Daily Links Nov 4

Right conclusion even if from an almost peripheral concern. Yes, many countries need tourism and the environment that attracts it – but they also need their populations to stay alive and well on a habitable earth. Climate change is an existential issue that could linger for millenia, Covid threatens the current population for likely less than a decade. 

https://www.miragenews.com/unwto-secretary-general-the-climate-emergency-665661/

From: Maelor Himbury <maelor@melbpc.org.au>
Date: 4 November 2021 at 9:01:21 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 4

Post of the Day

COP26 needs to proclaim end of coal

“Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history.” Those were the words in July of Alok Sharma, president of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). With world leaders gathered in Glasgow this week, the need to phase out coal has never been more urgent if humanity is to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

 

On This Day

November 4

Diwali – Hinduism

Bandi Chhor Divas – Sikhism

Mahavir Nirvan – Jainism

 

Ecological Observance

World Habitat Day

 

Climate Change

Fears 14 million women will lose access to contraception due to climate change in next decade

There are fears more than 14 million women will lose access to contraception in the next 10 years as climate change worsens living conditions around the world.

 

U.S. announcements on world leaders summit forest and land use event

On November 2, 2021, world leaders gathered to commit to ambitious action to reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration from forests and other ecosystems. This action is critical to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

 

UN Secretary-General issues new global roadmap to secure clean energy access for all by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050

As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050.

 

This Kenyan climate activist confronts world leaders at COP26

Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti confronted world leaders at COP26 and pleaded for help to battle climate change-driven drought and food insecurity.

 

UNWTO Secretary-General: ‘The climate emergency is bigger threat than Covid’

The head of the United Nations World Tourism Organization has warned that the “climate emergency is a bigger threat than Covid”.

 

What happened at Cop26 – day three at a glance

Summary of the main developments on the second day of the UN climate summit in Glasgow

 

Why activists fear little-known treaty could slow fossil fuel phase-out

Vital rulings on the world’s energy future are being made behind closed doors and others may be unknown

 

Secretive court system poses threat to Paris climate deal, says whistleblower

Treaty allows energy corporations to sue governments for billions over policies that could hurt their profits

 

‘Summers are becoming unbearable’: living on the frontline of global heating

From extreme weather obliterating homes to rising sea levels ruining crops, climate breakdown is a terrifying daily reality for many

 

If pledges already made at Glasgow are met, warming ‘to peak below 2 degrees’

Global warming is projected to peak at 1.9 degrees this century due to pledges made at the COP26 climate talks and the days beforehand, according to a new analysis.

 

Three climate commitments Human Rights Watch is focusing on at COP26

The climate crisis is taking a mounting toll on lives, health, and livelihoods of people around the world. States have a human rights obligation to protect people from the foreseeable harms we face from climate change, and to avert the most catastrophic impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the warming of the planet.

 

COP26 states should agree to cut military emissions

The armies, navies, and air forces of the world are significant greenhouse gas emitters and contribute to the climate crisis taking a growing toll on the lives, health, and livelihoods of people globally.

 

COP26 needs to proclaim end of coal

“Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history.” Those were the words in July of Alok Sharma, president of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). With world leaders gathered in Glasgow this week, the need to phase out coal has never been more urgent if humanity is to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

 

COP26 vows $US130 trillion for climate

Banks, insurers and investors with $US130 trillion ($A175 trillion) at their disposal have pledged to put combating climate change at the centre of their work, and gained support in the form of efforts to put green investing on a firmer footing.

 

Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use

We, the leaders of the countries identified below:

Emphasise the critical and interdependent roles of forests of all types, biodiversity and sustainable land use in enabling the world to meet its sustainable development goals; to help achieve a balance between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and removal by sinks; to adapt to climate change; and to maintain other ecosystem services.

 

How the US supreme court could be a threat to climate action in the US

Daniel Epps

The US constitutional system could pose a major obstacle to addressing catastrophic threats. A new set of cases shows why

 

From early despair, progress at Glasgow suggests hope for big ambitions

Nick O’Malley

The pledge to reduce methane was one of the Glasgow summit’s biggest wins, but negotiations continue on the thornier sticking points.

 

Big finance is signed up to the 1.5C goal – but will that mean big money for the green economy?

Larry Elliott

Rishi Sunak should temper his hopes of a huge pool of business cash to fund the net zero transition

 

Cop26’s worst outcome would be giving the green light to carbon offsetting

Jennifer Morgan

This greenwashing tactic has failed – to pursue it now would be to blow a huge hole in the Paris agreement

 

Cop26 has to be about keeping fossil fuels in the ground. All else is distraction

George Monbiot

The handwaving and complexity obscure a simple truth: nation states must stop funding dirty industries

 

Adani, India and COP26: How to support climate justice?

Ruchira Talukdar

In the first week of the Glasgow Climate Summit, India announced that it will achieve net zero emissions by 2070. However, the focus on “net zero” and “fossil fuels versus renewables” adopted by mainstream climate groups does not do justice to the critical need for just solutions for communities in the Global South and Indigenous peoples worldwide

 

Two US presidents, one China: Climate change co-operation comes unstuck

Eryk Bagshaw

The US-China relationship is at its lowest ebb since Trump left office. Climate change is no longer the salve that once brought the countries together.

 

The energy shock for COP hopefuls [$]

Kenneth Rogoff

Unless energy security can be married to climate literacy, then the politics of a cleaner planet will continue to be very difficult.

 

The one vital climate solution leaders will avoid talking about at COP26 [$]

Bronwen Morgan and Erin Remblance

There will be silence on the possibility of transforming the world’s economy, but our lives could be richer for living in smaller, fairer societies.

 

It wasn’t just fancy world leaders and smug glossy fossil fuel parasites attending Cop26

First Dog on the Moon

Everyone knows that the people inside that building are not going to be the ones who solve the climate crisis

 

National

Resources Minister not required to consider climate change when awarding gas grant, lawyers argue

Lawyers for the federal government are arguing the Resources Minister was not required to consider the risks of climate change when determining whether to award $21 million in grants to a gas company.

 

Inside Australia’s COP26 ‘propaganda’ pavilion, which went viral for touting fossil fuel companies

Delegates at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow have been left stunned by Australia’s national pavilion, which includes exhibits from fossil fuel companies.

 

Sir Richard Branson unveils plan for Aussie green revolution

The Virgin Group founder and climate action campaigner says Australia could require businesses to invest in emerging green technologies, based on how carbon intensive their activities are.

 

Diplomatic bully: Australia’s climate obstruction in Pacific revealed

Australia uses diplomatic strong-arm tactics to water down outcomes in Pacific climate negotiations and buy silence on climate change, a new investigation from Greenpeace Australia Pacific has revealed.

 

Declaration sustainable way forward

Australia is committed to halting and reversing the net loss of forests globally by 2030, according to an address by the Prime Minister to the Glasgow Forest and Land Use Event.

 

Australian fossil fuel projects given $36.7bn in foreign public financing over a decade

Renewable energy received $3.3bn in the same period between 2010 and 2020 but researchers say that gap has narrowed

 

Santos executive warns companies ‘will die’ if they don’t switch to new energy sources like hydrogen [$]

The head of one of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel companies has warned that companies will have to transition to new energy sources “or die”.

 

Tougher climate change disclosure laws under Labor

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has made clear a Labor government would require businesses to reveal more about the risks posed by climate change.

 

EVs to be ‘new normal’ by 2030 under plan backed by Australia

Electric vehicles would be the “new normal’ and clean energy the cheapest and most reliable form of power worldwide by 2030, under a major global climate action initiative which Australia agreed to join at the Glasgow climate summit.

 

Built for the future: Simple steps towards a more sustainable home

A push toward greater sustainability in the home has come as Australians spend more time there than ever before.

 

Nats want PM to deliver on promised regional fund in net zero deal

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being urged to deliver a promised regional fund as part of the deal he struck with the Nationals for supporting net zero emissions by 2050.

 

Global methane deal to shape Australia despite PM: experts

Joe Biden’s methane reduction pledge will affect Australian industry despite Morrison refusing to sign on to the pledge, investor groups and analysts say.

 

Inside Atlassian’s $546m carbon-conscious building

Atlassian’s new 40-storey office will have half the embodied carbon of a conventional equivalent in its construction, consume half the normal energy during its operation and be fully powered by renewable energy. And it will cost $546 million to build.

 

Bob Brown: Show us your forests plan, PM

Transcript of media conference with Bob Brown

 

Global deforestation deal will fail if countries like Australia don’t lift their game on land clearing

Kate Dooley

At the Glasgow COP26 climate talks overnight, Australia and 123 other countries signed an agreement promising to end deforestation by 2030.

 

French drama can’t hide real story from Cop26: Scott Morrison’s promise to do hardly anything

Adam Morton

From a six-year-old emissions commitment to Boris Johnson’s non-binding breakthroughs, Australia’s lack of ambition was on full display

 

Health care contributes 7% to Australia’s carbon emissions – but health is missing from our COP26 plan

Fiona Armstrong

Australia finally has a net zero plan at the Commonwealth level. But so far, health hasn’t been factored into Australia’s national climate response. The federal government has yet to announce plans specific to the sector or, more broadly, the health of Australians.

 

Australia can’t reach net zero unless it helps people on low incomes transition to clean energy

Cassandra Goldie

The Morrison government’s technology and market-driven response will not drive down emissions in a fast and fair way

 

Australia could lead the world on green hydrogen with the right policies

Madeline Taylor

Legislated mandates, technical safety standards and a stable regulatory environment are crucial for a renewable hydrogen market.

 

Australia didn’t sign up for the global methane pledge – but what would it mean?

Aaron Clark et al

Methane reduction has been called the lowest-hanging fruit of climate solutions but Barnaby Joyce argues it isn’t possible without “shooting your cattle”.

 

Morrison keeps Australia in the climate change tent [$]

Jacob Greber

The Prime Minister has positioned Australia to lift its climate game in the future without committing to anything that would be harmful in the short term.

 

Going green won’t be easy for the housing sector [$]

Robert Harley

The nation’s biggest single investment sector, responsible for around 11 per cent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, is lagging behind on net zero.

 

Australia’s refusal to sign a global methane pledge exposes flaws in the term ‘net-zero’

Mark Howden

At the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, more than 90 nations signed a global pledge led by the United States and United Kingdom to cut methane emissions. However, Australia was not among them.

 

How Scott Morrison’s climate action wishlist was cobbled together

Steve Bishop

Having faced criticism over lack of climate action, Scott Morrison unveiled an emissions reduction plan containing passages written at the last minute.

 

At COP26 our fundamental human rights are at stake

Annika Reynolds and Chris Caskey

But the prime minister does not seem to have made that connection, write Annika Reynolds and Chris Caskey from Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, who argue it’s time to adopt a rights-based approach to climate action.

 

In whose interest is Morrison acting?

David Ritter

By undermining global climate talks, the prime minister is acting in defiance of the will of the Australian people.

 

Fuel display

Rachel Withers

The Coalition has used its time and space at Glasgow to promote the prolonging of fossil fuels

 

We have a fugitive emission – cartoon

David Pope

 

New South Wales

NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole to call on colleagues to rule out new coal exploration zones

NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole says he will be asking colleagues to oppose a proposal to open up new areas for coal exploration.

 

Feral cats running riot amid breeding fears [$]

Residents are being plagued by a gang of feral cats brawling and breeding in a city suburb. They fear the numbers will soon explode with council declining to take action.

 

Dominic Perrottet to bail out of NSW water projects

The NSW government is poised to back away from two of the country’s largest water infrastructure projects promised at the height of drought conditions, marking the Perrottet government’s first significant break from policies announced during Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership.

 

ACT

ANU Professor George Wilson wants Australian farmers to sell kangaroo meat to reduce emissions, improve welfare [$]

Despite their ubiquity in Australia, kangaroos mean something different to everyone. While to some they’re a national icon or a cute and cuddly delight, to others they’re jacked-up predators – and, to many more, a pest.

 

Queensland

Origin eyes ACT-size shale oil reserves under Qld floodplains

Origin Energy wants state approval to seek fossil fuels in the Channel Country.

 

South Australia

‘I have no issue with trucks’: Chapman defiant on conflict claims [$]

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman’s department asked her to consider whether she had a conflict of interest relating to her role in deciding the fate of a $40 million port proposal on Kangaroo Island, where she owns land – but she maintains she has no issue with the prospect of trucks hauling timber near her property.

 

Tasmania

Tasmanian Government says UN deforestation declaration won’t impact native forest logging in state, but the Greens think otherwise

The state government says it will be business as usual for native forest logging in Tasmania after Australia signed a declaration to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

 

Devil deaths spark call to slow down [$]

A conservationist has been left devastated after the deaths of two Tasmanian devil in the state’s north west, prompting calls to slow down.

 

NOFF: Stop eating Tasmanian salmon – video

Tasmania needs you to do something really easy

 

Northern Territory

How renewable energy could empower Aboriginal communities

Warumungu man Norman Frank is the first Aboriginal person in the Northern Territory to try to connect rooftop solar to a prepaid meter – but he still can’t access the grid. As COP26 puts climate action on the world stage, those behind the initiative are determined to bring green energy to the region.

 

Lawyers admit Australian government’s conduct in fracking court case ‘regrettable’

Coalition signed contract to frack Beetaloo Basin after promising environmentalists it had no imminent plans to do so

 

Sustainability

Coal will continue to feed growing energy need of India for next five decades: Experts

Given India’s dependence on coal for 70 per cent of the power sector’s need, the 50 per cent non-fossil fuel sourcing by 2030 itself will be quite challenging and coal will continue to feed the growing energy need of India for the next five decades, according to industry

 

For net-zero, India needs 5,600 GW of solar capacity, 99% drop in coal use

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge to cutting emissions at the world’s third-biggest emitter to net-zero by 2070.

 

Protesters rally against Poland’s controversial abortion law after woman’s death

Vigils have been held for a woman who reproductive rights activists say is the first to have died after restrictions on abortions in Poland were tightened.

 

Deadly choices: University study reveals pesticide poison risk in our ‘healthiest’ foods

For decades the traditional Mediterranean diet has topped the healthy eating charts. But now new research shows chowing down on fruits, vegetables, nuts, and plenty of wine may have a significant downside – pesticides.

 

Your fast food wrappers contain toxic chemicals. Why is that allowed?

Norah MacKendrick

Fast food boxes and wrappers contain toxic chemicals known to interfere with our reproductive systems and contribute to attention and learning disorders

 

Redefining farmland value for climate and food security

Rodney Keenan et al

Regenerative agriculture can translate environmental health into economic value and address climate change. But scaling up will require financial innovation

 

Nature Conservation

It turns out whales eat a lot more than we thought — but that’s a good thing

Whales consume three times more food than previously thought, and their role in ocean ecosystems and the impact of whaling may have been vastly underestimated.



Maelor Himbury
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
0432406862 or 0393741902
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