Post of the Day
I’m a Climate Scientist Who Believes in God. Hear Me Out.
Katharine Hayhoe
Global warming will strike hardest against the very people we’re told to love: the poor and vulnerable.
Today’s Celebration
Unity Day in Russia
Flag Day in Panama
National Day in Tonga
Community Service Day in Dominica
Citizenship Day in the Northern Mariana Islands
National Unity and Armed Forces Day in Italy
Climate Change
UN chief warns Asia must quit its ‘coal addiction’
Antonio Guterres has labelled the climate crisis the “defining issue of our time.”
Greta Thunberg seeks lift back across Atlantic after Chile cancels climate meeting
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg made it half-way from Sweden to Chile by boat, train and electric car before next month’s UN climate summit was unexpectedly scrapped. Now she needs a ride.
Fires are not new, but their severity is
If emissions continue, India could see 1 million heat deaths a year
Premature deaths from extreme heat next century could top those from infectious diseases today
I’m a Climate Scientist Who Believes in God. Hear Me Out.
Katharine Hayhoe
Global warming will strike hardest against the very people we’re told to love: the poor and vulnerable.
National
The Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania says more private landowners are investigating handing their land back to Aboriginal people, to protect it from development and “to do the right thing”.
How bad is this drought and is it caused by climate change?
The weather bureau has hinted at a shift back towards normal rain by summer’s end.
Insurers to crack whip on company climate plans
The ex-QBE chief has a warning for the likes of Adani as he mulls the challenges facing insurers, including Brexit, globalisation, tech and sexual harassment.
Ripping up Murray-Darling plan would ignore the lessons of history
David Papps and Chris Guest
Abandoning the water-sharing plan for the Murray-Darling Basin would undermine the good work it has already done in the face of a wicked drought problem.
Clued-up kids making parents eco-shoppers [$]
Parents are encountering a new form of pester power from environmentally conscious kids. Are your children encouraging you to adopt more sustainable and ethical shopping habits?
Energy giants plead for ‘no more intervention’ [$]
Australia’s top energy bosses have warned government policy interventions may harm critically needed investment in the power grid, while also conceding the industry’s own mistakes in failing to tackle high prices and falling public trust.
Retooling schools for an era of climate change
Neil Selwyn
Our education leaders need to prepare children for a future of global heating, climate migration, ecosystem erosion and resource depletion.
‘Tis the season to slash green tape [$]
Sussan Ley
We should protect the environment, but business must be freed from laws that strangle the economy.
ABC ignores the facts about climate change [$]
Chris Kenny
For people who like to say they follow the science, the climate groupthink conformists of the media sure don’t like facts.
Victoria
Labor at war over state gas ban [$]
Joel Fitzgibbon has slammed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s ban on fracking, declaring the policy makes “neither economic nor environmental sense” and undermines Australia’s push to reduce carbon emissions.
Upgrades to Melbourne intersections to create ‘cycling superhighway’
A city intersection will be upgraded to simplify hook turns for cyclists, with hopes it will form part of a “superhighway for cyclists” in East Melbourne.
New South Wales
Digital driver’s licence to ‘make life easier’ but no plans to phase out plastic
More than half a million people across New South Wales have signed up for a digital driver’s licence — but how do they work and will your personal information be protected?
Thunderstorms hit parts of NSW as bushfires rage
Rain not expected to extinguish all 70 fires raging across the state, and firefighters fear lightning could spark further blazes
Bushfires spark koala crisis on mid north coast [$]
Thirsty koalas badly in need of a helping hand have been rescued from a fire ground after a blaze tragically killed hundreds of the furry friends on the Mid North Coast.
Earthquake fails to shake NSW coal seam gas operations
The British government’s move to halt fracking after a drilling rig caused a 2.9 magnitude earthquake in August has been dismissed by the Australian oil and gas lobby as having little impact on coal seam gas operations in NSW.
Queensland
Giant water battery helps university cut energy costs by 40 per cent
The University of the Sunshine Coast has won an award for the project.
South Australia
Bignell fights to keep GM crop ban [$]
SA’s former agriculture minister is urging that the state maintain its restriction on genetically modified
How we feel about our cars means the road to a driverless future may not be smooth
Raul A. Barreto
Scenarios based on a survey of Adelaide commuters and analyses of traffic flows show it’s possible the congestion could get worse in the transition to driverless vehicles.
Tasmania
Environmental protests “unnecessary” and “disruptive” to Tasmanian businesses, Archer says
Tasmanian businesses should be protected from “unecessary” and “disruptive” boycotts by environmental protesters, Tasmanian Attorney-General Elise Archer says.
Northern Territory
After the world was told that the Uluru climb would close, waves of tourists flocked to the rock as media commentators insisted the broader public was being robbed of their rights
Sustainability
India’s New Delhi hits ‘unbearable’ pollution levels, equivalent to smoking 33 cigarettes a day
Air pollution in New Delhi and surrounding towns has reached the worst levels so far this year, with authorities in the capital having declared a public health emergency and ordered the closure of schools.
The North Sea oil industry’s £6.8 billion plan to breach climate targets
Ten oil companies plan to invest £6.8 billion in six projects in the North Sea in breach of international targets to cut climate pollution.
‘Hands free’ coal mining to revolutionise industry
CSIRO engineers develop a world-first “flameproof” 3D laser scanning device that can “see things our eyes cannot” by transmitting a full panoramic view of an underground coal mine in real time and removing the need for miners to be underground.
Nature Conservation
‘Forest guardian’: Illegal loggers kill indigenous Amazon warrior ‘Lobo’
Illegal loggers have killed an Amazon warrior who guarded the forest and wounded another as indigenous tribes battle to save their habitat from invaders.
Now for something completely different …
How old is old? Quite a bit older than we think
Matt Wade: At what age can a person be considered old? In Australia the answer is 66.