Post of the Day
Australia’s wish list of exotic pets
Unsustainable trade of species is the major pathway for the introduction of invasive alien species at distant localities at higher frequencies. It is also a major driver of over-exploitation of wild populations. In a new study, scientists estimate the desire of Australians to own non-native and/or illegal pets and the major trends in this practice. In addition, the team suggests ways to improve biosecurity awareness in the country.
On This Day
Teej Festival – Nepal
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 24,236. Deaths: 463
Can the government, or my employer, force me to get a COVID-19 vaccine under the law?
Maria O’Sullivan
Scott Morrison sparked a debate when he said a COVID-19 vaccine would be ‘as mandatory as possible’ under the law. The PM walked back from the comment, but it raised legitimate legal questions.
Officials have no answers about legal liabilities for vaccine’s potential side-effects
Australian health officials and drug maker AstraZeneca have declined to comment on whether the pharma company is seeking indemnification against potential liability arising from any side effects of its vaccine candidate.
The spread of coronavirus in Australia is not the fault of individuals but a result of neoliberalism
Richard Denniss
For decades, advocates of the privatisation of public services have boasted of the cost savings of doing so. Today, we are counting the cost
Climate Change
Greenland loses 532 gigatonnes of ice in single year
Greenland’s ice sheet melts away at a record level in 2019, leaving climate scientists concerned about what the future holds as sea levels rise, leading to fears coastal flooding could increase across the globe.
Larger variability in sea level expected as Earth warms
A team of researchers from the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) identified a global tendency for future sea levels to become more variable as oceans warm this century due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Anthropogenic CO2 increase is unprecedented
Even in earlier warm periods there were pulse-like releases of CO2 to the atmosphere. Today’s anthropogenic CO2 rise, however, is more than six times larger and almost ten times faster than previous jumps in the CO2 concentration.
Ellen Corrick et al
The “last glacial period” saw huge, rapid climate changes. Our new research found they happened all around the world, and each time within just a few decades.
National
Forsaken firies: COVID could force states to battle bushfires on their own
The global coronavirus pandemic has impeded Australia’s preparations for the bushfire season and could undermine response efforts with thousands of volunteers at risk from the virus, authorities have warned.
Adam Bandt urges another Labor-Greens coalition for climate action
Greens leader Adam Bandt will mark 10 years since his party signed a deal to prop up the Gillard government by flagging he would be willing to again form a power-sharing deal with Labor to combat climate change.
Australia’s wish list of exotic pets
Unsustainable trade of species is the major pathway for the introduction of invasive alien species at distant localities at higher frequencies. It is also a major driver of over-exploitation of wild populations. In a new study scientists estimate the desire of Australians to own non-native and/or illegal pets and the major trends in this practice. In addition, the team suggests ways to improve biosecurity awareness in the country.
Labor Left weighs up plan for ‘drastic’ climate policy [$]
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler has signalled he will not back down to Joel Fitzgibbon’s plea for Labor to adopt a more moderate climate change agenda, with the Left faction heavyweight urging environmental activists to push the party to be “more ambitious and more courageous” on the issue.
Coal is in crisis regardless of what Labor does [$]
Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane
Climate denialists on both sides of politics can rail all they like, but thermal coal is increasingly unviable and miners want out.
Kerry Brewster
Same water, same valuer, $80m and nought. The same type of water licences for irrigation properties near those for which the Coalition government paid $80 million in 2017 were valued at zero between 2008 and 2010
New South Wales
The proposed removal of a long-standing and popular ban on uranium mining in New South Wales is empty gesture politics that flies in the face of community interest and market reality, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said.
Tathra experience important in understanding firefighting challenges, bushfire inquiry told
Day 14 of the 2018 Reedy Swamp/ Tathra bushfire coronial inquiry has heard there were failures at a management level to recognise the possible devastating impacts embers could have on homes and property on the day of the fire.
ACT
Bushfire review questions use of fire retardant and calls for national disaster app for smartphones
Two major reports on the ACT’s bushfire season make only minor calls for improvements after no lives or homes were lost in Canberra.
Paterson’s curse on the march in the ACT
Recent rain after a dry summer has seen Paterson’s curse flourish this winter in the ACT, but authorities are also concerned about less eye-catching and potentially more destructive weeds such as Chilean needle grass spreading in the territory.
Special technology could block users of Canberra’s e-scooter rental scheme from parking near waterways in an attempt to prevent vandals dumping them in Lake Burley Griffin.
Queensland
‘Hard decisions’: Palaszczuk defends border closures and pitches Labor’s renewable plan
Queensland’s economy is benefiting from “contentious” border closures, according to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who says she will cop criticism for making hard calls as she tells an economic forum of her Government’s plans for the future.
Rare fish, near extinction, returned to wild
An urgent rescue mission led by the Queensland Government has saved a rare and ancient native fish from potentially becoming the first freshwater species to be lost from Queensland due to climate change.
Small start to coral recovery in Great Barrier Reef but large increase in coral trout
Hard coral cover showed signs of initial recovery on the Great Barrier Reef
Revealed: how the Great Barrier Reef is really doing
Reports of the death of the Great Barrier Reef may have been exaggerated, with new research showing “encouraging” signs of coral growth in two-thirds of 86 monitored reefs.
Renewable Energy Corridors are good news for our Reef
The announcement of three proposed Renewable Energy Corridors for Queensland by the Palaszczuk government is encouraging news for our Great Barrier Reef, its amazing wildlife and the thousands of tourism jobs it supports.
Regions send message to governments: Get on with renewables, new industry
Australia may have the wrong idea about regional Queenslanders, according to a detailed report that asked people in the state’s major centres: what do you want?
Why a green bridge east of the Story Bridge is a challenge
Fresh calls for a bridge linking Brisbane’s eastern suburbs to the inner-north are likely to be met with engineering challenges.
‘Back or block’ challenge to wedge Labor over coal-fired power station [$]
Anthony Albanese will be forced to either back or block a $3.3m grant supporting a feasibility study into a new clean coal-fired power station in central Queensland, as the Morrison government prepares to wedge Labor MPs in parliament next week.
South Australia
Santos posts $400 million loss
South Australia’s largest company Santos has reported a $402 million ($US289 million) loss for the first half of 2020, following months of low oil and gas prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
Tasmania
Water quality complaints fall in Tasmania
Drinking water quality and treated effluent discharges into waterways improved in 2018-19, according to a report from the Tasmanian Economic Regulator tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Bob Brown lawsuit aims to end Tasmanian native forest logging
The Bob Brown Foundation has launched a legal action which it hopes might end native forest logging in Tasmania by establishing that the industry is breaking federal environmental laws.
Birds spewing up personal hygiene items in reserves [$]
Seagulls are becoming ‘flying trash cans’ as they gobble up single use plastics such as condoms, floss, bread clips and regurgitate them in conservation areas.
Northern Territory
‘We can’t sugar-coat it, it’s bad’: Uluru tourism operators on the brink
It has been the quietest season on record for tourism operators near Uluru and, with temperatures beginning to rise in Central Australia once again, things are not expected to get much better.
Why has Govt’s $3m Myilly Point playground stalled? [$]
The Environment Centre says the Territory’s Environment Protection Authority has a responsibility to explain what is happening with asbestos contaminated soil on the site of the NT Government’s stalled $3 million Myilly Point playground project.
Western Australia
Potentially destructive Russian wheat aphids found in WA’s south-east
Russian wheat aphids have been found on farms near Esperance in Western Australia, four years after it was first found in South Australia.
WA plan to hoard gas ‘discriminates’ against the other states, former premier says
A decision by Western Australia to ban onshore gas exports to the east is labelled a “betrayal” of Australian states struggling with gas shortages by the state’s former premier, Colin Barnett.
Beach Energy oblivious to gas ban exemption until WA Premier’s presser
A Beach Energy spokesman said while it had been discussing potentially exporting the Waistsia gas for two years, it was not aware of the ban until after the announcement.
WA rubbish at throwing out its waste: Auditor-General
WA is nowhere near its aspirational targets for keeping rubbish out of landfills with most local governments likely to fall short, according to an Auditor-General report.
Sustainability
Sustainable investment funds hit trillion-dollar milestone
The second quarter of 2020 saw sustainable funds increase by more than 70 per cent
Firefighters exposed to more potentially harmful chemicals than previously thought
On-duty firefighters experienced higher exposures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are a family of chemicals that are known to have the potential to cause cancer.
3D printing ‘greener’ buildings using local soil
Scientists report progress toward a sustainable building material made from local soil, using a 3D printer.
Iran: $240m earmarked to reduce pollution, natural resources degradation
Some 10 trillion rials (nearly $240 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) have been allocated in order to reduce pollution and prevent the destruction of natural resources in Iran.
Research shows air pollution could play role in development of cardiometabolic diseases
Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental risk factor, and causes more than nine million deaths per year. New research shows air pollution may play a role in the development of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes. Importantly, the effects were reversible with cessation of exposure.
February lockdown in China caused a drop in some types of air pollution, but not others
Nitrogen dioxide, which comes from transportation, was half of what would be expected over China in February 2020. Other emissions and cloud properties, however, showed no significant changes.
Air pollution linked to higher risk of young children developing asthma
Findings support evidence that fine air pollutants may contribute to the development of asthma and wheezing
How racism and classism affect natural ecosystems
Structural racism and classism could profoundly affect the existence of flora and fauna in our cities, according to a recent landmark publication in the academic journal Science.
The Last Lions of Africa: stories from the frontline in the battle to save a species
Anthony Ham
The disappearance of lions is the final step in the irreversible decline and death of so much African wilderness
Maelor Himbury
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
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0432406862
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