Post of the Day
A meta-analysis of 14 air pollution studies from around the world found that exposure to high levels of air pollutants during childhood increases the likelihood of high blood pressure in children and adolescents, and the risk of hypertension later in life.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Arbor Day – Dominican Republic
Climate Change
UK-India deepen work on climate change on road to successful COP26
UK and India agree joint roadmap including plans to combat climate change by 2030, as Prime Ministers meet virtually
Rich nations’ climate targets will mean global heating of 2.4C – study
Rise is a 0.2C improvement on previous forecast but still substantially above goal of Paris climate agreement
Greta Thunberg and Fridays For Future, from global myth to local mobilization
In 2019 the climate movement experienced an unprecedented growth in its mobilization capacity and its political and media impact. The success of the movement is closely linked to the figure of Greta Thunberg and the global impact of her discourse and the ‘Fridays for Future’ movement in hundreds of cities around the world.
Climate change solutions: Carbon sequestration using kelp
Running Tide Technologies is using seaweed to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The startup plans to grow significant amounts of kelp and then bury it at the bottom of the ocean.
‘Decades ahead of his time’: History catches up with visionary Jimmy Carter
Born in 1924, Carter is now 96. Americans must process his mortality and the onset of climate change, which Carter explicitly warned the nation about 40 years ago.
Climate action potential in waste incineration plants
The climate action potential of carbon capture during the processing of biomass feedstock is considerable, ETH Zurich researchers have calculated. If this potential is to be fully exploited in practice, however, there are challenges to overcome.
Climate explained: when Antarctica melts, will gravity changes lift up land and lower sea levels?
Robert McLachlan
When Antarctica’s land-based ice melts, the land bounces up slightly as the weight of the ice lifts. This affects sea levels across the world, but not enough to offset sea-level rise.
How close are we to climate change tipping points?
Don Paul
If we can calculate what makes a tipping point, it may be just as difficult to calculate how close we are to reaching such a tipping point or, worse, if we have already passed it.
It’s time to hold climate polluters accountable
Carroll Muffett and Kert Davies
In light of a recent study that found that one in five deaths worldwide can be attributed to air pollution, there must be a bigger effort to fight back the discrediting campaigns against science.
Australia could reach 75 pct renewables before things get tricky, Schott says
Australia can expect days of 100 per cent renewables with increasing regularity, as market share of wind and solar grows, ESB chair says.
Nation’s electricity in shambles: report
Australia’s electricity companies have prioritised profits over upkeep and passed the ‘soaring’ costs onto consumers, a new report has found.
Gas plant subsidies ‘like putting lipstick on a pig’
Investors and private enterprise warn that taxpayer subsidies for new gas power projects are squeezing out private industry.
Activists hijack industry climate push [$]
Australia’s oil and gas industry is concerned that organisations pushing companies on environmental and social outcomes are being hijacked by activists and are using “dodgy shareholder tactics” to stop projects.
Australia to create disaster recovery office after spate of natural disasters
Australia will create a new disaster relief department to hasten the delivery of government aid, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will say on Wednesday.
Amp makes massive South Australia solar, battery, green hydrogen play
Michael Mazengarb
Toronto based Amp Energy unveils plans for $2 billion green hydrogen play, snapping up three big solar and battery projects in South Australia.
Chris Woods and Georgia Wilkins
So long COVID Commission! Thanks for all your service… and all your service fees…
State leadership on emissions reduction is crucial
Don Henry and Sangeetha Chandrashekeran
Australia’s Victorian Government has set a reduced emissions target of between 45 and 50 per cent by 2030. However, a more co-ordinated effort is needed by the States and Federal Governments
Video: Can Australia meet its climate goals? Not at this rate
Ketan Joshi
At current rates of emissions cuts, Australia won’t reach net-zero emissions for at least another 200 years.
There’s a key element missing from the debate about Australia’s journey to net-zero emissions
Lynne Gallagher
Were you electrified by the Energy Security Board’s recently released options paper for the future energy system? Did it feel relevant to your family? Critical to the way you think about the future?
‘Solar garden’ schemes to make renewables available to apartments
Joel Gibson
Solar panel housing revolution continues unabated but feed-in tariffs are plunging.
The market can generate a power supply fix without state involvement [$]
Tony Wood
Australia’s Tallawarra B gas plant proves the private sector can deliver cost-effective, low-emissions electricity, and why the government should step back from big stick interventions.
These 3 tips will help you create a thriving pollinator-friendly garden this winter
Tanya Latty
The busy buzz of pollinating bees is a sound most of us associate with summer. If you live in temperate regions of Australia, you may start to notice fewer insects as the weather gets colder. Across most of the continent, however, some flower-visiting insects are active all year round – and some are more common in cooler months.
Victoria
Car makers want to replace licence fees, rego and fuel excise with a tax on how far you drive
Car makers say high-tech vehicles give governments the chance for new revenue streams to pay for roads, while scrapping “outdated, confusing and inefficient” taxes.
Third council joins legal fight to stop West Gate Tunnel soil dumping
Hume is the latest council to pursue Planning Minister Richard Wynne in the Supreme Court over plans to dump 3 million tonnes of soil contaminated with potentially carcinogenic chemicals.
Bin company fined thousands over asbestos waste haul [$]
A Campbellfield bin company has been slapped with a heft fine for dumping asbestos-riddled construction and demolition waste.
Push to turn off gas to help reach state’s climate goal
Gas appliances including heaters, hot water services and cooktops would be phased out under a proposed moratorium on new gas connections to households.
Victoria has every reason to aim higher in tackling climate change
Age editorial
The Andrews government is looking to marry existing trends in technology with targeted incentives. Yet there remains a case for even greater ambition.
New South Wales
May Day brings the fight for jobs and climate together
Sydney’s May Day march highlighted the green ban imposed by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union on the demolition of a heritage-listed building in Parramatta.
NAB offers up $565m loan to world’s biggest coal port — and green groups are cheering
NAB will lend money to the Port of Newcastle, but it will need to reduce emissions and screen suppliers for modern slavery issues.
‘Elation’, ‘disappointment’ at decision to protect Mount Panorama site on Aboriginal heritage grounds
Building the go-kart track was compared to the destruction of a 46,000 year old cave at Juukan Gorge, but will no longer be allowed to proceed.
Plans announced for Australia’s first net-zero hybrid power station
EnergyAustralia announces plans to build a new power station capable of using both hydrogen and natural gas, with the NSW and federal governments to contribute $83 million to the plant on the edge of Lake Illawarra.
Why Sydney veggie gardens could be toxic [$]
The largest study of soil in household vegetable gardens has discovered an alarming percentage of patches are laced with a toxic metal.
Labor candidate ‘sold out’ casual workers [$]
Would-be Labor MP Jeff Drayton agreed to hire casual coal miners from a labour hire company, in contravention of his public stance on the issue.
‘Laughing stock of the world’: Minister’s warning over electric car tax
Australia risks becoming the laughing stock of the world if state governments impose electric vehicle taxes too early, according to NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
Andrew Constance shows much needed leadership on electric vehicles
SMH editorial
State governments around the country are charging ahead with environmentally-friendly commitments.
ACT
ACT opposition supports inner-south push to keep people, peafowl safe [$]
The ACT opposition has thrown their support behind a community push to protect the citizens of Canberra’s inner south – both human and bird.
Queensland
New plan for endangered wombat: meets, commutes, conceives
Queensland’s most endangered mammal has reached a significant milestone with conservationists saying their population has grown above 300.
The truth hurts – especially when you are the one delivering the bad news
When Stanwell boss Richard Van Breda floated the prospect of early shutdowns of Queensland’s coal-fired power generators, it could have been the start of an important discussion. Instead it produced a knee-jerk response from the Energy Minister
‘We haven’t looked back’: Qld’s biggest population boom in 16 years
New figures reveal the winners and losers across Australia when it comes to interstate migration, with COVID lockdowns, affordability and lifestyle the biggest drivers.
Boy, 4, bitten by dingo in second attack on Fraser Island in weeks
Two boys were approached by the dingo on Friday, before one of them was bitten as they ran towards their home.
South Australia
Ditching dirty diesel generates 70 jobs [$]
Generators bought by taxpayers for emergencies but now leased to the private sector will swap to gas when they move to Outer Harbor.
Polly want a partner? Matchmaking to save a species [$]
Beautiful Aussie birds with bright orange bellies are matchmaking in the wild thanks to captive breeding at Adelaide Zoo.
Northern Territory
Traditional owners to close iconic Kakadu site due to ‘lack of respect’ from Parks Australia
The Kadadu National Park area of Gunlom will be closed to the public just as the peak tourism season kicks off, after a meeting of traditional owners agrees that Parks Australia has “a lack of respect” for their sacred sites.
Western Australia
Two massive hydrogen projects earmarked for regional WA [$]
Two of the world’s biggest renewable hydrogen projects will be built in regional WA after they were handed $71 million in Federal Government funding.
Sustainability
G20 Ministers Welcome UNWTO Recommendations for Tourism’s ‘Green Transformation’
UNWTO has served as tourism’s global voice as the Tourism Ministers of the G20 nations met to devise a way forward for an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable recovery for the sector.
Carbon offsets used by major airlines based on flawed system, warn experts
Guardian investigation finds carbon credits generated by forest protection schemes are based on flawed system
Why doesn′t Pakistan tap its solar power potential?
Pakistan’s sunny climate makes it a perfect place to develop solar power. But it still depends on dirty fossil fuels, and is building more coal power plants.
A meta-analysis of 14 air pollution studies from around the world found that exposure to high levels of air pollutants during childhood increases the likelihood of high blood pressure in children and adolescents, and the risk of hypertension later in life.
Artificial intelligence to monitor water quality more effectively
Artificial intelligence that enhances remote monitoring of water bodies – highlighting quality shifts due to climate change or pollution – has been developed.
‘Space station on Earth’: plans for nuclear-powered superyacht for billionaire travellers
Over coffee at the grand Atlas dining room in Singapore’s Bugis district, Aaron Olivera lays out his vision. He wants to build a nuclear-powered ship dedicated to science, ocean exploration and climate change awareness, with liquid metal walls, robotics, deep sea water creatures in tanks, floors opening under your feet and some of the smartest minds on the planet on board.
New ‘key-hole surgery’ technique to extract metals from the Earth
Researchers have developed a new method to extract metals, such as copper, from their parent ore body. The research team have provided a proof of concept for the application of an electric field to control the movement of an acid within a low permeability copper-bearing ore deposit to selectively dissolve and recover the metal in situ.
Lightning may wash pollution out of the air with a chemical dubbed ‘detergent of the atmosphere’
The oxidizing chemicals hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl may clean the skies of harmful pollutants by reacting with them.
Tiny plastic particles in the environment
Giant vortices of floating plastic trash in the world’s oceans with sometimes devastating consequences for their inhabitants – the sobering legacy of our modern lifestyle. Weathering and degradation processes produce countless tiny particles that can now be detected in virtually all ecosystems. But how dangerous are the smallest of them, so-called nanoplastics?
New Chia cryptocurrency promises to be greener than Bitcoin, but may drive up hard drive prices
Mohiuddin Ahmed
It has been a big year for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is worth six times what it was 12 months ago, and the joke currency Dogecoin has seen a hundredfold increase in price. A boom in “non-fungible tokens”, or NFTs – tradable tokens based on the same technology as cryptocurrency – is transforming the art market.
Cayman Islands sea turtles back from the brink
Sea turtles in the Cayman Islands are recovering from the brink of local extinction, new research shows.
Northern Red Sea corals pass heat stress test with flying colors
Scientists are beginning to understand why corals in the Gulf of Aqaba, along with their symbiotic algae and bacteria, resist higher temperatures particularly well.
Forest fires drive expansion of savannas in the heart of the Amazon
Researchers analyzed the effects of wildfires on plant cover and soil quality in the last 40 years. The findings of the study show that the forest is highly vulnerable even in well-conserved areas far from the ‘deforestation arc’.
Can marine protected areas reduce marine disease?
For some ocean creatures, infectious disease is growing amid a changing climate.
Kindled by 2015 fires, Indonesia thinks big on forest protection
The Southeast Asia haze crisis pushed Jakarta to adopt a more joined-up conservation approach to reduce land clearing and the risk of fires, with deforestation now declining for four years in a row.
Do you know where your charcoal comes from?
Nigeria’s forests are being decimated to make charcoal for cookouts in Europe and the United States.
California could get 600,000 acres of new federally protected wilderness
In total, the package would expand protections for more than 1 million acres of public land in the state, officials said.
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