Post of the Day
New report highlights limitations of CCS after stumbles at flagship project
At a time when wind and solar are surpassing expectations, a slew of new reports are showing that CCS isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
On This Day
Arbor Day – Jordan, Egypt and Malta
Climate Change
2020 was hottest year on record by narrow margin, Nasa says
Due to different methods, US Noaa judged year as fractionally cooler than 2016 while UK Met Office put 2020 in close second place
Countries adapting too slowly to climate breakdown, UN warns
Report says not enough funding is being made available to deal with effects of extreme weather
Dalai Lama says he ‘felt real hope’ after hearing Greta Thunberg speak on climate crisis – video
The Dalai Lama met climate activist Greta Thunberg virtually on Saturday.
Climate change is hurting children’s diets, global study finds
Rising temperatures contribute to child malnutrition and reduced diet quality
A climate in crisis calls for investment in direct air capture, new research finds
Wartime-level funding for a fleet of carbon dioxide scrubbers could slow warming, but stopping climate change still requires deep cuts in emissions
Human-induced climate change caused the northwestern Pacific warming record in August 2020
A once-in-1000-year warming event has been already altered to occur once per 15 years because of past human activities
New classification marks paradigm shift in how conservationists tackle climate change
A new study introduces a classification called Resistance-Resilience-Transformation (RRT) that enables the assessment of whether and to what extent a management shift toward transformative action is occurring in conservation.
Greenland melting likely increased by bacteria in sediment
Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island’s contribution to sea-level rise, according to Rutgers scientists.
A climate in crisis calls for investment in direct air capture, new research finds
There is a growing consensus among scientists as well as national and local governments representing hundreds of millions of people, that humanity faces a climate crisis that demands a crisis response. New research from the University of California San Diego explores one possible mode of response: a massively funded program to deploy direct air capture (DAC) systems that remove CO2 directly from the ambient air and sequester it safely underground.
What 2020’s bizarre economy taught us about climate change
U.S. carbon pollution hasn’t been this low in decades—that’s the bad news.
National
New report highlights limitations of CCS after stumbles at flagship project
At a time when wind and solar are surpassing expectations, a slew of new reports are showing that CCS isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Australia’s freedom of information regime labelled ‘dysfunctional’ in scathing audit
An Australian Conservation Foundation report urges an investigation into how ministers treat requests for government documents
Labor fears humanitarian crisis on Australian coal ships stranded off China
The opposition calls on the Morrison government to work to repair the relationship with Beijing as exporters face a ‘grim’ year
Media coverage of climate was hit by COVID19 but it’s time for a comeback
Ketan Joshi
Did the pandemic hurt climate coverage? Yes – but not for long, and not as much as you might think. And it’s set to come back in a big way
Victoria
Minister Richard Wynne approves Victorian lead smelter
Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne has intervened to approve a Chinese company’s controversial proposal for a lead battery recycling plant in the Latrobe Valley in the state’s east, bypassing a pending Victorian Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision on the project, which had been rejected by the local council and community.
Don’t hold your breath for clean air in Victoria
Tim Read
A year ago, bushfires blanketed major Australian cities with smoke, but coal fired power stations are their own major source of air pollution.
New South Wales
Investors could leave Lendlease over development in koala habitat, experts say
Sustainable business experts have warned property developer Lendlease it risks losing investors over a housing project in the middle of koala habitat.
Young abandon condoms to save planet as diseases rise [$]
Concerns about the environmental impact of plastic condoms is leading some “eco-sexuals” to go condom free – contributing to a concerning spike in STIs.
Jurassic Bark: Vow to protect rare ‘Dinosaur trees’ [$]
New measures will be put in place to save a tiny colony of an ancient tree species that dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
ACT
Nation’s capital celebrates strong year for households embracing solar power
ACT government celebrates strong uptake of rooftop solar, with more than 4,200 systems added in 2020.
Solar panel installations in Canberra on the rise [$]
Canberra has experienced a surge in the number of solar panels installed in recent months, thanks in part to the impact of COVID-19.
MyWay ticketing negotiations fall through, deemed too expensive
The government’s plans to introduce a new public transport ticketing system that would allow people to tap on and off with their credit cards have fallen through after it failed to come to an agreement with a chosen provider.
South Australia
Marine microalgae could be the solution to the world’s meat protein shortage
A group of Adelaide scientists are turning the single-cell organisms from the ocean into “ecofriendly superfoods”, to create sustainable and ethical alternatives to animal proteins.
Tasmania
New deforestation, land clearing hotspots emerging in Tasmania: WWF
New deforestation and land clearing hotspots have emerged in Tasmania since 2015, according to new analysis by WWF Australia.
Tamar River residents groups vent frustration at TEMT’s ‘slow pace’
Residents and users of the Tamar River tired of the sediment build-up in the estuary have taken aim at the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce, with calls for the body to be made independent of government.
Doling out a giant bog of fudge pudding
John Powell
The almighty has spoken and under the instruction of TasWater, the Minister has foreseen that the death knell of the platypus, astacopsis, rakali, white breasted sea eagle , not to mention trout and tourists is nigh! Oh, and I forgot the demise of an historic town that signalled the onset of the mining industry on the West Coast, and saved Tasmania from annexure to Victoria.
Northern Territory
Federal Government tips another $173 million into Top End gas reserve
The Federal Government accelerates plans to develop the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, investing a further $173 million dollars into a gas reserve its own strategy says could face “serious challenges”.
Western Australia
Western Australia LNG plant faces calls to shut down until faulty carbon capture system is fixed
Environmental groups blast state government for failure to penalise Chevron’s Gorgon plant for increased greenhouse gas emissions
WA Government greenlights fracking exploration in Kimberley
Buru Energy and Origin Energy have partnered for drilling exploration and possible fracking in the Canning Basin of Western Australia’s Kimberley region despite protest from community.
Sustainability
A touch of spice key to more efficient and longer lasting solar panels, researchers discover
Researchers find capsaicin, the chemical that gives chilli its spice, helps produce stable and efficient perovskite solar cells.
Environmental work can be undesirable in Russia
Russian lawmakers target Greenpeace
Turn off that camera during virtual meetings, environmental study says
A new study says that despite a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020, a pandemic-driven shift to remote work and more at-home entertainment still presents significant environmental impact due to how internet data is stored and transferred around the world.
Giving the hydrogen economy an acid test
Tsukuba University scientists show that the effectiveness of hydrogen-producing metal catalysts protected by graphene depends on the ability of protons to penetrate into the inner metallic surface. This work may lead to widely available hydrogen-powered cars.
Concept for a hybrid-electric plane may reduce aviation’s air pollution problem
A proposed hybrid-electric plane could “eliminate aviation’s air pollution problem,” say MIT engineers. Their design could reduce global nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 95 percent, they report in a study.
As world’s deltas sink, rising seas are far from only culprit
Although climate change is often blamed for coastal inundation in places like the Bay of Bengal, other factors such as dam building and urbanization play an important role. Scientists say that more sustainable development policies can help blunt the impacts of rising seas.
The digital divide between charities
David Crosbie
As charities look to the year ahead, they could do worse than begin this reflection by asking if they might benefit from more effective use of technology in the way they go about their work
And then there were two: can northern white rhinos be saved from extinction?
There are only two remaining rhinos of this species, a mother and daughter, but scientists see new hope in stem cell breakthroughs
Indonesia resolves to end Bali beach pollution emergency
The monsoon season has caused havoc on the Indonesian island of Bali, causing tonnes of plastic to wash up on beaches along Bali’s west coast.
Understanding future species distribution: new data for biogeographers
A new CMCC global and free access dataset of 35 bioclimatic indicators just presented on Nature Scientific Data. It will complement and enlarge the availability of spatialized bioclimatic information, crucial aspect in many ecological and environmental studies and for several disciplines, including forestry, biodiversity conservation, plant and landscape ecology.
Posidonia marine seagrass can catch and remove plastics from the sea
Posidonia oceanica seagrass -an endemic marine phanerogam with an important ecological role in the marine environment- can take and remove plastic materials that have been left at the sea, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Monitoring tropical deforestation is now free and easy
Thanks to the rollout of free, high-resolution satellite imagery, the job of monitoring deforestation in tropical forests just got a lot easier.
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