Date: 25 February 2020 at 8:24:24 am AEDT
Subject: Daily Links Feb 25
Post of the Day
Climate change leads to more violence against women, girls
A new study shows the effects of climate change are leading to an increase in rape, domestic violence and forced marriages.
On This Day
Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) – Christianity
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Air New Zealand and NASA to build a flying climate monitor
The airline will turn one of its aircraft into a flying environmental monitor, with the data to be used to predict severe weather events and inform climate change research.
The anti-Greta: US conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon
For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one US think tank hopes it’s found an answer in 19-year-old Naomi Seibt: the anti-Greta.
Climate change leads to more violence against women, girls
A new study shows the effects of climate change are leading to an increase in rape, domestic violence and forced marriages.
National
LNG exports hampering efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions
The electricity, agriculture and transport sectors all recorded reductions in carbon emissions in the year to September 2019, but sectors linked to the booming LNG sector saw increases.
Aussie celebrities appeal to Prime Minister on climate policies
Australian celebrities are calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to take action on the nation’s energy policies in a campaign aimed at preventing new bushfires.
Morrison admits there are climate costs, but won’t say what 3C heating would do to economy
Ahead of the release of its technology roadmap, the Coalition tries to ramp up pressure on Labor over its net zero emissions target
Deportees and a climate crisis: what’s on the agenda as Ardern meets Morrison
Thorny issues await the two prime ministers when they meet in Australia this week
Australia’s carbon emissions fall just 0.3% as industrial pollution surges
Emissions from electricity generation and agriculture decline, but tiny overall decline shows shortcomings of Coalition policy
Scientists say Australia’s worst-ever bushfire season ‘not the new normal’
Accepting Australia’s catastrophic bushfire season as the “new normal” would be a grave mistake, warn Australian climate scientists.
Essential poll: a majority of Coalition voters support a net zero emissions target for 2050
Latest fortnightly survey shows a majority of Australian voters support net zero either strongly or somewhat
‘Unprecedented’ globally: more than 20% of Australia’s forests burnt in bushfires
Researchers’ figure contrasts starkly with proportion of forest burned over such a period on any other continent
Nearly 200 eucalypt species ‘under threat’
Nearly 200 species of Australian eucalypt – about one-quarter of all kinds – should be listed as threatened, researchers say.
EnergyAustralia’s profit collapses in ‘trying year’ for power market
Power plant outages, stiff competition and the rollout of government caps on household bills have led to a 50 per cent cut in the profit of EnergyAustralia.
Energy Australia flags coal power boost at existing sites [$]
Energy Australia has flagged an increase of coal power at its generators in NSW and Victoria as it continues to hold off committing to new lower emissions projects.
Fraud, bribery claims rock coal mining [$]
Allegations of fake analysis of coal samples have erupted in Australia’s mining and testing industries, ensnaring a leading laboratory business and a small miner whose board boasts former Leighton boss Wal King and Labor political powerbroker Jim Soorley.
Libs and Nats split over 2050 emissions strategy [$]
The Liberals are keeping the door open to adopting a 2050 emissions reduction strategy or target while the Nationals oppose either concept outright.
Anthony Albanese urged to rethink nuclear option [$]
Nuclear energy options will be canvassed in the Morrison government’s technology investment plan, amplifying pressure from senior ALP figures and unions for Anthony Albanese to reconsider his opposition to nuclear in support of Labor’s zero net emissions target.
Unions back Labor claim that coalmining jobs will be safe [$]
The militant CFMEU has backed Joel Fitzgibbon’s claim that coalmining jobs will not be affected by Labor’s zero net emissions target, setting up a stoush between unions and the Morrison government.
A net zero emissions future provides a great opportunity for farmers
Niall Blair
With a change of farming practices, our agriculture sector can thrive while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Angus Taylor plays funny business with zero emissions target
Paul Bongiorno
Australia’s Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister [yes, that is his real title] Angus Taylor is counting on the fact he won’t be in Parliament in 2050. But in the meantime any argument against doing something meaningful about climate change will do.
The toxic political culture that makes good policy impossible in Australia
Oliver Yates
Nothing will end the climate and energy policy crisis in Australia unless you change the toxic culture of its main political parties.
Australia’s emissions flat, but climate politics hit new low over zero carbon target
Michael Mazengarb
New government data show Australia’s emissions flat, as Angus Taylor argues emissions are falling if you ignore the sectors where they went up.
Labor’s climate policy is too little, too late. We must run faster to win the race
Will Steffen
Simple maths reveals Labor’s policy, if replicated by all other nations, would not avert dangerous global warming.
‘It is quite startling’: 4 photos from space that show Australia before and after the recent rain
Sunanda Creagh
It’s important to remember that most of this greening is due to growth of grasses, which respond more rapidly after rain.
Speaking the truth about power: the Coalition is hurting reliability, affordability and competition [$]
Bernard Keane
While Australia faces an investment drought, the government is deterring billions in renewable energy investment because of its climate denialism. The result is more expensive and less reliable power.
Net zero emissions by 2050: is it a controversial ambition and will the Coalition adopt it?
Katharine Murphy
Given the madness in the political debate over a 2050 target, let’s establish some basic facts
Zero common sense in ‘net-zero’ parliamentary debate
David Crowe
A pledge signed by a Coalition government is conveniently forgotten when Scott Morrison is trying to paint Anthony Albanese as an economic wrecker.
Coalition must follow Albanese on target of net zero by 2050
SMH editorial
The ALP has committed to a sensible, responsible target for carbon emissions. But the Coalition is spurning bipartisanship in favour of political opportunism.
Climate policymakers must protect renters
Jacob Moir
I’m a nurse. I go to work every day with the goal of keeping my patients healthy and safe. But when I get home from work, and hang up my scrubs, it is here I often face the greatest danger to my own health.
Bill Shorten 2.0 will end the same as the first [$]
Renee Viellaris
Climate woes In making a bold pitch on climate change, Anthony Albanese is making the same miscalculation as his predecessor.
Albo’s a man without a plan [$]
Alan Jones
Anthony Albanese’s declaration of a carbon-free Australia by 2050 is a declaration of war on the economy, and a promise which he will regret come the next election.
Net zero in 2050 can be done [$]
Craig Emerson
The technology changes are already at hand. Only a government really dragging its feet can really stop them from happening.
Temperatures rising but parties take an emissions policy siesta [$]
Troy Bramston
It is beyond mad that some politicians still doubt whether climate change is real and that it demands a local, national and global policy response.
Scott Morrison has plenty of climate change ammunition in leftover Bill Shorten shells
Dennis Shanahan
Anthony Albanese has gifted Scott Morrison a climate change scare campaign that has been run so successfully before that the Coalition doesn’t even have to learn a new script.
Victoria
Victorians will soon have four bins for their recycling and waste
Victoria becomes final state in Australia to announce a container deposit scheme to reduce litter and waste.
Yallourn owner says technology exists for low-cost, low-carbon grid
EnergyAustralia, the Hong Kong owned company that operates the ageing Yallourn brown coal generator in the Latrobe Valley, agrees with software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes: we already have the technologies we need for a reliable, low-cost, low carbon grid.
Firm behind airport rail plan in last-ditch bid to convince Labor MPs
The giant investment firm behind a private multibillion-dollar airport rail plan has written to Labor MPs in Melbourne’s west, in a desperate last bid to convince them their plan has merit.
Exploration under the gas pump in Victoria [$]
As gas emerges as the politically palatable alternative to coal, pressure is building from within the Andrews government to end the five-year moratorium on onshore conventional gas exploration in Victoria. The shift by Labor figures follows mounting pressure from unions, industry and consumers.
New South Wales
Centennial Coal emits three years’ worth of pollution from mine in two years, with no penalty
The Morrison Government’s flawed climate change policy allowed Centennial Coal to dramatically increase pollution from its Myuna Colliery for the second year in a row without any penalty, analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has revealed.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in bushfire hazard burning U-turn [$]
After months spent defending its annual hazard reduction target of 135,000ha during the devastating summer bushfire season, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has asked for more money to increase its burning operations on the state’s crown lands and national parks.
Queensland
Greens seek laws to block Adani, Clive Palmer’s Galilee coal mines
Senate debates Greens legislation that would ban new coal mines in Galilee basin, as Albanese says Australia could still be exporting coal in 2050.
Southwest Qld pinned and at mercy of epic inland sea [$]
Residents in vast parts of southwest Queensland are preparing to evacuate after a relentless three-day deluge caused rivers to flood, sending an inland sea of water rushing across the region.
Qld Labor MP’s warning to Albo on climate [$]
As climate wars erupted in Parliament, a Queensland Labor MP has issued a star warning to the federal Opposition Leader.
Queensland Government damns the Paradise Dam
David Donovan
The Queensland State Government may demolish or significantly reduce the capacity of Paradise Dam (Image via Bundaberg Now)
A scandal of megalithic proportions has blown up in Queensland, with critics asking why the State Government is so desperate to knock down or massively reduce a huge dam it built itself, less than 15 years ago.
South Australia
How a Victorian flouted South Australia’s recycling system to make more than $80,000 in two years
A 63-year-old ex-shearer saves $80,000 over two years to fund his retirement by taking part in South Australia’s recycling scheme. But the way he’s gone about it is actually illegal.
Almost 400 parks would be wiped out for city bike track
Parking would disappear from Pirie and Waymouth streets under a $5.5 million plan to build a separated east-west bikeway.
Tasmania
Legal action over Bob Brown activist bans
A ban placed on anti-logging protesters from the Bob Brown Foundation by Tasmania’s workplace safety regulator is being challenged in court.
Dr Bob Brown unhappy with police investigation over car ramming
Greens activist Dr Bob Brown says he will write to the Police Commissioner over the investigation into the ramming of a protester’s car.
Moratorium calls on duck hunting [$]
An advocacy group for native Tasmanian birds has called on the State Government to cancel the upcoming duck hunting season.
Northern Territory
NT senator rubbishes zero emissions target
Territory Senator Sam McMahon has attacked Labor’s zero emissions target, saying Australians don’t want to ‘live in mud huts with no electricity’
Sustainability
Morgan Stanley says 47GW of US coal capacity could be uneconomic by 2024
New Morgan Stanley report claims nearly 50GW of US coal-fired power capacity will be unable to compete against renewables by 2024.
From x-rated to eco-friendly: Adult store joins zero waste movement
The company delivers over 1,500 packages a day globally
Zero agreement on value of carbon offsets [$]
When it comes to the murky world of carbon offsets, not even God’s highest servants managed to navigate through all the complexities.
Cost of air pollution in Malaysia may exceed RM28 billion, say experts
Analysts say a Greenpeace estimate of 1.9% GDP losses only accounts to air pollution from fossil fuels.
A cobalt crisis could put the brakes on electric car sales
First it was lithium, now it’s cobalt. Factories are churning out as many batteries as possible, and it’s creating a bottleneck.
Scientists develop a composite membrane for long-life zinc-based flow batteries
Researchers led by Profs. LI Xianfeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently developed a composite membrane for long-life zinc-based flow batteries.
Illegal garbage dumps reflect EU′s east-west divide
Ivaylo Ditchev
Over the years, rubbish from the bloc’s richer nations has been imported to Romania and Bulgaria, where it has just piled up or been carelessly incinerated.
Matthew Hole
Despite recent reports, nuclear fusion-powered energy isn’t mere years from solving our clean energy needs. But physicists are making encouraging strides nonetheless.
Nature Conservation
Pablo Escobar’s hippos the new scourge of Colombia’s waterways
Drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was once public enemy number one in Columbia. Now, years after his death, animals from his zoo are wreaking havoc in the nation.
Bald eagles made a comeback, but golden eagles face an uncertainty
Golden eagles’ future is murky because of a virtual buffet of problems from wind turbine blades to power lines to lead bullet fragments.
Threatened birds and mammals have irreplaceable roles in the natural world
A new study has shown that threatened birds and mammals are often ecologically distinct and irreplaceable in their environment.
We have a chance to halt biodiversity loss. The stakes have never been higher
Basile van Havre and Francis Ogwal
Negotiations over a 10-year agenda for nature are about to begin. Our ecological future depends on the engagement of every global citizen