta Thunbergs ready to pick fault
Chris McLennan
My generation has failed to make a difference with so many things, I for one am happy to take the lead from the next, or the one after, on how to make it right.
Left-wing media overplays Thunberg but falls short on Morrison’s US trip
Chris Mitchell
One of the most important tasks editors face is weighing up the impact of competing news events.
Victoria
Victoria needs to get on electric bus if it’s serious about emissions and health
Victoria is talking up its efforts on renewable energy, but it should really be leading in the shift to electric buses too.
Outages drive brown coal power to new low [$]
Victoria, which used to have the cheapest power in the National Electricity Market, had by far the highest wholesale price in the September quarter.
Announcing new grants to fund renewable bioenergy projects
A $750,000 grant round will help to ramp up bioenergy infrastructure projects that will keep organic waste out of landfill and generate renewable energy.
Second cross-city tunnel trumps Suburban Rail Loop: experts
A coalition of transport experts and councils say a new cross-city underground rail line should be built before Daniel Andrews’ popular rail loop plan.
New South Wales
Snowy 2.0 seeks approval as landfill proposal labelled “environmental vandalism”
National Parks association describes Snowy plans to dump nine million cubic metres of dirt as “environmental vandalism.”
The country town that’s run out of water
Six months after Murrurundi’s water ran out, the community is struggling to survive on extreme, level-six water restrictions, in a grim prediction of the future for other country towns facing their own impending water crisis.
‘Speaking the language of government’ on Darling River
Barkandji native title holders in far-west New South Wales say they are learning to speak the language of government as they propose a major cross-agency organisation to manage the Darling River, or Baaka.
‘Bad for the economy’: ACCC warning over coal port move
The competition regulator and the mining industry have sounded the alarm over a federal government decision not to extend price controls over the operator of the nation’s biggest coal export port.
500 people’s worth of water used daily to fix parched area’s gravel roads
Up to 100,000 litres of water is being used each weekday by a regional New South Wales council to keep drivers safe on its gravel roads — all 954 kilometres of them.
Taskforce assesses risks of AGL’s Liddell plans [$]
Major east coast power users and the nation’s top regulators have been called to high-level meetings over the future of AGL Energy’s Liddell coal station as a joint federal and NSW government probe assesses risks to the electricity grid from its planned exit.
ACT
Electric buses missed one in three peak services. The ACT Government is buying more anyway
They completed less than two in three peak services, but electric buses are still a “viable alternative” for Canberra according to the ACT’s Transport Minister.
Hospital churns through single use plastic bottles
Canberra Hospital churned through more than 1100 plastic water bottles every day last year.
Queensland
Two huge renewable hydrogen projects planned for Queensland
Two huge renewable hydrogen projects have been planned for the heart of Queensland’s major coal and gas regions, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency agreeing to initiate funding to support feasibility studies to use large-scale renewables for the production of ammonia.
QRC: Time to consider uranium mining in Queensland
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) says Queensland is missing out on a multi-billion dollar addition to our resources and energy industry which would also lower global emissions, because of bans on uranium mining.
Emergency services face extreme climate change challenges
From tropical cyclones to blazing bushfires, extreme weather events put emergency services under increased pressure in the 2018-19 summer.
Eight-week delay on controversial Adani royalty payments
Unable to agree on how much royalties should come from the $2 billion coal mine, Adani and the state government have pushed the deadline back.
Queensland warned: Time to move on from coal
A new report claims Queensland is poised to become the major exporter of “critical minerals” to the US, while warning the coal boom is over.
‘International Rebellion Week’: Brisbane Shut-Down Is The Start Of A Wave Of Climate Activism
Chris Graham
Protests against inaction on climate change are starting to seriously heat up. But we haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg.
South Australia
Adelaide steps closer to renewable hydrogen as electrolyser approved for Tonsley
Tonsley electrolyser approved for South Australia, allowing at least some “renewable” hydrogen to be circulated in gas network.
Bird in Hand gold mine reopening opposed by Adelaide Hills Council [$]
Adelaide Hills Council has thrown its support behind a community push to block a mining project in Woodside.
Inaccurate, short on facts and substance: Marshall’s “press release” response to Murray inquiry
Richard Beasley
The Marshall Government’s unacceptable response to the Murray Darling Basin Plan Royal Commission compounds the triumph of superficial politics over science.
Tasmania
Options sorted over green waste service [$]
A Tasmanian council is determined to push ahead with new green waste bins, but has softened its approach.
Western Australia
The wildlife sanctuary run by butchers
A husband and wife team — one a butcher, the other a wildlife carer — is doing wonders for injured and orphaned wildlife in WA’s remote Kimberley region.
Environmental concerns over Point Grey marina proposal as developer seeks permission to dig
For wildlife photographer David Rennie the Peel-Harvey estuary near Mandurah, south of Perth, is the lifeblood of the region.
Sustainability
New tool provides critical information for addressing the global water crisis
There has been a critical gap in the ability to identify which households experience issues with reliably accessing safe water in sufficient quantities for all household uses, from drinking and cooking to bathing and cleaning — until now.
Trump administration pushes for Arctic drilling by arguing ‘there is not a climate crisis’
The Trump administration, in its push for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is arguing the project should go forward because “there is not a climate crisis.”
Climate risk in the housing market has echoes of subprime crisis, study finds
After hurricanes, mortgage lenders offload more of their vulnerable loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose rules prevent them from saying no.
Climate change may take away your ability to flush the toilet
Rising sea levels could compromise as many as 60 million septic systems in the United States alone, making toilets unable to flush waste.
We all know that plastic is bad for the environment, but what is it doing to our health?
More plastic, more problems.
As demand for renewable electricity surges, so too does demand for efficient, safe and sustainable storage.
German Greens leader says bans work better than taxes
Greens leader Annalena Baerbock has spoken out in favor of prohibition of polluting practices over a carbon tax as better for the environment and more socially just. To make her case, she points to history.
Journalist Sharon Lerner: “How the plastics industry is fighting to keep polluting the world”
We speak to journalist Sharon Lerner about how corporations in the United States are refusing to turn to more sustainable materials, with most of the country’s plastic waste ending up in landfills or scattered around the world.
What does sustainable travel mean?
Most people want to support sustainable tourism, even though the concept remains fuzzy.
A new concept could make more environmentally friendly batteries possible
A new concept for an aluminium battery has twice the energy density as previous versions, is made of abundant materials, and could lead to reduced production costs and environmental impact. The idea has potential for large scale applications, including storage of solar and wind energy.
Urban beaches are environmental hotspots for antibiotic resistance after rainfall
New research provide clear links between storm-water discharge, which sometimes includes wet-weather sewer overflow (WWSO) events, and the presence of AbR in microorganisms living in urban beach habitats.
How to dismantle a nuclear bomb
MIT team successfully tests a new method for verification of weapons reduction.
Solar cells with new interfaces
Scientists from NUST MISIS (Russia) and University of Rome Tor Vergata found out that a microscopic quantity of two-dimensional titanium carbide called MXene significantly improves collection of electrical charges in a perovskite solar cell, increasing the final efficiency above 20%.
Using high energy density material in electrode design enhances lithium sulfur batteries
To develop higher capacity batteries, researchers have looked to lithium sulfur batteries because of sulfur’s high theoretical capacity and energy density. But there are still several problems to solve before they can be put into practical applications. The biggest is the shuttling effect that occurs during cycling. To solve this problem and improve lithium sulfur battery performance, the researchers created a sandwich-structured electrode using a novel material that traps polysulfides and increases the reaction kinetics.
A new concept could make more environmentally friendly batteries possible
A new concept for an aluminium battery has twice the energy density as previous versions, is made of abundant materials, and could lead to reduced production costs and environmental impact. The idea has potential for large scale applications, including storage of solar and wind energy.
Capitalism has improved the planet, not ruined it [$]
Tim Blair
All we wicked capitalists genuinely wish to accomplish is the earth’s total and final annihilation, but every single damn thing we do just keeps improving the place.
Nature Conservation
Multifactor models reveal worse picture of climate change impact on marine life
Rising ocean temperatures have long been linked to negative impacts for marine life, but a Florida State University team has found that the long-term outlook for many marine species is much more complex — and possibly bleaker — than scientists previously believed.
Kenyan farmers mix tradition with tech to protect drying Mara River
For more than a decade, environmental groups have raised the alarm over the Mara River in Kenya, warning that population growth, illegal logging and overuse of its waters by communities struggling through drought have caused a dramatic drop in the river’s water levels.
Climate change threatens the world’s fisheries, food billions of people rely on
More than 3 billion people depend on fish as a major source of protein. By the end of the century, a quarter of the sustainable fish catch could be gone.
Brave new world: Simple changes in intensity of weather events ‘could be lethal’
Faced with extreme weather events and unprecedented environmental change, animals and plants are scrambling to catch up — with mixed results. A new model developed by Carlos Botero, assistant professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, helps to predict the types of changes that could drive a given species to extinction.
Collapse of desert bird populations likely due to heat stress from climate change
Last year, UC Berkeley biologists discovered that bird populations in the Mojave Desert had crashed over the past 100 years. The biologists now have evidence that heat stress is a key cause. Simulations with a computerized ‘virtual bird’ suggest that with higher temperatures, birds need more water to keep cool. Larger insectivores or carnivores should be most affected, and small seedeaters less so if drinking water is available: just as the biologists reported last year.
Climate change is decimating Mojave desert birds
Birds in California’s Mojave Desert are finding it increasingly hard to quench their thirst.
The Klamath River now has the legal rights of a person
A Yurok Tribe resolution allows cases to be brought on behalf of the river as a person in tribal court.
Jane Goodall on her life, her work and the future of the planet
The renowned 85-year-old anthropologist talked to CBC Radio’s In Town and Out prior to an event in Ottawa Friday night.
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