Post of the Day
Australia’s recycling crisis: is the government’s $190m on new infrastructure worth it?
Environment groups have welcomed the Coalition’s waste measures but say the use of recycled content must be made compulsory
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 13,948. Deaths: 145
‘The right thing to do’: cyclists and runners weigh in on mask rules
On the first weekend of mask rules, Melburnians have been left divided on runners and cyclists masking up.
Could the COVID-19 pandemic lead to the end of the human race?
Hassan Vally
Things are looking pretty bleak right now and it is understandable to be anxious.
Climate Change
Wetter than wet: Global warming means more rain for Asian monsoon regions
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studied how the weather will change with global warming in Asian monsoon regions using a high-resolution climate simulation. The region is home to a large population, and the monsoons are a major driver of global water cycles. They explicitly simulated cloud formation and dissipation, and found significantly increased precipitation over the monsoon ‘trough,’ with tropical disturbances such as typhoons and concentrated water vapor playing key roles.
Climate predictions several years into the future?
In five years, will the winter be mild, and will the following summer be rainy? Unfortunately, reliable answers to such questions are not possible. Nevertheless, there are quantities like the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic, that are known to promote trends in the weather over Europe.
Solving the jigsaw puzzle of regional carbon budgets
Ciais and colleagues obtained the first bottom-up global land carbon budget from the sum of regional estimates, combining inventories with lateral transfers from the trade of wood and food products and the export of dissolved carbon by rivers to the oceans. Carbon being moved away from ecosystems by lateral fluxes and emitted by fires and as reduced compounds is a large fraction of primary production inputs, implying a smaller CO2 emission from soil microbial decomposition.
Alaska is getting wetter. That’s bad news for permafrost and the climate.
Alaska is getting wetter. A new study spells out what that means for the permafrost that underlies about 85% of the state, and the consequences for Earth’s global climate.
National
Australia’s recycling crisis: is the government’s $190m on new infrastructure worth it?
Environment groups have welcomed the Coalition’s waste measures but say the use of recycled content must be made compulsory
Saturday Paper editorial
When the government tapped businessman Graeme Samuel to undertake a year-long review of the nation’s foremost environmental law, it may not have foreseen such a candid appraisal.
Victoria
‘Madness’: How governments failed Victoria’s endangered grasslands
Labor and Coalition governments’ mishandling of Victoria’s grassland reserves has created a most unusual consensus.
State faces hundreds of millions in compensation over neglected grassland reserve
The Andrews government faces hundreds of millions of dollars in claims for compensation from property owners as it struggles with a massive cost blowout and lack of funding to buy land earmarked for Victoria’s critically endangered native grasslands reserve.
New South Wales
Aboriginal heritage: Gomeroi elders attack ‘useless’ law after Shenhua mine setback
Traditional custodians say a federal law is all that stands in the way of the proposed coalmine on the Liverpool plains of NSW.
Narrabri gas project to be one of Australia’s top greenhouse emitters
The proposed Narrabri Gas Project – which would see 850 coal seam gas wells sunk in the Pilliga region of north-west NSW – would become one of the top 100 greenhouse gas emitters in Australia if approved, an Independent Planning Commission hearing has been told.
Matt Kean aims to double koala population by 2050
Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean will set a goal of doubling the number of koalas by 2050 in a bid to defy projections the marsupial could become extinct in NSW by mid-century.
Fears a Central West silver mine may have a lead lining
A stand-off between a mining company and a community action group in a small NSW town is coming to a head.
Kean, on a green streak, goes in search of the political centre
Peter Hannam
A warrior, a political fighter and fearless are all words used to describe NSW’s Environment Minister Matt Kean, a powerful Liberal minister difficult to pigeon-hole.
ACT
ACT farmers call for better bushfire protection from national parks
Work to protect farms neighbouring national parks in the ACT from bushfires was insufficient in the lead up to summer, the ACT Rural Landholders Association has said.
Queensland
Queenslanders recycle 2 billion cans and containers in just 20 months
Queensland’s Containers for Change scheme has now received two billion cans and bottles in 20 months.
South Australia
Key approval for controversial YP mine [$]
Rex Minerals has secured a key environmental approval for its Hillside copper project, which has met with strong opposition from some quarters in the past.
Call for release of long-delayed key transport study [$]
A public transport lobby group has called on the State Government to release a delayed report which promises to find solutions for frustrated northeast commuters.
Tasmania
Silt pond to sporting precinct: David Fry’s plan for the Tamar [$]
A sporting precinct and extended walking track could change the face of the West Tamar, says independent Rosevears candidate David Fry.
Tasmania ranks equal last on WWF single-use plastic scorecard [$]
Tasmania has earned the “dubious honour” of coming in last on a new scorecard ranking state and territory efforts to address the proliferation of single-use plastics.
Northern Territory
NT $1.1b rare earths mine could help break China stranglehold [$]
The $1.1 billion Nolans mine planned for the Territory near Alice Springs could help break a China stranglehold by producing 10 per cent of the world’s rare earths Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr).
Seafarms looking to secure $150 million in loan for Project Sea Dragon construction [$]
THE company behind Project Sea Dragon, a major aquaculture project in Northern Australia, has appointed a financial executive to help it source $150m in loans for stage one construction.
Western Australia
‘We were lucky’: Early intervention saves significant rock paintings from mining destruction
A rock shelter in a remote central Pilbara eastern Hamersley gorge has been saved from destruction by the discovery of significant artwork belonging to the Karlka Nyiyaparli people.
Sustainability
Tandem catalytic system efficiently converts carbon dioxide to methanol
Boston College chemists have used a tandem catalytic system to efficiently convert carbon dioxide to methanol. By encapsulating multiple catalysts involved in the tandem process in nanoporous materials called metal-organic frameworks, the team reports achieving superior performance by eliminating catalyst incompatibility. The method could be applied to other tandem catalytic processes, allowing more efficient access to alternative fuels, commodity chemicals, and valuable pharmaceutical products.
Australia welcomes Vietnam’s ban on wildlife imports, markets amid new health fears
Vietnam announces it will ban wildlife imports and wildlife markets over concerns that more viruses, like the one causing COVID-19, could jump from animals to humans.
Coral reefs show resilience to rising temperatures
Rising ocean temperatures have devastated coral reefs all over the world, but a recent study has found that reefs in the Eastern Tropical Pacific region may prove to be an exception.
Shifts seen in breeding times and duration for 73 boreal bird species over 40 years
Forest ecologist report finding ”clear evidence of a contraction of the breeding period” among boreal birds in Finland over a 43-year span for which good quality data were available.
Maelor Himbury
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