Post of the Day
Scientists say no to Solar Geoengineering
More than 60 senior climate scientists and governance scholars from around the world have launched a global initiative calling for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering
On This Day
Climate Change
Scientists say no to Solar Geoengineering
More than 60 senior climate scientists and governance scholars from around the world have launched a global initiative calling for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering
Wider-reaching solutions urgently needed to reach realistic ‘net zero’, warn researchers
There should be greater investment in using a wider group of experts to make decisions about how the landscape is managed if the UK is to reach climate targets such as net zero, a new report warns.
National
Koala recovery efforts receive $50 million federal boon as populations continue to decline
Some koala populations have been pushed to the brink of extinction by bushfires and climate change. The federal government is committing an extra $50 million to recovery efforts.
Ocean conservation group welcomes Greens waste & recycling policy
Ocean conservationists have welcomed the Greens’ Creating a Circular Economy national policy initiative, describing it as a sound, evidence-based approach to stopping the flow of plastic pollution into Australia’s waterways and oceans.
Deadline extended to opt-in to Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency report pilot
The Clean Energy Regulator has extended the deadline for Australia’s major companies to opt into a pilot of the Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency (CERT) report.
Aleasha McCallion et al
At the beginning of the pandemic, many of us opted to buy reusable fabric masks to help fight the spread of COVID – they’re better for the environment than disposables, can be locally made, and come in a range of creative designs.
Pandemic pollution: how fast fashion is killing the planet [$]
Amber Schultz
800,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles are thrown out every year by Australians, the bulk of it ending up in landfill.
Kieran Pender
What is the cost to athletes and sports of accepting money from an influential denier of global warming? And what is the cost to our planet?
Carbon capers taking off as prices rise [$]
John Durie
Australian carbon market prices have risen by 3.5 times in a year, with soil carbon and better technology the focus. This could change how projects are delivered.
Victoria
Council secures funding to support Noojee forestry transition
Noojee is the latest community to benefit from the Victorian Forestry Plan, a state government initiative that ensures timber communities and local jobs are supported as the industry transitions.
New electric vehicle chargers for Yarra
Electric vehicle (EV) charging is now easier and more convenient after 2 new fast-charging stations have been installed in converted parking bays at the Collingwood Library.
Major clean-up underway after powerful Melbourne storm
A major clean-up is underway in Melbourne after a powerful storm cell swept through the city.
The number of ducks taken by Victorian hunters has slumped to millennium-drought levels due to shorter seasons, bag limits and Covid restrictions.
ACT
Why you’re seeing an explosion of butterflies
Have you noticed lots more butterflies around at the moment?
Fierce competition has been generated by the ACT’s electric bus contract
Two international companies pitching for Canberra’s electric bus business are planning to bring the latest lightweight composite technology transplanted from Europe here to optimise operating efficiency, with one tenderer offering to set up a “micro-factory” to build the buses in the territory.
Queensland
$1b plan to save Great Barrier Reef will fail without action on climate change, scientist says
The Morrison government’s funding commitment has been criticised by a scientist who says it will mean nothing if global carbon emissions are not reduced.
Great Barrier Reef on verge of another mass bleaching after highest temperatures on record
Exclusive: ‘Shocked and concerned’ US government scientists say heat stress over Australia’s ocean jewel is unprecedented
Local firm breaks new ground in lithium battery technology
Brisbane-based battery company Li-S Energy has revealed it is “engaging” with automotive industry manufacturers at the same time as discovering a breakthrough in the development of a lithium-metal battery.
PM reveals $50m hi-tech koala plan on Qld Qld green spree [$]
The Prime Minister will pledge to use hi-tech drones as part of a $50 million program to save koalas on his second day of a green-focused Queensland tour.
The Great Barrier Reef doesn’t know an election’s coming – but everyone else does [$]
Imogen Champagne
Will Queenslanders fall to their knees in gratitude, voting pencils in hand, for the beneficent PM’s $1b over nine years? He can only hope.
Is PM’s $1 billion cash splash enough to save the Reef, or his government?
Andrew Brown
New funding to protect the Great Barrier Reef will “back in” scientists to help preserve the natural wonder, according to the prime minister.
Great barrier to our iconic reef’s health
Letters
The best prescription for saving the Great Barrier Reef is for the government to stop spending millions in public funding on the coal and gas industry whose emissions have been killing it off for decades.
Morrison can’t buy love on reef [$]
Australian editorial
Green groups are slow to recognise the Coalition’s lead on protection.
Great Barrier grief – cartoon
Peter Broelman
South Australia
Inside One Nation’s attempt to capture SA’s right
One Nation is gearing up for its first South Australian state election campaign since 2006, with its state leader insisting the Pauline Hanson-founded party is well-placed to influence both the policy debate and the state’s next government.
Tasmania
Concerns for wildlife after two tug boats sink in northern Tasmania
Two tug boats in Tasmania’s north have sunk after a collision with a commercial vessel, TasPorts says.
Northern Territory
Tonnes of deadly marine debris removed from Australia’s northern waters
In 2021, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) deployment of chartered vessels supporting targeted operations to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing also resulted in successfully removing 4.5 tonnes of deadly marine debris.
A new study from a team of international researchers that shows how global reef ecosystems are connected, has also exposed how little is known about the vital coral reefs across Northern Australia, according to a Charles Darwin University researcher.
Western Australia
Companies to pay $250,000 after clearing protected black cockatoo habitat
Three Western Australian companies will pay $250,000 as part of an enforceable undertaking after contravening Australia’s national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Sustainability
A federal judge invalidates the results of an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the Biden administration failed to properly account for the auction’s climate change impact.
How volcanic ash could be used to help rejuvenate and rebuild Tonga
The volcanic ash that coats much of Tonga poses serious health risks if inhaled but once enough rain falls, it could help rejuvenate the country’s soil and is already being collected for building materials.
Biden outpaces Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands
The Biden administration came into office promising to shift the country away from its dependence on fossil fuels. But faced with political and legal challenges, oil drilling and coal mining on public lands have continued unabated.
What will it take to shrink the carbon footprint of health care?
A small but growing group of researchers and physicians working to quantify the environmental impact of healthcare—and to reduce that impact without compromising patient care.
Sweden approves plans for Forsmark nuclear waste storage site
The storage facility in Forsmark will bury nuclear waste in the bedrock, and seal the facilities once they are full. The government said the plans will keep Sweden’s radioactive waste safe for 100,000 years.
Clawing our way to environmentally friendly packaging
Lobster claws and insect exoskeletons may seem like unlikely candidates for sustainable packaging feedstock. But researchers are hot on the trail of turning a molecule these structures contain into the basis of sustainable packaging.
You may want to re-think how much salt you are using this winter. It can pollute the ecosystem and our drinking water.
British scientist finds new species of rare leafhopper in Uganda
The last recorded sighting of a leafhopper from the same genus as Phlogis kibalensis was in 1969
Alarming levels of mercury are found in old growth Amazon forest
The findings, related to gold mining in Peru, provide new evidence of how people are altering ecosystems in dangerous ways around the world.
Study: Up to 144 years for aquifers to recover from methane gas development
Coal-bed methane gas wells pumped 1 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2001, and it may take nearly 150 years for some aquifers to recover, state geologic study concludes.
See the the Channel Islands’ stunning ecological recovery
The conservation success story is an example of what decades of work can accomplish.
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