Post of the Day
Jacqueline Peel and Rebekkah Markey-Towler
Climate-related financial risks have already entered the corporate boardroom. With this case, they’ve now come knocking at the government’s door.
On This Day
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 14,935. Deaths: 161
Australians split on when life will return to normal
Around one in six Australians (16 per cent) believe their lives have returned to normal since the start of COVID-19 or that they did not change at all while 9 per cent do not believe their pre-pandemic lives will ever return, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Why aren’t coronavirus cases coming down in Victoria? Experts explain
The epicentre of Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak, Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, is coming up on three weeks into lockdown but daily new case numbers remain stubbornly high. We ask the experts: Why hasn’t lockdown brought case numbers down more dramatically?
What’s being done nationally to prevent coronavirus outbreaks in aged care?
First it was Newmarch house in New South Wales, and now outbreaks in Victoria’s aged care sector are a reminder of the risk the virus poses to elderly Australians, particularly in residential facilities. Here are measures being taken to stop it.
Climate Change
A new solution to climate science’s biggest mystery
For the first time in 41 years, researchers have provided a new answer to one of the thorniest—and most fundamental—questions in Earth science.
Carbon emissions are chilling the atmosphere 90km above Antarctica, at the edge of space
John French et al
Carbon emissions are chilling the atmosphere 90km above Antarctica, at the edge of space
To save the EU, its leaders must first focus on saving the planet
Daniel Judt et al
European countries are spending big to revive their economies, but they will have no legitimacy with young people if they ignore the climate
The US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord is a racist act
Adrienne Hollis
The Paris agreement threw a lifeline to millions of people of color facing a premature death. Trump is tearing that away
Global warming’s impact – not worst-case but still deadly, if we don’t act
Zeke Hausfather And Andrew Dessler
If carbon emissions continue increasing, we could end up tripling rather than just doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere by the end of the 21st century.
National
Household batteries and solar will be critical for managing highs and lows of the grid
Latest AEMO study into virtual power plants shows how household batteries and solar will be critical for managing highs and lows of the grid.
A clearer vision for Great Artesian Basin
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment – and partners in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory – welcomed today’s release of the latest Great Artesian Basin Strategic Management Plan.
Morrison broadens membership of Covid-19 commission but says advice to remain off-limits to public
Australian PM says commission to morph into advisory board as concern mounts over potential conflicts of interest
Labor luminary lashes party ‘fundamentalists’
Joel Fitzgibbon has accused Labor’s influential internal environment lobby of putting blue-collar jobs and lower energy prices at risk —– and warned them against exaggerating the number of jobs in the renewable energy sector — as the party’s split over climate and energy policy grows.
Jacqueline Peel and Rebekkah Markey-Towler
Climate-related financial risks have already entered the corporate boardroom. With this case, they’ve now come knocking at the government’s door.
How a pandemic and a lawsuit might work in our favour
Peter Boyer
Devastating fire seasons in two hemispheres followed by a worsening pandemic, economic collapse, racial division and increasingly erratic presidents… There is so much to be bothered about, it surely wouldn’t matter if one more item went on the list.
Death threat [$]
Mungo McCallum
Environmental protection laws do not conserve Australia’s wildlife – and government inaction means they never will
Victoria
Public servants were pulled from overseeing hotel quarantine over safety fears
Officials have told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that the public servants from Parks Victoria and the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning were pulled out of the hotel quarantine program weeks into their secondment amid fears for their safety and inadequate direction from DHHS.
New South Wales
‘There isn’t a perfect answer’: How to avoid coastal erosion
As parts of NSW sit teetering on the edge after last fortnight’s storms, a low pressure system is bringing yet more dangerous surf to the east coast. Experts explain why there is no easy answer to coastal erosion.
Wamberal beach erosion: seawall would deliver no net benefit, study finds
Report raises concerns around seawalls’ cost and effectiveness as low pressure system to batter NSW coastline with high tides and huge waves
Fresh details about the Gospers Mountain “mega-blaze” have been revealed — for the first time, we can show you the fire’s ignition point and how and unexpected discovery derailed firefighting efforts at a critical stage.
Northern Tableland’s endangered wallabies bounding back after bushfire
Endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies and their young have been spotted bounding through the bush in Oxley Wild Rivers and Guy Fawkes River National Parks, delighting NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff surveying the impact of the bushfires.
Chemicals the most likely cause of mystery leaf loss in cotton towns, secret report finds
Graziers have long been troubled by the phenomenon of peppercorn trees losing their leaves at the same time cotton farmers are spraying their fields with herbicides.
Irrigators warn Berejiklian that Kean picking environment over farmers
Irrigators have taken a complaint against NSW Environment and Energy Minister Matt Kean to the Premier, claiming the minister appears to be choosing environmental concerns over the interests of farmers and agriculture.
Queensland
Nine more solar farms could have output cut to zero due to system strength issues
Another nine large-scale solar farms in north Queensland with a total capacity of more than 712MW have been warned that their output could be cut to zero in certain circumstances due to emerging “system strength” issues in that part of the state.
New superfood find creates buzz in native honey market
Queensland researchers have stumbled on a new superfood with sweeteners for those in the honey business.
Call for bill relief amid home power surge
With more people at home during the coronavirus pandemic, power bills are climbing. Now there’s a call to extend relief until at least the end of October.
Tasmania
‘No-one polices it’: How firewood black market is costing Paul $1m each year
Every time you buy firewood on the black market, Paul Edwards misses out. He estimates illegal operators cost his Wynyard firewood business in Tasmania’s north-west up to $1 million every year.
Wildlife penalties in spotlight [$]
Supporters of Tasmania’s little penguin population have continued to push for their protection after two individuals allegedly attempted to take a little penguin and eggs from a Low Head rookery on Sunday.
Western Australia
March of the cane toad slowed by rugged terrain of the Kimberley
The sheer ruggedness of Australia’s remote Kimberley region appears to be providing some protection to wildlife at risk from the invasive cane toad.
Sustainability
‘It’s become cool again’: Global bicycle shortage puts brakes on biking boom
Demand for bikes has never been higher but it’s proving hard for retailers to secure demand as the whole world goes cycling.
Egypt and Sudan criticize Ethiopia at start of new Nile dam talks
Egypt and Sudan criticized Ethiopia for what they called unilateral filling of its Blue Nile dam at a new round of talks that kicked off on Monday to regulate the flow of water from the huge project.
For all its green talk, the IEA still gives comfort to oil and gas producers
Under Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency leads talk of a green recovery, yet dodges hard questions about phasing out dirty energy.
Study identifies top reasons for sewer line failure
Concrete sewer pipes around the world are most likely to fail either because their concrete is not strong enough or because they can’t handle the weight of trucks that drive over them, a new study indicates.
The Amazon River, a life source, is also unleashing the pandemic
Manaus: The virus swept through the region like past plagues that have travelled the river with colonisers and corporations.
Yemen: Allow UN to secure oil supertanker
Houthi authorities in Yemen should immediately permit United Nations experts access to a supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast that risks spilling over a million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea, Human Rights Watch said today.
How trees can hep us fight a pandemic
It’s no accident that the most polluted communities are also the most likely to have more severe cases of COVID-19.
‘Our lake is gone’: Cambodia is filling in vital wetlands with sand to build megamalls
A damning new report shows a multi-billion-dollar satellite city near Phnom Penh threatens to pave over vital wetlands, unleashing untreated sewerage into the Mekong River and putting 1 million at risk of flooding.
Going wild: Naturalization grows across Edmonton as the city trades mowing for native species
While it may take a little getting used to, the trend towards naturalization yields big benefits — from increased biodiversity to cost savings.
Maelor Himbury
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