Post of the Day
4 lessons for Albanese government in making its climate targets law
Anita Foerster et al
As the new parliament sits for the first time this week, one issue will be in sharpest focus: enshrining a climate target into law. The Albanese government’s pre-election promise was to cut Australia’s emissions 43% on 2005 levels, by 2030.
On This Day
National Baha’i Day – Jamaica
Climate Change
Net-zero doubles for top 200 firms, but investors want more detail
The number of ASX 200 companies that have made net-zero commitments has doubled in the past year.
More than 90 million in the US will endure alarmingly high temperatures from mid-South to Northeast
The deadly heat wave scorching much of the US will continue Sunday, when the Northeast and mid-South regions are likely to be suffocated by temperatures feeling as hot as 105 degrees.
“Don’t Look Up” director Adam McKay on the climate crisis that’s no joke
The effects of climate change are being felt more quickly than we thought possible, but the Academy Award-winning director says there are actions we can take now to deal with this existential threat.
The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change
Thirty years ago, a bold plan was hatched to persuade people that climate change was not a problem.
The future of the Earth under climate change is ‘Denial’
Ayesha Rascoe talks with Jon Raymond about his novel, “Denial,” which takes place in a future shaped by climate change.
Berating climate sceptics isn’t enough – disruptive protest now seems the only way forward
John Harris
The time has come to choose: do you trust the people in suits downplaying this emergency, or the activists lying in roads in an attempt to ward off catastrophe?
Tory death-priests have our lives in their hands
Stewart Lee
Surely last week’s inferno must focus Conservative minds on the one real issue, the climate crisis – mustn’t it?
War wins the ‘big bucks’ while climate gets the ‘change’
Murad Qureshi
Wealthy countries claiming to lead on climate change are spending big on military budgets while denying support to developing countries facing devastation from climate-induced events.
Europe is ablaze, Italian glaciers are collapsing. The climate crisis is here! – cartoon
First Dog on the Moon
This is what it looks like right now!
National
Then-energy minister Angus Taylor blindsided the carbon market with a decision that effectively ripped up contracts worth billions of dollars. Previously secret documents reveal the government was repeatedly warned about the chaos that could occur.
Mining sector desperate for workers as industry struggles to win over Gen Z
Australia’s mining sector is facing its “worst skills crisis in generations”, and leaders say the key challenge is convincing environmentally conscious young people to join its ranks.
‘Worse than tobacco’: Climate activists push for ban on fossil fuel ads
Climate advocacy group Comms Declare is advocating for a tobacco-style blanket ban on advertising for coal, oil and gas companies.
Extinction looms for two vulnerable Australian marine species
A combination of development and increased water runoff could prove disastrous for two once abundant Australian species.
Be scared, very scared, as the environment goes from disaster to utter catastrophe
When Tanya Plibersek released a shocking State of the Environment report this month, she warned Australia could lose the places, landscapes, animals and plants that make it feel like home.
4 lessons for Albanese government in making its climate targets law
Anita Foerster et al
As the new parliament sits for the first time this week, one issue will be in sharpest focus: enshrining a climate target into law. The Albanese government’s pre-election promise was to cut Australia’s emissions 43% on 2005 levels, by 2030.
Forget 2030: the climate crisis is here now [$]
Nicholas Stuart
This morning, as a new parliament begins sitting in Canberra, some of the oldest living organisms on the planet (a stand of majestic, 500-year-old Douglas fir trees) are dying. One of those trees first germinated in 1538 and a vivid pattern of yearly growth rings reveal its subsequent life. These have, however, now shrunk to their lowest level ever, strangled by as the stress of the changing environment around it. America’s west is drying; the lakes are running out of water; and the plants are dying. Today.
Eco experts trying to hoodwink us with ‘science’ [$]
Andrew Bolt
Tanya Plibersek’s environment report is shocking evidence of our intellectual decline, and of the Albanese government passing off a new age Aboriginal spirituality as the last word in science.
Coalition’s failure to tax gas windfall profits cost the nation billions
Alan Austin
Extraordinary profits generated by rapacious exporters have gone largely untaxed by Coalition governments.
Environment ‘fear porn’ hides truth [$]
Chris Mitchell
Media businesses in today’s polarised journalism environment can grow audiences by failing to report what is really happening.
The flood problem, immigration and population growth
Chas Keys
The management of weather-related emergency situations like floods is the responsibility of the states. But the policies and activities of the Commonwealth government can make big differences to the impacts of floods, either for better or for worse. This is clearly demonstrated via immigration policy and its impact on population growth.
Victoria
Monash exploring energy storage market design
On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has today announced $495,000 in funding to the Grid Innovation Hub at the Monash Energy Institute, Monash University, to conduct a desktop study exploring the integration of storage into energy markets with an aim to design efficient incentives for storage operators to enable clearer investment signals for storage.
Push to transform the ‘desolate’ spaces beneath Melbourne’s roads and rail
A derelict wasteland beneath one of Melbourne’s busiest roads will be transformed into a trendy hotspot under council plans to make better use of the city’s undercrofts.
Victorian couple raise $24m to take on plastic waste [$]
Julia and Jordy Kay worked with Monash University to create a product that performs, looks and feels like a conventional plastic stretch wrap but breaks down to carbon and water.
New South Wales
‘You all saved Killalea’: Community celebrates iconic surfing park’s protection from development
For more than three years, locals have fought developers’ plans to build a function centre and luxury cabins at the site. Now, they believe they have won.
Warragamba wall must be raised: Dominic Perrottet
The NSW Premier has pressed his case to raise the height of a major Sydney dam after four flood disasters in the past 18 months.
‘We’re different’: northern beaches resident groups defeat cycleways plan
In this time of COVID-19, e-bikes and climate change, cycling is the new black. Except on Sydney’s northern beaches, where the community has rallied to defeat the council’s proposal for cycleways around their suburb.
‘We’ve taken our time’: Stokes gives green light to e-scooter trial
Sydneysiders will be able to rent electric scooters at four locations in Sydney’s west – and more councils across the state are expected to follow suit.
ACT
Work to start on ACT’s big battery project [$]
Work to build Canberra’s big battery project is expected to start next year, with the ACT government outlining its plan to deliver one of Australia’s largest battery storage systems
Explainer: Thinking of getting an EV? Here’s what you should know [$]
With the ACT set to phase out fossil-fuel-powered cars from 2035, you might already be wondering how to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle.
The ACT’s EV strategy is not radical nor planet-saving. Here’s why
Helen Oakey
There was great hype last week as the ACT government launched its new zero emissions vehicle strategy, making headlines all around the country that it would “ban the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2035”
Queensland
Crown-of-thorns are ‘delicious little jellybeans’ and scientists are on the hunt for their killers
University of Queensland scientists look for a solution to the crown-of-thorns starfish plaguing the Great Barrier Reef by seeking out a natural predator to the rampant invertebrate.
Tasmania
Review finds Tasmanian Planning Commission unsuitable for State of the Environment Report [$]
The state government does not have a “suitable location” within government to produce State of the Environment reports, according to questions put to the Minister for Planning by Planning Matters Authority Tasmania last year.
Northern Territory
NT government announces sixth round of Aboriginal ranger funding
The Northern Territory government has announced that applications are now open for a sixth round of Aboriginal ranger funding for the 2022/23 financial year.
Western Australia
Collie’s new shoots of industry beginning to emerge ahead of closure of coal
As Collie prepares to transition away from coal, new shoots of a greener industry are beginning to emerge.
Custodians fighting to stop construction of a WA fertiliser plant say environment department gave just three days to respond to a 180-page document
Why a farmer in WA’s Wheatbelt is rallying against a gas project 1800km away
Farmers Simon Wallwork and Cindy Stevens were living the dream when they bought their own property near Corrigin in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt two decades ago.
Mining activity in protected forests on the rise in past five years
There has been a jump in mining activity in areas managed by the parks authority while environment groups also rally against exploration applications by two of the state’s biggest miners.
Sustainability
Indian states get a new green power mandate
States will have to meet a quarter of their power demand through renewable energy sources in the current year, scalable to 47 per cent in the next eight years as per a new trajectory issued by the central government.
John Durie
Kenya-based visiting soil expert Jacqui McGlade of Downforce Technologies has a simple mission: “to make every hectare count to achieve global climate and food security gains”.
Nature Conservation
California Governor declares emergency over ‘explosive’ wildfire near Yosemite National Park
A fast-moving brush fire near Yosemite National Park is now one of California’s largest wildfires of the year, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people and shutting off power to more than 2,000 homes and businesses.
These ponies are conservationists, bucking a trend by protecting a rare ecosystem
They may look like ordinary ponies grazing in a field, but these small horses are actually the frontline of protecting a rare ecosystem, and they’re changing how conservationists view the role of farm animals in nature.
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