Post of the Day
5 ways environmental damage drives human diseases like COVID-19
Wildlife trade, deforestation, industrial farming and other environmental factors threaten both animals and human health.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Arbor Day – Colombia
Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 6,731. Deaths: 84
These are your rights if the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted your plans to travel
Would-be holiday makers are concerned about what their rights are after being forced to cancel their trips due to coronavirus Source: Getty Images
Consumer rights have become a major topic of concern for hundreds of travellers forced to cancel holidays due to the coronavirus pandemic
How the cold impacts coronavirus and what it will mean for winter in Australia
The world is looking for signs that the arrival of warmer weather could help countries in the Northern Hemisphere contain large outbreaks of COVID-19. But what does that mean for Australia as the colder months approach?
Ending a video call in a pandemic and other etiquette questions
How late is too late to a Zoom meeting? And how do you maintain polite chit-chat with the neighbour showing flagrant disregard for the six-feet rule?
Climate Change
Why climate activists aren’t celebrating historic emissions cuts
They are zeroing in on the battle over once-in-a-generation government spending that will shape climate efforts for decades.
Climate experts call for ‘dangerous’ Michael Moore film to be taken down
Planet of the Humans, which takes aim at the green movement, is ‘full of misinformation’, says one online library
Sebastian Leuzinger
Plants take carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, but it goes straight back when they die or are harvested. There is an important difference between carbon fluxes and actual carbon sequestration.
What the pandemic isn’t teaching us about stopping a climate catastrophe [$]
Jason Murphy
Despite all the advanced warning of a pandemic, the world took little action to prepare for a coronavirus-style outbreak. Sound familiar?
National
Australia’s population: over 7.5 million born overseas
More than 7.5 million people living in Australia in 2019 were born overseas, with those born in England continuing to be the largest group, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Big cost swings point to more big battery storage, less pumped hydro
The Australian Energy Market Operator is expected to make significant revisions to its 20-year blueprint for the national grid after conceding that the capital of costs new transmission links, pumped hydro facilities and gas-fired generators are significantly higher than it assumed in its draft 2020 Integrated System Plan.
Australia could get 90% of electricity from renewables by 2040 with no price increase
Analysis suggests current federal policies will lead to a price rise after 2030 but a more ambitious target would keep bills lower
Lockdown’s a load of rubbish: Recycling fear as household waste spikes
An increase in supermarket shopping and home deliveries has caused a surge in kerbside waste volumes.
Ben Beck et al
We’ve all seen the increases in people walking and cycling on shared paths so crowded it’s almost impossible to maintain physical distancing. This must be fixed, and quickly.
Look beyond a silver bullet train for stimulus
Marion Terrill and Tom Crowley
The federal opposition’s idea for a bullet train from Melbourne to Brisbane is not a good use of a generation’s worth of infrastructure spending. It won’t even work as an economic stimulus.
Time to pump up energy security [$]
Elizabeth Buchanan And Vlado Vivoda
For the first time, futures oil prices in North America recently fell into negative territory following a 30 per cent drop in global demand for crude oil and refined petroleum products because of lockdowns.
Ian Wright
In my 30 years of research, I keep uncovering long-standing environmental issues the mining industry doesn’t seem to learn from.
Australia’s environmental future needs to be decided this year
David Shearman and Melissa Haswell
At a time when we are consumed by the threats to our health and the nation’s economy from an unpredictable pandemic, a national committee has been considering the likely devastation from another existential global catastrophe – environmental collapse – which will not be controlled by a vaccine or drug.
The government’s UNGI scheme: what it is and why Zali Steggall wants it investigated
Laura Schuijers
As we face mounting job losses, taxpayers have a right to anticipate that the government’s investments will be strategically sound.
Victoria
First Victoria-built electric bus gets thumbs up from bus expert
First electric bus built in Victoria has been given expert review by bus expert Paul Aldridge, and he is giving it the thumbs up.
Victoria preparing for heavy downpour, snow, hail and a possible new rainfall record in Melbourne
The warm weather is about to end in Victoria with the state set to be hit by a deluge of rain, hail and snow from tomorrow and temperatures set to hang around the low teens all weekend.
New South Wales
NSW is fast-tracking major projects, so why the threat to halt this civic precinct?
Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock labels Coffs Harbour’s Cultural and Civic Space plan “foolish and rash”, threatening to change laws to stop it.
First of new intercity train fleet unveiled amid union dispute
The first of Sydney’s new intercity trains have been unveiled, but the government has no set date to operate the multi-billion dollar fleet as a union dispute drags on.
Queensland
Recent spike in Great Barrier Reef zoning offences
Despite issuing a pre-Easter warning, Great Barrier Reef authorities were disappointed to encounter a high volume and array of illegal activity threatening the health of the Reef, and the communities dependent on it, over the long weekend.
Stanmore’s coal sales fall to zero in June, prices plunge
Hard coking coal prices have plummeted as much as $US45 ($A70) a tonne since March as sales for June completely dried up for Brisbane company Stanmore Coal.
Survey sounds death knell for coal power [$]
Nearly 80 per cent of Queenslanders want the government to invest in renewable sources of electricity, rather than coal-fired power stations.
South Australia
After 16 years, SA lifts ban on genetically-modified crops
South Australia will allow mainland farmers to grow genetically-modified (GM) crops from next season, but councils can apply to remain GM-free.
Tasmania
Tasmanian authorities set sights on 120 burns ahead of summer [$]
Six of the nine recommendations from a review of the 2018-19 bushfire season – the worst in Tasmania since 1967 – have been formally implemented as authorities continue to carry out an autumn fuel management program.
Northern Territory
‘Coffee, then NAFI’: Future of ‘crucial’ fire-tracking website in doubt
It is one of the most popular and important websites for cattle producers, rangers and carbon farmers in northern Australia, but its funding is about to run out.
Western Australia
Yawning numbat footage sparks joy for wildlife photographer
The quokka may be WA’s most famous marsupial, but conservationists say the critically endangered numbat deserves a higher profile and ‘yawning numbat’ footage could help.
Sustainability
UN chief: don’t use taxpayer money to save polluting industries
António Guterres calls for coronavirus aid to be directed at firms with green credentials
5 ways environmental damage drives human diseases like COVID-19
Wildlife trade, deforestation, industrial farming and other environmental factors threaten both animals and human health.
Trump’s Energy Department recommends throwing money at uranium mines
“A wasteful solution in search of a problem.”
Confronting the chemicals that are worsening COVID-19
What affects how likely you are to die from the novel coronavirus?
The coal industry was already struggling. Now it’s getting hammered by coronavirus
Businesses have shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19, and as a result, electricity use is down. That has hurt coal in particular.
Carbon dioxide pollution dulls the brain
Carbon dioxide pollution slows our thinking. It could get bad enough to stop some of us thinking our way out of danger.
How has coronavirus helped the environment?
We know that carbon emissions have sharply fallen during lockdown. But will all these changes actually be good for the environment in the long run?
Twelve rangers killed in latest Virunga Park incident
Armed rebel groups involved in poaching and illegal charcoal production are believed to be responsible.
Using lots of plastic packaging during the coronavirus crisis? You’re not alone
Daiane Scaraboto et al
Many sustainability-conscious people now find their cupboards stocked with plastic bottles of hand sanitiser, disposable wipes and takeaway food containers.
Left-wing greenies turn on Michael Moore. Give him a medal [$]
Miranda Devine
Open-minded Lefties never expected filmmaker Michael Moore to turn on his own. But he did exactly that with his latest hit doco exposing the massive lies behind renewable energy.
Nature Conservation
Spanish official apologises for spraying beach with bleach
Tractors were sent along beach of Zahara de los Atunes in effort to tackle coronavirus
Plastic pollution reaching the Antarctic
Food wrapping, fishing gear and plastic waste continue to reach the Antarctic. Two new studies detail how plastic debris is reaching sub-Antarctic islands.
Invasive lionfish likely to become permanent residents in the Mediterranean
A team of international scientists has shown the species, first seen off the coast of Cyprus in 2012, is now thriving and well-established right across southern Europe
Maelor Himbury
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