Post of the Day
IPCC steps up warning on climate tipping points in leaked draft report
Scientists increasingly concerned about thresholds beyond which recovery may become impossible
On This Day
Nativity of St John the Baptist
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
IPCC steps up warning on climate tipping points in leaked draft report
Scientists increasingly concerned about thresholds beyond which recovery may become impossible
A controversial US book is feeding climate denialists in Australia
Ian Lowe
Australian commentator Alan Jones has been championing a contentious book about climate science which has gained traction in the US. So does it hold up?
National
Murray-Darling Basin water tensions bubble over in the Senate as Nationals break from Liberals
The Nationals split from their Liberal Coalition partners during a Senate vote in a bold move that could blow up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and ensure that less water would be returned to the environment from farming.
Senate blocks government plan to allow Australia’s renewable agency to invest in fossil fuels
Labor, the Greens and Senate crossbench have teamed up to stop Australia’s renewable energy agency from being able to invest in fossil fuels.
Liberal MPs escalate calls for stronger action on climate change
The MPs are calling for a net zero target to counter the Nationals’ new leader, Barnaby Joyce, demanding he stand up for farmers rather than fossil fuels.
Damp winter and spring likely to lift flood risk for country’s east
Eastern Australia, already soaked by big rain events and storms this year, could be in for more flooding as conditions in the Indian Ocean and Pacific tilt to favour increased rainfall.
Australian battery storage industry worth up to $7b by 2030: report
Australia’s battery storage industry could be worth as much as $7.4 billion to the national economy by the end of the decade, with global use set to skyrocket in future years.
Australian business eyes carbon farming in the Pacific [$]
Canberra’s track record as an issuer of high-credibility Australian Carbon Credit Units puts it in the box seat to help Pacific nations develop carbon markets.
Labor’s renewables position ‘ideological craziness’, Joel Fitzgibbon says [$]
Joel Fitzgibbon has launched a fresh assault on Anthony Albanese’s climate change policies, condemning the “ideological craziness” of the Labor leader’s decision to block expanding the investment mandate of the renewable energy agency.
Vaile campaign a ‘symptom of climate wars’: Labor [$]
Opposition energy spokesman Chris Bowen says the activist campaign that forced Mark Vaile to quit as University of Newcastle chancellor was a “symptom of the climate wars, which Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals want to keep going”.
Industry “frustrated” as Ley sets deadline for national solar recycling scheme
Federal environment minister makes good on threat to put solar industry on notice for solar panel recycling. Clean Energy Council says, we tried, too!
The National Party’s allergy to net zero –by a worried Liberal
Warren Entsch
Veteran Liberal Warren Entsch asks who Nationals think they’re supporting with their aversion to a strong emissions target – their farming constituencies or mining and gas executives?
Why Barnaby’s water stunt will have ScoMo sweating [$]
Claire Bickers
Just two days into his job, Barnaby Joyce has sparked off a new round of infighting within the Coalition. Claire Bickers explains why the SA fightback matters.
Climate zealotry and populism reignite carbon wars
AFR editorial
The pushing up of Barnaby Joyce to the second top job in Canberra and the pushing out of Mark Vaile from the top job at Newcastle University are the depressing bookends of Australia’s renewed coal wars.
Exploring a nuclear power future [$]
Australian editorial
Tentative discussions within the Morrison cabinet about developing a nuclear power industry in Australia should be firmed up into a comprehensive, costed proposal.
Martine Maron et al
A growing global push to halt biodiversity decline, most recently agreed at the G7 on Sunday, leaves Australia out in the cold as the federal government walks away from critical reforms needed to protect threatened species.
Energy grid must be protected from climate change-related weather events
Darren Edwards
The wild weather experienced on 9 June 2021 smashed Victoria with roads closed, flash flooding and power outages. The storm system wreaked havoc across Victoria.
Reality check from a former energy executive: Nothing about new gas stacks up today
Andrew Stock
Investing in new gas is a poor choice, risking stranded asset write-offs for shareholders and worsening climate change. I wouldn’t spend a cent on it.
ARENA: Almost the perfect crime! – cartoon
David Pope’s view
Victoria
Butterfly flaps its wings in Montmorency – and upends $530m rail plan
Hundreds of metres of new railway tracks promised by the Andrews government in Melbourne’s north-east will no longer be built to save an endangered butterfly species.
How Melbourne’s waterways could ease city’s congestion [$]
A ferry network is being touted as part of a push to take pressure off Melbourne’s congested roads. See how it could work.
New South Wales
Lagoon and wetlands ecosystems in better shape
A Wagga Wagga City Council contractor spent two days on Wollundry Lagoon and at Marrambidya Wetlands and removed about 750 kilograms of European carp from the waters.
ACT
Bruce cafe Oscar’s is wild about recycling
Oscar’s Cafe owner Oscar Gul feels heartsick when he thinks about the amount of waste he has seen tossed from cafes during his almost 30-year career in hospitality.
Queensland
Clash over free speech and climate change being heard by High Court
This scientist claims he was unfairly dismissed from his job at James Cook University. The university claims he breached his contract. The High Court will now decide who was right.
Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has blasted UNESCO officials for recommending the Great Barrier Reef be listed as in danger.
Great Barrier Reef: Labor calls on Sussan Ley to back up claim Unesco bowed to political pressure
Evidence the reef is in trouble has been building for years, federal opposition environment spokesperson Terri Butler says
QRC welcomes $5 million Bowen Basin Gas Pipeline Study
The Queensland Resources Council has welcomed the State Government’s announcement it will fund a $5 million study into the economic and environmental feasibility of building a gas pipeline in the Bowen Basin.
National Party the biggest threat to Great Barrier Reef: Palaszczuk
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has attacked the Nationals while calling for governments to work together to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Brisbane Metro will be missing key tunnel, busway upgrades at launch
One of the tunnels dug for the Brisbane City Council’s $1.2 billion Metro project will not be finished in time for its “soft launch” and key upgrades to the Cultural Centre station, Victoria Bridge and Buranda Busway will also be incomplete.
Today on Please Explain, climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley joins Tory Maguire to discuss UNESCO’s draft decision to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status to “in danger.”
The government’s response to the UNESCO recommendation that the Great Barrier Reef be listed as “in danger” was one of surprise and shock.
Ministerial moan will not help to save our reef
Letters
The Australian government’s whingeing at UNESCO’s declaration that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger will not help fix the problem.
First Dog on the Moon
We are not angry, we are disappointed. And angry
South Australia
Australia lines up third uranium mine as nuclear momentum builds
The planned restart of a mothballed uranium mine in here Australia is a fresh sign that developers are beginning to respond to an improving demand outlook and the support of the Biden administration for zero-emissions nuclear energy.
Traditional owners can challenge nuclear waste dump on Country
The nuclear waste site is planned for Barngarla Country, but the amendments will allow Traditional Owners to take the matter to court.
SA politicians unite to stare down Nationals’ water threat [$]
In a rare show of unity, South Australian senators and MPs are vowing to jointly defy any push by the National Party to “blow up” the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Tasmania
Tarkine dam protesters accused of ‘dreadful’ tactic using roadkill
The use of roadkill in the protest against a new tailings dam in Tasmania’s Tarkine raises the ire of the Premier, but environmentalists, in turn, accuse him of trying to “bait” them.
UN calls on Tasmania to pause wilderness development
The international body which governs World Heritage areas calls on the Tasmanian Government to halt tourism development in the state’s wilderness until the impacts are fully understood.
Minister rejects UNESCO’s tourism plan criticism [$]
A UNESCO committee’s concerns over development of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area are “not warranted”, the state’s Parks Minister says.
Society’s dire warning about future of Tassie’s wilderness [$]
The Wilderness Society of Tasmania has backed UNESCO’s call for a moratorium on further development of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area.
Australian Bauxite plans another Tasmanian mine
Australian Bauxite Limited has sold products to the fertiliser and cement industries from its Bald Hill Mine site, near Campbell Town, since 2015. It is now working towards a new and larger bauxite mine at Fingal Rail, near Conara.
‘Super’ heat tolerant kelp restores hope for underwater forests
Heat tolerant giant kelp are flourishing at trial sites along the east coast of Tasmania, raising hopes that the world’s largest algae can adapt to climate change.
SOLVE Protest at Devonport Energy Development Conference 2021
Media release – SOLVE (Supporting Our Loongana Valley Environment)
Today SOLVE (Supporting Our Loongana Valley Environment) joined a growing number of community groups across the north-west to protest the Energy Development Conference in Devonport. The conference is hosting corporate interests who are already railroading our communities in the renewables gold-rush.
Northern Territory
NT revokes 10,000-megalitre water licence for farming
A major irrigation project in the Northern Territory has been left high and dry as the government revokes Larrimah Agricultural Precinct’s 10,000-megalitre water licence.
Seafarms Group launches $105m fundraising effort to start major NT prawn farm [$]
The company behind a major Territory aquaculture project is seeking to raise $105m to kick off construction of what is set to be one of the world’s biggest black tiger prawn farms.
NT mine’s first iron ore shipment ‘a boon for local jobs’: Minister [$]
The NT government has hailed the first shipment of iron ore from processed waste materials at the Frances Creek Mine as ‘a huge sign of strength and confidence’ in the industry.
Greens inquiry to probe Beetaloo Basin fracking passes the Senate [$]
Senators in Canberra have backed the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
‘A carbon dioxide emissions factory’: New $4.7b gas field may release more CO2 than LNG, says report
Santos is developing a giant $5bn gas filed in the Timor Sea but critics, including mining magnate Andrew Forrest, say it will be a massive polluter.
Western Australia
The life teeming within the waters of Exmouth Gulf
Watch to see the dugongs, humpbacks, flatback turtles, manta rays, and weird and wonderful sponges and corals that call Exmouth Gulf home.
WA slams feds “premature” rejection of Pilbara renewable hydrogen hub
WA hydrogen minister says the federal government rejected the up to 26GW Asian Renewable Energy Hub “prematurely” and with no meaningful engagement.
No commitment from WA Minister on halting heritage destruction
Western Australian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Stephen Dawson says it is “yet to be determined” whether the Marandoo Act 1992 (WA) will be abolished once new cultural heritage legislation is introduced, despite the piece of legislation exempting Rio Tinto entirely from the current Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA).
Sustainability
Bottles to bricks: Lego finds the right fit with recycled plastic
Lego expects to begin selling toy building bricks made from recycled plastic bottles in 18 to 24 months, having found a suitable green alternative to oil-based plastic, the Danish toymaker said on Wednesday (June 23).
Most new wind and solar projects will be cheaper than coal, report finds
Almost two-thirds of renewable energy schemes built globally last year expected to undercut coal costs
Cities have a green infrastructure blind spot
Carbon footprint standards exist for buildings, but not for the landscaping that surrounds them.
The NASA technology keeping batteries cool on solar rooftops
The solar industry thrives on simplifying installations and cutting costs. Austin-based startup Yotta Energy does that by sticking miniature batteries right under solar panels, so customers don’t have to go through the hassle of installing a separate battery system.
Glyphosate ‘is not carcinogenic,’ concludes major study
When glyphosate was banned, producers of popular weed-killers had to reformulate, resulting in weak and often ineffective eco-friendly options. Now, there’s a chance the old formulas could return.
Kids shouldn’t be forced to play away their future
Alice Clarke
The amount of waste that goes into toys generates a tonne of landfill, which will inevitably make the lives of children much, much harder.
Brazil environment minister quits; faces illegal logging probe
Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles quit on Wednesday, facing a criminal investigation of whether he obstructed a police probe of illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest.
Plants in deserts are dying off due to climate change ‘and nothing is replacing them’
The research shows how desert areas – where researchers had hoped plants might be more resilient – can be blighted by climate change.
Carla Archibald et al
Vast, treeless paddocks and fields can be dangerous for wildlife, who encounter them as “roadblocks” between natural areas nearby. But our new research found even one lone tree in an otherwise empty paddock can make a huge difference to an animal’s movement.
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