Date: 26 August 2022 at 6:48:39 am AWST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Aug 26
Post of the Day
‘I feel my heart breaking today’ – a climate scientist’s path through grief towards hope
Joelle Gergis
I have spent hundreds of hours trawling through countless UN reports and scientific papers until my eyes sting and I can no longer absorb any more information. I feel overwhelmed and saturated with sorrow.
On This Day
Climate Change
Current warming is recorded as strongest of last 7,000 years
The north of Western Siberia is recording the warmest summers of the last 7,000 years. While for several millennia the temperature of the region was following a general cooling, in the 19th century there has been an abrupt change with rapidly rising temperature that has reached its highest value in the recent decades.
‘I feel my heart breaking today’ – a climate scientist’s path through grief towards hope
Joelle Gergis
I have spent hundreds of hours trawling through countless UN reports and scientific papers until my eyes sting and I can no longer absorb any more information. I feel overwhelmed and saturated with sorrow.
National
Energy crisis drives push to renewables
Australia should expand co-operation with Japan, India and Korea in renewable technology to prevent international price shocks and supply constraints, says a senior bureaucrat.
Clean exports must be a priority: Summit
Australia must take advantage of the global shift towards clean energy to unlock thousands of jobs and boost the economy, the national environment organisation says.
Regional plan key to environmental rescue
The federal government has put regional planning at the heart of its strategy to halt Australia’s alarming environmental decline.
There’s only been two triple La Niña events since 1900 — we’re about to have a third
The weather system that has caused higher than average rainfall for the past two years is predicted to return — dumping more water on flood-ravaged towns and catchments on Australia’s east coast.
Key crossbench senator fears ‘gaping hole’ in invasive species research
Senator David Pocock is urging the federal government to give more funding to an invasive species centre in the coming budget, fearing critical research could be at risk.
Measuring benefits of blue carbon ecosystems
A new project capturing information about the environmental and economic benefits of blue carbon ecosystems will improve our understanding of our relationship with the ocean.
Australia in for dangerous heat, most days
The northern half of Australia is likely to endure dangerous heat most days by the time the babies of 2022 are in their 70s, a new international study says.
Activists broaden legal case against Santos for greenwashing
Activists have sharpened their world-leading case against gas producer Santos for greenwashing using company documents, including one that describes its emissions reduction claims as “speculative”.
Labor to toughen up biosecurity laws [$]
The Albanese government is preparing to introduce legislation to strengthen biosecurity laws to safeguard the nation against the escalating threat of deadly pests and disease.
Labor nod to fossil fuels is betrayal of voter trust
Letters
It’s not only the crossbench that will be angered by Labor allowing offshore oil and gas exploration. This announcement will restart the climate wars.
Samantha Hepburn
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King yesterday handed Australia’s fossil fuel industry two significant wins.
I thought the PM said the climate wars were over – cartoon
Cathy Wilcox
Victoria
Litter trackers helping to protect our coast
The Victorian Government has teamed up with the Aquatic Environmental Stress Research Group scientists today, to launch GPS-enabled litter trackers into the Barwon River to simulate litter thrown in the catchments.
Medics alarmed as electric bike, scooter injuries soar [$]
Trauma doctors want tougher rules to prevent life-threatening injuries to riders and pedestrians as intensive care admissions from e-bike and e-scooters surge.
New South Wales
Around 80,000 hives on the move to pollinate almond trees despite the threat of varroa mite
NSW bees are still banned from going into several states, but that hasn’t stopped hundreds of thousands of them from being sent to almond plantations in southern NSW at a time when the industry desperately needs them.
The meeting point of the great Murray and Darling rivers [$]
Reduced to a series of puddles and dust bowls in the last drought, the Murray Darling river confluence is visible once more and life has been…
The once parched Menindee Lakes are overflowing with water [$]
The lakes that were the site for three devastating fish kill events during the drought are now overflowing with water and the locals couldn’t…
Coal company’s record profit as global energy crisis fuels demand
The surging price of coal has led to a multi-billion-dollar profit for Whitehaven Coal, which insists the future outlook for coal is strong despite the global push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The New South Wales’ environmental watchdog said the dust pollution at Cadia Hill gold mine near Orange occurred after a tailings facility dried out.
Food goes full circle as waste is used to grow more [$]
Inside the industrial composting facility at the Veolia eco-precinct at Tarago, near Goulburn, are piles of organic waste in various stages of decontamination.
Council targets illegal land clearing
Goulburn Mulwaree Council is reminding residents of the rules and regulations around the clearing of trees and native vegetation, along with the negative impacts on native wildlife.
Suspected poisoning of Shoalhaven flying-foxes
Up to 70 grey-headed flying-foxes found dead in the Shoalhaven area earlier this year may have been poisoned, prompting authorises to remind people to properly dispose of chemicals and pesticides.
ACT
Transport Canberra wants passengers back at pre-pandemic levels [$]
Transport officials have set their sights on boosting passenger numbers across Canberra’s bus and light rail network to pre-pandemic levels as quickly as possible
Queensland
London Olympics planner says Brisbane should prioritise public transport
AECOM cities planner Andrew Jones says London’s biggest legacy from the Olympic Games in 2012 was public transport.
It takes team effort to weed out invasive pest plants
The fight against invasive weeds continues, thanks to a renewed partnership between Sunshine Coast Council and private landowners. Council’s Biosecurity Surveillance Program offers support to rural property owners, teaching them how best to manage pest plants on their land.
Coal mine would ‘improve’ reef, Palmer’s company claims [$]
Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal Project has issued a unique response to the mine’s “emotive” rejection by the federal government, claiming it would actually improve water quality around the Great Barrier Reef.
After being swamped with thousands of photos of the Great Barrier Reef by citizen scientists, researchers turned to artificial intelligence to get a big-picture snapshot of its health.
South Australia
Major pipeline project paused to protect 20 newly listed threatened bird species
Construction to replace sections of an 80-year-old pipeline in South Australia will be delayed until next year to ensure the habitat of a group of threatened birds is protected.
Fears for whales, dolphins if ‘incredibly damaging’ seismic ocean blasts are approved
If approved, this will be the largest seismic exploration project ever undertaken, with blasts louder than the Hiroshima bomb across an area larger than Tasmania.
‘Confronting’: Residents weigh in on Coober Pedy future
Frustrated locals in Coober Pedy have criticised the outback town’s administrator and put forward suggestions for future governance at a community meeting with the Local Government Minister and state Ombudsman.
Tasmania
Feather boas deployed in battle to protect native animals from feral cats
It seems that just like pets, feral cats — along with a host of native species — are attracted by feather boas and this finding might help scientists control the destructive pests.
‘Effectively written by industry’: Researchers slam attempted edits on swift parrot recovery plan
Members of the swift parrot recovery team slam the Tasmanian government for attempting to downplay the risk that logging plays in the species’ future, urging the Commonwealth to ignore suggested edits to a draft plan that instead emphasise sugar glider predation.
These anti-protest laws just got watered down, big time. So why are activist groups still so unhappy?
Despite a significant watering-down of the Liberals’ flagship anti-protest laws, with reduced penalties and some proposals thrown out altogether, Tasmanian environmental campaigners and LGBTIQA+ advocates have still blasted the legislation as being an “assault on democracy”.
EPA approves 2 artificial reefs in southeast
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has concluded its assessment of a proposal by NRM South for two ‘Reef Builder’ artificial reefs at Dixons Beach and Helliwells Point, in the Derwent Estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
Bob Brown undeterred by anti-protest laws [$]
Bob Brown has vowed his foundation will continue disruptive protests in Tasmania’s forests, mine sites and salmon pens despite passage of tough new laws.
Public confidence in Australia’s environment laws undermined by Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats
Media release – Australian Greens MPs
Public confidence in Australia’s environment laws has been undermined by disturbing reports of Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats politicising science surrounding the tragic decline of the swift parrot.
Northern Territory
Potentially ‘deadly’ toxic waste accidentally trucked into Darwin [$]
Energy Resources Australia is investigating how Ranger Mine toxic waste came to be transported through the Kakadu National Park and left on a truck in a Darwin suburb.
Western Australia
Traditional owners initially ‘refused permission to relocate’ sacred rock art for fertiliser plant, documents show
Documents submitted two months prior to a federal government decision reveal that Aboriginal custodians in Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula warned they were “extremely concerned” a state-heritage approval for a fertiliser plant would put sacred sites at risk.
Could Collie’s coal waste pave the way for its future?
When Collie’s last state-owned coal-fired power plant closes at the end of the decade, the South West town will be left with more than just a gaping hole in its local economy.
Noongar native title trust doubles in size as ‘significant’ progress made on South West deal
Six Noongar groups are on the cusp of establishment to represent Traditional Owners in Western Australia’s south-west as a trust set up to finance their operation doubles in size.
Botanical ecologist Stephen van Leeuwen recalls with joy his decades spent exploring Murujuga’s remote sandy beaches, rock art-filled gorges and mangrove-lined bays.
Sustainability
Nature-based approach to improving water quality in English Channel coastal areas
The RaNTrans (Rapid reduction of Nutrients in Transitional Waters) project is the first of its kind to use the natural processes of native oysters, seaweed and marine worms to deliver sustainable solutions that will rapidly reduce algal mat coverage and contribute to reductions in nutrient levels on both sides of the Channel.
Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant regains power after disconnection from grid
The last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is working again after being cut earlier, the United Nations says, an outage that underlined the potential peril posed by nearby fighting.
Search for fossil fuels must come to end
Following a High Court decision yesterday the Green Party is calling on the NZ Government to amend the Crown Minerals Act to end fossil fuel extraction and to require Ministers to consider climate change when making decisions about whether to grant a permit to prospect, explore or mine other Crown minerals.
Beyond air conditioning: how design can inspire us to deal differently with heat
TU/e researcher Lenneke Kuijer is stimulating creative thinking on the future with a series of bold designs. How about a cooling shirt with plants that live off of your sweat or a confetti cannon that spreads coolness?
New research grant to create green industrial parks
GreenLab Skive is home to the world’s first green industrial park, and is going to work together with DTU and other technical universities to develop and demonstrate methods that will help solve the challenges posed by climate change that Denmark and the wider world face.
Not all of us have access to safe drinking water. This clever rainwater collector can change that
Rainwater is a vital resource in many communities, but it’s not always safe to use. This sustainable and cheap invention could help many households in remote areas.
Chantel Carr
Hot rooftops and a looming skills shortage – these are just a few challenges faced by crucial yet undervalued air-conditioning repair people.
Nature Conservation
New report highlights opportunities for conservation of ladybirds globally
A report into the global status of ladybirds reveals the threats they face and lays out a roadmap for conservation. These vital pest controllers for farmers and gardeners are considered to be in decline globally due to human activities, and species are poorly understood.
The extreme effort to save Mexican wolves from extinction
Wolf pups are being trekked hundreds of miles to new homes in the wild to save the species from extinction. But not everyone thinks it’s worth it.
Jellyfish alert: Increased sightings signal dramatic changes in ocean food web due to climate change
Plankton, some of the smallest organisms on Earth, are leading big changes in the ocean.
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