Date: 11 March 2020 at 8:26:43 am AEDT
Subject: Daily Links Mar 11
Post of the Day
Every day 10,000 people die due to air pollution from fossil fuels
A study published last week in the journal Cardiovascular Research estimated that in 2015, the deaths of more than 3.6 million people worldwide could have been avoided if air pollution from fossil fuels were reduced to zero.
On This Day
Shushan Purim – Judaism
Climate Change
UN chief calls for action to counter global warming
The United Nations is demanding action on global warming after a climate report confirmed last year was the second hottest year on record.
From climate change awareness to action
Awareness of climate change and its impacts is not enough to move people to action. New research on how people’s worldviews affect their perceptions and actions could help policymakers and activists reframe the discussion around climate change mitigation.
Could coronavirus beat green deal in slowing climate change?
The Coronavirus has become both the biggest threat to businesses and potentially the most consequential factor in reducing emissions in the short-term.
How the climate fight could mimic the coronavirus fight
What would a fast, coordinated, collective response to climate change look like?
Three charts that explain what coronavirus is doing to climate emissions
There has been a dip in emissions in China.
It’s official: the last five years were the warmest ever recorded
Blair Trewin and Pep Canadell
Concentrations of carbon dioxide are now 147% above pre-industrial levels, according to a definitive report by the World Meteorological Organisation released today.
National
Australia has six ‘new’ species of native gecko
Six native gecko species have been discovered during the course of a two-decade long research program by the Queensland Museum and Griffith University.
Indigenous rangers program receives $700 million guarantee
The federal government is committing hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure the future of an Indigenous park ranger program.
Federal government refuses FOI request for coal plant feasibility findings
Morrison government refuses to publicly release “phase one findings” of feasibility studies into new Queensland power stations, including a coal plant.
Australian businesses can – and must – act on climate, says Cannon-Brookes
New research commissioned by Atlassian finds 70% of Australian workers believe big business has the power – and responsibility – to limit the impact of climate change.
What was actually in the air you were breathing during the bushfire haze?
The smoke haze that choked a number of cities over summer contained toxic gases, according to one expert. It was so bad in Canberra one couple moved permanently to Melbourne.
Crisis summer fuelled by climate change: New report
The Climate Council has produced the first comprehensive overview of the devastating climate impacts Australians experienced this summer.
Scientists warn of ‘critical gaps’ in Australia’s climate science capability
Australia needs the expertise to predict changes which have a major impact across the country, a review finds
Smelters ‘stick out’ in Rio Tinto’s $1.5b push to cut carbon emissions
Rio Tinto will need to source cleaner energy for its highly carbon-intensive Australian aluminium smelters in order to achieve its tougher new emissions-reduction targets, unless it opts to divest plants instead.
Oil, gas projects at risk due to tumbling prices [$]
A sustained collapse in oil prices could slow BHP’s Trion oil project in the Gulf of Mexico, delay the joint Woodside-BHP Scarborough LNG development in Western Australia and raise problems for Oil Search’s Alaskan selldown, analysts say.
Coronavirus and climate emergency: An opportunity for the Coalition
David Shearman
The challenges of the coronavirus (Image via Pixabay) and climate emergency (Image via Wikimedia Commons) may force much-needed change
The coronavirus and climate emergency challenges may finally break the Coalition’s heroin-like-addiction to growth at all costs, and create much-needed economic reform
It’s time for ‘ethical’ super funds to be more truthfully labelled
John Collett
Marketing departments of super funds give their investment options names that they hope with resonate with consumers but they can be misleading, particularly when it comes ethical investment options
Hard drug problems exposed [$]
Australian editorial
The health and justice systems, governments and families have good reason to step up the important fight against illicit drugs. New figures from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reveal Australians’ soaring use of methylamphetamine (including ice or crystal meth), cocaine, MDMA and heroin.
A solution to cut extreme heat by up to 6 degrees is in our own backyards
Alessandro Ossola et al
At the peak of a summer heatwave in Adelaide, an aerial survey of land surface temperatures reveals just how much cooler neighbourhoods with good tree and vegetation cover can be.
Victoria
Residents fight proposal to store soil from West Gate Tunnel near school
More than 1,000 people rally against a proposal for soil from the West Gate Tunnel Project to be dumped near Bacchus Marsh.
Councils in south east seek a smarter solution for household rubbish
Monash Council and 15 other councils from the south east of Melbourne have commenced the first collective tender for advanced waste processing solutions that will process household rubbish instead of sending it straight to landfill.
‘Don’t see how we can justify it’: Bushfire scientist wants immediate end to logging
A leading Australian bushfire recovery scientist has called for an immediate end to native forest logging in Victoria in the wake of the catastrophic summer bushfires.
No car parking, narrow platforms: Melbourne’s worst train stations
Commuters have voted for Melbourne’s best and worst train stations based on key criteria, including cleanliness, car parking and safety.
Charges laid over alleged toxic stockpiles at Footscray [$]
After months of investigations by the Environment Protection Authority, a man who leased the site of the West Footscray warehouse fire has been hit with charges over alleged illegal stockpiling.
Will this bold plan solve Victoria’s landfill crisis? [$]
An ambitious new plan is set to completely change the way Melbourne manages its waste, as current measures climb above capacity. And it might be good news for those hoping their rubbish doesn’t end up in the tip.
New South Wales
Major solar farm and battery approved for New South Wales coal country
A 290MW solar and battery project planned for New South Wales’ greater Hunter region has had final green light from the state government’s department of planning.
Massive 720MW New England solar farm gets final green light
Plans for massive 720MW solar farm with up to 400MWh of battery storage in NSW New England region set to go ahead with approval from Independent Planning Commission.
‘We dropped the ball’: Transport NSW addresses Tarago lead contamination
Tarago community members called out in outrage after Transport for NSW admitted they had “dropped the ball” by failing to notify residents about local lead contamination discovered five years ago.
Premier must stand up to Barilaro on nuclear power
SMH editorial
The case for developing a nuclear energy industry in NSW does not stack up and Gladys Berejiklian must not be bullied into such a fundamental change in policy.
Queensland
Tropical cyclone may develop in Coral Sea this week but should remain off Queensland coast
There is an “increasing chance” of a tropical cyclone forming in the Coral Sea off Queensland late this week, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
Rivers set to reach levels not seen in a decade
Queensland’s Channel Country has been pelted by rain in recent weeks, with river levels soon expected to reach their highest peak in a decade.
Push to turn Ipswich Transit Centre into green space
The abandoned Ipswich Transit Centre in central Ipswich should be scrapped, but people should have their say on what should go there.
Ipswich mayoral candidate Teresa Harding said the abandoned site was a shocking state of affairs.
Brisbane City Council submits infrastructure wish-list for stimulus package
Brisbane could see an uptick in infrastructure projects starting in the coming months after the federal government wrote to Brisbane City Council requesting details on any “shovel-ready” projects.
Hydrogen power test station on cards for central QLD
Central Queensland is in-line for a power plant using ‘the fuel of the future’ with a major new study about to be announced for what is being touted as a ‘job creating’ project.
South Australia
Call for new subs to be nuclear-powered [$]
A new report says submarines to be built in Adelaide are facing huge challenges and should be powered by nuclear. But it is not the first time this has been said by those spruiking the report.
Tasmania
Single-use plastic packaging ban looms [$]
New laws banning single-use plastic takeaway food packing and other items will soon come in to force in the City of Hobart after the Hobart City Council resolved to enact the by-law.
Building way out of crisis troubles [$]
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson says the State Government’s $3.7 billion infrastructure program will help maintain Tasmania’s economic momentum despite “economic headwinds”.
Northern Territory
The world’s best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it’s led by Indigenous land managers
Rohan Fisher and Jon Altman
The extent of this achievement is staggering, almost incomprehensible in a southern Australia context after the summer’s devastating bushfires.
Western Australia
Tuart woodland to be planted in Booyeembara Park
More than 400 tuart trees are to be planted in Fremantle’s Booyeembara Park as part of the Main Roads WA High Street Upgrade project.
WA Parliament shuts down as Extinction Rebellion protest enters upper house
Business in WA’s Legislative Council ground to a halt briefly on Tuesday afternoon after five protesters tried to glue themselves to the railings of the public gallery.
Sustainability
Biomass fuels can significantly mitigate global warming
‘Every crop we tested had a very significant mitigation capacity despite being grown on very different soils and under natural climate variability,’ says Dr. Ilya Gelfand, of the BGU French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.
Every 10 minutes, 6,000kg of clothes are thrown out. Would you do these things to end it?
Australians collectively throw away 6,000 kilograms of clothing every 10 minutes. But there are some things you can do to make your wardrobe more sustainable.
In a busy and polluted Italian port, living things thrive on anthropogenic debris.
A novel biofuel system for hydrogen production from biomass
A recent study, affiliated with South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has presented a new biofuel system that uses lignin found in biomass for the production of hydrogen.
Footprint is proving that sustainability can scale
How two former Intel engineers built the most innovative company fighting America’s 150-million-ton, single-use plastic addiction.
Love Nutella? World’s hazelnut supply faces climate threat
Extreme weather events are threatening Turkey’s Black Sea region, which produces 70 percent of the world’s hazelnuts used in chocolates and spreads.
Every day 10,000 people die due to air pollution from fossil fuels
A study published last week in the journal Cardiovascular Research estimated that in 2015, the deaths of more than 3.6 million people worldwide could have been avoided if air pollution from fossil fuels were reduced to zero.
Wearing clothes could release more microfibres to the environment than washing them
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the National Research Council of Italy (IPCB-CNR) and the University of Plymouth compared four different items of polyester clothing and how many fibres were released when they were being worn and washed.
A legal climate change: Heathrow expansion on hold over UK’s Paris promise
Kiera Peacock
Around the globe, more and more courts are forcing governments to consider their obligations to tackle climate change.
Nature Conservation
Declining health on the prairie: why more plant growth may be bad news
The world’s vegetation may be getting a boost from rising levels of carbon dioxide but a lot of the extra growth turns out to be junk food for grasshoppers.
The planet’s largest ecosystems could collapse faster than we thought
If put under the kind of environmental stress increasingly seen on our planet, large ecosystems —such as the Amazon rainforest or the Caribbean coral reefs—could collapse in just a few decades, according to a study released today in Nature Communications.
‘Nature’s Best Hope‘ argues for replacing lawns with nature
A new book argues that if homeowners converted just half their land to native plantings, it would collectively create an area larger than all national parks in the lower 48 states combined.
Now for something completely different
Practical steps in the face of coronavirus
Mary McMillan
Let’s take a moment to talk a little about what might be useful (or not) in keeping you healthy.
Maelor Himbury
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