https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210316100706.htm
Date: 18 March 2021 at 8:50:02 am AEDT
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Subject: Daily Links Mar 18
Post of the Day
A new way to measure human wellbeing towards sustainability
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better life for all and to ensure that no one is left behind. The partly overlapping and contradictory objectives of the SDGs can …
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Urban climate action focus of zero carbon city forum
The Zero Carbon City International Forum, hosted by the Government of Japan, got underway today with the aim of boosting the work done by cities in their quest for net zero emissions.
Green groups launch $10 million ad campaign pressuring Biden, Congress to spend huge on climate
“The Great American Build” campaign aims to set an aggressive starting point for negotiations over the size and scope of the infrastructure package.
National
New mining guidelines to protect cultural heritage
After the Minerals Council of Australia adopted new guidelines at the beginning of the month, Australian mining companies will now have to follow stricter rules around project impacts on First Nations communities and the environment.
Ramping up solar and wind projects could slash Australian emissions by 80 per cent
But experts say government must step up
A little seaweed a day makes the cow-burp methane go away
A trial where cattle were fed a small portion of seaweed in their diet has reduced their methane emissions by up to 86 per cent. But some scientists warn we need to be careful not to create “another cane toad”.
Bureaucrat urged to resign after $13m mistake in Australian government water buyback
Senator Rex Patrick and Labor demand an explanation of the $80m purchase from Eastern Australia Agriculture, saying it’s a scandal
Scott Morrison flags moving Australia to a ‘new energy economy’ in talks with US
PM cites ‘protecting jobs and livelihoods’ while ambassador to US says Canberra wants to ‘really move dial’ on emissions reduction
Australia pushes for international recognition of climate achievements
Australia is taking its push for practical climate action to the world with Prime Minister Scott Morrison arguing that achievement counts more than ambition and Energy Minister Angus Taylor calling for international collaboration on decarbonisation.
Private Equity fund Adamantem’s big climate bet [$]
Australian private equity house Adamantem Capital has taken a majority stake in carbon farming business Climate Friendly. It marks the latest strategic land grab in the increasingly important carbon offset sector.
We must do more to drive the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia
Trent Zimmerman
Changes to taxes and planning laws, and a national approach, should be priorities to make Australia a leader in the rollout of low-emissions vehicles
Cuts to auditing and corruption agencies hurt democracy and environment
Sue Arnold
Cuts to the ANAO and ICAC in NSW make governments less accountable and more capable of decisions that go against the public good.
CBAM! Australia’s carbon protectionism set to incur ugly cost [$]
Bernard Keane
The Europeans have a strong case for slapping carbon tariffs on Australia’s exports. And it could lead the way to a global carbon pricing scheme — one that would leave Australia badly exposed.
Cormann’s OECD campaign was a climate fakery trial run for Glasgow COP
Ketan Joshi
Australia’s government is about to re-activate its efforts to convince the world that it’s doing enough on climate (it is not).
Victoria
Temporary COVID measures made permanent in Victorian courts
A number of temporary COVID-19 measures put in place to ensure the administration of justice would operate smoothly during the global crisis will be made permanent under new legislation passed by the Victorian Parliament.
‘More the state can do’: Cheaper electric cars set to accompany new tax
Electric cars would be cheaper under a sweetener to crossbenchers the government is considering to ensure its electric vehicle tax becomes law.
Inquiry to probe Latrobe Valley shutdowns [$]
Economic fallout from the closures of power stations in the Latrobe Valley will be probed by a parliamentary inquiry.
Subsidy or not, Yallourn deal will likely set a precedent for more coal closures
Bruce Mountain
Much has been gained with the Yallourn closure deal. It would not be surprising to see other generators approaching the Government along similar lines.
New South Wales
Australia’s biggest coal state could reach 100 pct renewables by 2030, Reputex says
Report by Reputex says NSW could close all its coal fired power stations and be powered by renewables by 2030 – but it needs a plan.
Why NSW large-scale solar farms are delivering a bigger bang for their buck
NSW solar farms are performing a lot better than Queensland, Victoria and South Australia projects on the metric of spot revenue per MW of maximum capacity.
ACT
ANU researchers hope to teach lonely honeyeater love songs to help them find a mate
Scientists from the Australian National University are intervening to try to teach the love-deprived former songster how to chirp again.
Why the secrecy about school contamination?
Canberra Times editorial
The Education Directorate’s reluctance to tell parents which schools are contaminated with lead, asbestos, or both, is not just the latest example of the ACT government’s pursuit of secrecy for secrecy’s sake. It is also one of the more serious.
Queensland
Cape closed: Traditional Owners lock up the Tip, after tourists defecate on sacred sites
Tourists have been banned from entering Cape York’s most northern tip, after reports of defecating, littering and graffiti on sacred sites.
Fossil fuel-backed Great Barrier Reef Foundation mimics plastics campaign, sidesteps climate change
Elizabeth Minter
Why is the Great Barrier Reef Foundation throwing its weight behind a campaign that copies the successful grassroots initiative Plastics Free July? Climate change and its dramatic effect on the Reef remains the elephant in the room but the fossil-fuels backed GBRF continues to ignore it.
South Australia
Locals fight to save Kangaroo Island’s endangered hooded plovers as beach car access increases
An increase in car beach access on Kangaroo Island — which is home to around 200 adult hooded plovers — has seen the bird’s population decline, conservationists say.
Authorities remotely switch off thousands of SA home solar panels due to lack of power grid demand
Energy authorities in SA use new solar switch-off powers for the first time, remotely cutting output from thousands of rooftop units during “near-record minimum demand” to maintain the stability of the grid.
Tasmania
Tas Ag Co’s Sam and Steph Trethewey on regenerative agriculture [$]
A young Tasmanian farming family is out to prove beef farming is not the “punching bag” for climate change by focusing on what goes into the ground rather than what comes out of it.
Native forest logging protests
Shane Broad MP, Shadow Minister for Resources
Elise Archer is failing Tasmania’s timber industry by refusing to enforce Tasmania’s work health and safety laws to bring dangerous forest protests to an end.
Activists block works at Tarkine mine
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
Bob Brown Foundation is calling for the controversial Tarkine new mine at Riley creek to be halted. This morning, takayna defenders have blocked access to Venture Minerals’ Riley Creek mine site in an effort to prevent works on the controversial and environment destroying mine site.
Sustainability
Many facets of city growth follow universal scaling laws. While this fact is well established, researchers are still searching for the why. Carlos Molinero and Stefan Thurner, researchers at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, now offer a simple and elegant explanation: They derive urban scaling laws from 3D city geometry.
Commercial truck electrification is within reach
Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Los Angeles published a new study that makes the case for prioritizing public policy to help move long-haul trucking from diesel to electric. Doing so will mean huge gains in addressing the climate crisis and avoiding premature deaths due to local vehicular pollution, which disproportionately affects communities of color.
Militarization negatively influences green growth
Military expenditures are highly counterproductive to green economic growth- documented by a recent study conducted by UrFU economist collaboration with an international research team.
Subsidies most effective way to encourage sustainable food choices, study shows
Subsidising low carbon emission meals could encourage more people to choose them, according to new research.
A new way to measure human wellbeing towards sustainability
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better life for all and to ensure that no one is left behind. The partly overlapping and contradictory objectives of the SDGs can …
Bitcoin faces its ‘climate thing’ as miners consume more electricity than a medium-sized nation
As the price of the cryptocurrency continues to skyrocket, Bitcoin miners are tapping fossil fuels across the planet. But can Bitcoin go green, or is climate change embedded in Bitcoin’s code?
Microfibers from clothes can damage lungs and slow COVID-19 recovery
A recent study suggests we could be breathing in tiny fiber particles by doing laundry and even wearing clothes — but not everyone should be alarmed.
Hay fever linked to exposure to pollution before and after birth
Babies are more likely to develop allergic rhinitis, a condition that includes hay fever, if they are exposed to higher levels of fine particulate matter before and after birth.
This map shows how air pollution changed in 2020
The pandemic brought some big improvements—but many cities still had unsafe air.
When 1 in 3 users are tourists, that changes the bike-share equation for cities
Richard Buning
Bike-share programs have in the past been designed and operated with residents as the main focus. These shared bikes have mainly been regarded as a way to solve the “last mile problem” – the distance between the final destination and the closest public transport stop that’s seen as too far to walk and too close to drive.
Study shows how varying climate conditions impact vulnerable species
Peter Ungar, Distinguished Professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, and several co-authors analyzed tooth breakage and wear – both gross and micro – of Arctic foxes from Russia’s Yamal Peninsula and found that varying climate conditions in the Arctic affect the animals that live there
Lessons learned in Burkina Faso can contribute to a new decade of forest restoration
In 2018, the West African nation decided to restore 5 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. New research shows what works – and what doesn’t – when restoration coincides with degraded landscapes, pressure on natural resources and climate change.
Nicolás Younes Cárdenas
Australia is home to around 2% of the world’s mangrove forests and is the fifth most mangrove-forested country on Earth. Mangroves play a crucial role in the ecosystem thanks to the dizzying array of plants, animals and birds they feed, house and protect.
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