Post of the Day
More reasons for optimism on climate change than we’ve seen for decades: 2 climate experts explain
Gabi Mocatta and Rebecca Harris
It’s unusual for researchers who study our catastrophically changing climate to use the words “optimism” and “climate change” in the same sentence.
On This Day
Ecological observance
Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Tragedy
Climate Change
US takes tougher line on carbon border tax [$]
Washington’s hardening line on export taxes puts the Morrison government under renewed pressure to accelerate its shift towards adopting a policy of net zero emissions by 2050.
Cormann’s new job is to fix capitalism to cut emissions: Aviva [$]
The $725 billion fund Aviva Investors sees the OECD as the best-placed organisation to retool global finance for the net-zero challenge.
Biden wants to cut U.S. climate pollution in half – here’s how
After a four-year hiatus, the United States is officially taking climate change seriously again.
Halting the vast release of methane is critical for climate, U.N. says
A landmark United Nations report is expected to declare that reducing emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas, will need to play a far more vital role in warding off the worst effects of climate change.
Climatologist Michael E Mann: ‘Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes’
The author and eminent climate scientist on the deniers’ new tactics and why positive change feels closer than it has done in 20 years
M16 is ‘green spying’ on world’s biggest polluters to see climate commitments being met
The chief of MI6 has said that the spy agency has started monitoring large industrial nations to make sure they stick to climate change commitments.
The Guardian view on Biden’s green revolution: it needs revolutionaries
Guardian editorial
The climate emergency should not be used to make poorer countries dependent on private finance
Summit hot air no carbon solution [$]
Matthew Warren
Setting targets on international Zoom calls is easy. But unless Joe Biden pushes for a carbon price to cut emissions, it amounts to taking the soft political option.
Biden’s farcical climate summit a load of nonsense [$]
Andrew Bolt
How dare Biden invite not one climate scientist to speak at his climate summit, choosing instead hysterics wailing nonsense about a ‘dead planet’.
More reasons for optimism on climate change than we’ve seen for decades: 2 climate experts explain
Gabi Mocatta and Rebecca Harris
It’s unusual for researchers who study our catastrophically changing climate to use the words “optimism” and “climate change” in the same sentence.
Jens Stoltenberg
The alliance’s secretary general on why its members must work together to adapt to rising temperatures and cut emissions.
National
Calls to phase out fossil fuel subsidies ‘that exceed Australian Army funds’
A new report by progressive think tank The Australia Institute sheds light on how much money Australia pays to subsidise the fossil fuel industry, but exactly what constitutes a “subsidy” remains at the centre of the debate.
More flying foxes are roosting in urban areas and for some, being too close to a large colony of these native animals can be a horrendous experience. What can we do to co-exist with them?
Australian super funds to vote against company directors not tackling climate crisis
Businesses must adopt Paris emissions targets even if the government fails to do so, big investors say
Directors liable for ‘greenwashing’ disclosures [$]
Companies and their directors could be sued for ‘greenwashing’ their commitments to achieve net zero carbon pledges or emissions reductions targets, according to a legal opinion backed by Australia’s top business leaders.
‘Liver of the oceans’: Morrison banks on blue carbon for climate action
Blue carbon stored in mangroves and seagrasses has emerged as a new element of Australia’s climate policy, and potentially an olive branch to Pacific nations.
‘Seismic shift’: Aussies grasp the power of ethical investing
Divesting from a company is not a threat John McMurdo wields lightly, but the boss of $5 billion fund manager Australian Ethical Investment has shown he is not afraid to drop a firm over its dodgy green credentials.
New federal environmental standards being rushed through, Vassarotti says
Federal plans to pass new legislation to establish new national environmental standards were in danger of being rushed through parliament, the ACT government has warned.
Why business has left Canberra behind on climate
Ian Verrender
While some of our leaders still debate climate change and energy policy as an ideological issue, the world is moving on — but Australian businesses long ago realised it was an economic issue.
Business leads where politics fail on climate [$]
AFR editorial
Australia’s business leaders are taking more of the lead on tackling the global issue – and hence more of the political and regulatory risk – when that responsibility should be led by government.
Qld explains why the PM is so cautious on climate [$]
Laura Tingle
The Morrison government is not looking for policy positions to win seats in the other states, just to hold onto the ones it has got. The Coalition can’t afford to lose seats in Queensland or Western Australia.
If it’s technology not taxes, where’s the funding from?
Letters
For how long is Australia going to buy the Prime Minister’s increasingly tired old saw, “technology not taxes”?
National security argument for EVs
Letters
Australia currently imports around $32 billion of petroleum products each year, a significant impost on our balance of payments. And, at any given time, we only have around 29 days of supply in the country for all our transport needs (including aviation, cars and heavy vehicles).
Tonight’s dinner party topic: climate change
Mike Hayes
I was sitting on the back porch sipping a glass of 2018 Granite Belt saperavi when I heard the prime minister Scott Morrison’s comments around “our climate change ambitions” at a lavish Business Council function in Sydney last week.
Doing things our way on cutting greenhouse gases [$]
Australian editorial
By sticking to its guns at US President Joe Biden’s climate summit Australia has again shown it is prepared to speak its own mind and make its own decisions, regardless of pressure from even our strongest and most trusted international allies.
Climate words speak much louder than actions for ABC, Guardian writers [$]
Chris Mitchell
Many of the media’s environment writers seem to believe what countries say about their emissions reduction plans is more important than what they actually do.
It’s time to get serious about green investment [$]
Philip Aldrick
Earth Day turned out to be a ticker-tape parade of carbon reduction pledges. Leaders flung promises like confetti at the green dreams of the next generation. Britain, the US and Japan raised the stakes with ambitious new targets.
With Dutton in defence, the Morrison government risks progress on climate and Indigenous affairs
James Blackwell and Kate Clayton
With Peter Dutton recently shifting into a more outward-facing portfolio as Australia’s new defence minister, we must begin to assess his past actions and statements through an international policy lens.
Victoria
Taps to be replaced as lead limit in water slashed [$]
Lead, which is terrible for adults and worse for kids, is finally about to be reduced in tap water we drink, in a move said to be worth $2 billion.
ACT
Canberra Reptile Zoo’s collecting bottles to fundraise for crocodile
“He tries to kill us regularly, which makes him a character.” It’s not exactly the sentence that you want to hear in an interview but, as Canberra Reptile Zoo owner and manager Peter Child says, it’s just in Charlie’s nature. He is a saltwater crocodile, after all.
Queensland
‘Forgotten residents’ fume over Inland Rail environmental impact snub
The angry residents are demanding to know why an environmental impact study has been ruled out for the Beaudesert-Acacia Ridge leg of the $15b project.
Worst case of government-sponsored environmental vandalism ever seen in QLD [$]
Peter Gleeson
Wholesale clearing and herbicide drenching of Mount Coolum National Park – so much for the Labor Government’s commitment to the environment.
Will Inland Rail become nation’s longest rust line? [$]
Pauline Hanson
The Federal Government is at risk of building Australia’s longest rust line – the Inland Rail.
South Australia
It’s time to close down Adelaide Zoo [$]
Rex Jory
We have loved zoos but now the time has come to close them down. They’re a cruel prison for innocent animals.
Tasmania
Photo essay – Vote Environment Rally
Images from the Vote Environment rally at Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 24 April 2021.
Libs promise massive overhaul for public transport
The state’s stagnating public transport service would receive a major facelift under an $81.5m commitment from the Liberals.
Northern Territory
Once a city pleading for population growth, Darwin is surging in popularity and running out of homes. Now, there are growing concerns about the rapid development cutting into the last corners of natural bushland.
Western Australia
Kimberley land council sacks chief who tried to find out how $60 million mining payments were spent
Brian Wilkinson was sacked after coming into conflict with the region’s power brokers over the operations of a charitable trust.
Sustainability
On This Day: Chernobyl suffers a nuclear disaster
Thirty five years ago today a nuclear reactor in Europe suffered a series of catastrophic explosions.
‘Insanely cheap energy’: how solar power continues to shock the world
Australian smarts and Chinese industrial might made solar power the cheapest power humanity has seen – and no one saw it coming
Shocking new study finds 4 out of every 10 Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution
About 40 percent of Americans are living in places with unhealthy air quality, according to the American Lung Association’s most recent issue of its State of the Air report.
Offshore wind is poised to take off in the U.S.—but it won’t be easy
The Biden administration plans to build thousands of offshore wind turbines by 2030, a daunting task. Experts say it’s possible if everything goes as planned.
What Carey Gillam learned through years of investigating Monsanto
In a new book, the author discusses the implications of her research, the future of glyphosate, and how Bayer plans to keep selling Roundup.
Greenhouse gas emission targets boost enthusiasm for small modular nuclear reactors
The worldwide battle to control greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change is the best thing that’s happened for growth in the nuclear energy industry in decades, its proponents say.
Spermageddon: everyday chemicals lead to 50% drop in sperm count in Western men
Alex Ford
Women will struggle to get pregnant naturally in the next few decades without stronger regulation of chemicals. Rates of miscarriages, abnormalities in penis development and intersexuality are all increasing at alarming levels.
Red Sea corals laugh off global warming – but suffer in the cold
Climate change is causing extreme weather: The Red Sea coral is resilient to heat but ironically, it bleaches in the cold.
Colorado River shortage looms amid scant snow and shrinking flows
The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs have steadily declined, reaching their lowest combined level since 1965, when Lake Powell was first filling.
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