Post of the Day
Habitat loss 18 percent since 1700s
Climate breakdown and changes of land use have caused mammals, birds and amphibians to lose on average 18 percent of their habitat worldwide since 1700, research indicates.
On This Day
Climate Change
The fall of Trump propels the climate story into a decisive new era
Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election is the biggest development in the climate story in years, if only because it means that the story might not have a hellish ending after all.
Climate change and the 2020 hurricane record: What we know
Scientists can’t say for sure whether global warming is causing more hurricanes, but they are confident that it’s changing the way storms behave. Here’s how.
Can Biden’s climate change plans be transformative?
Edward R. Carr
He can do a lot to reverse the damage done by the outgoing administration—but will he go further?
National
Australian researchers build new AI that could solve challenge of cheaper solar power
Australian researchers unveil a new artificial intelligence platform that fast-track the development of cheaper and more efficient solar cells.
Former ARENA, CEFC heads call on Coalition to abandon “flawed” green bank changes
Former heads of the CEFC and ARENA issue joint call for Morrison government to abandon “flawed” plans to open up the CEFC to fossil fuel investments.
Safeguarding our shared cultural heritage
There are thousands of agreements in place between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but Traditional Owners need the right data to inform decision making
Study: Cane toads are getting harder, better, faster, stronger
They’re big, they’re poisonous and now cane toads are getting even stronger.
App allows city-dwellers to turn citizen scientists and track Australia’s urban birds
Big City Birds app launched to help researchers better understand sulphur-crested cockatoo, ibis and brush-turkey
Green power: Woolies, miner signal renewables shift
The renewables push by Australia’s largest retailer puts pressure on rival Coles to follow suit.
With Fitzgibbon gone, Labor has a chance to be a climate leader
Prominent Labor party figures say Joel Fitzgibbon’s exit from shadow cabinet is an opportunity for Labor to demonstrate its true climate policy credentials.
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Joel Fitzgibbon on Labor climate policy and leadership – podcast
Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon this week quit the frontbench, ensuring he’ll become even more vocal in his campaign to have Labor’s climate policy move to the centre and the party give greater attention to the working class part of its constituency.
Joel Fitzgibbon takes a stand — to defend coal multinationals [$]
Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer
Demand for thermal coal has collapsed but the renegade MP continues to carry the flag for a dying industry.
Dark cloud over Albo after coal-fuelled resignation
Tom Minear
It was supposed to be a good week for Anthony Albanese. But the resignation of a Labor frontbencher not only distracted from the turmoil engulfing the Liberal party, but cast a shadow over his leadership.
Labor’s battle over climate change action
Age editorial
Having a strong climate policy and capturing a larger share of blue-collar voters should not be mutually exclusive.
Labor’s civil war hides Coalition’s power failures
AFR view
The climate wars are now pulling Labor apart. Yet the price of the Coalition’s new political edge on climate change is an incoherent energy policy that undermines investment in cheaper, cleaner and more reliable power supplies.
Labor climate crisis: Mark Dreyfus fans ALP climate tension flames after Fitzgibbon exit [$]
Dennis Shanahan
Divisions and brawling within Labor over climate change and energy policies are making Anthony Albanese’s challenge to Scott Morrison’s handling of the COVID-19 recession even more difficult.
Labor would keep us handcuffed to the Paris climate deal [$]
Daniel Wild
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus’s comment yesterday that Joel Fitzgibbon’s opinions on climate change represented the views of “only a handful” of people within the Labor Party is precisely what someone representing the bayside suburbs of Melbourne would say.
‘Bushfires’ Royal Commission – a predictable disappointment
Mark Poynter
Unfortunately, the RC was not designed to seriously act on the major issues that could more substantially reduce the bushfire threat, such as land management and fire-fighting practices.
Biden climate posturing could be trouble for Scott Morrison [$]
Greg Sheridan
The election of Joe Biden as US president will produce political challenges for the Morrison government over climate change. Biden will race ahead rhetorically, even if he actually doesn’t do that much. The challenge to Canberra will be rhetorical, not substantial, but could be tricky.
Victoria
Rock climbing restrictions, dingo release under plan to protect Grampians
Move sparks the ire of climbers, but traditional owners have welcomed the proposed changes.
Big issue with Victoria’s renewable energy surge [$]
The record influx of new renewable energy generators into Victoria’s power system may have to slow down to protect the stability of the grid, the energy market operator has warned.
Campfires, burn-offs pose serious bushfire threat [$]
The CFA is urging Victorians to be careful with recreational fires this summer as worrying data reveals about a quarter of all bushfires are linked to private fires that grew out of control.
New South Wales
Striking purple swamphen emerges for first time in decades
A unique bird makes a comeback on the New South Wales south coast after being elusive in parts of the region for almost 40 years.
Cultural burning set to scale up in bushfire-ravaged Bega Valley
After the worst fires in Australia’s recorded history, the Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council prepares to expand its successful cultural burning program.
Queensland
‘Get on with the job’: Palaszczuk unveils ministers in new Queensland Cabinet
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveils the make-up of her third-term Cabinet, handing the reins of the environment portfolio to the youngest frontbencher in the state’s history.
Brisbane’s most dangerous cycling routes revealed
RACQ research finds two thirds of Brisbane’s most popular inner-city cycling routes have no safe infrastructure for riders, but Brisbane City Council says its efforts to make one road safer were met with opposition.
Private sector cash holds key to future infrastructure, say economic leaders
The Palaszczuk government is looking for more private investment to help Queensland realise its potential as an economic powerhouse.
RSPCA calls on Qld environment minister to pledge new wildlife hospital
Queensland’s RSPCA is struggling to cope with a large increase in injured wildlife to its network of wildlife hospitals, with almost 26,000 injured animals in the past 12 months.
South Australia
Electric vehicle charge sparks anger from owners, environmental groups
The State Government says it plans to charge electric vehicle drivers to use the roads and that two other jurisdictions are interested in following its lead within 12 months.
Lightning strikes jolt Adelaide and start fires on Yorke Peninsula
About 100,000 lightning strikes cause a spectacular light show, as well as fires and power outages, amid wind gusts up to 120 kilometres an hour.
Residents, schools and businesses still in dark on “generational” tunnel plan
Residents affected by construction of the state’s biggest infrastructure project will remain in the dark about the future of their properties until at least the middle of next year, with the Marshall Government still several months away from delivering a detailed business plan for the $8.9 billion South Road project.
Real-time fuel pricing delayed, but coming
The two-year trial a real-time fuel pricing scheme in SA has been delayed until next year, but $1.2m has been set aside in the State Budget.
Tasmania
Orange-bellied parrot: best year in a decade for critically endangered bird
At least 40 parrots returned to a remote breeding site in Tasmania so far this year following intense efforts to boost numbers
Tasmanian red handfish bred in captivity released
A breeding program has likely doubled the population of red handfish, after 42 juveniles were released into the wild.
One of the state’s most popular fishing spots has been left to dry out into “nothing more than a muddy, smelly ditch” a leading state fisher says, while irrigation works were seen neighbouring the creek.
Forest furnaces are not renewable energy
Cassy O’Connor
In a climate emergency, we have a scientific and moral imperative to decrease our carbon emissions to slow down the planet’s warming. Naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, tells us if we want to rein in global heating we have to stop deforestation and start rewilding.Burning forests for energy doesn’t fit this picture, but the Gutwein Government is moving down that path.
Northern Territory
NT population to grow by 5000 after years of decline
The Northern Territory’s population is finally expected to slowly grow again after three years of decline and increase by 5000 people over the next five years, according to budget forecasts.
Western Australia
From feral to food: Plans to milk Australian camels to make infant formula
Western Australia’s only camel dairy has its sights set on the $56 billion infant formula market and, if successful, it might turn a profit from Australia’s feral camel problem.
Freo go-slow gets green light, but mayor wants to take it further
Main Roads WA has backed an application from the City of Fremantle to expand its 40km/h zone across three coastal suburbs.
Fortescue to take on fossil fuel giants with expansion into green energy
Fortescue Metals Group is on a collision course with the fossil fuels sector with a new green energy arm aiming to produce renewable energy at a global scale and cost comparative to traditional energy companies such as Chevron.
Sustainability
Renewable energy generation will overtake coal within 5 years, says IEA
A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) has cast a spotlight on the incredible resilience of renewable energy growth to the emergence of the COVID19 pandemic. Combined with the setbacks suffered by existing generation, this has increased the pace of decarbonisation in the world’s power sector and set the world on a better pathway in the coming decade.
Smart devices to schedule electricity use may prevent blackouts
In the journal Chaos, researchers show demand side control may be an effective solution to stabilizing the reliability of power grids that use a mix of energy generation sources.
People plan to drive more post-Covid, climate poll shows
People are planning to drive more in future than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests, even though the overwhelming majority accept human responsibility for the climate crisis.
The population debate: Are there too many people on the planet?
The world population is 7.7 billion. What do our growing numbers mean for economic security, climate change, environmental destruction and the likelihood of pandemics?
What environmental rule rollbacks will Trump try to sneak through before the end?
After four years of allowing more pollution and emissions, the Trump administration has 10 weeks left to accomplish its deregulatory agenda. The Midnight Watch Project is keeping a list, so it can all be fixed after.
Barcelona launches 10-year plan to reclaim city streets from cars
Barcelona has launched an ambitious 10-year plan to reclaim the city’s streets from cars and cut down pollution with the creation of green spaces and public squares.
Terminator salvation? New machine learning program to accelerate clean energy generation
A new type of machine learning model will predict the efficiency of materials that can be used in next-generation organic solar panels, including ‘virtual’ compounds that don’t exist yet. The program is free and easy to use for scientists and engineers creating prototype devices.
Time to launch carbon plan for shipping is now, industry says
The shipping industry must act now in order to meet U.N. targets to cut carbon emissions by 2050, leading officials said on Wednesday, ahead of a meeting next week that will seek to advance a plan.
New Delhi finds no respite from ‘severe’ air pollution
New Delhi is suffering its worst spell of pollution this year, with the air quality remaining in the ‘severe’ category for a seventh consecutive day.
Biden’s key climate threat is America’s gas-fired curse
Ketan Joshi
If Biden can wrest free of the Obama-era gas curse, it’s going to be a massive and unprecedented win for climate. Then we can really begin the celebrations.
Mini-nuclear plants may be an experiment worth exploring
Nils Pratley
Rolls-Royce gave an eye-catching pitch but the economics of nuclear power needs further inspection
New research identifies ‘triple trouble’ for mangrove coasts
Some of the world’s most valuable ecosystems are facing a “triple threat” to their long-term durability and survival, new research shows.
New study uses satellites and field studies to improve coral reef restoration
A recent study published in Restoration Ecology by researchers from Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science (GDCS) found evidence that particulate organic carbon levels are one of the most important factors in determining coral outplant survival.
Light pollution helps chicks survive as birds ‘catch up’ to early spring caused by climate change
Light pollution is helping more chicks survive as some birds “catch up” to the early spring caused by climate change, a study has found.
Report sounds an alarm on ongoing decline of US coral reefs
A first of its kind assessment of coral reefs in U.S. waters is again sounding the alarm over the continued decline of these sensitive underwater ecosystems, which scientists deem essential to the health of the world’s oceans amid the environmental effects posed by human activity and climate change.
Habitat loss 18 percent since 1700s
Climate breakdown and changes of land use have caused mammals, birds and amphibians to lose on average 18 percent of their habitat worldwide since 1700, research indicates.
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