Post of the Day
Urban patchwork is losing its green, making our cities and all who live in them vulnerable
Gregory Moore
One delight of flying is seeing our familiar landscapes in a new way from above. At low altitude most of us know where things are, but as we ascend it becomes difficult to determine the local details, and we begin to see a bigger picture. Sometimes this bigger picture can be scary.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem
Climate Change
Al Gore compares ‘climate deniers’ to Uvalde police officers
“They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots, and nobody stepped forward,” he said of law enforcement at the Texas school shooting.
Europe’s not ready for a hotter world
The Continent has a lot of work to do to heat-proof its cities, infrastructure — and mentality.
Desert regions may better inform future of global temperate zones driven by climate change
Scientists are looking at the unique adaptations of desert life, which function by their own set of rules long considered to be unique to dry areas. Now, new research by an international team of scientists suggests that climate change is causing these “dryland mechanisms” to increasingly affect earth’s wetter areas, such as temperate regions’ croplands and forests.
Living through India’s next-level heat wave
In hospitals, in schools, and on the streets, high temperatures have transformed routines and made daylight dangerous.
Mideast nations wake up to damage from climate change
The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change — and already the effects are being seen.
The era of climate change has created a new emotion
What word might describe losing your home while staying in one place?
Climate change is not negotiable
NYT Editorial
President Biden’s best course is to take the same regulatory path Barack Obama was forced to follow.
Australia’s three richest men are spending their billions on green energy transition
Surprise bid for renewables and storage developer Genex by Scott Farquhar and wife Kim Jackson tells two interesting stories about Australia’s green energy transition.
Solar farms pocket eye-watering returns as fossil fuels drive power prices higher
Two solar farms reveal they pocketed average revenue of nearly $200/MWh in the June quarter, thanks to the surge in wholesale prices propelled by fossil fuels.
Labor wants to ‘end the climate wars’ by enshrining climate action. What stands in its path?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek to pass his government’s climate change bill to enshrine an emissions reduction target as parliament returns – here are the key questions about the test ahead.
Albanese government bolsters climate bill in attempt to win support of teal independents
Change to ensure future emissions reduction targets could only be increased follows talks with crossbench and Greens
Has Anthony Albanese finally snookered the Greens on climate?
On the eve of the opening of a new Parliament, only the Greens are proving a fly in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s ointment.
Climate a national security issue: PM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated the need to legislate emissions reduction targets, describing climate change as a national security issue.
Extinction looms for two Australian marine species
A combination of development and increased water runoff could prove disastrous for two once abundant Australian species.
Environmental decline a ticking time bomb for farmers
Anika Molesworth
It’s come as no surprise to Australian farmers that the State of the Environment report provided a grim assessment of the state of our wildlife and wild places – we know that time is running out because we see these impacts firsthand.
Greens are behaving like the Nats again. But PM has more leverage this time [$]
Crispin Hull
The Greens are behaving like the National Party – again. They are threatening to side with the Liberal Party to defeat sensible climate policy in Australia.
Climate bill makes clear 43% target is ‘minimum commitment’: Bowen
Michelle Grattan
The public would be kept up to date on progress towards meeting Australia’s 43% emissions reduction target with an annual ministerial statement and oversight by the Climate Change Authority, under the government’s climate legislation to be introduced on Wednesday.
Urban patchwork is losing its green, making our cities and all who live in them vulnerable
Gregory Moore
One delight of flying is seeing our familiar landscapes in a new way from above. At low altitude most of us know where things are, but as we ascend it becomes difficult to determine the local details, and we begin to see a bigger picture. Sometimes this bigger picture can be scary.
The parlous state of our environment [$]
Peter Boyer
Many observers, used to seeing Tanya Plibersek as shadow education minister and former deputy Labor leader, were surprised at her appointment last month as Minster for Environment and Water. Some thought it was a demotion.
Tayanah O’Donnell
Australians are reeling from climate change impacts including more frequent and severe disasters – floods, droughts, searing heat and fires. These complex disasters are fuelling calls for managed retreats and debates about buying out at-risk properties.
Climate claim raises stakes in Peak Stupid [$]
Terry McCrann
When it comes to climate and sources of energy, the answer to the question have we hit Peak Stupid is no, not even close.
Is a warm inner glow really worth it? [$]
Judith Sloan
Legislating the 43 per cent emissions target buys a whole lot of trouble for the same result.
The tax man cometh for the gas industry [$]
Jennifer Hewett
High prices and a big push by the ATO mean Labor’s budget will get billions of extra dollars in revenue from Australia’s offshore LNG projects.
Victoria
The council has preserved golfers’ access to the course, following a turf war and a community campaign that called on the council to return the land to the community. 5.72 hectares of the course was reallocated as public land in May this year.
Big developers’ land banking ‘drives up property prices’
It’s often said that sky-high property prices could be fixed by the release of more land but a new report suggests this is not the case – and that developers are gaming the system.
‘No deals’: Andrews government rules out pact with Greens in hung parliament
State Labor says any prospect of giving the Greens policy concessions in exchange for supporting the government is off the table.
Big change to Melbourne Zoo amid disease fears [$]
Victoria’s state-run zoos have made a drastic change amid concerns about the health of some animals.
Vandals blamed for spate of cyclists’ flat tyres [$]
Broken glass spread onto upgraded bike lanes by a vandal is being blamed for a spate of flat tyres suffered by St Kilda cyclists.
Getting gas-rich Victoria to import LNG is ludicrous [$]
Robert Gottliebsen
If Victoria cannot explore its gas-rich Gippsland Basin, the only alternative is the most ludicrous proposal ever conceived in Australia – importing high-cost liquefied natural gas.
New South Wales
Researchers working overtime to take fight to varroa mite
Scientists are hoping to develop a world-first pesticide that would be safe for honey bees while destroying the deadly varroa mite.
Queensland
$100-million project could resurrect a closed sugar mill as a green energy hub
When the sugar factory at Maryborough closed two years ago it was the end of 126 years of crushing. Now, a new deal could see it brought back to life as a bio-energy hub.
Atlassian billionaire to pump fortune into Genex to boost renewables
Skip Capital, the company controlled by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson has made a 23 cents a share joint takeover bid for Genex, the company building the Kidston pumped hydro project in north Queensland.
Climate change blamed for Brisbane’s rising insurance premiums
Hikes in Brisbane’s insurance premiums are affecting the “most vulnerable” as climate change is blamed for rising costs after this year’s devastating floods, experts say.
South Australia
Call for SA to consider banning petrol car sales
South Australia has been called upon to consider a ban on the sale of new petrol vehicles by 2035, after the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to do so.
Global giants pitch ideas for SA’s hydro plant [$]
SA’s $593m hydrogen hub has taken a huge step forward and now involves international manufacturing giants.
SA energy companies join forces [$]
Two SA energy companies have merged in a move aimed at boosting the supply of renewable energy to apartments, offices and other multi-tenancy buildings.
Tasmania
Bob Brown Foundation wins court case against mine’s tailings dam
Environmentalists celebrate after a Federal court finds the Morrison government’s approval for a tailings dam in Tasmania’s wilderness area is invalid, prompting calls for people arrested during protests there to be compensated as “citizen heroes”.
Survey reveals perceptions of e-scooter use in Tasmania
Almost 70 per cent of surveyed Tasmanians want e-scooters to remain in Hobart and Launceston after the expiry of trial periods, EMRS data shows.
Western Australia
WA ring road approved by federal government threatens ancient trees and endangered wildlife
Tanya Plibersek’s department gave green light despite state of environment report finding Australia’s natural heritage is in poor and deteriorating health
Mining approved in ‘protected’ WA forests 33 times in just five years
There has been a jump in mining activity in areas managed by the state’s parks authority.
Sustainability
Straightening out kinky roots captures carbon and avoids drought stress
Researchers have discovered a new gene in barley and wheat that controls the angle of root growth in soil, opening the door to new cereal varieties with deeper roots that are less susceptible to drought and nutrient stress, thus mitigating the effects of climate change.
What is soil erosion? How can nuclear techniques help to identify and mitigate it?
Soil erosion, the most common type of land degradation, is a process that removes the upper layer of soil, from which plants get most of their nutrients and water. When this fertile layer, called the topsoil, slides away, the productivity of land decreases and farmers lose a vital resource for growing food.
Reducing sugar consumption to achieve climate and sustainability goals
Reducing sugar consumption would have important benefits in the fight against climate change, as well as in the recovery from the health and economic crises associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
Countries’ support global ‘Net-zero 2050’ emissions target to achieve sustainable aviation
Ministers and officials engaged in high level environment talks brokered by ICAO have urged countries to cooperate further through the UN agency toward a collective global long term aspirational goal (LTAG) of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, in support of the Paris Agreement’s temperature target.
Rice improves catalyst that destroys ‘forever chemicals’ with sunlight
Rice University chemical engineers have improved their design for a light-powered catalyst that rapidly breaks down PFOA, one of the world’s most problematic “forever chemical” pollutants.
China owns the solar supply chain, jeopardizing the energy transition
A new International Energy Agency report traces how China came to dominate the global solar supply chain — and how that puts the rest of the world at risk.
How the plastic industry turned the pandemic to its advantage
With its products proving indispensable to combatting Covid-19, the plastics business is reinvigorated. What will it take to bring this major polluter to heel?
Extreme heat exposure worsens child malnutrition
Exposure to extreme heat increases both chronic and acute malnutrition among infants and young children in low-income countries — threatening to reverse decades of progress, new research finds.
The outer limits: Future economic growth in the face of diminishing resource
The 1972 book ‘The Limits to Growth’ shared a somber message for humanity: the Earth’s resources are finite and probably cannot support current rates of economic and population growth to the end of the 21st century. Researchers believe that although no one can say with absolute certainty that the planet will reach an unavertable crisis by the end of this century, our current trajectory is unable to continue much longer.
Bacterial community signatures reveal how cities urbanize water sources
New results reveal that urbanization introduces large amounts of nutrients, chemical pollutants and antimicrobial products, and thereby changes the makeup of the microbiome by favoring groups of bacteria that contain human pathogenic bacteria, with yet unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning and human and animal health.
Nature Conservation
Dazzling photos show horseshoe crabs thriving in protected area
In the Philippines, the tri-spine horseshoe crab has made a home and other species are returning too.
“Heading for failure”: UN Sustainable Development Goal for World Oceans
The academics have discovered more than 70 per cent of countries have not achieved a single target so far, but suggest that with improved systems for monitoring and wider global collaboration, all is not lost for the oceans.
Cultivating super corals alone is unlikely to protect coral reefs from climate change
Restoration efforts need to be conducted at much greater spatial and temporal scales to have long-term benefits
Research reveals true size of world’s largest tropical peatland
A vast region of peatland in the heart of the Congo Basin is 15% bigger than previously thought, a new study mapping the full scale of the area has revealed.
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