Date: 5 October 2019 at 8:06:44 am ACST
Subject: Daily Links Oct 5
Post of the Day
How to save the planet? Overcome plant blindness
Brett Summerell
Plants will be central to how we lessen the impact of climate change.
Today’s Celebration
Republic Day in Portugal
Constitution Day in Vanuatu
State Language Day in Tajikistan
International Day of No Prostitution
National Amputee Awareness Week
Climate Change
Does Extinction Rebellion have a race problem?
Critics say group is not doing enough to involve people of colour, or expose links between climate crisis and inequality
How scientists finally got Americans to worry about the climate
There’s nothing like a deadline to spur people into action.
Radical warming in Siberia leaves millions on unstable ground
As permafrost collapses and farm land is devastated, people turn to mammoth-tusk hunting and migration.
If each of us planted a tree, would it slow global warming?
Ask a physicist: Just how much carbon could 7.5 billion new trees pull out of the atmosphere?
Greta Thunberg on our doorsteps
Ian Warden
Sensitive, adult readers, here is a very challenging challenge for you. Imagine this: There is a forceful-sounding knock at your door. Who should it be but the unsmiling, bristling Greta Thunberg!
Nikki Gemmell
Thunberg has demonstrated the heroic opposite of passivity. How worlds can be changed by the lone action of a single voice.
National
Climate change activists plan week of disruptive capital city protests
Police are promising to crack down on protesters ahead of a week of planned disruptive climate change demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Reserve Bank warns climate change posing increasing risk to financial stability
RBA says it is becoming increasingly important for investors and institutions to actively manage carbon risk
Australia’s tough climate number to crack [$]
Australia has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030, but paths diverge on how best to reach the target.
Snow gums dieback threatens to leave alpine waste land [$]
A native longicorn beetle is ringbarking the trees all across Kosciuszko National Park. The destruction is stark, and it’s throughout the Australian alps — across NSW, the ACT and Victoria, snow gums of all species are facing an outbreak of dieback, and no one can say for sure why.
XXXX! Hundreds of pubs slash energy costs through Lion deal on solar
Lion breweries signs major group PPA deal with Simply Energy to supply more than 300 pubs and hotels with cheaper solar power.
Governments’ scandalously little drought preparation is accelerating disaster
Tony Walker
Scott Morrison himself would not need reminding that the 2001-2010 millennium drought contributed to John Howard’s undoing, given he was perceived – rightly or wrongly – to be indifferent to climate change.
Waste not, want not and get on the trail of a sale
Andrew Valder
By the time you’ve read this article, Australians will have thrown out about 3,000kg of clothes and textiles. That’s the same weight as six blue whales of clothes and textiles thrown out every hour.
Mining isn’t the only option for jobs in regional Australia [$]
Shirley Jackson
Strategic investments in medical manufacturing, renewable technology and infrastructure projects could go a long way towards providing stable jobs for regional Australia.
The need for sustainable farming [$]
Matthew Evans
The IPCC report is no easy reading. Criticisms are couched, references extensive. What it did not say was that meat is the only culprit. In fact, it says that farming – the way we’ve done it for the past 100 years in particular – is unsustainable.
Victoria
Police brace for disruptions by climate emergency rebels
Victoria Police is gearing up for days of mayhem as Extinction Rebellion protesters warn of widespread “splinter groups” disrupting Melbourne next week.
They’re one of the world’s toughest birds, but where are they?
Every year, thousands of short-tailed shearwaters, or mutton birds, descend on Victoria’s coastline at the end of September or early October after a mammoth journey from the northern hemisphere, but so far this year they haven’t shown up.
Still no answers after millions of microplastics littered Victorian beaches
Almost two years after millions of microplastics spilled onto pristine beaches in Victoria and sparked an emergency response from authorities, the plastic’s origin remains a mystery.
Experts want air-con “clunkers” replaced to soften Victoria demand peaks, cut bills
Industry body calls for more support to replace air conditioner “clunkers” as Victoria hails successes of energy efficiency scheme
New South Wales
Shafted: Mine approval reversed within hours
A decision to approve a significant NSW mine extension was published and then revoked within hours on Friday in a massive bureaucratic bungle by the state’s Independent Planning Commission.
IPC should guard against corruption, not dictate policy
Telegraph editorial
The Independent Planning Commission was, in its conception, a sound idea. It was first introduced as a means of putting some distance between potentially lucrative planning decisions and certain ambitious Labor politicians. Labor is now long gone from state power, but the IPC lives on.
ACT
ACT faces tough fight to shake itself free of gas, after going green on power supply
The ACT may become the first battle ground over gas, as the fossil fuel may prove harder to substitute compared to shift to renewable electricity.
Peter Brewer
As Tokyo gears up to host next year’s summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, a major sponsor and the world’s largest vehicle producer has rolled out a game-changer that is … well, the size of a bus.
Queensland
Adani mine: another insurer distances itself from Carmichael project
Possible rail line insurer Canopius says it is ‘not involved in any negotiations’ over the Queensland project
Heatwave sparks new bushfire fears [$]
Winds sweeping across the state from Queensland’s arid centre will bring scorching temperatures of up to 40 degrees across much of the state next week, making for ideal bushfire conditions, authorities warn.
Drought reaches Brisbane’s doorstep [$]
Two-month waits for water trucks and a sense of “panic” have overtaken a community just 23 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD, as dry conditions are set to drag on for the foreseeable future.
Specialist police forced to ‘babysit’ climate protesters [$]
An elite police squad tasked with taking down high-risk offenders is wasting hundreds of hours babysitting climate change protesters intent on clogging up Brisbane’s CBD, and there are more protests on the cards.
Queensland’s eight serial climate activists [$]
They’re the serial climate activists who continue to bring misery to the lives of Brisbane commuters with their disruptive tactics.
Take them on: How workers can sue protesters [$]
Frustrated white-collar workers could sue climate protesters for delaying crucial meetings, according to one of the state’s top legal minds, provided they can prove one crucial result of the activists’ actions.
Magnis puts cost of Townsville battery “gigafactory” at $3 billion
Magnis Energy Technologies has put the cost of its proposed battery “gigafactory” in the north Queensland city of Townsville at around $3 billion, but says it should deliver a handsome internal rate of return of around 21 per cent to the consortium investors.
South Australia
‘That’s not cultural’: Aboriginal elders divided over video of wombat stoning
A video showing an off-duty police officer stoning a wombat, apparently to death, leaves Aboriginal elders divided — with one condemning the incident as “wrong” but defending traditional hunting.
Protestors vow to climb, chain themselves to doomed North Tce trees
Protestors camping overnight outside Lot Fourteen say they will climb and chain themselves to 11 century-old trees along North Terrace that are set to be removed amid speculation the axe could fall as soon as tomorrow.
Schneider boss: Climate change is world’s ‘biggest challenge’ [$]
The chief executive of Schneider Electric, which owns iconic SA brand Clipsal, has warned the world is “seriously on the wrong trajectory” in terms of carbon emissions.
Plans for $18m solar farm lodged [$]
SA Water has amended its plans for an $18.6 million solar farm at Happy Valley to retain some of the pine trees on the site, following community anger.
Tasmania
Light rail proposal a step closer to reality [$]
A consultant is being sought to determine the best way to deliver an effective transport service along Hobart’s unused rail corridor.
Northern Territory
Before the world-famous Uluru climb closes on October 26, many have travelled there in the hope of making a final dash for the summit.
Western Australia
Extinction Rebellion targets Chevron’s CBD office with ‘interpretative dance’ protest
“Members of Extinction Rebellion WA will be decked out in full gas-masquerade, pumping the Stones back catalogue to a captive audience as we wake Chevron up from their coma via interpretative dance.”
Push to ban climate protester from Parliament denied
A magistrate has refused to ban a member of climate activist group Extinction Rebellion from approaching WA’s Parliament House after he was allegedly involved in a protest there in August.
Sustainability
Renewables deliver 47% of total generation in Germany so far in 2019
Germany has sourced 47% of its electricity generation from renewables so far in 2019, and for the last 7 months renewables have outstripped fossil fuels.
Energy Insiders Podcast: View from China – Climate and carbon markets
Beijing-based Stian Reklev joins Energy Insiders to provide the view from China on climate, coal and carbon markets, and why progress is slow. Plus, the regulatory problems in Australia.
The plastics industry’s fight to blame pollution on you – video
The plastics industry has been promoting recycling and shaming “litterbugs” while fighting legislation that would limit plastics production.
Metal straws are killing people too
Danny Katz
Plastic straws had to be stopped, so I did the right thing: I chucked all of mine into the bin. Then I realised that would create more landfill, so I took them out of the bin.
Nature Conservation
Japanese whaling ship returns home after first commercial hunt in decades
The Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru has returned to its home port after catching 223 whales during its three-month expedition off the Japanese coast.
The largest construction plan in human history could drive tigers to extinction
China’s mega infrastructure plan could transform the global economy, but conservationists say it will also embolden poachers, destroy habitats and drive endangered animals to extinction.
Demand for charcoal threatens the forest of Madagascar’s last hunter-gatherers
The Mikea, who number around 1,000 people, are facing what many of them say is an existential environmental problem.
How to save the planet? Overcome plant blindness
Brett Summerell
Plants will be central to how we lessen the impact of climate change.
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