Post of the Day
Air pollution lowers global life expectancy by more than two years: Report
Air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, according to a report published today.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Arbor Day – Costa Rica
Climate Change
Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests global warming ‘is actually healthy for us’
While speaking on the conservative Right Side Broadcasting Network, alongside host Brian Glenn, Marjorie Taylor Greene argued in favor of global warming.
Climate change is making the world more dangerous for women, queers, and gender minorities
Scientists say rising temperatures aren’t the only thing we need to fear this summer. A new study suggests that extreme weather is likely to increase violence against women, queer people, and gender minorities.
‘Heat ages people’: As temperatures rise, scientists study how humans react
Researchers are drilling down into the ways life on a hotter planet will tax our bodies, and looking for protections that, unlike air-conditioning, don’t make the problem worse.
National
Power uncertainty hits multiple states, energy authority makes moves to cover shortfalls
Market notices published on the AEMO website warned of possible power interruptions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
What is load shedding and why is it threatening to pitch millions of Australians into darkness?
In the electricity industry, no two words instil a greater sense of fear or failure as load shedding. Here’s why.
Power companies accused of engineering crisis for profit
Multibillion-dollar power companies are being accused by regulators of driving the power shortages striking the nation in order to receive larger taxpayer handouts.
The Australia Institute’s Dan Cass said: “Our research is timely because the new Australian government has promised to spend $20 billion to subsidise 10,000km of new transmission lines which will unlock huge private investment in generation and storage in REZs.
Prepared for take off: Australian ingenuity to cut aviation emissions
An Australian advanced manufacturing company bringing an innovative solution to aviation emissions – modelled on shark skin – has received a $2 million investment boost from the CEFC, alongside strategic investors including venture capitalist Bill Tai and Amanda Terry of ACTAI Ventures.
Union, industry demand action on gas [$]
A union boss representing workers whose jobs depend on affordable gas supply has urged the Albanese government to either limit gas exports immediately or implement a tax on them.
While our ‘imperfect’ electricity system is falling to pieces, are profits being made?
Melissa Clarke
After a mere two weeks to assess the state of the National Electricity Market, Chris Bowen has found it crumbling in his hands
Residents embrace renewable energy but worry how their towns will change
Rebecca Pearse et al
Amid soaring energy costs, the new Labor government is working to deliver a A$20 billion pledge to rebuild and modernise Australia’s electricity grid. It will help deliver a plan for 122 gigawatts of new renewable energy in the National Electricity Market by 2050, eventually replacing coal generation
The continuing emergency of our time
Peter Boyer
A couple of weeks ago, climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen and assistant minister Jenny McAllister sat down with a group of retired fire and other emergency chiefs to get their heads around Australia’s disaster preparedness.
You might be warm and cookin’ with gas… if only it wasn’t 95.7% foreign-owned!
David Donovan
Gas prices make it hard for Australians to keep warm this winter. Labor needs to stand firm against foreign interests and reserve domestic …
Still Faxing: CITIC the gigantic tiny Chinese coal miner
Michael West
CITIC the Chinese coal mining juggernaut churns out $8bn in revenue from its suite of Australian coal mines, gets government subsidies, but pays almost no tax and actually faxes in its one financial report to regulators. What’s the scam?
The day the fossil fuel industry lost all perspective, and threw away its social licence
Giles Parkinson
Fossil fuel generators want more market support to ensure the lights stay on. But their actions this week show they care more about profits than providing an essential service.
Victoria
Victorian inquiry into far-right extremism warned children are being radicalised
Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, who infiltrated a neo-Nazi group, tells the inquiry children as young as 10 are being radicalised and he believes police are “overwhelmed” by the level of threatening language online.
State may need to ease gas ban to avoid supply issues
A ban on coal seam gas could cause issues with energy supplies since existing fields are producing less, the federal resources minister says.
Coal failure deepens power uncertainty – video
Energy Australia confirmed its Yallourn power station – which provides 20 per cent of Victoria’s electricity – lost two of its four units.
New South Wales
Dendrobium mine expansion plan still poses unacceptable risks to drinking water and climate
The Nature Conservation Council has urged the NSW Planning Department to reject the expansion of Dendrobium coal mine in Sydney’s drinking water catchment.
NSW will need Narrabri gas: Resources Minister
Resources Minister Madeleine King has warned of a bigger energy crisis in future years if new gas fields like the Narrabri project in northern NSW do not go ahead, declaring that critics of the project should accept the need for gas as part of the transition from coal to renewable energy.
Secret plans to sell, rezone and develop land across Sydney railways
The strategy by a controversial rail corporation includes new hotels and rezoning dozens of sites near train stations for high-density developments.
Gomeroi fear for Pilliga in Santos gas push
A legal dispute underway in the National Native Title Tribunal will decide whether Santos’ Pilliga gas project will go ahead without Gomeroi consent.
Australia’s “largest grid forming battery” to go ahead after landing finance deal
Edify locks in finance to start building 150MW/300MWh Tesla Megapack big battery featuring a “new vintage” of grid forming inverter controls
Statement on coastal damage following weekend weather event
City of Newcastle media release
Large and powerful surf conditions combined with high tides have impacted sections of Newcastle’s coastline over the weekend, compounded by the recent impact of the severe weather events in March and April.
Jerry Vanclay
More than three months after the monster floods wrecked much of Lismore, there is still no clarity for the town’s residents and businesses who urgently need to make investment decisions. Should they move to higher ground, make temporary fixes, or renovate for the long haul?
ACT
New habitat in Namadgi breeds hope for tiny native – video
Survival of the northern corroboree frog is becoming more of a reality, with the critically-endangered species thriving in a new home in Namadgi.
Queensland
Why are generators withdrawing supply in the midst of an energy crisis?
Five of Queensland’s state-owned power generators are currently not operating. Others are being turned off on purpose as blackouts threaten.
New high-frequency bus service could link Brisbane’s north and south
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says the business case for a potential “Gold CityGlider” has been submitted to Translink for consideration.
‘Bumpy winter ahead’: Grim power warning as energy crisis escalates [$]
Queenslanders are being asked to cut unnecessary power use as they are warned of a “bumpy winter ahead” amid the ongoing energy crisis, with the Australian Energy Market Operator continuing to forecast power supply shortages.
Sugarcane pulp powers 30 per cent of this city’s houses, could the rest of Australia follow?
The sugar industry has a proven ability to produce renewable energy, so why aren’t more homes being powered by sugar?
South Australia
Bass Oil to fast-track Cooper Basin gas study [$]
Junior energy company Bass Oil has started a feasibility study into oil and gas assets it has picked up from Beach Energy and Cooper Energy.
Energy Minister backs the market and vows the lights will stay on
The State Government has dismissed the threats of blackouts over the past two days and claimed the energy market was working the way it should.
Tasmania
Green backed report likens carbon emissions from native forest logging to ‘a million cars’
Logging Tasmania’s native forests produces roughly the equivalent annual greenhouse gas emissions as 1.1 million cars or 422,000 return flights to London, a new Wilderness Society-backed report by forest ecologist Jennifer Sanger says.
Bowen suggest Marinus Link is key to nation’s renewable energy transition
Energy Minister Guy Barnett has told Parliament he is heartened by federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s positive comments regarding the importance of the Marinus Link project.
Coastal council to pour thousands into stopping devil road deaths [$]
More Tasmanian devils could be killed in the far North-West if further action isn’t taken, says a Coastal council with plans to pour $10,000 into protecting the endangered species.
Western Australia
WA government to exit coal power with billion-dollar push towards green energy
Western Australia’s government calls time on its involvement in coal power, declaring the state will exit the market before 2030 and plough billions of dollars into renewable energy and storage.
Researchers use whale photo archive to help protect important WA calving site
Southern right whale populations were severely depleted by whaling but may be bouncing back in Geographe Bay
Hot, young, dead too soon – why these wrens’ climate future should worry us all
Dry and hot weather damages the DNA of purple-crowned fairy wrens causing them to age earlier and die younger, new research has found.
‘A lot of people very scared’: Coal town reacts to industry deadline
Western Australia will do away with coal power by 2029, leaving the state’s electricity hub without its major industry. But residents say the people of Collie knew the “tough day” was coming and are sandbagging their livelihoods.
Western Australia’s green dream is underpinned by gas
Gareth Parker
WA’s move to phase out all but one coal-fired power stations is a daring policy in a state that has been the national laggard on reducing emissions.
Sustainability
Air pollution got worse during lockdown in many countries, study finds
University of Chicago reports little change in global average particulate pollution in 2020, with increases in areas such as India
Africa must forgo gas exploration to avert climate disaster, warn experts
Call comes after former UN climate envoy urged African countries to exploit their natural gas reserves
Air pollution lowers global life expectancy by more than two years: Report
Air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, according to a report published today.
49 million people face famine as Ukraine war, climate disasters intensify
As of last week, about 750,000 people around the world were facing a food security “catastrophe” — at which “starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident” — according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
What’s at risk due to Russia’s nuclear power dominance?
Matt Bowen And Paul Dabbar
The impacts Western-allied countries are facing due to Moscow’s sway over global oil and natural gas markets are real and well understood by now, even if solutions remain difficult. But those nations also face another level of energy risk that has received less attention as the war in Ukraine drags on: Russia’s considerable share of the global nuclear power market.
Nature Conservation
Warming climate decreases microbial diversity
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma have found that the warming climate is decreasing microbial diversity, which is essential for soil health.
Climate change likely to slow plant growth in northern hemisphere
While the higher temperatures and CO2 levels associated with climate change currently fuel plant productivity, a study finds that changing conditions could take a toll on photosynthesis rates in regions outside the Arctic within a decade.
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