Post of the Day
No miracle tech needed: How to switch to renewables now and lower costs doing it
A new system could result in a 63 percent lower annual energy cost worldwide.
On This Day
The First Sermon of Lord Buddha – Bhutan
Saint Dominic Day – Managua
Lughnasadh – Ireland
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Why you need to worry about the ‘wet-bulb temperature’
Scientists think we need to pay attention to a measure of heat and humidity – and it’s edging closer to the limits of human survivability.
‘Soon it will be unrecognisable’: total climate meltdown cannot be stopped, says expert
Blistering heatwaves are just the start. We must accept how bad things are before we can head off global catastrophe, according to a leading UK scientist
Good news on climate is so rare, it should be celebrated
Nick O’Malley
The shock climate deal just cut between Democratic senators should be celebrated the world over, even as it highlights the fragility of global climate hopes.
Don’t be fooled by fossil fuel industry’s ‘green’ word salads
Stella Levantesi
PR companies working for the fossil fuel industry are appropriating language from within the climate movement, using it to perpetuate climate denial.
When will the GOP open its eyes to the climate?
Larry Wilson
You can’t camouflage the danger by owning the libs.
Climate change and the Supreme Court’s version of police abolitionism
Andrew Koppelman and John Paul Stevens
Most voters have repeatedly rejected the radical libertarian notion that liberty means a government too feeble to solve the nation’s most urgent problems.
National
Not enough gas, higher prices, manufacturers shutting shop: Dire warning issued about gas supply
The latest report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says the gas supply outlook for 2023 is very concerning and likely to place further upward pressure on prices.
Wild macadamias ‘boggle the mind’ as conservationists race to save the ancient threatened species
Ian McConachie is eager to find the answer to an ancient mystery — just how many hundreds of years do Australia’s wild macadamias live?
Greens will spend the week mulling Labor’s climate bill
The Greens will meet three times during the upcoming parliamentary sitting week to discuss support for the government’s proposed climate bill to legislate an emissions reductions goal.
Greens push for legal ‘climate trigger’ on new projects as industry calls for policy certainty
Peak industry and conservation groups urge parliament to pass the Albanese government’s 43% emissions reduction target
‘We asked questions about it’: Small companies warned by regulator of flimsy net-zero claims
Smaller companies preparing to list on the Australian Securities Exchange are having their net-zero credentials questioned by the corporate regulator, which has noticed firms making ambitious climate-change promises without the substance to back them up.
Failure to spend bushfire donations prompts WIRES board defection
The nation’s largest wildlife rescue organisation remains in conflict over how to best spend the ocean of donations received after the bushfires.
Nuclear the best medicine for power prices, says new MP [$]
Newly elected member for Hughes Jenny Ware has declared Australia has to start talking about adding nuclear into the mix, otherwise we won’t be able to keep the lights on.
Why Labor’s new tax cut on electric vehicles won’t help you buy one anytime soon
Anna Mortimore
The Albanese government has introduced tax cuts to electric vehicles in its first sitting week, claiming the proposed changes would be “good for motorists, good for climate action and good for fleet purchases”. They won’t, however, help most Australians afford one.
What the government should do to rein in your soaring power bills
Ian Verrender
Having promised to curb escalating power costs at the recent election, the only realistic option for the government — if it wants to dent inflation — is to take decisive action on east coast gas exports
Labor’s climate bill is mostly symbolic – the big questions are about what comes next
Adam Morton
Guardian Australia’s environment editor argues the Albanese government will be judged on what it actually achieves to tackle climate change
Climate transition calls for great finance reallocation
Philip Chronican
Investment in business as usual won’t seize the $20 trillion opportunity of transforming Australia to become a low-emissions economy.
Hey minister, leave that gas trigger alone – it may fire up a fight with foreign investors
Umair Ghori
With the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) warning consumers of huge price hikes ahead, further calls for the federal government to pull its so-called “gas trigger” seem inevitable.
The ‘100-year flood’ and the floor levels of houses
Chas Keys
The so-called ‘100-year’ (or 1% Annual Exceedence Probability) flood has two main uses in the public domain in Australia. Both are problematic, though not intentionally so on the part of those whose professional activities are bound by its use.
Teetering on a tightrope: Labor, the Teals, and tactics
Peter Christoff
The rise of the Teals and Greens represents a structural shift in Australia’s political landscape. This shift reflects deep-seated electoral disaffection with both major parties. In 2022 around 33 percent of the primary vote went to minor parties and independents rather than Labor and the Coalition. Yet Labor continues to behave as if the last election was a ‘business as usual’ change of government. This is a misreading that leaves it teetering on a tightrope.
Victoria
Why controversial East West Link won’t be built [$]
Plans for the cross-city motorway have been dumped as an election transport priority — and these two reasons are to blame.
Winds of change waiting as offshore industry banks on government declaration
There are five wind farms planned off the Gippsland coast and they’re all waiting for a key federal government declaration to start on-water works.
New South Wales
Why Greg can’t use encrypted apps and must open his phone for police at any time
One phone, no encrypted apps, and sharing passwords with police: These are some of the technology-focused bail conditions faced by Blockade Australia climate protesters.
Queensland
Gold Coast jumps onboard electric school bus trial to inspire curious young minds
Following the opening of Australia’s first 100-per-cent electric bus depot on the Gold Coast, this school is trialling the technology to help teach kids a lesson in curiosity.
South Australia
SA faces gas shortfall as ‘deeply concerning’ warning sounds [$]
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has labelled a new gas report from the consumer watchdog “deeply concerning”, as it reveals SA is among the states which are facing a serious gas shortage.
Tasmania
Tasmanian government and UNESCO ‘seemingly at odds over national park development’
“Confused” is how Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says she feels about the way the Tasmanian government is continuing to support development in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Northern Territory
‘It’s not at all what I imagined’: Our outback deserts have been transformed by water
Floodwaters are a “tonic” for the deserts of central Australia. From wildflowers to bird life and the rare watering of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, it’s leaving tourists gobsmacked.
Western Australia
Three new marine parks to protect huge area of WA’s Kimberley
The three new marine parks will cover more than 600,000 hectares of Kimberley coastline throughout the Buccaneer Archipelago.
The diamonds have dried up. So what is the future of this sacred site?
After the Juukan Gorge scandal, Rio Tinto and traditional owners are in tough negotiations about what’s left behind at Argyle in Western Australia’s Kimberley region following 37 years of mining diamonds.
Sustainability
The nitrogen fertilizer monkey trap
Nitrogen fertilizers are like so many other things our modern industrial civilization requires, absolutely necessary to maintain our current trajectory of continuous growth and increasingly threatening to a sustainable future.
Microplastics have been found in Colorado’s snowpack
An invisible layer of microplastic blankets the Rocky Mountains, polluting our snowpack and our water in yet undefined ways.
No miracle tech needed: How to switch to renewables now and lower costs doing it
A new system could result in a 63 percent lower annual energy cost worldwide.
Hidden menace: Massive methane leaks speed up climate change
The methane released by companies operating oil and gas operations across the Permian, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border, will be disrupting the climate for decades, contributing to more heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires and floods.
This heatwave is a reminder that grass lawns are terrible for the environment
Akin Olla
Lawns and gardens account for 60% of household water use in arid areas of the US. This is unsustainable
Peter Dykstra
When I was growing up, I had a fascination with phonies – that certain brand of phonies that make millions off a gullible public by offering a warped reality.
Nature Conservation
US wildfires go from disastrous to catastrophic
Wildfires in California and Montana have exploded in size amid windy, hot conditions and have quickly encroached on neighbourhoods, forcing evacuation orders for more than 100 homes, while an Idaho blaze is spreading.
Starvation posing as a threat for Florida’s manatees
There’s a growing concern from those within the wildlife community that manatees could be endangered once again.
Why fungi might really be magic (when it comes to climate change)
Researchers are exploring a vast and poorly understood underground world that can be vital in the era of global warming.
Extreme heat poses a threat to birds
Habitat conservation and action on climate change are needed to lessen the threat to at-risk species.
The Guardian view on fishing: marine protection should mean what it says
Guardian editorial
By allowing destructive dredging and bottom-trawling, ministers are undermining wider efforts to protect the oceans
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