Post of the Day
Overwhelmed by environmental disaster? Here’s a scorecard to inspire optimism
Claire O’Rourke
The nation’s environment report card is inescapably bleak, but that doesn’t mean there is no good news or reason to believe in positive action.
On This Day
Climate Change
Death toll rises above 1,500 as temperatures soar across Europe
Soaring temperatures across Europe have claimed the lives of at least 1,500 people, according to authorities, as the searing heat sees wildfires raging across the continent.
As Europe burns, the world’s climate plan, such as it is, unravels
As Europe descends into a furnace, global action on climate change is being delayed by politics and war.
In a paradox, cleaner air is now adding to global warming
It’s one of the paradoxes of global warming. Burning coal or gasoline releases the greenhouse gases that drive climate change. But it also lofts pollution particles that reflect sunlight and cool the planet, offsetting a fraction of the warming.
Desert climate overtaking more of Central Asia
Climate change also redefining water cycle, availability in mountainous areas
Evil is patient: why soaring temperatures won’t shift policymakers [$]
Bernard Keane
Will a catastrophic summer in Europe deliver real change on climate policy? Not while states remain captured by fossil fuel interests.
Private jets are supercharging the climate crisis. Why don’t we care? [$]
Emma Elsworthy
A private jet emits as much carbon dioxide in one hour as the average person emits in one year. So why do the wealthy persist with quick flights that help devastate the environment?
The case for a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty – from an island nation in peril
Simon Kofe
We’ve had the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but now we need another treaty to address the greatest threat to humanity.
Joe Manchin saved US taxpayers $300 billion by rejecting bad climate policy
Robert Bryce
Indeed, the Democratic senator from West Virginia spared taxpayers from wasting money on the same misguided energy policies that have resulted in what Britain’s Global Warming Policy Foundation rightly calls “Europe’s worst energy cost and security crisis since the Second World War.”
Record heat has terrifying impacts
Kimberley R. Miner
Sitting in my apartment in a suburb of Los Angeles, I’m the happiest person around — because I have air conditioning. Even in Los Angeles, air conditioning is rare. In the decades past, the cool desert air at night would make the city livable, clean out the smog and bring in the smell of jasmine flowers. Not so much anymore.
National
Australia’s forest scientists call for active and adaptive forest management
Following the release, the Victorian Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) – Major Event Review of the 2019- 2020 bushfires, the peak national organisation representing over 1,000 forest scientists and professionals have called for active and adaptive forest management to be implemented as a matter of urgency.
Environmental crisis will force action on green energy
Australian businesswoman Christine Corbett says the environmental crisis is giving new urgency to the need to decarbonise energy production in Australia.
Greens to begin formal negotiations on climate bill
The Australian Greens Party Room has met and had its first discussion regarding the government’s Climate Change Bill and has empowered Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP to enter formal negotiations with the government on the Bill.
“It’s about time we acted like we’re in a crisis”: Greens to push Labor ‘further and faster’
Greens leader Adam Bandt questions whether Albanese government really wants to end the climate wars. “We’re in a crisis and we need to act like it.”
Farmers say ‘grim’ environment report doesn’t reflect industry’s changes
Farmers say a report outlining the deterioration of Australia’s environment fails to acknowledge the millions being spent to address their industry’s impact on the land.
Australian researchers develop safer electrolyte for sodium batteries
Australian researchers develop new and non-flammable electrolyte material for use in sodium batteries that could be safer and cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.
Rio Tinto agrees to pay nearly $1 billion in tax avoidance settlement with ATO
Rio Tinto will hand over $1 billion in unpaid taxes after an ATO investigation, in one of the largest settlements in Australian tax history.
Climate change top of the agenda as Labor kick-starts new parliament with four bills
The government will introduce four bills next week, including its climate change bill to legislate its 2030 emissions reduction target.
Leading environment group says Labor must include ratchet mechanism in climate change bill
Australian Conservation Foundation says legislation needs to ensure 43% emissions reduction target can be increased over time
Climate policy will take pressure off budget, Treasury secretary says
Labor’s proposal to beef up the Abbott government’s “safeguard mechanism” on carbon pollution will take significant pressure off the federal budget, says Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy.
Greens’ anti-coal stance could increase emissions: PM [$]
Greens warned that push to ban new coal, gas projects would force Australia’s trading partners source lower-quality resources.
Safe access to clean drinking water in spotlight as new report shows how many Australians miss out
More than half a million Australians in at least 400 remote or regional communities lack access to quality drinking water.
Our ecosystems are collapsing. Can the new government change this? – Full Story podcast
Environment editor Adam Morton explains to Jane Lee how a new scientific report’s findings present Labor with a real opportunity to end Australian politics’ longstanding indifference to the decline of our land and wildlife
Yes, state of environment is grim, but you can make a difference, right in your own neighbourhoood
Kylie Soanes
The newly released State of the Environment report paints a predictably grim picture. Species are in decline, ecosystems are at breaking point, and threats abound. For many of us, it can feel like a problem that’s too big, too complex and too distant to solve.
Why is eastern Australia running short of gas and will an emergency intervention help?
Daniel Mercer
In a sign of the times, authorities are again forced to intervene in Australia’s energy market, this time to keep the gas flowing to Victoria in a reversal of the state’s recent history as a gas provider.
Mining giant Glencore’s Australian PR blitz forgets the coal driving the climate crisis
Graham Readfearn
The company’s new campaign trumpets that it is ‘laying the foundations for a low carbon future’ – without mentioning the nearly $1bn it spent on coal production in 2020 and 2021
State of the Environment: Blinky Bill is in intensive care
Gregory Andrews
Dire climate impacts, more weeds than native plants in the wild, colossal land clearing, habitat destruction, a growing threatened species list and increased extinction risks for those already on it. Australia’s latest State of the Environment report reads like an intensive care ward, especially for our mammals which are at the forefront of our extinction crisis.
The dirty rats’ nest the Coalition kept hidden now in plain sight
John Hanscombe
No wonder Scott Morrison told the congregation he addressed in Perth not to trust in government. Given the rats’ nest of disaster uncovered in the State of the Environment Report, which his administration sat on for months before the federal election, you’d be a mug to put your faith in government – well, his government anyway.
Overwhelmed by environmental disaster? Here’s a scorecard to inspire optimism
Claire O’Rourke
The nation’s environment report card is inescapably bleak, but that doesn’t mean there is no good news or reason to believe in positive action.
Albo pragmatic on climate fight [$]
Australian editorial
Mistake to think it possible to engage in good faith with the Greens.
Nation’s endangered wildlife told to take more personal responsibility for their situation – satire
A free market think tank has led the call for Australia’s endangered animals to stop blaming others for their circumstances and instead take charge of their own wellbeing.
Octopus launches $10 billion renewables platform, buys Australia’s biggest solar farm
Octopus kick-starts $10 billion renewables “platform” with closure of two funds, investment from CEFC and purchase of country’s biggest solar farm.
Outcry as planning minister reopens abalone farm proposal in south-west Victoria
When a proposal for one of the southern hemisphere’s biggest abalone farms was rejected by the state’s planning tribunal, residents thought the race had been run and won. They were wrong.
Key environmental stakeholders to explore future of First Nations clean energy
A two-day conference in Melbourne aims to ensure First Nations people have a say and influence in the future of Australia’s move towards renewable energy and the opportunities that comes with it.
Snowy gas power plants ordered off as crisis builds [$]
The Australian Energy Market Operator ordered two works in Victoria to shut down in a further worsening of the energy emergency slamming the eastern states.
Victoria blocks gas outflows but imports power [$]
Victoria is relying on other states for electricity that often comes from gas even as new rules prevent the export of spot gas from the state to other regions, industry sources have complained.
New bike lanes ‘a disaster waiting to happen’ [$]
Residents who described new pop-up bike lanes as “desecration of our roads” and “a disaster waiting to happen” have had a small win at a firey council meeting.
New South Wales
New South Wales Agriculture Minister confident varroa mite outbreak can be eradicated
Almost 2,000 hives have been destroyed following detection of the destructive varroa mite, which weakens and kills European honey bee colonies — and the New South Wales government’s elimination strategy is still playing out.
NSW sets date for first gigawatt-scale tender of wind, solar and storage
AEMO Services sets a date for the first NSW REZ tender, offering long-term contracts for 1GW of wind and solar and 600MW of long-duration storage.
Island will be returned to ‘right’ people [$]
The NSW government has pledged to ensure ownership of Sydney Harbour’s historic Goat Island is returned to Aboriginal people with cultural connections to the area.
Peter Dalton & Gabrielle Stacey – Change Agents podcast
In this episode of Change Agents we meet two people supporting the endangered Squirrel Glider species in New South Wales.
Basin Plan is so much more than just 450GL
NSW Irrigators Council
Recent media reports claiming negligible water has been recovered for the environment under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are just plain wrong.
ACT
Car rego will be overhauled in Canberra with fees to be based off emissions produced
Some Canberrans could face higher car registration fees as the ACT government’s push for a transition to electric vehicles ramps us.
The 17 key points in the ACT’s new zero emissions vehicle strategy
After earlier revealing the ACT would ban the sale of fossil-fuelled vehicles from 2035, Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Emissions Reduction Minister Shane Rattenbury have now revealed the government’s plans to shift the territory to zero-emission vehicles.
More waivers, extra charging stations in effort to speed take up of electric cars [$]
A stamp duty waiver for zero-emission vehicles will be extended to cover second-hand models and the ACT government will overhaul planning rules to ensure new apartment buildings can charge electric cars.
Queensland
‘Sort it out’: Pressure on Albo to rein in Qld Govt on royalties
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been challenged to come to the defence of Queensland mining communities after the State Government hiked royalties.
South Australia
‘Rivers die from the mouth up’: SA calls for Murray water buybacks
Water policy experts, Riverland irrigators and the South Australian government have called for the lifting of water buyback limits, after the federal water minister declared a key Murray Darling Basin Plan target “next to impossible” to achieve.
Tasmania
Tasman Peninsula public meeting on Long Bay aquaculture
A community-driven effort to restore the waters around the World Heritage site of Port Arthur to their pristine state will be launched on Saturday, July 23, at 11.00am at the historic Koonya Hall on the Tasman Peninsula.
Court hearings over Rosebery Mine tailings dam conclude
Federal Court hearings concerning MMG’s proposed Rosebery Mine tailings dam have concluded, but could recommence once the federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has her say on the project.
‘Does nothing’: Errol Stewart says Tamar report all talk
Two vocal advocates of the Tamar Estuary say the state government would have better spent its money establishing a new governance model for the Tamar Estuary rather than boardwalks and public amenities.
‘Unacceptable impacts’: Lake hut plans press ahead despite report
A company behind a proposal for a hut at a wilderness lake near Cradle Mountain says it will push on with the project despite negative feedback from the Parks Service.
Wildlife culling idea risks destroying one of our best assets
Letters
Steve Cripps’ suggestion (The Examiner, July 16) that we release a biological control to kill off one of Tasmania’s greatest assets, our wildlife, borders on the obscene.
Northern Territory
6,000 pigs shot in Kakadu as aerial culling resumes three years after chopper crash
The park’s most effective feral control method has not been employed since an accident in 2019 left two rangers badly injured.
Nature’s future dire … but not for our crocs [$]
Crocodiles have proven once again they are a superior species, following the release of a dismal national report.
Could this major gas project threaten the government’s climate bill?
An independent watchdog says the NT government’s promise to offset all greenhouse gas emissions from fracking the Beetaloo Basin is in doubt, as the project looks set to be a sticking point in negotiations on the Greens’ support for Labor’s climate targets.
Western Australia
Supporting Traditional Owners in renewable hydrogen industry
The McGowan Government is supporting the growth of Western Australia’s emerging renewable hydrogen industry by bringing together Traditional Owners from across the State for a hydrogen capacity-building forum in Perth today.
Greenpeace appeals North West Shelf extension [$]
The environmental groups say WA’s Environment Minister Reece Whitby should review the EPA’s recommendation to approve the 50-year LNG extension because it threatens to blow Australia’s carbon budget.
Murujuga Traditional Owners turn to protest after silence from government
Leading a powerful rally in Perth, Josie Alec said governments haven’t learnt crucial lessons from Juukan Gorge and are once again putting industry above Aboriginal cultural heritage.
WA has the country’s biodiversity ‘emergency ward’ – but it’s closed for business
Peter de Kruijff
The national state of the environment report painted a grim picture for the nation – and for WA, home to big polluters, rampant sprawl and stark ecological loss.
Sustainability
UK Government sets out plan to reduce water pollution
New plans to help safeguard England’s precious protected sites by driving down nutrient pollution and allowing for the construction of sustainable new homes for families across the country were announced by the Government today (Wednesday 20 July).
Modified rail cars clean air of CO2 and help mitigate climate change
New research shows rail systems around the world could be harnessed to help mitigate climate change and clean our air of CO2
Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, the president’s infrastructure coordinator, promotes urban parks to help cities defend against, and adapt to, warming in ways that bring everyone together.
Research on bacteria: Electron highway for hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage discovered
Microbiologists have shed light on the structure of an enzyme that produces formic acid from molecular hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
A powerful way to expand solar access
With the right policies in place, community solar can save people money while adding clean energy to the grid.
All-in-one solar-powered tower makes carbon-neutral jet fuel
Researchers have designed a fuel production system that uses water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight to produce aviation fuel. They have implemented the system in the field, and the design, publishing July 20 in the journal Joule, could help the aviation industry become carbon neutral.
Jonathan Paul Marshall
Sri Lanka’s food problems do not stem entirely from Green Policies or Organic Farming as is being alleged in some media outlets, but from general economic and external pressures.
Nature Conservation
New study offers hope to endangered species
Findings from a new study investigating how birds experience neophobia, which is the fear of new things, could play a vital role in helping to save Critically Endangered species.
Sand dunes experience significant erosion due to sea-level rise and extreme storms
Sand dunes on the northern coasts of Devon and Cornwall have been eroded by up to 15 metres in the past 15 years, according to new research.
Two-thirds of species in global shark fin trade at risk of extinction
More than 70 percent of species that end up in the global shark fin trade are at risk of extinction — and sharks living closer to our coastlines might be of greatest conservation concern, according to new research.
Hundreds of hectares of pristine rainforest destroyed by illegal mining in Venezuela
Over 1,200 hectares of pristine rainforest in Venezuela’s southern Bolívar state have been destroyed by unregulated mining operations and other illegal activities taking place within the so-called Orinoco Mining Arc.
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