Post of the Day
Civilization may need to ‘forget the flame’ to reduce CO2 emissions
Current world energy consumption is tied to unchangeable past economic production. And the way out of an ever-increasing rate of carbon emissions may not necessarily be ever-increasing energy efficiency — in fact it may be the opposite.
On This Day
Dormition of the Mother of God – Eastern Christianity
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 25,322. Deaths: 572
This time last month: Confirmed cases: 14,935. Deaths: 161
Harsher lockdowns save lives, lead to faster return to economic growth, Vic inquiry told
The head of an independent think tank supports Victoria’s stringent lockdown measures, arguing evidence from the Spanish flu last century shows it’s the best approach.
Climate Change
‘A bad idea whose time has come’: The controversial science that could counter climate change
A decade ago, geoengineering was talked about as a “necessary evil” in the fight against climate change. So why hasn’t any large-scale testing been attempted?
Oceans could rise by three metres as climate change threatens Antarctica’s ice shelves
Researchers are especially concerned about the weakened state of ice shelves holding back two glaciers in West Antarctica, which cover an area larger than Germany.
Civilization may need to ‘forget the flame’ to reduce CO2 emissions
Current world energy consumption is tied to unchangeable past economic production. And the way out of an ever-increasing rate of carbon emissions may not necessarily be ever-increasing energy efficiency — in fact it may be the opposite.
Biden win could unleash climate action
John Hewson
A victory by Joe Biden in November’s presidential election may be just what the world needs to reset the climate change narrative, recognise the urgency of the challenge, and initiate a decisive response.
National
Sweeping changes recommended to media freedom laws
The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security has made extensive recommendations for media freedom including the requirement for search warrants to be issued by senior judges and contested by public interest advocates.
An extraordinary statement by 10 groups says the nation’s future prosperity is at risk without a coherent response
Coalition says the changes will help Australia’s economic response to Covid pandemic, while conservationists fear they will weaken protections
The Green Recovery: how Australia can ditch coal (without ditching jobs) – video
Australia loves coal. About 60% of our electricity still comes from polluting, coal-fired power plants, while only 20% comes from renewables.
Coalition condemned for failing to deliver promised environmental standards
The Morrison government’s new environment legislation has been described by critics as a reproduction of Tony Abbott’s failed one-stop-shop laws
Grid Reliability Fund finally makes it to parliament, to push CEFC into gas
Angus Taylor finally tables amendments needed to establish $1B Grid Reliability Fund – in deal that will allow CEFC to invest in gas generation.
Electricity price reprieve may be temporary, ‘only way is up’ Reputex says
Energy market analysts warn that the ‘only way is up’ for electricity prices, as Covid-19 will have a temporary role in pushing prices down.
Morrison Government alone in rejecting net zero by 2050
ACF media release
The Morrison Government is increasingly isolated on its climate position with every major industry group, every state government and the federal opposition all now backing the target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Amendment Bill 2020
Statement – The Wilderness Society
Suzanne Milthorpe said, “It’s hard to see how the Government introducing a Bill—much of which is word-for-word identical to Tony Abbott’s failed 2014 one-stop-shop amendments [see comparison]—isn’t a deliberate breaking of faith with the near 30,000 Australians who have engaged with the independent review of the EPBC Act.
The business case for fixing Australia’s systemic failures on climate change
Emma Herd
The days of climate change being seen only as an environmental issue are long past.
Why progressives are the enemy of bush progress [$]
Warren Mundine
Australia can no longer just be a nation that hugs the coastline — the regions are waiting, we just need politicians get out of the way of the energy development and forest management we need.
Clean air is a human right our government chooses to ignore
David Shearman
The Federal Government will continue to deny Australians the right to clean air as long as it stays partnered with the fossil fuel industry.
Sure, no-one likes a blackout. But keeping the lights on is about to get expensive
Dylan McConnell and Anne Kallies
An official report on Thursday said blackouts are not expected this summer. But consumers will still have to pay through the nose to make the system more reliable.
When bushfires meet old septic tanks, a disease outbreak is only a matter of time
Ian Lowe
Damage to septic tanks is one of the major health hazards people face when they return to their bushfire-affected homes. It was simply dumb luck a disease outbreak didn’t happen last summer.
Where does gas fit in our low carbon future? In an ever shrinking corner
Alan Pears
We won’t completely shift from gas soon, but the amount of gas we need will decline. And the smarter, more innovative and more productive we are, the faster demand…
Victoria
Emus, 40,000 chickens to be culled as Victoria battles multiple bird flu outbreaks
Three different strains of bird flu have hit six farms in Victoria, including an ASX-listed company that looks set to lose a third of its flock. Emus, along with chickens and turkeys, will have to be euthanased.
Locals fear AGL floating gas plant will turn bay into a chlorinated ‘swimming pool’
The floating gas plant will see up to 180 Olympic swimming pools worth of chlorinated water discharged every day into Western Port, with AGL admitting it will exceed safe levels for marine life.
New South Wales
NSW plan for 21 coalmines would create seven years of nation’s emissions, expert says
State Minerals Council pushing for projects despite Minerals Council of Australia goal of net-zero emissions
High-res satellite images reveal full toll of horrific NSW Black Summer
An Australian aerial analysis company accrues more than 100 terabytes of before-and-after satellite images of the NSW bushfires, revealing for the first time the extent of the destruction caused during the Black Summer.
NSW water-sharing plan ‘will fail’, Basin Authority official says
The proposal by the Berejiklian government to grab more winter-spring flows for irrigators on a major river in the state’s north is likely to fail because it runs contrary to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, a senior official said.
Queensland
Adani secretly applied to raid Brisbane home of environmental activist
Mining company Adani secretly sought to raid the Brisbane home of an activist to seize evidence but failed twice, court documents reveal.
Enough is enough: Adani launches civil action against persistent critic
Coal miner Adani has launched legal proceedings against a persistent protester for harassing and intimidating workers involved with its major mine project in central Queensland.
Adani ordered to pay ‘exploited’ customers $100m [$]
A court has blasted controversial mining giant Adani for “unconscionable” conduct, ordering it pay customers of its Abbot Point coal terminal over $100 million.
Big Queensland solar project lands long term contract with CS Energy
UK-based Luminous Energy wraps up its biggest deal to date, with sale of 162MW solar farm to South Korean financial giant and an off take deal with CS Energy.
Labor ramps up subsidies under renewable scheme
The State Government will use some of a $145 million renewable energy policy as a taxpayer-funded lure for companies to expand or establish their projects in three regional Queensland zones.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair award winners channel climate activism and culture
Climate change was front and centre at this year’s digital Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) as artists meditated on the intersection between culture and climate.
South Australia
Energy authorities empowered to switch off rooftop solar to prevent blackouts
Energy providers are granted the right to remotely switch off rooftop solar panel in South Australia to prevent blackouts, with similar powers being sought interstate.
More trees planted on KI as timber company awaits port decision
Planting of commercial timber crops have resumed on Kangaroo Island following the devastating summer bushfires, despite the company behind the crop still not having an approved port to take its product to market.
Testing time for West Lakes marine life [$]
Scientists at the Environment Protection Authority are testing water, fish and crustaceans at West Lakes in a search for the source of the PFAS pollution.
Activists call on Beach Energy to ditch oil and gas [$]
Beach Energy is the latest Australian company to be targeted by activists pressing for a path out of the fossil fuels business.
Tasmania
Tasmania’s House of Assembly places stricter controls on cat ownership
Tasmania’s lower house has passed a bill which will require cat owners to desex their cat by four months of age unless they have a breeding permit.
Deception denied over prison site conservation value [$]
Corrections minister Elise Archer has denied misleading Tasmanians about the conservation values of a prison development site in the state’s north after documents were revealed through a Right to Information process this week.
The draining of Waratah Dam may make locals angry, but ‘it’s in a very poor condition’
A timeline for the decommissioning of Waratah Dam in Tasmania’s north-west is released, showing it will take years, and continuing to anger locals who want to save it.
Northern Territory
Suspected arsonist questioned as out-of-control fires burn through the Top End
Temperatures in the high 30s, low humidity and wind gusts of up to 60 kilometres per hour are hindering firefighters’ efforts to contain two out-of-control fires.
Time to repair the relationship with management and traditional owners [$]
NT News editorial
The resignation of the head of Parks Australia implies it is time for the management of Kakadu National Park to repair its relationship with traditional owners
Western Australia
More than 100 Aboriginal sacred sites – some dating before the Ice Age – could be destroyed by mining companies
Traditional owners reveal their fears for ancient sites, including rock shelters with painted walls and scar trees
YMAC to make submission to Juukan Gorge inquiry
Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC), the Native Title representative body responsible for negotiating the deal between Rio Tinto and the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples, will be making a submission to the Juukan Gorge inquiry on Friday.
‘A sigh of relief’: World Heritage-listed Ningaloo, Shark Bay spared from oil and gas exploration
Environment groups have claimed a huge win in their fight to prevent oil and gas exploration from encroaching into Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay, with the federal government withdrawing both areas from its 2020 acreage release.
Rio’s latest mistake: Putting a price on the priceless
Elizabeth Knight
The biggest problem with this week’s response from Rio Tinto to its management-made destruction of an archaeological treasure is that it put a $7 million price on destroying something that was priceless.
Sustainability
Love the flame, not the fuel: should you give up cooking with gas?
Beloved by chefs and home cooks alike, gas burning stovetops come with drawbacks for human, financial and planetary health
Researchers have developed a new method to better understand the drivers of water theft, a significant worldwide phenomenon, and deterrents to help protect this essential resource.
Land use change leads to increased flooding in Indonesia
While high greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss are often associated with rapid land-use change in Indonesia, impacts on local water cycles have been largely overlooked. Researchers now show that the expansion of monocultures, such as oil palm and rubber plantations, leads to more frequent and more severe flooding.
A new method for making a key component of plastics
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown way that some bacteria produce the chemical ethylene – a finding that could lead to new ways to produce plastics without using fossil fuels. The study showed that the bacteria created ethylene gas as a byproduct of metabolizing sulfur, which they need to survive.
Reduce insecticide spraying by using ant pheromones to catch crop pests
Scientists have developed a molecular sponge that soaks up the pheromones of ants and releases them slowly to attract the pests to an insecticide trap.
Vital Signs: No, we won’t change the corporate world with divestment and boycotts
Richard Holden
The AMP saga, and new research, shows the power of ‘shareholder voice’.
What Australia can learn from bicycle-friendly cities overseas
Pablo Guillen et al
If we’re to get more people walking and cycling in our cities, then we need to make it easier for people, and we can learn from others overseas.
South African wildlife management/conservation models do not protect carnivores equally
Wildlife ecologists reports that the trend toward more reliance on private game farms and reserves to manage and conserve free-ranging carnivores in South Africa is more complicated than it appears – ‘a mosaic’ of unequal protection across different land management types. The private areas do not play the same role, and may not be a conservation panacea.
Ocean acidification causing coral ‘osteoporosis’ on iconic reefs
Scientists have long suspected that ocean acidification is affecting corals’ ability to build their skeletons, but it has been challenging to isolate its effect from that of simultaneous warming ocean temperatures, which also influence coral growth. New research reveals the distinct impact that ocean acidification is having on coral growth on some of the world’s iconic reefs.
Joint venture looks to invest billions in ‘natural capital’ projects to help combat climate change
A push to better recognise the economic value of “natural capital” – water systems, biodiversity, soil and carbon stores – has prompted the creation of what aims to be the world’s largest investment firm dedicated to projects that help the planet.
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