As Sophie Cunningham cites, there aren’t corporations getting rich off coronavirus (well, it would be unconscionable for Big Pharma to keep the virus going just to sell a vaccine, wouldn’t it?) so conservative politicians say we should accept and follow the science. Big Carbon makes too much money off fossil fuels to allow the same politicians to accept the science of climate change.https://meanjin.com.au/essays/if-you-choose-to-stay-we-may-not-be-able-to-save-you/
Look on today’s list and weep. Here we see the triumph of ideology (or the influence of donated dollars) over sound policy. We’d like to come out of COVID in some decent state. We need energy efficiency over bankrolling gas, not to swallow Matteo Canavani’s dissembling over subsidies, to return to climate change research and to reject watered-down environmental protections. These are just some of Maelor’s selections today.
The phase-out will occur and it will require planning. The Hazelwood closure and the stimulus provided through the Latrobe Valley Authority is a pointer to how it can be done. …
It’s really not on to say thanks for a pandemic, there’s too much suffering. But the thinnest of silver linings is the 7% reduction in global emissions compared with last year’s. There’s a slight lengthening of the time for the realisation to sink in before it’s too late to do something about decarbonising our post-pandemic economies.http://southwind.com.au/2020/07/28/how-a-pandemic-and-a-lawsuit-might-work-in-our-favour/
When did ‘conservative’ and ‘conservation’ start to separate? Dick Hamer in Victoria was a strong conservationist, Malcom Fraser nationally did some good things too, but ‘conservationist’ became a slur under Howard and is gone downhill ever after. The Samuel Report says what needs to be done, we need an independent regulator, the Morrison government has already ruled it out.https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/no-integrity-why-states-can-t-be-left-holding-the-environment-file-20200723-p55eu3.html
‘ … end of the human race’. What some sub-editors will write to catch readers. Climate change is a bigger challenge to humans than COVID19, responding to our fossil fuel addiction is where we should be spending billions.https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6846818/could-the-covid-19-pandemic-lead-to-the-end-of-the-human-race/?cs=14225
Benn Barr, CEO of the Australian Energy Market Commission, says that ‘By 2040, all of the fossil fuel generators will probably be gone’. And you’d reckon that he’d know, wouldn’t you?https://reneweconomy.com.au/all-australias-coal-generators-could-close-by-2040-and-it-wont-be-as-big-a-deal-as-youd-think-72914/
It is for this market that AGL proposes a gas import facility at Crib Point on Western Port, a Ramsar Wetland and UNESCO Biosphere reserve (disclosure, my day job is EO at the Biosphere Foundation). Please remind me, what are stranded assets again?https://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-is-sponsoring-a-failing-gas-industry-20200723-p55ew6.html
All power to Katta. When us baby-boomers are letting the side down, it is gratifying to know that others aren’t. The least that we can do is support them.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-22/student-sues-australian-government-over-climate-change/12480612
Hey Angus ‘Fantastic’ Taylor, Matteo Canavani, Coal Fitzgibbon et al, even existing coal plants can’t continue, let alone adding more, according to the International Energy Agency. How does expanding the New Acland Mine and opening up the Galilee Basin look now, d’ya reckon?https://reneweconomy.com.au/iea-chief-tells-australia-all-coal-must-go-if-world-to-meet-climate-targets-in-orderly-fashion-94805/