Daily Links Mar 25

People care about climate change but it seems, do not vote accordingly. This is the problem with the concept of the ‘mandate’. When there’s a raft of policies, can a mandate be claimed for every one of them? Franking credits, negative gearing and and self-interest, ‘death tax’ scare-mongering, wiping away ‘robo-debt’, climate change was up against powerful interests and with media concentration serving the conservatives, we saw the result – and it wasn’t for serious climate policy. 

Post of the Day

If 80% of Australians care about climate action, why don’t they vote like it?

Rebecca Colvin and Frank Jotzo

Poll after poll suggests a large majority of Australians cares about climate change. Yet in recent federal elections, this hasn’t translated into wins for parties with stronger policy platforms on climate change.

 

On This Day

March 25

Feast of the Annunciation – Western Christianity

 

Climate Change

NATO chief: Melting Arctic ice could heat up geopolitics

With China and Russia expanding their military presence in the Arctic, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told DW melting ice could increase geopolitical tensions and show the “security impacts of climate change.”

 

Net zero targets show promise, but many lack substance and short term targets

Ketan Joshi

A global stocktake of net zero targets finds many lack substance and short term ambition, leading to greenwashing and marketing deception.

 

Scientists need to face both facts and feelings when dealing with the climate crisis

Kimberly Nicholas

I was taught to use my head, not my heart. But acknowledging sadness at what is lost can help us safeguard the future

 

National

Angus Taylor has never asked Climate Change Authority to model zero carbon pathway

Climate Change Authority tells inquiry that it has not been asked to model a zero emissions pathway for Australia.

 

ACCC boss slams ‘stunning failures’ to make our gas cheaper

The gas industry has been accused of stunning failures in market reform which has led to overseas buyers of Australian gas paying less than domestic users.

 

Car industry begs Morrison government to adopt sector-specific emissions target

Major car brands have signed up to industry standards for reductions in carbon emissions and want the federal government to adopt the target too.

 

Australians across political divide want climate action: ANU survey

Most Australians across the political divide want action on the climate crisis, but a legacy of “toxic politics” is at odds with the social shift of the past decade, researchers say.

 

Fed warns measuring climate risk ‘extremely difficult’ [$]

Unlike many shocks, climate change is an “ongoing, cumulative process” that will shake up traditional financial stability models based on the past, says the Fed.

 

Coal miners turn on One Nation over IR bill ‘betrayal’ [$]

One miner regularly trotted out by One Nation said he felt “betrayed at the highest level”, while the party’s star candidate is concerned about the effect on votes in coal regions.

 

It’s not too late for Australia to forestall a dystopian future that alternates between Mad Max and Waterworld

Michael Mann

Catastrophic fires and devastating floods are part of Australia’s harsh new climate reality. The country must do its part to lower carbon emissions

 

Fixing Australia’s solar traffic jam will make selling sunshine two-way street

Benn Barr

There are now more than 2.6 million households and small businesses with solar PV on their roofs, and the forecasts are that by 2030, some 6 million households – 50 per cent of us – will be using a distributed energy resource such as solar PV, batteries or electric cars to power our lives.

 

If 80% of Australians care about climate action, why don’t they vote like it?

Rebecca Colvin and Frank Jotzo

Poll after poll suggests a large majority of Australians cares about climate change. Yet in recent federal elections, this hasn’t translated into wins for parties with stronger policy platforms on climate change.

 

Victoria

Push to phase out coal in 9 years

Victorian academics and scientists have slammed inaction on climate change with one saying coal needed to be phased out by 2030.

 

Ten climate rebels arrested [$]

Protesters are facing public nuisance charges after police cracked down on Extinction Rebellion activists causing havoc in the CBD.

 

New South Wales

The dam that busted open an old NSW cabinet wound

Alexandra Smith

Flood or drought, water is a divisive issue for the NSW government.

 

Managed retreat of settlements remains a tough call even as homes flood and coasts erode

Tayanah O’Donnell

It is no joke that New South Wales residents are in the midst of their fourth “one in 100 year” event since January 2020. Much of the Australian east coast continues to experience heavy rainfall, strong winds and abnormally high tides. All will make the current floods worse.

 

White Bay redevelopment will be an epic battle for Sydney’s heart

SMH editorial

The government must work hard to ensure the final site lives up to today’s vision.

 

After the floods, stand by for spiders, slugs and millipedes – but think twice before reaching for the bug spray

Caitlyn Forster et al

Humans aren’t the only ones in trouble. Many of the animals that live with and around us are also heading for higher ground as the floodwaters rise.

 

ACT

ACT government responds to two key reports on black summer bushfires

The ACT government has dismissed a key recommendation from its own advisory body to commission an independent review into the territory’s bushfire season, saying they have already undertaken one.

 

Queensland

Genex goes it alone for Kidston hydro equity after landing new deal from ARENA

Genex turns to its shareholders to raise $110m needed to build its flagship Kidston pumped hydro project, while ARENA chips in with a new $47m grant.

 

South Australia

AGL gives green light to 250MW Torrens big battery in South Australia

AGL gives green light to 250MW Torrens big battery in South Australia, although storage will initially be for one hour rather than the four hours originally flagged.

 

‘High school chemistry’ process to make cement industry carbon-neutral

Researchers say they have developed a process that uses “high school chemistry” that could make the building concrete industry carbon-neutral by recycling the carbon it uses.

 

After years of discussion, Adelaide is no closer to getting an east-west bikeway

A continuous bike path connecting Adelaide’s west end with an existing north-south bikeway in the eastern CBD is knocked back, following concerns over its impact on parking and businesses.

 

Rewriting the rule book for rooftop solar [$]

One third of SA homes have solar panels and now the energy market rule maker wants to allow fees for excess solar fed into the grid during low demand periods.

 

Northern Territory

$4.7B NT gas project decision weeks away [$]

A final investment decision on Santos’ $4.7 billion Barossa project to supply replacement gas for the Darwin LNG plant, is anticipated in the coming weeks with the company awarding the biggest contract for the project

 

Sustainability

Scientist tells of relief after speaking out over weedkiller fears

Toxicologist Jon Heylings speaks of his long-held concerns over paraquat, which is linked to thousands of deaths globally

 

‘A sip can kill’: did a chemical company misrepresent data to avoid making a safer product?

A former Syngenta scientist alleges lives could have been saved with tweaks to the formulation of weedkiller paraquat

 

Indonesian campaigners triumph against a coal mine in top court

Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected a final appeal from a coal company after it and the ministry of energy and mines lost a lawsuit filed by the Indonesian NGO Walhi three years earlier.

 

Failure of governments to value water leading to widespread waste, UN says

Water waste is an increasing problem, as climate breakdown and rising populations place more pressure on water resources. But in many instances, waste is ignored because governments fail to place a value on water.

 

Cost of lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 97 percent, study says

A new MIT study shows that the cost of lithium-ion batteries — used to power phones, laptops, and electric vehicles — has fallen by 97 percent over the past three decades.

 

Dangerous landfill pollutants ranked in order of toxicity

To help environmental agencies battle the toxic threats posed by landfills, researchers have developed a system that ranks the toxins present in a landfill by order of toxicity and quantity, allowing agencies to create more specific and efficient plans to combat leachate.

 

Coal plants fail on pollution norms, may cost 4,800 lives every year in India: Study

Research by independent group warns against rise in respiratory diseases and economic loss if air pollution increases.

 

Preventing the next Exxon Valdez

Buddy Custard

Instead of waiting for the next Exxon Valdez to spur us to action, now is the time to develop solutions.

 

Nature Conservation

What’s good for the ocean may also be good for business

Companies are trying to prove that conservation, sustainable fishing and carbon sequestration are profitable.

 

Lands grabs and other destructive environmental practices in Cambodia test the international criminal court

Three leading climate and human rights nonprofits have asked the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to pursue rampant “land grabbing” by the government of Cambodia and its commerce partners as a crime against humanity under the court’s jurisdiction.

 

Once-in-a-century UK wildfire threats could happen most years by end of century

Study shows extent to which likelihood of wildfire development in UK will increase under climate change

 

Rodenticides in the environment pose threats to birds of prey

Over the past decades, the increased use of chemicals in many areas led to environmental pollution – of water, soil and also wildlife. In addition to plant protection substances and human and veterinary medical drugs, rodenticides have had toxic effects on wildlife.

 

Automatic trail cameras keep wildlife research going during pandemic

Researchers share how trail cameras enabled science to continue even without fieldwork

 

My team found 2,000 plastic bags inside a dead camel

Marcus Eriksen

Our plastic pollution crisis is out of control.



Maelor Himbury
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