Date: 25 November 2020 at 8:54:38 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 25
Post of the Day
Restoration of degraded grasslands can benefit climate change mitigation and key ecosystem services
New research has demonstrated how, in contrast to encroachment by the invasive alien tree species Prosopis julifora (known as `Mathenge` in Kenya or `Promi` in Baringo), restoration of grasslands in tropical semi-arid regions can both mitigate the impacts of climate change and restore key benefits usually provided by healthy grasslands for pastoralists and agro-pastoralist communities.
On This Day
Climate Change
Strengthening the climate change scenario framework
Over the past decade, the climate change research community developed a scenario framework that combines alternative futures of climate and society to facilitate integrated research and consistent assessment to inform policy. An international team of researchers assessed how well this framework is working and what challenges it faces.
Biden to name former Secretary of State John Kerry as presidential climate envoy
President-elect Joe Biden will name former secretary of state John Kerry as a presidential envoy on climate, according to his transition team, signaling his commitment to elevating the issue of climate change under his administration.
Can a hike through a VR forest make people understand climate change?
Scientists are letting people walk through virtual Wisconsin trees and then showing them the effects of changing global temperatures.
National
“We will pay a heavy price for this”, Turnbull savages Morrison and Taylor over climate
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull eviscerates Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor’s stance on climate, saying Morrison over-channelled Trump.
Investors head offshore as lack of zero emissions target delays Australian transition
Investors say the Morrison government’s refusal to adopt a zero emissions target is holding back investment and the transition away from fossil fuels.
‘Let’s get on with it’, urges energy chief [$]
Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott said the changes to the electricity grid from renewables and exiting coal was unstoppable.
Batteries and hydrogen ready to take off [$]
Lithium ion batteries are in heavy demand from major utilities as a second wave of demand rises beyond that of electric vehicles.
The quest for ‘enough megawatts when we need them’ [$]
The problem of ensuring there’s enough power generating capacity when it’s needed has become increasingly urgent to solve as the grid transitions to more renewable energy.
Labor committed to clean energy: Butler
Labor’s $20 billion energy policy showed the party was committed to clean power, long-time energy and climate change spokesman Mark Butler said, as Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese played down his party’s internal debate on climate targets.
Origin CEO says virus has hastened clean energy shift
The head of power giant Origin Energy says the dramatic transformation of the energy market is accelerating faster than anyone in the industry would have predicted even six months ago and requires co-ordination between state and federal governments to manage the changes smoothly.
Black Summer bushfire health impact revealed in new report
Those living with asthma and other respiratory illnesses were among the hardest hit by the weather conditions generated by the summer’s bushfires. Now a new report has confirmed the toll the smoke haze and bushfires had on people’s health.
Morrison’s infuriating climate pledge: We’ll only cheat if we need to
Ketan Joshi
Australia’s next big emissions projections are due soon. Renewables will do the heavy lifting, but how will the gap to Paris be filled?
AFR View
The energy sector cannot afford not to make decisions on a future national electricity market.
Australia is a net zero embarrassment [$]
Chanticleer
Australia’s pathway to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is littered with massive challenges. But the sooner we start the better it will be for the economy.
Victoria
Fury as Andrews Government approves contaminated soil dump in regional ‘food bowl’
Residents of Bacchus Marsh say a State Government decision to store spoil from the West Gate Tunnel dig near the town shows “contempt for regional Victoria”.
“Let’s not kill EVs”: Main car lobby slams Victoria’s electric vehicle tax
News that Victoria will join SA in introducing electric vehicle tax is met with strong opposition with industry stakeholders saying it is “backwards” and “will kill off” the fledgling…
New Investment in resources sector
The Victorian Budget 2020/21 was handed down today and it included new funding to support the resources sector.
Victoria budgets $540m to develop six new Renewable Energy Zones
Victoria sets aside $540m in 2020/21 state budget to develop renewable energy hubs across the state in “unprecedented” public spend on greening the grid.
Leap forward for world-leading carbon capture and storage research facility
Minister for Education Dan Tehan said world-leading energy research was happening in Wannon as he visited the newly renamed Otway International Test Centre.
New South Wales
Traditional Owners to continue fight against proposed go-kart track
Wiradyuri Elders in Bathurst say they will do whatever it takes to save a sacred women’s site on Wahluu from destruction.
Narrabri gas project clears final hurdle, work to begin in the new year
A controversial multi-billion-dollar coal seam gas project in north-west NSW, which has been touted to meet half the state’s gas needs, has cleared its final hurdle and work will commence in 2021.
Coal and gas lobbies take aim at NSW renewable energy plan
Australia’s coal and gas lobby has come out all guns blazing against the New South Wales government’s renewable energy transition plan, threatening legal action and an investment strike that could lead to higher prices and raise fears of a supply shortage.
Why the White Bay power station should become a museum of climate change
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Urban decay tells us who we are and where we’ve come from. The obvious story an old coal-fired power plant can tell us is about global warming.
Thomas Murray et al
Over the past six months, tourists and locals have been shocked to see Byron’s famous Main Beach literally disappearing, inundated with water and debris.
Queensland
‘We don’t need Disneyland on the Daintree’: Community divided over increasing access to rainforest
Tourism sustains the community living in and around the Daintree Rainforest, but constant growth has forced the council to consider expanding transport infrastructure. Yet, tension remains over exactly how much development is okay.
Make way for the e-bike: council to axe CityCycle scheme
Brisbane City Council will end its troubled and expensive CityCycle scheme and will instead embrace e-bikes and e-scooters as a way to encourage residents and visitors onto active transport.
South Australia
Mining company ordered to cease pumping in Adelaide mangrove dieback investigation
A salt mining company accused of reinstating a pump against the terms of its tenancy is part of an investigation into what is causing the dieback of a popular mangrove forest north of Adelaide.
12 years, $2.1bn, and more money at the end of the tunnel [$]
SA’s controversial contract with private train operator Keolis Downer will initially cost $163m a year – but rises sharply at the end of the deal.
Tasmania
Eaglehawk Neck road widening could impact Aboriginal burial site: Greens [$]
A road widening project on the Tasman Peninsula has the potential to encroach on an ancient Aboriginal burial site where up to 80 people may have been laid to rest, the Tasmanian Greens say.
Deer control back on the agenda as Senate committee meets in Launceston
There are concerns that commercialised deer meat in Tasmania would fail to meet Australian standards for traceability as calls grow for a population management plan.
Tasmania’s population projection predicted to plummet
Tasmania’s population projections are set to take a hit as pandemic border closures negatively impact state growth.
How an infectious tumor in Tasmanian devils evolved as it spread
A transmissible cancer in the Tasmanian devil has evolved over the past two decades, with some lineages spreading and replacing others, according to a new study in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Young Mi Kwon, Kevin Gori, and Elizabeth Murchison of the University of Cambridge (UK) and colleagues. The evolutionary dynamics of the cancer help explain how this Australian marsupial has become so quickly endangered, and may shed light on the evolution of other forms of cancer.
Chris Ord
Rail trails are a powerful tool in (re)connecting community and energising local economies.
Sustainability
Renewables were sole source of new US generating capacity in last quarter
Renewable energy sources were the sole source of new capacity added to the US grid between June and September.
IOP Publishing unveils new open access environmental journal series
IOP Publishing (IOPP) is launching a suite of new open access (OA) environmental journals, marking the creation of the Environmental Research series.
How air pollution could be harming your brain
According to one expert, “The risk of air pollution on the brain is a much broader risk factor than we’ve given it credit for.”
Supersized wind turbines generate clean energy–and surprising physics
As wind energy scales up, researchers study the fluid dynamics challenges
How growing plants helps you live longer and feel better
Psychiatrists say gardening can be as good for the soul as it is for the body.
Tracking and fighting fires on earth and beyond
Scientists demonstrate how fires burn and spread under different environmental conditions
Guiding the way to improved solar cell performance
Small molecules could hold the key to enhancing the efficiency of organic solar cells.
As South Africa clings to coal, a struggle for the right to breathe
Close ties between the ruling elite and the coal industry have helped perpetuate South Africa’s dependence on the dirtiest fossil fuel for electricity. But now residents of the nation’s most coal-intensive region are suing to force the government to clean up choking air pollution.
Researchers model urban airflows to help improve the design of drones, skyscrapers, and natural ventilation systems.
The three nuclear threats facing President-elect Biden
Ivo Daalder
The nuclear threats are but one among a host of pressing issues confronting Biden, but they could well come to dominate his entire presidency.
Global warming likely to increase disease risk for animals worldwide
Changes in climate can increase infectious disease risk in animals, researchers found — with the possibility that these diseases could spread to humans, they warn.
Restoration of degraded grasslands can benefit climate change mitigation and key ecosystem services
New research has demonstrated how, in contrast to encroachment by the invasive alien tree species Prosopis julifora (known as `Mathenge` in Kenya or `Promi` in Baringo), restoration of grasslands in tropical semi-arid regions can both mitigate the impacts of climate change and restore key benefits usually provided by healthy grasslands for pastoralists and agro-pastoralist communities.
Climate change is sending some species the wrong way
Not every animal has the power to migrate to cooler climes.
Seagrass: Another vital carbon-sequestering ecosystem threatened by climate change
Underwater meadows have rapidly disappeared around the world, but new research suggests they may be the easiest coastal habitat to restore.
Kathryn Williams et al
With three hearts, blue blood, no bones and eight limbs attached to a bulbous head, octopuses seem like they’re from another planet. But in My Octopus Teacher, the hugely popular nature documentary on Netflix, these cephalopods as not only presented as remarkable — but relatable.
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