Post of the Day
Google Earth adds time lapse video to depict climate change
The Google Earth app is adding a new video feature that draws upon nearly four decades of satellite imagery to vividly illustrate how climate change has affected glaciers, beaches, forests and other places around the world.
On This Day
Ecological observance
Environment Day – Ukraine
Climate Change
Climate Crisis: Why 2050 goals aren’t good enough
With Joe Biden in office, a serious plan to combat climate change is finally in our sights — but the clock is ticking, and there is no more room for error.
Climate change makes Indian monsoon season stronger and more chaotic
Heavier rains that wash away crops could worsen hunger for a country in which farming makes up 20% of the economy.
Google Earth adds time lapse video to depict climate change
The Google Earth app is adding a new video feature that draws upon nearly four decades of satellite imagery to vividly illustrate how climate change has affected glaciers, beaches, forests and other places around the world.
European-style carbon taxes destined to spread, says former trade chief
The former World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy believes that the proposed EU carbon border tarrif is not only fair and reasonable, but inevitable.
Bill McKibben
A storied P.R. agency is playing with fire.
National
Australia plans to phase out ‘problematic and unnecessary’ plastic products by 2025
Australia’s environment ministers have agreed to phase out a raft of single-use plastics by 2025 in a bid to provide national consistency for industry.
Environment minister Sussan Ley says climate action not her portfolio in stoush with states
Ley understood to have told state counterparts coordinating with them on climate mitigation beyond her portfolio
How can Australia get to net zero by 2050? – Australian politics podcast
Katharine Murphy sits down with Labor MP Chris Bowen to talk about Labor’s potential roadmap to zero net emissions.
PM surveys cyclone damage, commits to climate change boost
Scott Morrison has flagged new measures to combat climate change in next month’s federal budget, admitting natural disasters have tested the nation’s resilience.
Morrison says net zero target won’t come at the expense of mining profits
Scott Morrison says Australia’s net zero carbon emissions by 2050 target won’t be at the expense of jobs or ‘big earnings’ on his first ever visit to the nation’s engine room in the Pilbara.
Community energy projects aim to produce cleaner, cheaper electricity and keep profits local
The way Australia produces electricity is changing. The traditional one-way, centralised market is being disrupted. Small communities are taking part in their energy future, getting together to produce electricity in their own towns. These communities want cheaper, cleaner electricity as well as local opportunities, and they’re tired of waiting.
Origin Energy stung by gas price ruling, slashes earning forecast
Origin Energy cuts profits after losing gas price arbitration, leaving the company paying more for gas and earning less for generation.
Transmission company questions Taylor’s gas plant, saying it would be rarely used
“More gas units will not increase the need for gas generation.” Transmission company doubts Angus Taylor’s 1,000MW Kurri Kurri gas plant will be built.
Australia’s recovery has not been gas-fired
Ben Oquist
The one thing we can say for sure about Australia’s economic recovery is that it has not been gas-fired.
Australia can no longer bluff its neighbours on climate change
Gordon Peake, Siobhan McDonnell
Aerial shots of Dili after this month’s Easter Sunday floods made Timor-Leste’s capital look like Venice, with brownish waterways where once there had been roads.
Let’s just get on with it and really tackle climate change [$]
John_Durie
Chloe Munro works from the simple rules “if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it” and in her case she likes “roles where I can see the outcome”.
US climate summit to be a reckoning for Morrison [$]
Mike Seccombe
While Joe Biden looks set to double America’s emissions reduction target at a meeting of world leaders next week, Australia’s ‘gas-fired recovery’ sees it increasingly isolated.
New South Wales
‘They just keep coming’: Mouse plague’s heavy toll [$]
Residents across western NSW are being driven to breaking point by the mice plague, as a psychologist said the mental health impacts of the infestation were comparable to bushfires and floods.
Upper Hunter by-election litmus test for political parties [$]
Vikki Campion
NSW Upper Hunter by-election is the premier political race right now and each party knows that to win, they must return back to pure bloodstock and stop the anti-ag and coal rhetoric.
Richard Denniss
When Malcolm Turnbull was dumped last week from New South Wales’ Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy advisory board as quickly as he was appointed, the move shocked many people. Turnbull was dropped by his own protégé, the state’s Environment minister, Matt Kean, and by a government in NSW that had previously seemed receptive to his brand of liberalism.
ACT
Canberra-first plan to protect native bee species in new suburbs
Flowers will spring up year round in the new Ginninderry suburbs, as part of a simple plan to protect native bees which is hoped to plant a seed and be taken up across the ACT.
Major renewable power providers to pitch for Canberra’s proposed Big Battery [$]
Already holding a huge fiscal stake in the ACT electricity market, French company Neoen is certain to be an aggressive bidder for the ACT’s proposed 250-megawatt-plus Big Canberra Battery project, which tentatively opened to the market this week.
ACT seeks proposals for massive 250MW ‘Big Canberra Battery’ network
ACT issues call for proposals for massive 250MW network of distributed big batteries.
Queensland
Townsville’s ‘road to Paris’ moment: the slow greening of an Adani stronghold
After years of a ‘coal-first’ mentality, the Queensland town is starting to see a future for itself as a green-energy powerhouse
German energy giant RWE in key green hydrogen trading deal in South Australia
Energy giant RWE strikes hydrogen trading deal with H2U that could see a South Australia facility expand to 1.5GW and deliver green hydrogen to Germany.
South Australia’s “other” big battery repays ARENA grant after windfall returns
The ElectraNet battery at Dalrymple has kicked plenty of goals in its first two years of operation, including earning enough revenue to repay a $12m grant.
Tasmania
Prince Philip’s stand for the Tassie wilderness [$]
The Duke of Edinburgh spoke out against drowning Lake Pedder and was an ardent voice for conservation, even down to a row with Electric Eric Reece.
Western Australia
Giant cuttlefish arriving early prompting hope of a tourist boom
Some giant cuttlefish have started to arrive weeks earlier than usual for their spectacular annual gathering at Whyalla on South Australia’s Spencer Gulf.
Woodside chairman calls for changes to AGM rules after activists dominate meeting
Richard Goyder says “real shareholders” are missing out on face time with company directors because of the actions of activists at annual general meetings.
Traditional owners mull legal options after miner avoids prosecution over sacred site damage
Traditional owners in the Kimberley are considering their legal options after the WA government decided not to pursue a case against a granite mining company which allegedly damaged a heritage site.
Seroja recovery to cost up to $200m: DFES
The clean-up bill for Tropical Cyclone Seroja will stretch into the hundreds of millions, with 126 homes along Western Australia’s mid-west coast rendered uninhabitable.
Sustainability
Slowing down fast fashion for Fashion Revolution Week
Fast fashion has also been criticized for its “throw-away” culture, as new styles so quickly supplant older garments. The man-made fabrics used also shed microfibers, a form of microplastics that pollute waterways, drinking water and affect aquatic life.
Most global food brands continue to have a dismal record on beef and deforestation
Despite pledges of reform, the world’s leading supermarket and fast-food companies are doing little to address the environmental and human rights abuses associated with beef production.
Why Yo-Yo Ma thinks culture and music can help protect the planet
The cello virtuoso has been playing Bach concerts on six continents. At every stop, he joins activities to support social justice and environmental causes.
It’s time to knock the toilet off its pedestal
The flush toilet may be the world’s gold standard for sanitation, but the sewer infrastructure it demands is inefficient, costly and outdated.
Is a healthy environment a right? New Canadian bill says so
A new law could soon see toxic chemicals, including harmful plastics, undergo more rigorous assessments aimed at better protecting vulnerable Canadians, the Trudeau government has announced.
This probiotic soap does’t pollute rivers it gets into—it helps clean
Washing clothes in rivers can damage the ecosytems and make the water undrinkable. A new soap does the opposite—using probiotics to eliminate pollution.
Every new car and truck in the U.S. can be electric by 2035
The transition to EVs can happen faster than you think.
Why renewable electricity powers decarbonization — and pays off
Plugging in more stuff can slash Cascadia’s climate-warming emissions at modest cost.
250,000 reasons to do laundry less often
Fashion Revolution Week, April 19-25, looks to promote local fashion, sustainable alternatives to microfiber-laden “Fast Fashion.”
Nearly all cash crops in U.S. are genetically engineered now
More than 90 percent of all corn, cotton and soybeans planted in the U.S. are genetically engineered, according to data from the Department of Agriculture.
Death to America’s manicured lawns
Nevada’s legislature is considering banning decorative grass. But really we should be banning most lawns in the country.
Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo
Rare-earth metals are critical to the high-tech society we live in as an essential component of mobile phones, computers and many other everyday devices. But increasing demand and limited global supply means we must urgently find a way to recover these metals efficiently from discarded products.
Documentary shows what happens to Earth when you take humans out of circulation for a year
The Year Earth Changed shows the unexpected byproduct of the pandemic — and suggests a way out of our current environmental predicament.
Conservation can’t just be a popularity contest
We often work to save the most charismatic species. Is it time to think beyond pandas and tigers?
Antarctica cruises are booming. But can the continent handle it?
For Antarctic expedition cruise operators, conservation is self-preservation.
Does wildlife conservation work?
You don’t have to look far to find signs that wildlife is in peril. And most of the news stories about it these days follow a predictable formula: Species are going extinct and, in most cases, humans are to blame.
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