Post of the Day
National Parks are for protection not development – new national poll
New national polling confirms that the vast majority of Australians do not want to see prime protected areas like National Parks compromised by commercial or large-scale development. Research undertaken by National Parks Australia Council, a coalition of state-based conservation groups, shows just how protective Australians are of our national parks and reserves.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
National Wildlife Day – USA
Climate Change
Antarctica and Greenland’s polar ice shelves are melting from below
The largest ice masses on the planet contain so much water that they’re increasing sea levels around the globe as temperatures rise. Satellites can see these drastic changes from space.
AGL rejects Cannon-Brookes early closure bid, insists it can reinvent itself
Australia’s biggest coal generator AGL rejects tech billionaire’s bid as too low, insists it can “continue to reinvent itself.” Cannon-Brookes responds.
Net zero could give Australia the world’s cheapest electricity, Atlassian co-founder says
Billionaire co-founder of software company Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, says he will continue to work with the board of energy giant AGL to pursue a takeover that would help Australia have the “lowest-priced energy in the world”.
Inside ‘Project Arise’: Cannon-Brookes’ secret plan to take over AGL
For years Mike Cannon-Brookes has made his frustration at Australia’s lumbering climate politics and lack of meaningful action abundantly clear. Now he has acted.
It’s not my day job: Cannon-Brookes [$]
Mike Cannon-Brookes describes the biggest decarbonisation project in the world as his ‘night and weekend job’.
The question at the heart of the AGL deal [$]
How long does Australia need coal-fired power? Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield want to buy AGL and kick coal out of the energy grid by 2030. AGL wants more time.
Green ammonia call from Japan’s biggest coal generator excites Australian projects
Japanese power giant issues international call for supplies of zero emissions ammonia, a major opportunity for potential Australian suppliers.
Fact check: New fossil fuel projects do have massive emissions potential if built
What was claimed: There are 114 new coal and gas projects in Australia’s investment pipeline that contain more than double the amount of our annual domestic carbon emissions. Our Verdict: Mostly true.
Finding a place for people with disability in nature
Mathew Townsend is the founder of Nature Freedom, an organisation making the great outdoors accessible to people with disability.
National Parks are for protection not development – new national poll
New national polling confirms that the vast majority of Australians do not want to see prime protected areas like National Parks compromised by commercial or large-scale development. Research undertaken by National Parks Australia Council, a coalition of state-based conservation groups, shows just how protective Australians are of our national parks and reserves.
Covid and climate change are changing how we use air con. We need to talk about it, says expert
Australians are increasingly concerned with keeping toxic air out and clean air in. It’s time to consider if our energy infrastructure can keep up, this expert says.
Funding available for technologies to reduce livestock emissions
The Australian Government has announced the next stages of the Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) program.
New funding for zero emission fleet vehicles
The Australian Government has launched the second round of the Future Fuels Fund. Round 2 will help road fleet operators shift to new zero emission vehicle technology by supporting electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
Drone fleets and autonomous vehicles added to Antarctica research program
The government will commit another $804 million to the exploration of Antarctica amid growing concern about Chinese and Russian activity on the continent.
How long will black gold be king as ‘green’ steel makes a charge?
Australia is the world’s largest exporter of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking and the second-largest exporter of thermal coal used for electricity generation. How long will its run last?
$86 million on offer to grow Australia’s plantation estate
The Morrison Government will invest more than $86 million over five years to support the establishment of new plantations for our future wood supply.
PM’s tree pledge is a farce, says Labor [$]
Opposition agriculture apokeswoman Julie Collins says the policy is ‘850 million trees short’.
Morrison’s plantation plan fizzer slammed by timber union
CFMEU Manufacturing
Today’s announcement by the Morrison Government that they will attempt to increase Australia’s forest plantation estate by just 3.4% in the next five years, since presiding over a 10.1% decline of the estate since 2014-15 is hugely disappointing.
The battle for AGL heralds a new dawn for Australian electricity
Bruce Mountain
Two events in the past week mark a watershed for Australia’s electricity industry.
Cannon-Brookes’ unstoppable billions pierce the bubble of fossil fuel denial
Giles Parkinson
Bid by Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield for AGL is an assault on the citadel itself, from the inside out, and we should all be cheering from the sidelines.
When you don’t have an energy policy, the market takes over while the minister shouts at clouds
Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer
The bid by Brookfield and Mike Cannon-Brookes for AGL shows how the company has been undermined by a lack of energy policy from the federal government.
Climate hero turns corporate predator: Cannon-Brookes powers up his green credentials
Elizabeth Knight
The combined capital firepower of Brookfield and tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is huge – enough to swallow the 180-year-old AGL several times over.
Cannon-Brookes’ Canadian partner Brookfield has big power plans
Colin Kruger
A global investment group based in Canada may not seem like the obvious investment partner for billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes as he attempts to scour AGL’s energy business of its coal power.
AGL bid holds too many risks for power grid stability [$]
Judith Sloan
Let’s just hope the market-led acceleration from coal to renewables doesn’t result in galloping electricity prices for consumers along with sporadic brownouts and blackouts.
Consumers caught in the AGL crossfire [$]
Joel Fitzgibbon
Brookfield and Mike Cannon-Brookes have yet to explain how AGL’s great leap from carbon to clean power will be accomplished. Just blame the political class for creating such a wild west of an electricity market.
Mike Cannon-Brookes has economics on his side in AGL bid [$]
Jennifer Hewett
The federal government is apprehensive about more early closures of coal-fired power stations, but it will be the economics, not the politics that determine the timing of the change.
FIRB not right lever to manage energy transition [$]
AFR editorial
The Foreign Investment Review Board process should not be retrofitted to justify politicised government intervention that forces electricity companies to keep their coal-fired power plants burning.
Don’t forget the small communities when transitioning to renewables
Shirley Jackson
Including communities in decision-making when mines are closed is important to ensure the best results for all.
Public deserves to know Holmes a Court’s intentions [$]
Rita Panahi
Given his role in the upcoming election, the public deserves to know if Simon Holmes a Court stands to benefit financially from any change in government policy.
Antarctic may hold key to protecting our planet [$]
Sussan Ley
In the face of climate change and growing geopolitical pressures, the protection of the world’s last untouched wilderness is one of the great environmental imperatives.
Wait! There’s so much left to burn! – cartoon
Cathy Wilcox
New South Wales
New building standards must recognise that gas is high risk
The Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends group want the NSW government to change the status of gas from ‘low’ to ‘high’-emissions energy.
Joyce’s Dungowan Dam election promises overpriced water
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce thinks he can shore up his New England seat by talking up the widely-criticised Dungowan Dam project at Tamworth.
‘How about we hunt you and your family’: Threats fly as a culture war over brumbies turns feral
People are being subjected to vicious online abuse, vandalism and even death threats as brumby activists resist any moves to remove horses from Australia’s high country.
Kicking goals for planet in 2022
From net zero carbon emissions and electric vehicle charging stations to waste management and solar energy, Waverley Council is working closely with the community to help create a healthier and more sustainable planet in 2022 and beyond.
Rail union welcomes state government ‘back down’
Warragamba Dam EIS fails to clear legal test [$]
The environmental impact statement underpinning the proposal to is flawed, legally fraught and requires major rectification work before the project’s approval can even be considered, according to new legal advice.
ACT
The ACT government will lease 26 new diesel buses to push its biggest emitters off the road and is taking a cautious approach to the next phase of its transition to electric public transport.
South Australia
‘An audacious project’: South Australia uses Victorian koalas to improve genetic diversity
Four male koalas are sent from Victorian plantation forests in Gippsland to Adelaide as part of a breeding program to shore up the future of the species.
Want decent roads? We should pay for it [$]
Rex Jory argues it’s only fair to pay our share after we’ve stuck our hands out for federal funding for road upgrades.
Title deeds: Mount Gambier landmarks dual-named in spirit of reconciliation
Blue Lake and Umpherston sinkhole number amongst the landmarks to be dual-named with their Bunganditj names.
Tasmania
Plan could bring swift parrots back from the brink of extinction
Researchers say their proposal to save the swift parrot could also benefit Tasmania’s public forestry company by making native forest timber more profitable.
From a billion trees down to 150 million, opponents seize on Prime Minister’s plantation scheme
The spectre of the disastrous managed investment schemes loomed large over Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plantation grant scheme announcement, but industry is confident it can work with farmers to avoid problems of the past.
Concern grows following Epuron community meetings
Public meetings about potential turbine noise from St Patricks Plains Wind Farm have not allayed neighbour concerns but have instead escalated their concerns.
Tarkine protester confronts PM on visit to Tasmania [$]
A standard election campaign visit to a Tasmanian business took an unexpected turn when a lone protester confronted Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he got out of his car.
Peter Boyer
An enduring memory of my childhood is coming upon spring orchids in the dry Derwent Valley bush. The greenhoods were first, followed by splashes of blue, white, pink, yellow and maroon as multitudes of these little floral gems emerged to strut their stuff.
Northern Territory
ASX-lister appoints Indigenous CEO to lead NT uranium mine clean-up
Being asked to lead a uranium mine clean up in Australia’s most famous national park with the world’s eyes watching amid a huge budget blowout – all while blazing a trail for First Nations people – you could forgive Brad Welsh for having some hesitancy.
Sustainability
UK boosts access to finance for women-owned businesses and clean energy projects in Nigeria
A new £74 million (41.6 billion Naira) financial package from the UK will support women entrepreneurs across Nigeria, who are facing disproportionate barriers to business.
UNITAR nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation training 2022
UNITAR will use 3D virtual technologies to bring to online learners the powerful experience of visiting the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
Passivhaus: How to insulate your home against soaring heating bills
Soaring gas prices have been making headlines but for some households heating bills are nowhere near reaching record highs. These are the residents of Passivhaus homes.
Nonprofit organizations MADE SAFE and Plastic Pollution Coalition released the new Healthy Pregnancy Guide to help parents-to-be navigate the challenges of making healthier living choices for babies and the planet.
Bacteria Upcycle Carbon Waste Into Valuable Chemicals
Researchers engineered a strain of bacteria to break down carbon dioxide (CO2), converting it into commonly used, expensive industrial chemicals.
Electrifying Motorcycle Taxis in Kampala, Uganda, Shows Air Pollution Benefits
Feb. 21, 2022 — In a new study, researchers set out to understand the air pollutant emissions impacts of electrifying motorcycle taxis in Kampala
Bacteria upcycle carbon waste into valuable chemicals
Engineered bacteria convert captured carbon dioxide into chemicals for fuels, fabric and cosmetics
Bacteria Upcycle Carbon Waste Into Valuable Chemicals
Researchers engineered a strain of bacteria to break down carbon dioxide (CO2), converting it into commonly used, expensive industrial chemicals.
Why urban greening isn’t a panacea for extreme weather under climate change
Mark O Cuthbert et al
Urban greening is often touted as a way to tackle both heatwaves and floods in cities. This includes through green roofs, living walls, vegetated urban spaces, private and community gardens, habitat corridors, bushland and parks.
Peace has led to more deforestation in Colombia
In the tropics, when conflict affected countries transition to peace, deforestation often increases. But the reasons behind this trend are neither simple nor generalizable, reports a new study from Colombia.
UK wildlife campaigners call for legal right to access nature for all
Activists say one in three people in England cannot access green spaces, with the poorest most deprived
As wildfires increase in Himalayan pine forests, can restoring oaks help?
Heavy logging during the British colonial era and replanting with a single species—fast-growing pine—weakened forest health. Now, locals are making room for more oaks to regrow.
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