Daily Links Nov 18

So it turns out the fires weren’t linked to close mate change, they’re down to wrathful god, a verse from the Book of Isaiah and displeasure at same-sex marriage legislation. How does the Pentecostal PM interpret his own reading of the bible, are these the fires that presage the torment that Pentecostals reckon herald the second coming?

Sorry if you’ve received this twice but there seems to be a problem with my home email so I’m sending it again from my work email

 

 

Post of the Day

Researchers explore how citizens can become agents of environmental change

Some programs work better than others when it comes to involving citizens in preserving the environment. After reviewing those that worked, researchers propose a blueprint for how others can educate people to maximize their impact.

 

Today’s Celebration

Proclamation of the Republic in Latvia

National Day in Oman

Independence Day in Morocco

Revolution Day in Mexico

National Sovereignty Day in Argentina

Battle of Vertières Day in Haiti

Remembrance Day of the Sacrifice of Vukovar in 1991 in Croatia

Schoolies Week

Community and Philanthropy Partnerships Week

More about Nov 18

 

Climate Change

Climate Whiplash: Wild Swings in Extreme Weather Are on the Rise

As the world warms, scientists say that abrupt shifts in weather patterns — droughts followed by severe floods, or sudden and unseasonable fluctuations in temperature — are intensifying, adding yet another climate-related threat that is already affecting humans and natural world.

 

Venice floods spark calls for climate action: ‘The government must listen’

Severe flooding in Venice this week could be a sign of more devastation to come as rising sea levels threaten the future of the Italian canal city.

 

Methane emissions from coalmines could stoke climate crisis – study

Millions of tonnes belched into atmosphere as bad as shipping and aviation emissions combined, researchers find

 

Scientists and climate advisers condemn Tory environmental record

Party under pressure on climate crisis as Corbyn says Johnson can not be trusted

 

‘4°C of global warming is optimal’ – even Nobel Prize winners are getting things catastrophically wrong

Steve Keen

William Nordhaus’ predictions of what the climate crisis will cost the earth are dangerously at odds with climate science.

 

National

Bandt doubles down on bushfire attack [$]

Greens MP Adam Bandt launched the defence of Senator Steele-John who last week attacked the coaliton for supporting laws which could help the coal industry to continue, on a day of catastrophic fire danger in NSW last week.

 

Craig Kelly attacks NAB for decision to stop lending to coal mining due to climate concerns

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has taken issue with the National Australia Bank over its plans to wind back lending to thermal coal customers to effectively zero by 2035.

 

‘It’s not what we bought into’: How high density living is changing the face of Australia’s suburbs

They’re fiercely opposed by some local house-dwelling residents who say they’re a blight on the landscape, but high-density housing projects are increasingly in demand in suburban Australia.

 

The growing mountain of plastic rubbish forces Coca-Cola to consider its own recycling plant

Bans on the export of rubbish and landfill already choking on waste that could be recycled prompt Australia’s biggest user of plastic bottles to take the matter into its own hands.

 

Australia braces for electric scooter boom as confusion reigns over state laws

Some retailers are giving inaccurate advice to shoppers in states where it is illegal to ride e-scooters on public roads or footpaths

 

Wrong turn: why Australia’s vehicle emissions are rising

Transport emissions should be falling with better technology, but policy inertia has left Australian motorists – and the environment – worse off

 

‘What could I have done?’ The scientist who predicted the bushfire emergency four decades ago

Dr Tom Beer’s pioneering 1980s research into bushfires and climate change has, to his dismay, proved all too accurate

 

Actually, it is climate change

As the prime minister refuses to discuss the science linking climate change and the bushfires burning in eastern Australia, former Howard adviser Geoff Cousins compares the political strategy to the tactics of the American gun lobby.

 

‘Young people are terrified’: Adam Bandt defends Greens’ rhetoric on climate and fires

MP says the government has failed to adequately respond to climate change.

 

Australia may seek forgiveness, rather than permission, for Kyoto carryover

Australia to take increasingly isolationist approach to climate action, as Morrison defies advice that climate diplomacy is good for the economy and the planet.

 

Bushfires should make us think about energy resilience, and micro-grids

One solution to the risk of bushfires is to rely more on each other for our energy supply.

 

Why should renewables be billed for grid costs, when coal gets free ride on emissions?

Vestas senior vice president “outraged” by claims that renewables developers should foot the bill for grid upgrade costs as more wind and solar comes online.

 

Richard Di Natale calls on Greens to develop new plan for climate and jobs

Greens leader Richard Di Natale wants his party to develop a Green New Deal for Australia in time for the next federal election to tackle what he describes as the “overlapping crises of climate destruction and economic inequality”.

 

Life in Melbourne’s most liveable suburb is a walk in the park

‘Sometimes you can’t believe you’re there – it’s very European. Once you’ve lived there, you kind of don’t want to go anywhere else.’

 

Australia’s broken recycling system

Rather than processing its own recycling, Australia has sent millions of tonnes to Asia each year. Now, many countries have said ‘no more’. Scott Morrison has pledged to stop sending our recycling overseas but will his plan work?

 

‘Doing this out of love’: Israel Folau says bushfires are God’s judgment after same-sex marriage, abortion law

Sacked Australian rugby union star Israel Folau says the horrific bushfires that have devastated the country and caused six deaths are God’s way of punishing Australia for legalising abortion and same-sex marriage.

 

Arson, mischief and recklessness: 87 per cent of fires are man-made

An ecological criminologist describes the horrifying statistics behind the bushfires devastating vast swaths of the country.

 

World’s biggest wind farm operator makes first tilt at Australia

Iberdrola, the largest wind energy producer in the world, will make its debut in the Australian market with a $500 million hybrid solar and wind farm planned for South Australia.

 

Energy Minister to cut deals with ‘collaborative’ states [$]

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor wants to deal with individual states to fulfil the government’s promise to reduce power prices.

 

Renewable energy boom sparks wage growth [$]

A $25 billion dollar investment boom in renewable energy projects has pushed up wages for renewable jobs, according to a survey analysing thousands of salaries.

 

Renewables giant eases fears of investment drought [$]

Global renewable energy giant Iberdrola is set to defy fears of an investment drought in wind and solar farms, announcing plans for 650MW of new generation in Queensland and South Australia.

 

Farm leaders take on water barons [$]

Top farm groups have privately begged state and federal governments to take immediate action to curb alleged speculation by “water barons” on the water market, to defend “suicidal irrigators”.

 

How the Coalition became a lightning rod for climate rage [$]

Phillip Coorey

Because the Coalition spent a decade denying and failing to act on global warming, it has become the whipping boy as the drought continues and bushfires rage.

 

Climate crazies are torching the fire debate [$]

AFR View

We need practical measures to mitigate bushfire risk, not a repeat of the culture wars.

 

Firestorm’s other side is a political catastrophe

Laura Tingle

If our political conversation really is at a point where cultural weapons can’t be downed in the face of a crisis, we really are in a lot of trouble.

 

Burning new tracks on Australia’s political map [$]

Andrew Clark

A new, incessant political drumbeat surrounds the fires still raging in eastern Australia, and that is climate change.

 

Climate policy caught in the crossfire of warring sides [$]

Peter van Onselen

The climate change debate has been an unedifying spectacle for years now, with too many polemicists espousing too much passion on the issue, such that the experts get lost in the milieu that follows.

 

Politics of climate change fan the flames of deepening division [$]

Paul Kelly

Behind this week’s bushfires lurks a deepening economic-environmental crisis for regional Australia and a dilemma for the Morrison government — how to balance its regional constituency with urban cosmopolitan voters.

 

Forests burn and reason goes up in smoke: a family memoir [$]

Tony Wright

Fire burns through the stories of my family.

 

A burning issue [$]

Paul Bongiorno

It has been a long time coming and it has taken the biggest fire front in Australia’s history to do it, but climate change denial has finally lost its political potency.

 

Climate change did not cause this week’s firestorm [$]

Australian editorial

After a brief respite, temperatures soared and winds intensified across firefronts in NSW and Queensland on Friday, making it too early to draw conclusive lessons from the infernos.

 

How Australia’s energy market was quietly tipped back in favour of coal generators

Giles Parkinson

Changes to FCAS requirements have tilted the markets back in favour of coal generators over renewables, and are now getting more revenue for services they had failed to deliver.

 

Is there such a thing as right wing renewables?

Giles Parkinson

Are there some renewable technologies that are acceptable to the Coalition, and to the Murdoch media that calls their tune, while others aren’t?

 

Climate change: why Sweden’s central bank dumped Australian bonds

John Hawkins

Central banks are increasingly taking into account climate change in deciding how to invest.

 

The Murray-Darling Plan involves a huge waste of water and money

Brendan O’Reilly

Back in the 1930’s, the construction of these barrages was opposed by many South Australian graziers and fishers.

 

The heat’s on meat [$]

John Lethlean

The discussion around meat substitutes has become complex, even aggressive, and that’s even before we debate whether something made of vegetable protein should be called “meat”. But when supermarkets offer a variety of brands masquerading as meat and Hungry Jack’s has plant burgers, you just know the discussion is happening.

 

Political scare tactics can’t divide the Aussie spirit [$]

Peta Credlin

While the Greens Party dedicates its time laying blame for the most recent bushfires, the rest of the country is busy actually helping those at their greatest time of need.

 

Greens’ bushfire blame game has exposed the worst in us [$]

David Penberthy

With most of the eastern seaboard ablaze this week, the message from some hasn’t been to come together, but to drive each other further apart.. What an utter disgrace.

 

Greens’ fire policy putting lives at risk [$]

Peter Gleeson

Never has the Greens’ warped and irresponsible ideology been demonstrated so publicly than by their dangerous policies and public statements on the bushfires.

 

This is climate changed. Pray for rain. Pray harder for leadership

Badja Sparks

We had a bushfire two months ago that burned most of our property. It didn’t matter. It burned again

 

If you can’t talk about climate when the country is burning, when can you?

Greg Jericho

Performance is at the heart of politics. That’s why Labor needs to seize this moment of crisis to push for climate action

 

Australia’s bushfire politics: the parties prevaricate while the country burns

Amy Remeikis

Summer was yet to begin and the bush was on fire. But the last thing on the government’s mind was climate change

 

This is what it looks like when your government sells out the climate for votes

The real reason the Coalition doesn’t want to talk about the climate is that its record is one of unmitigated shame and failure

 

A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire

Trent Penman et al

Despite the hype around hazard reduction burning this week, evidence shows the measure does not necessarily reduce the bushfire risk.

 

Climate science is more valuable than the opinions of silly old men

Kyle Mervin 

Politicians with real-world experience feel justified in denying the climate catastrophe in the face of scientific fact.

 

Barnaby and the idiot foghorns: not everyone got the memo about ‘quiet Australians’

Jacqueline Maley

The loudest voices are the ones hailing the “quiet Australians”, but the ordinary folk and the powerless are finding ways to be heard.

 

The dread and worry keeping young Australians up at night

Caitlin Fitzsimmons

My eight-year-old son has come up with a solution to global warming. “Mum, we need to build a giant space fan to cool down the Earth,” he said.

 

Apocalypse Now: Bushfire threat prediction was right and it is not going away

Peter FitzSimons

We hoped climate change warnings were “all froth and fury, signifying nothing”. They weren’t.

 

Our leaders fiddle while the country burns

Peter Hartcher

The invading army of a traditional enemy appears on the horizon, bigger and better armed than ever, and starts to attack. Your forces defend valiantly but the enemy is winning. Your people are dying. You are a politician. Do you: 1. Scream abuse at another politician in your own country? 2. Tell everyone to tend the wounded but not mention the war? 3. Search for a way to bring your country together to defeat a common enemy?

 

Australia is burning: here are some possible explanations

David Robertson 

Walking out of Brisbane airport last Monday it seemed to be unusually misty. Then the smell hit me. This wasn’t mist, it was smoke – smoke from several bushfires miles away from the city centre.

 

Politicians must accept climate change and the economy are linked

Ian Verrender

As the country braces for a long, hot summer, it’s time for politicians to realise that getting serious about the environment would be good for business

 

The future of the truth economy in a web of internet lies

Jennifer Duke

A six-year-old SBS article about bushfires that spread online last week shows the importance of truth for policymakers and the economy.

 

Fringe-dwelling Greens revel in a nation’s agony [$]

Jennifer Oriel

At no time since the May election has the reason for the Coalition’s victory been clearer.

 

Yes, humans are to blame for the bushfires [$]

Tim Blair

Climate change, coal mining and the government’s emissions policies have all been accused of igniting statewide bushfires, but let’s look at a more direct cause.

 

GOD save us: greenspace-oriented development could make higher density attractive

Julian Bolleter and Cristina E. Ramalho

Residents of the ‘leafy suburbs’ will continue to fear what they might lose to increasing urban density without an explicit planning approach that enhances green space in affected neighbourhoods.

 

Victoria

How water barons are killing country towns [$]

Shops are boarded up, 12,000 dairy cows have been culled and marriages are disintegrating from stress. And furious farmers in a decimated Victorian dairy district say water barons are to blame for their dying town.

 

The CBD wind turbines that have been idle for 12 years [$]

The four turbines on the roof of Melbourne City Council’s widely celebrated “green” building have been inactive for more than a decade. This is why there were abandoned.

 

Extra officers deployed to stop logging protesters [$]

The government has provided extra authorised officers to key timber harvesting areas around Victoria, as protesters invade the sites to fight for the more immediate shut down of the logging industry.

 

Broken on the water wheel [$]

Poor government water policy and management is killing the once thriving dairy district of Numurkah – as farmers are forced to cull their herds – but its residents won’t say die and are fighting to save their region.

 

‘There’s a passion’: Encountering Extinction Rebellion

Julie Perrin

“There were 30 of us from Gippsland,” says Crunden, adding with satisfaction, “nine from Gippsland were arrested, including a previous mayor from Bass shire.”

 

New South Wales

Tonnes of waste spilling into our harbour [$]

Condoms, syringes and cigarette butts are just some of the tonnes of waste landing in Sydney Harbour and our beaches because of the city’s neglected stormwater system — with tidal surges pushing overflowing rubbish directly into our waterways.

 

Nearly 500 NSW homes lost to bushfires as crews scramble to build containment lines

The NSW Rural Fire Service says 476 homes have been lost since the start of the bushfire season, and more than 1.65 million hectares have been burnt — more than the past three seasons combined.

 

NSW fire devastation ‘worse than expected’, minister says as conditions set to worsen

Searing temperatures, low moisture and strong winds will likely prompt severe fire danger across NSW this week

 

Factcheck: how park ranger numbers stack up amid debate over bushfire readiness

Some of the loudest accusations of mismanagement have come from within parties in government

 

Problem fire weather likely ‘for weeks to come’ with heatwave, little rainfall ahead

Fire crews battling bushfires across NSW are doing what they can to strengthen containment lines ahead of worsening conditions forecast for at least the coming week.

 

‘Significant Aboriginal heritage’: Calls to block ship terminal on Sydney’s Garden Island

Residents of Sydney’s Yarra Bay, MPs and the local Aboriginal Land Council have slammed plans for a new cruise ship terminal.

 

NSW bushfire damage ‘beyond what anybody expected’

The bushfires in New South Wales have proved to be “beyond” what was expected, the state government says.

 

Dozens of top roles spilled in shake-up of NSW transport bureaucracy

The impact of the reshuffle is rippling through all arms of the agency, including Sydney Trains, whose CEO Howard Collins will move to a new role.

 

Tonnes of waste spilling into our harbour [$]

Condoms, syringes and cigarette butts are just some of the tonnes of waste landing in Sydney Harbour and our beaches because of the city’s neglected stormwater system — with tidal surges pushing overflowing rubbish directly into our waterways.

 

Fire app as brilliant as Greens scare campaign is revolting [$]

Piers Akerman

The NSW Rural Fire Services app Fires Near Me has been a major factor in ensuring that the Greens’ campaign to spread chaos through their climate change propaganda has been a flop.

 

Running the numbers on the NSW fire service budget cuts [$]

Amber Schultz

The head of the NSW Rural Fire Service has taken issue with some inconvenient truths aired by Crikey. Let’s step through the data.

 

The trauma caused by bushfires lives on long after the flames have gone

Gabrielle Boyle

A girl found on the side of the road during the NSW bushfires wasn’t running away from the blazes, she was running from the heartbreak and anxiety.

 

‘That’s the bloody disgrace’: Australia is burning but NSW is cuddling up to coal

Elizabeth Farrelly

The people out in the bush know they’ve been betrayed, repeatedly, by the coal in Coalition.

 

‘Cows can’t stop bushfires’: Minister at odds with Nats

The Environment Minister says he will not allow any new grazing in national parks, as the Agriculture Minister calls for farmers to have more access to fire-prone public land.

 

Problem fire weather likely ‘for weeks to come’ with heatwave, little rainfall ahead

Fire crews battling more than 50 bushfires across NSW are racing to strengthen containment lines, with searing heat and gusty winds expected to prompt severe fire danger across the state this week.

 

ACT

Sir David Attenborough to tell the tale of Canberra’s dingoes [$]

A dingo now known as BBC is one of several wild dogs from deep inside Namadgi National Park that are set to star in a new Sir David Attenborough documentary.

 

Dickson residents fear mystery road threatens green corridor [$]

Inner north residents fear that dozens of trees will be axed to make way for a new road through Dickson’s urban renewal precinct.

 

I was there for the 2003 fires. Let’s not let the same thing happen again

Ebony Bennett

I was a cub reporter working in the press gallery for the Sydney Morning Herald when bushfires engulfed Canberra in 2003, claiming four lives and almost 500 homes. It’s seared in my memory, as I’m sure it is for a lot of Canberrans. I’ve been thinking about it a lot this week, as the Deputy Prime Minister wrote off anyone with the temerity to discuss bushfires and climate change in the same breath as “raving inner-city lunatics”.

 

Government isolating itself on climate

Canberra Times editorial

In what is increasingly looking like a reflex reaction, another government member has rushed to attack a prominent business warning of the risks of staking too much of the country’s economic future on fossil fuels.

 

Queensland

Serial arsonists going back for more [$]

As the state’s firefighters are pushed to breaking point, police believe arsonists are reigniting bushfires just hours after they are being extinguished.

 

It’s hard to breathe’: Bushfires cause choking air pollution in south-east Queensland

The air quality in parts of the south-east Queensland becomes worse than in Mumbai as bushfires rage across the state.

 

Sex on the Reef: Scientists trial a bold plan to help coral spawn

Scientists will spread millions of baby corals around the Great Barrier Reef in coming days to help fertilise parts of the Reef that have been damaged by bleaching.

 

Queensland Farmers’ Federation boss’s denial of science sparks call to suspend reef grants

Newly elected QFF head promoted tour by controversial scientist Peter Ridd and said reef regulation was based on ‘dodgy modelling’

 

As over 80 fires ravage Queensland, ‘cricket ball’ hail lashes state’s south east

At the same time more than 80 bushfires were razing Queensland on Sunday, a storm containing hailstones the size of cricket balls was also hitting the state’s south east.

 

A solution for defective dam: store less water [$]

A permanent reduction in water storage capacity is among repair plans for Queensland’s defective Paradise Dam despite it driving a massive agricultural investment boom in the surrounding region.

 

Two people, 2100km away, deciding on our future [$]

There are just two people employed by a taxpayer-funded agency designed to develop new dams and water infrastructure for Queensland. And they’re both based 2100km away.

 

South Australia

Counting koalas — not as easy as one, two, three [$]

What koalafications do you need to count SA’s favourite marsupial? And how does we count them? They’re questions that aren’t being answered — and the state’s freedom of information watchdog is not happy.

 

South Australia household batteries keeps lights on in Queensland after coal unit fails

Tesla batteries in hundreds of low income households in South Australia came to the rescue when the country’s biggest coal unit in Queensland tripped in October.

 

Tesla big battery in South Australia is about to get bigger

The Tesla big battery in South Australia – officially known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve – is about to get significantly bigger, according to sources and videos floating about on social media.

 

Green controls will protect Bight

Opposition resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon says there is “no case” for the Great Australian Bight being listed as a World Heritage Site, declaring his “hope” that oil exploration plans in the basin meet environmental approvals.

 

Road upgrades put in express lane [$]

Major road projects from the city to the regions will get a $400 million injection to accelerate the building schedule, says the Prime Minister on his way to Adelaide today.


Tasmania

The Gene Technology Amendment bill will affect Tasmanian brand, say Greens

The Greens continue to express fears that planned changes to gene technology regulations across the country will impact Tasmania’s GMO-free brand.

 

Tasmanians have made 158 applications to state’s Asbestos Compensation Commissioner

The state’s Asbestos Compensation Commissioner has received 158 applications in the eight years since a compensation scheme was established for those exposed to the harmful affects of the fibrous building material

 

Marinus Link ‘uncertainty’ creating renewable development delays

One of the nation’s leading renewable energy companies says uncertainty around when Tasmania’s second undersea power cable will be delivered is causing delays to its proposed wind and solar developments in the state.

 

New salmon hatchery hailed as a win [$]

The recent approval of a new Tasmanian salmon hatchery by the EPA has been praised by the State Government.

 

Northern Territory

Energy Resources of Australia raising $476m for Ranger Mine environment clean-up [$]

Uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia has announced a $476m capital raising to meet its legal obligations to rehabilitate the environment around its Ranger Mine in the Northern Territory.

 

Darwin council to employ $110k ‘climate emergency officer’ [$]

Darwin council will employ a ‘climate emergency project officer’ on an equivalent annual salary of more than $110,000 a year

 

Canavan calls for shale revolution [$]

Resources Minister Matt Canavan has used a visit to the Permian Basin in Texas to call for America’s shale gas revolution to be brought to Australia, arguing there is an opportunity to deliver a manufacturing boom for Darwin and northern Australia.

 

Shooting death underlines ongoing travesties

SMH editorial

The fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker has brought forth disturbing issues that, to this nation’s shame, are at times carelessly dismissed.

 

Western Australia

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group to appeal again over land rights decision [$]

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group has confirmed it has lodged a High Court appeal over a landmark native title ruling.

 

Pastoralists just add water as they attempt to drought-proof WA’s north

As farmers around the country debate the best way to prepare for dry times, northern WA’s unique groundwater availability presents a genuine opportunity to grow fodder on-farm.

 

Bushfire threat in WA’s south controlled

A “watch and act” bushfire alert issued for parts of Cascade in Western Australia’s Shire of Esperance has been downgraded with the fire brought under control.

 

Sustainability

Adani turns on the lights [$]

The Adani electricity meter on the exterior wall of Neha Varthe’s cow-dung rendered home reads 598kwh.

 

Plane tickets to cost more with Germany’s new climate-protection law

A new law in Germany will include tax breaks for train tickets and tax increases to be levied on the price of airline tickets — in an attempt to make it more attractive for people to choose trains, which emit lower levels of carbon dioxide, over higher-emitting planes.

 

Electric or hydrogen: Who will win the clean vehicle race?

Concerns over the security of our fuel supply, shifts in international car manufacturing trends and the health impacts of exhaust fumes are piquing interest in electric and hydrogen vehicles. So which technology is in the lead?

 

Researchers explore how citizens can become agents of environmental change

Some programs work better than others when it comes to involving citizens in preserving the environment. After reviewing those that worked, researchers propose a blueprint for how others can educate people to maximize their impact.

 

Modeling every building in America starts with Chattanooga

Researchers used a supercomputer to model every building serviced by the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga — all 178,368 of them — and discovered through more than 2 million simulations that EPB could potentially save $11-$35 million per year by adjusting electricity usage during peak critical times.

 

Survey suggests Americans want to phase out gas guzzlers sooner rather than later

A survey published last month in the journal Climate Policy suggests that Americans support efforts to begin phasing out fossil-fuel-dependent cars within the next 11 years, rather than kicking the can down the road.

 

7 ways that supermarkets can help eliminate single-use plastic

Today, buying food inevitably involves creating an incredible amount of plastic waste. The supermarket of the future could change that.

 

Most Nespresso coffee pods aren’t recycled and the company agrees that’s not good enough

Coffee giant Nespresso concedes 71 per cent of its pods are not being recycled, despite a global push to make it more convenient to save aluminium and turn coffee grounds into mulch.

 

Climate Change’s Great Lithium Problem

The crisis in Bolivia has an urgent message for environmental policy in the United States.

 

Two of America’s biggest coal plants closed this month

First the dirtiest ones began shutting down. Then it was the old ones. Now it’s some of the biggest. America’s coal plants are turning off the boilers, facing brutal economics and customers fleeing for natural gas and renewable energy.

 

Why municipal waste-to-energy incineration is not the answer to NZ’s plastic waste crisis

Waste-to-energy incineration has been raised as a solution to the global plastic waste problem, but the technology adds pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and encourages more waste production.

 

Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

Henry F. (Chip) Carey

From Santiago and La Paz to Beirut and Jakarta, many of the cities now gripped by protest share a common problem: They’ve grown too much, too fast.

 

Save food (and $20 billion a year) for a better climate

Matt Wade

Wasting food generates about 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year.

 

Nature Conservation

The vanishing: Ghana’s defenders face new perils in fight against overfishing

Illegal fishing by Chinese-owned trawlers is costing the country millions – and one of the officials trying to stop it has now been missing for months

 

Can the Catholic Church Save the Amazon?

A dispatch from Pope Francis’s efforts to combat climate change—and to give a diminished Church a new indigenous face

 

Reforesting the UK: ‘Trees are the ultimate long-term project’

The UK needs 1.5bn new trees to tackle the climate crisis – a Northumberland project is showing one way forward

 

Pope Francis condemns ecological sins and Nazi-inspired rhetoric

A day after the U.S. Catholic bishops declared the fight against abortion their most urgent priority at their fall meeting in Baltimore, prioritizing it over protection of the environment, Pope Francis set the record straight in a scathing speech at the Vatican on Friday (Nov. 15) in which he condemned “ecological sins.”

 

The Amazon: on the frontline of a global battle to tackle the climate crisis

A diverse band of river communities, activists and academics are meeting in the heart of the rainforest to fight for the planet’s future

 

Pacific seals at risk as Arctic ice melt lets deadly disease spread from Atlantic

Study finds seal and sea otter populations in Alaska hit by killer infection that migrated from North Atlantic

 

Now for something completely different …

The secret to happiness? Be kind to other people

Wendy Squires

The only guarantee of happiness that every expert – regardless of belief – agrees on results from the act of being kind to others.

 

 

 

Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer

Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | +61 3 9345 1193  m |   t | @AusConservation

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