Date: 3 October 2019 at 9:16:00 am AEST
Subject: Daily Links Oct 3
Post of the Day
Georgia Rose Grant and Timothy Naish
New research shows that warming by more than 2°C could be a tipping point for Antarctica’s ice sheets, resulting in widespread meltdown and changes to the world’s shorelines for centuries to come.
Today’s Celebration
National Foundation Day – South Korea
National Day – Iraq
Francisco Morazán Day (Soldier’s Day) – Honduras
National Poetry Day – UK
National Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Immigration – Italy
National Boyfriend Day – USA
Climate Change
Communicating climate change, for a change
Gabrielle Chamberland from Ellis Jones shares eight ways to talk about climate change that can help you stay motivated and prompt others into action.
Understanding the Greta Effect
Mal Fletcher
The Greta Thunberg effect is, like most large-scale movements, partly a result of the right person and the right cause converging at the right time.
Climate change is a worldwide catastrophe in the making
Alon Ben-Meir
These confined animal feeding operations release massive amounts of greenhouse gasses, surpassing even the entire global transportation industry.
Reasonable climate debate will soon be extinct [$]
Andrew Bolt
We’re constantly being told that the end of the world is nigh but the climate catastrophists still seem frighteningly short of evidence.
Georgia Rose Grant and Timothy Naish
New research shows that warming by more than 2°C could be a tipping point for Antarctica’s ice sheets, resulting in widespread meltdown and changes to the world’s shorelines for centuries to come.
Climate change science is simple; the politics not so much
Michael Coblenz
There are a couple of pervasive myths about climate change that are frequently exploited by skeptics to deny its existence.
National
Barnaby Joyce says Coalition risks ‘political annihilation’ in the bush over drought
Former Nationals leader says he agrees with Labor that government needs to ‘get cracking’ on dam construction
People see climate change as personal risk
Australians have nominated climate change a top risk to their personal safety and 70 per cent think Scott Morrison should have gone to a special UN summit.
Drought its own disaster type: minister
The drought devastating parts of regional Australia should not be classified as a natural disaster, Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud says.
Electric car hype doesn’t match reality [$]
The boss of the $2 billion car parts group Bapcor Ltd says the take-up of electric vehicles in Australia is much slower than predicted.
‘To reduce Co2 we must go nuclear’ [$]
If Australia is serious about cutting emissions the only way foward is nuclear power, a leading energy expert says.
Investor push for companies to target zero emissions stymied by fossil fuel lobbies
The Climate Action 100+ intitiatives finds investor pressure helps change company approaches to climate change, but movement on lobby groups remains slow.
‘Forget water politics, just help drought-hit communities’
Drought-hit communities need direct assistance including access to water and relief from council rates rather than partisan politics, the peak farm lobby group says.
Climate emergency petition surges towards 200,000 signatures, but will Morrison listen?
An electronic petition calling for a climate emergency declaration by federal parliament sets a new record.
Buried beneath the trees: a plan to solve our shortage of cemetery space
David Neustein
With space in our cemeteries running out, we could bury the dead in new forest developments that would bring green space to our urban areas.
Martin Cole and Mary Ann Augustin
Australian supermarkets and fast food chains will soon be stocking a homegrown meat alternative that tastes and feels like meat and even sizzles on the barbecue.
The power of protest and activism
John Warhurst
The theme this week for my favourite magazine, The Big Issue, is activism.
A huge energy recharge is coming [$]
Matthew Warren
Work on a massive National Electricity Market revamp has begun. Will we get the investments we need, or just the ones most subsidised?
Steve Biddulph raises bar on climate debate kerfuffle with attack on PM [$]
Chris Kenny
The climate kerfuffle has reached such ridiculous proportions that even a child psychologist and promoter of good parenting is using fake news to frighten children and attack the Prime Minister.
Red flags across the grid: New technologies hobbled by old thinking
Giles Parkinson
To some in the wind and solar industry in Australia it must seem at times as though they have landed in Vermont in the late 19th century.
Scarcity drives water prices, not government water recovery: new research
Sarah Ann Wheeler
Buybacks by open tenders were a successful, cost-effective way of returning water to the Murray-Darling Basin. They should never have been abandoned.
How Barnaby and the Coalition make hay when it doesn’t rain
Michelle Pini
Barnaby Joyce and the coal-loving Morrison Government’s “jobs for the boys” and inaction on climate are only exacerbating the circumstances that lead to drought and other disasters.
Victoria
Council charges towards going carbon neutral
Hobsons Bay Council has announced a range of initiatives to address climate change and bring it closer to its goal of zero net emissions for the organisation by 2020 and the community by 2030.
Wodonga residents build better bag habits ahead of plastic bag ban
Lightweight plastic shopping bags will be a thing of the past in Wodonga when the Victorian plastic bag ban comes into effect on November 1.
Tram report under fire for not finding a lot of peak-hour overcrowding
Melbourne’s most crowded trams are on the inner-northern routes of 1 and 6, according to a new state government report, which also claims overcrowding is rare and the commuter crush at peak times is improving.
Why it’s harder than ever to get a seat on the train [$]
Melbourne train commuters are suffering more than ever during crush hour as new data shows about 18,000 passengers are squeezing into trains during the evening peak. But as the population soars, is there a solution in sight?
Red tape concerns over kangaroo pet food program
Victoria finally has a permanent kangaroo pet food program, but farmers are concerned red tape will result in carcasses left to rot in paddocks.
New South Wales
NSW government to block Labor’s ‘ban the bag’ bill in favour of discussion paper
Environment Minister Matt Kean said he would instead introduce a discussion paper on plastics before the end of the year.
Warm long weekend prompts bushfire advice to holidaymakers
Temperatures will hit the 30s in parts of NSW on Sunday, and holidaymakers are being urged to be alert for possible fires.
Fourteen new big battery storage projects proposed for NSW
NSW storage proposals include 14 different big battery projects, a handful of virtual power plants, and a coal mine which wants to install pumped hydro.
ACT
ACT Parks and Conservation Service staff prepare for bushfire season
Scrambling into the cabin of a heavy tanker, ACT Parks and Conservation Service’s firefighters pull foil down over its windows and set off sprays to cool the surrounding area.
Canberra’s electric buses are a go (even though they won’t go)
Amber Schultz
The ACT government has an ambitious plan to make public transport emission-free. There’s just one small problem…
Queensland
‘It shouldn’t burn like this’: Extent of fire damage in Gold Coast rainforest revealed
Analysis of satellite data suggests more than 440 hectares of unique sub-tropical rainforest was damaged in the recent Gold Coast hinterland fires.
Climate protesters chained by the neck to fencing in Brisbane’s CBD
Six Extinction Rebellion protesters are arrested after placing bike locks around their necks to secure themselves to temporary fencing in Brisbane’s CBD this morning.
Deadly fungus native to Japan and Korea discovered in Australian rainforest
Poison Fire Coral, the only known fungus whose toxins are absorbed through the skin, found on the outskirts of Cairns
Nuclear power splits state, federal LNP [$]
In a widening rift over energy, the State LNP is saying renewable energy – not nuclear – should be the focus of their Canberra counterparts.
First look at congestion-busting M1 and busway upgrade [$]
The Government has released the first vision of a long-awaited upgrade to one of southeast Queensland’s worst traffic bottlenecks, promising to cut travel times for motorists and public transport users alike.
South Australia
West Torrens mayor sees red over social media posts implying climate change denial
The mayor of West Torrens has lashed two of his councillors for an online spray he believed made it sound like his council was full of climate change deniers.
Tasmania
Deer hunting season extended to run from February to October
A range of new measures to be in place by 2020 will cut red tape and increase opportunities for farmers and recreational hunters in an attempt improve the management of wild deer populations.
Lake Pedder too ‘important’ to drain, Guy Barnett says
Lake Pedder forms too vital a piece of Tasmania’s renewable energy mix for the government to consider the possibility of restoring it to its original state, Energy Minister Guy Barnett says.
Battle lines drawn over coalmine dubbed ‘Tasmania’s Adani’
Conservationists have warned of “broad and deep” community opposition to plans for a major coal mine dubbed “Tasmania’s Adani”.
Politics shouldn’t be part of approval process
Examiner editorial
A proposed coal mine in the Tasmanian Midlands has stirred up a political ants nest. A $3 million coal mine proposed by Midland Energy has become the centre of a political storm after the state government granted funding for exploratory digging.
Northern Territory
Sniffer dogs are being urgently flown to northern Australia to try and stop a disease that has wiped out around 20 per cent of the world’s pig population from coming onto Australian shores.
Climate action urgent but not an emergency [$]
There is an “escalating urgency for climate action” but it’s not an emergency, the Alice Springs Town Council decided at its meeting on Monday night.
Western Australia
Farmers warn booming roo numbers spell trouble
A massive boom in kangaroo numbers in Western Australia has sparked calls for an expansion of the state’s roo meat industry.
Exmouth pipe bundle plan under public microscope [$]
An engineering giant’s plan to pull pipe bundles through the Exmouth Gulf will face eight weeks of scrutiny from the public after the EPA released a review on the proposal today.
Sustainability
How the circular economy can help tackle climate change
There needs to be a shift in the global approach to tackling climate change, according to a new report, which suggests the circular economy could be the missing piece in the puzzle.
Activists set sail across the Atlantic to Chile to demand curbs on flying
Sailing ship leaves Amsterdam for COP25 climate summit with 36 campaigners on board
China to shutter 8.7GW of coal power by year’s end
China may shutter nearly 8.7GW of coal-fired power by the end of the year in an effort to further curb smog and greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental toxins impair immune system over multiple generations
New research shows that maternal exposure to a common and ubiquitous form of industrial pollution can harm the immune system of offspring and that this injury is passed along to subsequent generations, weakening the body’s defenses against infections such as the influenza virus.
An India-Pakistan nuclear war could kill millions, threaten global starvation
A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50-125 million people — more than the death toll during all six years of World War II, according to new research.
Carbon emissions soar as tourism reaches new heights
A researcher is examining how the flight routes people take to get to tourist destinations impact the amount of pollution in the air.
Cleaning with bleach could create indoor air pollutants
For generations, people have used chlorine bleach to clean and disinfect their homes. However, researchers have now discovered that bleach fumes, in combination with light and a citrus compound found in many household products, can form airborne particles that might be harmful when inhaled by pets or people.
Man dies after eating fish caught near PNG nickel mine spill
A man dies in Papua New Guinea after eating a fish caught near the site of a massive nickel refinery spill, however the mine’s Chinese operator denies the accident caused his death.
Grouping ‘smart cities’ into types may help aspiring city planners find a path
A comparative analysis of ‘smart cities’ worldwide reveals four distinct types, according to researchers. The categories may help city planners to identify and emulate models that are close to their own socio-economic circumstances and policy aspirations.
Aspirin may halve air pollution harms
A new study is the first to report evidence that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin may lessen the adverse effects of air pollution exposure on lung function. The researchers found that the use of any NSAID nearly halved of the effect of PM on lung function, with the association consistent across all four weekly air pollution measurements from same-day to 28 days prior to the lung function test.
Feeling flight shame? Try quitting air travel and catch a sail boat
Christiaan De Beukelaer
Carbon emissions from international air travel show no sign of abating. In the absence of a tax on jet fuel, are sail boats the best way to travel the world sustainably?
China’s new electricity plan is way more important than impeaching Donald Trump
David Leitch
China’s new energy policy decisions will affect the whole world. Climate activists should really be marching on Beijing if the news flow this year is any guide.
Nature Conservation
‘Ocean Cleanup’ ship sweeps first Pacific plastic
The plastic harvesting ship aims to cleanse the Great Pacific Garbage Patch of half of its waste within just five years.
New imaging platform examines mechanisms behind coral bleaching
Non-invasive approach could help marine biologists monitor coral health
Warming impedes a coral defense, but hungry fish enhance it
Corals exude chemical defenses against bacteria, but when heated in the lab, those defenses lost much potency against a pathogen common in coral bleaching. There’s hope: A key coral’s defense was heartier when that coral was taken from an area where fishing was banned and plenty of fish were left to eat away seaweed that was overgrowing corals elsewhere.
How sustainable is tuna? New global catch database exposes dangerous fishing trends
Scientists have found that global tuna catches have increased over 1,000 per cent in the past six decades, fueled by a massive expansion of industrial fisheries.
Managing stormwater and stream restoration projects together
A unified approach may benefit water quality, environment more than piecemeal.
Preventing future forest diebacks
Removing dead trees from the forests and reforesting on a large scale: this is the German Federal Government’s strategy against ‘Forest Dieback 2.0’, researchers say. Ecologists call for other solutions.
Extreme wildfires transforming forestlands into shrublands
Wildfire is transforming some forestlands into shrublands, a new study finds. The results suggest these forests, which are used to living with and even benefiting from fire, have not yet adapted to this newer regime of intense, high-severity fires.
Seagrass meadows harbor wildlife for centuries, highlighting need for conservation
Seagrass meadows put down deep roots, persisting in the same spot for hundreds and possibly thousands of years, a new study shows. Researchers used modern and fossil shells from seagrass-dwelling animals to estimate the age of these meadows, showing that, far from being transient patches of underwater weeds, they are remarkably stable over time.
Shoppers told to avoid North Sea cod to sustain fish stocks
Species added to at-risk list with wild Atlantic salmon as numbers fall, but hake and plaice are booming