Post of the Day
IEA chief tells Australia all coal must go if world to meet climate targets in orderly fashion
IEA chief Fatih Birol says it will be impossible to meet even modest global climate targets if existing coal plants continue operating at full capacity and for their lifetimes.
On This Day
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 12,428. Deaths: 126
What do you need to do to keep getting JobSeeker or JobKeeper?
Changes are coming to the JobSeeker and JobKeeper schemes and you might have to do things differently to keep receiving assistance. Here’s what you need to know.
2.1 million Australians expected to be off JobKeeper by the end of the year
If you’re on JobKeeper or JobSeeker, here are the key numbers, dates, facts and figures around how you’ll be affected.
The things that lead to ‘superspreading’
We know that some people are disproportionately responsible for spreading coronavirus, but what is it about them that makes them more effective at supercharging the spread of infection?
Climate Change
Central banks, including RBA, urge rapid coal phase-out to meet Paris climate goals
Central banks warn that meeting the Paris Agreement will require the end of coal in Asia before 2050, but provides a huge opportunity for renewables.
Greta Thunberg says EU recovery plan fails to tackle climate crisis
Activist says €750bn fund shows leaders not treating global heating as emergency
As a sizzling July continues, here’s what to know about climate change and weather
Freakish Siberian heat and a record string of high-temperature days during the already typically soupy Washington, D.C., summer are just two of a handful of…
Plant roots increase carbon emission from permafrost soils
A key uncertainty in climate projections is the amount of carbon emitted by thawing permafrost in the Arctic. Plant roots in soil stimulate microbial decomposition, a mechanism called the priming effect. An international research team shows that the priming effect alone can cause emission of 40 billion tonnes carbon from permafrost by 2100.
Climate scientists increasingly ignore ecological role of indigenous peoples
In their zeal to promote the importance of climate change as an ecological driver, climate scientists increasingly are ignoring the profound role that indigenous peoples played in fire and vegetation dynamics, not only in the eastern United States but worldwide, according to researchers.
Free trade can prevent hunger caused by climate change
An international team of researchers investigated the effects of trade on hunger in the world as a result of climate change. The conclusion is clear: international trade can compensate for regional food shortages and reduce hunger, particularly when protectionist measures and other barriers to trade are eliminated.
Geoscientists glean data suggesting global climate changes increase river erosion rates
New field data from collaborative study of North America’s Yukon River basin reveal profound increases in river erosion during climate fluctuations
National
IEA chief tells Australia all coal must go if world to meet climate targets in orderly fashion
IEA chief Fatih Birol says it will be impossible to meet even modest global climate targets if existing coal plants continue operating at full capacity and for their lifetimes.
Review of Australia’s hopeless environmental laws completely ignores climate change
Samuel’s assessment of the EPBC finds Australia’s environmental laws are largely ineffective, but his review fails to address the challenge of climate change.
Experts warn government’s plan may not fix protection of critical habitat
A landmark review of environmental protection laws has sparked concerns from conservation groups.
BHP dodges the write-down bullet striking its oil and gas rivals
It seems BHP has separated from the pack and will be the only major player that won’t impair its assets in response to the flagging oil price.
Use First People’s science to manage bushfires, says Graeme Samuel [$]
Former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said the horror Black Summer bushfires showed indigenous science should be embraced and could be used to prevent catastrophes, after handing down a scathing review of the nation’s 20-year-old environmental legislation.
Electricity prices plunge to lowest in five years
Wholesale electricity prices traded at the lowest in five years as the coronavirus lockdown crimped energy demand, especially from businesses in NSW and Queensland.
Independent Review of the EPBC Act: interim report
Graeme Samuels
The overwhelming message received by the review is that Australians care deeply about our iconic places and unique environment. Protecting and conserving them for the benefit of current and future generations is important for the nation.
Setting the standard the key to environmental reforms [$]
John Durie
The key to Sussan Ley’s reforms of environment laws will be the standards set by the federal government, but administered by the states.
Victoria
Melbourne council votes on lifting 100 trees to ‘exceptional’ status
An avenue of 130-year-old elms at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a Port Jackson fig with aerial roots attached to a wall at RMIT University and dozens of trees at Melbourne University are among the sentinels eyed for protection.
New South Wales
Australian researchers squeeze more energy from sunlight in world-first breakthrough
UNSW researchers unlock a way to convert otherwise wasted light into electricity, in world-first breakthrough that could boost solar panel efficiencies.
It’s not a snowflake, it’s the cockroach of the ocean — and researchers fear it
Researchers have raised juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish in a lab and discovered worrying new findings about its progression into adulthood.
From right-wing German to Narrabri gas protester
With Nazi German parents and links to the Socialist Alliance, Narrabri gas protester Bea Bleile could easily be mistaken for a radical.
Queensland
Brisbane residents fight to save critical koala habitat from development plan
A year-long dispute to save 2.7 hectares of critical koala habitat in Brisbane’s northern suburbs has reignited as a developer goes to court to challenge council’s rejection of its plans.
Clean jobs scheme aims to create 20,000 new jobs in Queensland
Up to 20,000 jobs could be created in Queensland through a plan to tackle climate change and more than $1 billion in public funding, according to a study commissioned by the Climate Council.
Sunshine Coast shows the way to create good design loved by communities and put an end to eyesores
Laurel Johnson
The council, developers, architects and the local community got together to set the principles of what they consider good design in this fast-growing region.
South Australia
Nuclear dump to be managed from SA
Staff from around Australia and possibly overseas will be recruited for a new government agency to manage a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
Showdown looms over solar price [$]
To fix the problem of too much solar in the middle of the day, there’s a plan to soak up the excess and make power cheaper for everyone. Big energy companies want to do it their way but the government wants to force their hand.
Is this tiny cabin the next big thing in tourism? [$]
These eco-friendly, off-grid cabins are already installed in mystery locations across Adelaide. Now, a McLaren Flat winery could be the next spot to embrace the CABN trend.
Tasmania
Group condemns ‘white elephant’ bridge [$]
The rebuilding of a that bridge burned down in the 2018-19 bushfires to help with logging is a waste of money, an environmental group says.
Northern Territory
Magpie geese bag limits revealed ahead of hunting season [$]
Magpie geese daily bag limits for the upcoming Waterfowl Hunting Season have been revealed after surveys found population numbers across the Territory have fallen slightly.
Alice Springs researcher warns of Outback solar panel waste threat [$]
An Alice Springs researcher has warned that urgent action needs to be taken to minimise the environmental threat posed by thousands of solar panels that will be decommissioned in the next few years
Sustainability
New battery breakthrough paves way for 100% silicon batteries with higher energy density
A new anode will allow lithium-ion batteries to be made from 100% silicon, boosting energy density by 70%.
Apple announces plans to be 100% carbon neutral by 2030
Apple has today announced its plan to bring its entire carbon footprint to net zero by 2030 – including across its manufacturing supply chain and product life cycle.
Rich Americans’ homes generate 25% more greenhouse gasses than those less affluent
An analysis of 93m US homes found that the most energy intensive dwellings are found in Maine, Vermont and Wisconsin
Monsanto to pay D.C. $52 million over chemical pollution in rivers
The chemical giant Monsanto will pay the District of Columbia $52 million dollars, as part of a settlement over toxic contamination in D.C. waterways. It’s one of the largest environmental settlements ever in the city.
Scientists boost stability and efficiency of next-gen solar tech
Solar modules made from perovskite material gain power to transform the solar tech industry
Native bushland’s fertility secret
In hotter, dryer conditions with climate change, a secret agent for more sustainable agricultural production could lie in harvesting the diverse beneficial soil microbiome in native bushland settings, scientists say. New research from CSIRO, Flinders University and La Trobe University highlights the importance of soil biological health and further potential to use organic rather than chemical farm inputs for crop production.
People want a greener, happier world now. But our politicians have other ideas
George Monbiot
Boris Johnson’s ‘return to normality’ will only mean more consumerism at the expense of the planet – we must resist it
The magic of the market won’t help the environment unless government also takes responsibility
Megan Evans
If the government doesn’t see funding environmental projects as a serious investment, why should the private sector?
What makes people switch to reusable cups? It’s not discounts, it’s what others do
Sukhbir Sandhu et al
In places where reusable cups are allowed, coffee drinkers, cafe owners and local governments can use insights from behavioural science to discourage use of throwaway cups.
Trump’s continued disregard for the environment and climate change poses a mortal threat
LA Times editorial
American voters face a fork in their own road this November – stay on the Trump expressway to environmental degradation and catastrophic climate change, or shift to the road, bumpy as it may be, to a cleaner environment and more sustainable future of wind, solar and other energy sources that do not involve burning fossil fuels.
Scientists have predicted polar bears will face extinction by 2100
Climate change is forcing polar bears to fast for longer while they wait for the ice to refreeze and can hunt again.
Sediment plumes from deep-sea mining could pollute vast swaths of the ocean, scientists say
Deep-sea mining, a new activity intended to extract minerals from the seafloor, could seriously threaten the midwater ecosystem, a new paper suggests.
Changes in farming urgent to rescue biodiversity
Humans depend on farming for their survival but this activity takes up more than one-third of the world’s landmass and endangers 62% of all threatened species. However, agricultural landscapes can support biodiversity. Scientists argue that agroecological principles should be integrated in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to be decided at the 15th Convention of the Parties (COP15).
New research reveals how Australia and other nations play politics with World Heritage sites
Tiffany Morrison et al
National governments are using political lobbying and empty symbolic efforts to stave off an “in danger” listing for their World Heritage sites.
To prevent the next deadly disease, we must stop harming nature
Enric Sala
The coronavirus pandemic proves it: By damaging the planet, we have sapped nature’s power to protect humanity from diseases.
Maelor Himbury
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