Post of the Day
Recycle like our planet depends on it
Alan Duffy
Australians have 4.2 million broken mobile phones lying around in homes and businesses across the country, which make up a treasure trove of valuable resources.
On This Day
Labour Day – Victoria
Adelaide Cup Day – South Australia
Canberra Day – Australian Capital Territory
Eight Hours Day – Tasmania
Ecological Observance
International Day of Action for Rivers
Climate Change
Tens of thousands take part in climate protests across France
Demonstrations call for greater focus on environmental crisis in runup to presidential election next month
Vital climate research in jeopardy thanks to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will ‘definitely’ hamper scientific efforts to undertake vital research on the climate crisis.
Thousands strike in France over climate change
Thousands of people across France protested on Saturday in the run-up to next month’s presidential election, calling for more attention to be paid to the climate crisis.
Climate change is biggest ‘dealbreaker’ on popular dating app
Opinions surrounding climate change are the biggest “dealbreaker” out of several topics when it comes to finding a match on the popular dating app OKCupid, new data from the company shows.
National
Morrison government blasted for ‘bungling’ eastern Australian flood disaster
The Emergency Leaders for Climate Action — 37 former emergency services leaders — says the recent floods are the latest in a line of escalating natural disasters yet Australia is under-prepared for future incidents.
Mining for metals and rare earth elements will be a crucial part of a renewable energy future despite the environmental risks, University of Newcastle experts say.
Billionaire-backed Sun Cable’s power link edges ‘one step closer’
A clean energy company backed by billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and “Twiggy” Forrest, has taken a step forward in its goal to export solar power to Singapore
‘Left behind’: Australia lags on low-emissions jet fuel
Australian airlines’ efforts to reduce carbon emissions are being undermined by the country’s slow start establishing an alternative jet fuel industry.
Energy opportunities in transition to net zero [$]
With new technologies and the risk of regulatory intervention, there will inevitably be winners and losers, and single asset exposures will be increasingly difficult to manage.
Recycle like our planet depends on it
Alan Duffy
Australians have 4.2 million broken mobile phones lying around in homes and businesses across the country, which make up a treasure trove of valuable resources.
Labor’s power grid gold-plating is a rewiring tax on consumers [$]
Angus Taylor
Labor’s plan to build non-priority transmission projects will mean higher electricity bills locked in for decades.
Research shows voters favour financial relief after disasters, but we need climate action too
Hannah Melville-Rea
Within two months, Australians will vote in a federal election. It comes after a political term marked by major societal challenges, including catastrophic drought, bushfires and floods.
Don’t expect much – with climate disasters you will largely be on your own
Lucy Hamilton
When Scott Morrison chides inundated Australians about expecting too much from the government or the ADF during a crisis, he is not just speaking about the nightmare scale of these catastrophic floods. He is setting expectations for the climate emergency’s cascading disasters. You’re on your own.
Victoria
Electric car hot spots cashing in on subsidies [$]
The $3000 electric car subsidy has been branded “welfare for the wealthy” as the suburbs cashing in are revealed.
Locals fear Wattle Park ‘overdevelopment’ [$]
A Parks Victoria proposal hopes to upgrade Burwood’s Wattle Park but some locals and heritage groups fear the plans will damage the area.
New South Wales
Bringing the southern corroboree frog back from the brink, one enclosure at a time
After the Black Summer bushfires tore through Kosciuszko National Park, there were fears for the critically endangered southern corroboree frog. Now, 100 of the bright-yellow-and-black amphibians are making a comeback and returning home.
Satellite images show how a Northern Rivers town went from a sea of green to sea of mud
Satellite images reveal how floodwaters inundated the town of Woodburn, in NSW’s Northern Rivers region — this is how high the water rose.
Calls for storage in waterfront parks amid growing sea of kayaks
Like many Sydneysiders who live near the water, Lauren O’Neill bought a kayak during the pandemic for socially distanced exercise.
Thousands without power on NSW North Coast
Thousands of homes are without power two weeks after historic floods hit the Lismore area.
Brace yourself Sydney for more transport chaos
Christopher Standen
The extreme weather of the past fortnight has exposed the vulnerabilities in Sydney’s transport system.
ACT
Horticulturist Tim Edmondson designs subterranean river system for Coombs block
A subterranean river system winding below a garden in Coombs is allowing one family to capture the vast quantities of water typically wasted down storm water drains.
Queensland
Land-clearing destroyed 90,000 hectares of Queensland koala habitat in single year, analysis finds
The Wilderness Society says ‘it’s time to take a good, hard look’ at the state’s beef industry, which is blamed for 80% of clearing
Mayor defends planning decisions ‘made 150 years ago’ amid calls for flood insurance support
Home owners are being left to cover ‘catastrophic’ financial risks as the climate crisis and a legacy of poor planning coalesce, expert says
Key water scheme report delayed ‘because of Covid’ [$]
The state government is blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for a six-month delay in the finalisation of a report into the viability of a new Bradfield Scheme.
There are calls for the Queensland government to stop approving large, foreign-owned wind farm developments in the state’s north, amid fears the area’s flora and fauna could be devastated by land clearing.
After the floods, the distressing but necessary case for managed retreat
Antonia Settle
From Brisbane to Sydney, many thousands of Australians have been reliving a devastating experience they hoped – in 2021, 2020, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012 or 2010/11 – would never happen to them again.
Tasmania
Bowser causing you pain? Maybe it’s time to think electric [$]
‘Plug it in like a phone’: Tasmanians in droves are looking into electric cars – some as cheap as $17,000 – as fuel prices continue to climb to almost $2.30 a litre around the state.
Aboriginal heritage plan “weak”, says land council [$]
The Aboriginal Land Council has criticised the government’s plan for an overhaul of laws protecting Aboriginal heritage, saying they’re “weak”.
Western Australia
Christian can’t choose where he buys his power and it’s costing him thousands a year
Most WA business have no say on where they purchase their power from, and as the pandemic continues to impact their bottom line, some say its time for that to change.
Electric car interest surges as petrol prices skyrocket [$]
Half of all West Australians are considering an electric or hybrid as their next vehicle — the first time interest in green models has leapfrogged traditional petrol and diesel cars.
McGowan urged to spend huge oil windfall on needy families [$]
Rampaging oil prices are set to as much as hundreds of millions of dollars to the WA Budget, prompting calls from welfare groups for the McGowan Government to give families much-needed cost-of-living relief.
Sustainability
Ban Ki-moon warns UK against fracking as world stands at ‘dangerous’ point
Former UN secretary general says countries face stark choices brought on by the war in Ukraine
Tories plan big expansion of wind farms ‘to protect national security’
Planning rules to be relaxed so that renewables and nuclear power can boost energy independence after Ukraine invasion
Egypt’s fishing industry is dying due to pollution, investigation reveals
Fishermen on Egypt’s northern coast are leaving their trade and abandoning their villages due to mounting debts and declining fish populations.
New nuclear warheads deployed on Washington-based submarines are suddenly at the apex of relevance because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Nuclear reactors in a war zone: A new type of weapon?
Despite international agreements to exclude nuclear power plants from war zones, Russia has recklessly attacked these facilities. Although nuclear power plants are designed to operate safely, in a war zone there are no guarantees. Nuclear power plants have become a new instrument for making war and laying waste to the land.
Global collapse is in view – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
In light of Putin’s decision to make nuclear weapons look usable, it has become all too clear that the global scientific community must reinvent the informal, cooperative, scientist-to-scientist relationships that once were so valuable. Not just Russia’s scientists, but China’s too must participate.
The uncomfortable truth about ESG [$]
Adele Ferguson
Ethical investing must mean walking the walk not just talking the talk when it comes to the consequences of divesting assets.
‘Marine parks not enough to protect ocean environments’
Challenges facing the maritime economy will not be solved ‘solely through the creation of marine parks’, according to a fishing merchant.
Book Review: Tales of nature altered by human hands
In “Second Nature,” Nathaniel Rich explores the changing natural world, and our struggle to shape and control it.
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