Daily Links Oct 21

Yes, we do need to greater individual involvement, but don’t let government or industry off the hook. What about container deposit legislation ? What about not producing so much of the stuff in the first place?

Post of the Day

All plastic waste could become new, high-quality plastic through advanced steam cracking

A research group at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has developed an efficient process for breaking down any plastic waste to a molecular level. The resulting gases can then be transformed back into new plastics – of the same quality as the original. The new process could transform today’s plastic factories into recycling refineries, within the framework of their existing infrastructure.

 

Today’s Celebration

Saint Ursula’s Day – British Virgin Islands

President Ndadaye Day – Burundi

National Heroes’ Day – Jamaica

Overseas Chinese Day – Taiwan

Trafalgar Day – UK

Police Commemoration Day– India

World War II Serbian Victims Remembrance Day – Slovenia

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah – Judaism

Pink Ribbon Day

Reptile Awareness Day

National Week of Deaf People (NWDP)

Aussie Backyard Bird Count

Sock it to Suicide Week

More about Oct 21

 

Climate Change

Climate: Uncertainty in scientific predictions can help and harm credibility

The ways climate scientists explain their predictions about the impact of global warming can either promote or limit their persuasiveness.

 

In Hawaii, where climate change is a fact of life, a community foundation gets proactive.

Hawaiians are watching climate change unfold before them, with their food, water and land at risk. Here’s what the Hawaii Community Foundation is doing to make the islands more resilient in an era of rising ecological threats.

 

Can climate ‘test cases’ move forward? It’s up to Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court is set to decide soon whether to greenlight state-court proceedings for several cases in which state and local government officials seek to hold oil companies accountable for their role in climate change.

 

India’s climate leaders need their tribe – here’s why

Jarnail Singh

Being part of a tribe provides a safe space for peer to peer learning and working towards a shared goal. Member companies of RE100 discover new avenues of innovation, test new ideas, learn from experiences and adapt accordingly.

 

Blatant hypocrisy in celebrities’ climate agenda [$]

Andrew Bolt

Hypocritical celebrities who recently jumped on board the climate change hysteria demanded poorer people make the sacrifices that they themselves won’t. So, if these petrol-guzzling celebrities won’t live as they preach, why should we?

 

Break the rules? It’s a bit too late for that sweetie [$[

Tim Blair

Possibly upset at missing out on a Nobel Prize, one-dimensional climate change child Greta Thunberg last week issued a new commandment to her worshipful Extinction Rebellion minions.

 

National

Labor to grill Coalition on delays and underspending on key infrastructure projects

The government has spent just $2.2m of a $3.5bn fund designed to tackle ‘immediate priorities’, the opposition says

 

Erin Brockovich urges Australia to ‘wake up’ over PFAS contamination as more sites revealed

The American activist is warning all levels of government in Australia to act swiftly to prevent the spread of PFAS chemical contamination as the ABC reveals more than 60 locations have been identified in one state alone.

 

Water prices drive growers out of Murray Darling Basin [$]

Horticultural investment is flowing into Tasmania and Australia’s north as the drought bites in traditional food cropping regions, says Colliers International.

 

Australia’s birds: pretty and sweet or just a pack of bastards?

Sean Dooley

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count begins on Monday and an exceptionally dry 2019 could see a changing of the guard in the top 10

 

Fair climate reporting must include economic facts [$]

Chris Mitchell

Whose interests are editors at the climate catastrophist Guardian, the Nine Network newspapers and ABC radio and television representing when they publish climate alarmist stories but never question the economic costs of policies they support?

 

Urban water industry still not reckoning with catastrophic climate change [$]

Peter Fisher

Pollutants such as dangerous drug waste are contaminating our water system and having detrimental effects on the environment.

 

Victoria

Will a ‘six bins’ system solve the recycling crisis?

Victorian households could be separating rubbish into six or more bins — instead of the usual two or three — if the state adopts recommendations from Infrastructure Victoria, which has released its ideas for dealing with the recycling crisis.

 

Toxic waste stockpile found in rubble of burnt-down warehouse

A massive stockpile of highly toxic chemicals has been discovered inside the rubble of a West Footscray warehouse more than a year after it burnt down during one of Melbourne’s worst industrial fires.

 

Would you pay to drive in and out of the CBD? [$]

Motorists driving in and out Melbourne’s CBD during and around peak times could be hit with a fee under a new push aimed to reducing bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

 

New South Wales

Funding to secure future of rare Norfolk Island birds

The Australian Government has delivered more than $400,000 to help secure the future of two of Australia’s most threatened bird species.

 

‘Talk about bullies!’: how 2GB’s Ben Fordham campaigned for farmers charged with illegal land clearing

Landowners were painted as battling victims of heartless bureaucrats by the Sydney broadcaster. But was he telling the whole story?

 

‘Asleep at the wheel’: NSW government ignored years of water warnings

The NSW government ignored multiple warnings about worsening drought from a key planning agency.

 

Moore is less: the travesty of central Sydney’s frumpy, neglected park

Vivienne Skinner

Soon the population in nearby Green Square will exceed Hong Kong’s, but still there is no commitment to revive parkland set aside by Lachlan Macquarie.

 

Gas plant delay ramps up energy uncertainty [$]

The delay at EnergyAustralia’s gas power project in NSW comes as some are suggesting a doubling in the cap in wholesale power to ensure investment in reliable generation.

 

We’re a city of forgotten green spaces … our nature strips

Adrian Marshall

To have council bylaws restrict or disallow gardening in the nature strip flies in the face of common sense.

 

Time to spell out the hazards that lie ahead

Dominic King

In Bellingen, on the mid-North New South Wales coast, we understand what’s at risk from climate change. Our current reality spells it out.

 

Queensland

Mackay named as city with best drinking water in Australia

In blind taste tests at a competition in Victoria this weekend, the tap water from Mackay Regional Council in Queensland is judged the best in Australia.


Tasmania

Fears popular park will turn into ‘industrial zone’ [$]

A proposal to expand an existing mobile phone tower at a popular Hobart park will turn the recreational area “into an industrial zone”, concerned residents say.

 

Northern Territory

Underwater ‘Star Wars’ environment caught on camera in Gulf marine park

In the turbid waters of the Wessel Marine Park in the Gulf of Carpentaria, an underwater garden of sponges, corals and creatures is revealed.

 

Western Australia

Neerabup’s $50m water treatment upgrade

The McGowan Government will spend more than $50 million upgrading a groundwater treatment plant, saying the measure is part at a package aimed at reducing the impact of climate change.

 

Sustainability

Land management practices to reduce nitrogen load may be affected by climate changes

Nitrogen from agricultural production is a major cause of pollution in the Mississippi River Basin and contributes to large dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Illinois and other Midwestern states have set goals to reduce nitrogen load through strategies that include different land management practices. A new study from University of Illinois researchers, published in Journal of Environmental Management, uses computer modeling to estimate how those practices may be affected by potential changes in the climate, such as increased rainfall.

 

Why modified carbon nanotubes can help the reproducibility problem

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) conducted an in-depth study on how carbon nanotubes with oxygen-containing groups can be used to greatly enhance the performance of perovskite solar cells. The newly discovered self-recrystallization ability of perovskite could lead to improvement of low-cost and efficient perovskite solar cells.

 

A new stable form of plutonium discovered at the ESRF

An international team of scientists, led by the Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), have found a new compound of plutonium with an unexpected, pentavalent oxidation state, using the ESRF, the European Synchrotron., Grenoble, France This new phase of plutonium is solid and stable, and may be a transient phase in radioactive waste repositories.

 

All plastic waste could become new, high-quality plastic through advanced steam cracking

A research group at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has developed an efficient process for breaking down any plastic waste to a molecular level. The resulting gases can then be transformed back into new plastics – of the same quality as the original. The new process could transform today’s plastic factories into recycling refineries, within the framework of their existing infrastructure.

 

Croissant making inspires renewable energy solution

The art of croissant making has inspired researchers from Queen Mary University of London to find a solution to a sustainable energy problem.

 

Atmospheric pressure impacts greenhouse gas emissions from leaky oil and gas wells

Fluctuations in atmospheric pressure can heavily influence how much natural gas leaks from wells below the ground surface at oil and gas sites, according to new University of British Columbia research. However, current monitoring strategies do not take this phenomenon into account, and therefore may be under- or over-estimating the true magnitude of gas emissions.

 

All plastic waste could become new, high-quality plastic through advanced steam cracking

A research group has developed an efficient process for breaking down any plastic waste to a molecular level. The resulting gases can then be transformed back into new plastics – of the same quality as the original. The new process could transform today’s plastic factories into recycling refineries, within the framework of their existing infrastructure.

 

Nature Conservation

Wind turbine design and placement can mitigate negative effect on birds

Wind energy is increasingly seen as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, as it contributes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, the rapid expansion of wind farms has raised concerns about the impact of wind turbines on wildlife. A new study provides comprehensive data on how turbines affect bird populations. The study suggests ways to mitigate negative effects through wind turbine design and placement, recommending taller turbines, shorter blades, and placement away from bird habitats.

 

The world’s ecosystems are being fundamentally transformed in the human era

More than a quarter of all plants and animals in a given ecosystem are being replaced every decade, a new study says.