Date: 25 May 2021 at 8:31:01 am AEST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links May 25
Post of the Day
Cam Wilson
Eccentric MP Bob Katter joins a bunch of Aussie coalminers finding out first-hand the joys of green tech, thanks to a climate activist with an unusual approach.
On This Day
Climate Change
We can’t plant our way out of the climate crisis
What if planting more trees isn’t the climate solution we want it to be?
‘Inhabitants’ digs deep into Indigenous solutions to climate change
The filmmakers behind a new documentary discuss Native land stewardship, building collaborative relationships with tribes, and the challenges of implementing Indigenous practices on a wider scale.
Trials to suck carbon dioxide from the air to start across the UK
A major £30m project will test trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal as ways of removing climate-heating emissions
‘Not just dropping off a twig’: How climate impacts may be underestimated
The potential underestimation of the likely effects of a warming world is a key finding by an international team of scientists who examined 43 species of flies for tolerance to extreme heat.
“It is crazy:” Greens push new climate laws after Coalition’s fossil fuel subsidy spree
Australian Greens propose laws to make fossil fuel companies legally liable for climate change, labelling contradictory Morrison government budget “crazy”.
Australia’s emissions have risen since 2005, apart from land use accounting tricks
New research shows Australia is lagging behind international peers in emissions reductions, despite what the Morrison government may claim.
“It’s a disgrace:” Snowy Hydro to use government subsidy for market dominance
Taxpayer funded Kurri Kurri gas plant will help give Snowy Hydro dominance of the NSW, Victoria and South Australia markets. But will it protect it from battery storage?
Cheaper electric vehicles could increase uptake in Australia ‘sooner than expected’
New technology could soon make electric cars much more affordable, which ‘may sway consumers’, the country’s automotive retailers say
Senate report seeks action on feral animal pests
The Australian Senate has delivered a landmark report on the increasing impacts of feral deer, pigs and goats across the country and a roadmap for reform, one that all state and federal governments should heed.
Orica gives staff power to stop work at mine sites over heritage fears
Workers at explosives giant Orica have been permitted to stop laying charges at mine sites if they are concerned about Indigenous heritage risks.
Upper Hunter’s wake-up call over woke war on coal [$]
After his party won the Upper Hunter’s contest on coal, an outspoken federal Nationals Senator has urged colleagues not to ‘play footsie with woke concepts’.
Costly hazards on the road to electric vehicle take-up [$]
Judith Sloan
Readers will be pleased to know independent member for Warringah Zali Steggall has been able to trade in her gas-guzzling SUV for a hybrid vehicle as parliament returns this week. Evidently, rigid parliamentary rules didn’t allow her to go the whole hog and get an electric vehicle at this stage.
Cam Wilson
Eccentric MP Bob Katter joins a bunch of Aussie coalminers finding out first-hand the joys of green tech, thanks to a climate activist with an unusual approach.
Show me the money: Welcome to the new golden age of corporate welfare
Robert MacDonald
The Federal Government is paying out up to $2 billion to keep Australia’s last two oil refineries running. It’s what happens when governments get desperate and companies know how to play the game.
Preparing for a disorderly future
Peter Boyer
Our world has changed forever, and there’s no going back. Our children understand that. Unfortunately our leaders don’t.
By-election denial a danger to ALP [$]
Simon Benson
The One Nation alliance with the mining and energy unions may have failed in its infancy at the Queensland state election but only because Annastacia Palaszczuk found a way to counter it.
Miner issues hold major woes for Labor [$]
John Black
Up until the May 11 federal budget and last weekend’s Upper Hunter state by-election in NSW, I’d been thinking the odds were building against the Coalition winning the next federal election.
Upper Hunter byelection reveals the dangers that lurk for Albanese and federal Labor
Mark Kenny
History shows that Labor took too much heart when Labor leader Kim Beazley unexpectedly pushed John Howard to the edge of extinction in 1998.
We could be a superpower: 3 ways Australia can take advantage of the changing geopolitics of energy
Christian Downie
The International Energy Agency confirmed last week what many already knew: the world is undergoing a huge transformation in global energy markets. Fossil fuels are dying and renewables are on the rise.
NSW smart meter program to soak up solar with “everyday batteries”
Endeavour Energy gets smart about better managing record numbers of residential rooftop solar systems, with not a solar export charge in sight.
Hefty jail sentence for illegal export of reptiles
A 35-year-old Sydney man has been handed a lengthy jail sentence for the attempted illegal export of Australian native reptiles.
‘Value for money’: NSW government electricity contract to bolster solar, big battery
A $3.2 billion NSW government electricity contract will help foster the spread of renewable energy, including the construction of a big new battery in the state’s Riverina region.
Battery to power NSW schools, hospitals
A deal has been struck to build a 100-megawatt battery to help provide renewable energy to NSW schools, hospitals and government buildings.
Net zero goal for new Sydney CBD buildings from 2026 [$]
City of Sydney has announced ambitious new energy targets across office, hotel and shopping centre developments from 2023, with net-zero compliance from 2026.
Byelection humiliation a coal, hard lesson for Labor
Letters
Labor’s gambit to back coal mining in the Upper Hunter byelection did not work and may have cost them votes to more progressive candidates.
Power play of a different type with Snowy Hydro Kurri Kurri plan [$]
John Durie
The Snowy Hydro brigade will be out on force on Tuesday banging the drum about increased transmission investment to better serve consumers and break the power oligopoly.
By-election spin ignores some real lessons
Paul Bongiorno
The art of politics as we know is spinning reality in such a way that perceptions become more influential than what is actually happening.
Why the Hunter Valley gas plant is bad policy [$]
Tom Parry
The Kurri Kurri gas fired power station will neither cut power prices nor add useful capacity. But it will push energy investment risk back onto the taxpayer, writes the first chairman of AEMO.
ACT
What would it take for you to buy an electric car? Does free registration sweeten the deal?
The ACT already has the equivalent of 100 per cent renewable electricity. Now Canberra drivers are being offered free registration to buy electric cars in a bid to further cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Crashed electric and hydrogen cars pose a unique set of dangers to first responders [$]
The firefighters’ union says members have a “training mountain to climb” to fully understand the hazards posed by crashed electric and hydrogen vehicles as the ACT government pushes ahead with fresh incentives to encourage zero-emissions vehicle ownership.
Queensland
Noosa group launches climate change plan fight, brings in lobbyists linked to Adani
A newly-formed action group in Noosa has enlisted a high-powered lobby group linked to coal giant Adani as it launches a fight over the council’s climate change impact plan for beaches.
Carbon copy: How Qld scheme planted the seed for money to grow on trees
The Federal Government wants to reward farmers with cash payments for improving their environmental performance, cultivating an idea that germinated in Queensland.
Poisoned Arrow: Gas producer takes big hit as oil price fuels slump
Coal seam gas company Arrow Energy has reported another staggering $600 million loss as it embarks on its $10 billion Surat expansion.
South Australia
Nyrstar faces hefty fine over Port Pirie lead smelter leak
An Adelaide court hears the owners of the Port Pirie lead smelter accept the plant was responsible for a toxic waste leak in 2019 that caused environmental harm.
SA recharges electric car market with more stations — but what’s the ‘tax’?
The SA government plans to install 530 fast-charging stations across the state to fuel electric vehicle take-up, but the opposition wants details about its planned user charge.
Answers on St Kilda mangrove devastation months away [$]
Investigations into St Kilda’s mangrove dieback are complicated, but point to the salt pan operator ignoring rules, parliament hears.
The KI animals on brink of extinction [$]
Kangaroo Island’s devastating bushfires could see many animals move closer to extinction on Australia’s threatened species list. See which are most at risk.
Give our sign back before there’s shell to pay [$]
The timing of the theft of a sign warning drivers of endangered turtles near Goolwa could not be worse, worried wildlife volunteers say, as they plead for its return.
Tasmania
Tasmanian conservation group wins international ecological restoration award
Tasmanian nature conservation organisation the North East Bioregional Network (NEBN) has won a prestigious international award for the Restore Skyline Tier project which involves restoring Radiata Pine plantations back to biodiverse native forests at a landscape scale
‘Leave the forests alone’: Swift action needed to save endangered parrots
In Tasmania, the swift parrots’ plight has become emblematic of campaigns against old-growth logging.
Pay for our green power, says Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein [$]
Mainland taxpayers should be willing to help pay for a second $3.5 billion power interconnector under Bass Strait, given it will provide access to Tasmania’s dispatchable green energy, says Premier Peter Gutwein.
‘Insufficent Study of Listed Species’ at Tailings Dam Site
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
A new threat to Australia’s largest temperate rainforest in takayna / Tarkine is erupting as Chinese state-owned miner MMG concedes the company has not conducted all environmental studies needed to determine the project’s level of impact on federally-listed species.
Gone feral – Tasmania’s history with cats
Alex Paton
I am here to answer the most common questions I get asked about feral cats, supply some facts about their life in Tasmania, and to give some advice on how to help our native wildlife cope with their presence.
State forester delivers massive $1.3bn loss [$]
John Lawrence
After doing the sums, an economist says any hint the government-run Sustainable Timbers Tasmania is economically sustainable, as its name suggests, is utter nonsense.
Northern Territory
‘You have no idea how terrifying it is’: Invasive gamba grass may fuel intense NT fire season
Top End residents are warned to prepare for an intense fire season, as above-average rainfall leads to destructive weeds growing to levels that could fuel dangerous fires.
‘Could be just as dangerous’: Top End warned to brace for busy bushfire season
Frontline fireys who battled ‘catastrophic’ fire weather conditions last year are bracing for another just as busy bushfire season.
Western Australia
‘Living climate change now’: how WA farmers are trying to turn the tide
Agriculture is seen as a key culprit in rising emissions. Some on the land are aiming to lead by example, making their properties carbon neutral
Traditional owners slam WA government for Juukan Gorge ‘denial’
Native title holders drag state government into spotlight for its role in approving the destruction of one of Australia’s most significant archaeological sites.
It has been one year since Rio Tinto destroyed the sacred site at Juukan Gorge
First Dog on the Moon
Many people were very cross with them for saying the quiet part (colonisers took all the land) out loud (we blew the living shit out of it)
Sustainability
Plastic pellets could help reduce dependence on coal at the MU power plant
Plastic is gaining traction as the next source of sustainable energy, despite its reputation as a major polluter.
Long slide looms for world population, with sweeping ramifications
Fewer babies’ cries. More abandoned homes. Toward the middle of this century, as deaths start to exceed births, changes will come that are hard to fathom.
McCarthy: Nuclear energy isn’t going anywhere
The White House sees nuclear energy as a key part of the pathway to decarbonize the grid by 2035.
Russia claims US is breaching nuclear arms control treaty
Russia’s foreign ministry has raised concerns over Washington’s implementation of the New START nuclear arms control treaty, saying the number of US launchers and bombers exceeds the agreed limit.
Fewer, bigger, more intensive: EU vows to stem drastic loss of small farms
Guardian analysis shows intensification in farming across the EU with a rise in livestock numbers while millions of farms disappear
Nature Conservation
Plastic waste washing up on beaches increasing threat to turtle populations
Plastic pollution is significantly increasing sand temperatures on remote beaches — and it is feared the animals that call those beaches home are struggling to cope.
To unpack colonial influence on ecology, researchers propose five strategies
Ecology, the field of biology devoted to the study of organisms and their natural environments, needs to account for the historical legacy of colonialism that has shaped people and the natural world, researchers argued in a new perspective in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Fly infertility shows we’re underestimating how badly climate change harms animals
Belinda van Heerwaarden and Ary Hoffmann
Evidence of declining fertility in humans and wildlife is growing. While chemicals in our environment have been identified as a major cause, our new research shows there’s another looming threat to animal fertility: climate change.
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