Post of the Day
Dramatic improvement in coral cover seen in parts of Great Barrier Reef
Record coral cover is being seen across much of the Great Barrier Reef as it recovers from past storms and mass bleaching events. But the new coral taking over is leaving the reef more vulnerable to future devastating impacts, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Clouded Leopard Day
Climate Change
Tonga’s volcanic eruption may temporarily increase the Earth’s surface temperature
The massive eruption of a Tongan volcano this year released a record amount of water into the Earth’s atmosphere, enough to temporarily warm the globe, NASA scientists say.
The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting two weather systems to bring an earlier than usual wet season to northern Australia.
National
With more farms earning the ‘sustainable’ tag, do labels really matter?
Demand for food bearing labels such as ‘organic’ or ‘sustainable’ is soaring, but some farmers are questioning if the name is worth the pain.
Call for citizen scientists, ‘nature lovers’ to track declining platypus
Platypus numbers across Australia are in decline and extreme weather has placed more pressure on the monotreme. Now a “platy-project” is aiming to fill the gaps in scientists’ data.
‘Important we act now’: Liberal MP Bridget Archer to back government’s climate change bill
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer says she is voting with her conscience and for her constituents in backing the bill, against the position of her party.
‘Nothing off the table’ in bid to deliver 450GL of water for Murray-Darling, Labor says
Tanya Plibersek accuses the Coalition of preventing the delivery of water for South Australia through ‘brown tape’ bureaucracy
‘Bandt is a bounder’: Keating fires up in climate wars as Greens back Albanese bill
The former PM defended Labor’s environmental record after Greens leader Adam Bandt described the ALP as “the party of the centre-right”.
Aussie coal keeps the power on in Ukraine [$]
Australia’s gift of 70,000 tonnes of coal has arrived in war-torn Ukraine and is being used to provide electricity in the energy- starved nation.
Small towns go it alone to solve energy crisis [$]
Power outages, blackout fears, climate change, and rising costs see residents to band together in search of energy solutions that work for their community.
Bumper ‘Big Gas’ results risk a government backlash [$]
Ticky Fullerton
Woodside and Santos are about to announce billions of dollars in bumper earnings and that could be enough to trigger the political impetus to claw some back through a windfall tax.
Adam Bandt hung out to dry, in a solar-friendly way
Mark Sawyer
It was a big day for the Albanese government on Wednesday when its 43% emissions reduction targets were guaranteed passage in the Senate. Announcing the news, Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen were grinning from ear to ear.
Richard Kingsford
A long-awaited report released on Tuesday found the amount of water promised to river environments under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan “cannot be achieved” under current settings. In short, the plan is failing on a key target.
Scott McAlister and Alexandra Barratt
While we think of carbon emissions coming from manufacturing and agriculture, we don’t often think of those arising from health care. In Australia, health care is responsible for 7% of national carbon emissions, while globally, health care is responsible for 4.4% of emissions.
John Howard’s climate doubts reveal more about conservative identity politics than anything else
Graham Readfearn
The latest comments from the former PM, who once said he was ‘agnostic’ on climate change, remind us some remain unmoved by science
After more than a decade of darkness in Australia’s parliament, today was a good day for the climate
Katharine Murphy
Passing legislation tethers the nation to the fact that moral people have to do what we can to avert the collapse of the planet’s climate
Liberal ‘weirdos’ sidelined in Dutton-proof deal to end war
Samantha Maiden
Lost in all the rhetoric over the deal to end Australia’s climate wars is a significant olive branch to Liberal moderates.
Albo gets his wish and you will pay for it [$]
Terry McCrann
PM Anthony Albanese has gotten what he wished for: a mandatory great big 43 per cent emissions reduction burden on every single one of our backs.
The Greens have backed Labor’s 43% target – but don’t think Australia’s climate wars are over
Kate Crowley
After a decade of climate policy failure, Wednesday brought good news and slightly less good news for Australian action on climate change.
Coalition dealt out on climate as deciding 39th Senate vote sought
Karen Barlow
With a pledge of critical support from the Greens to Labor – and a whack while doing it – the Coalition have become inconsequential on climate change action.
Lurching to The Right: The coalition’s spooky response to a political horror show
Alex Vickery-Howe
He tried his best. Shuffling his feet, rocking the stripes, Simon Birmingham fronted the cameras for Insiders on the morning after the 2022 Australian federal election.
Global tomfoolery: Labor’s pact drags party to the left [$]
Graham Lloyd
Adam Bandt has learned the lessons of past climate failure and set out the long game to punish big coal and gas.
PM nullifies radical Greens agenda [$]
Dennis Shanahan
Anthony Albanese has had a big win on climate, assuring the passage of his 43 per cent target. But there are grave dangers in the details.
Ministers to put environment back into energy market rules in landmark move for renewables
Giles Parkinson
Energy ministers are poised to put environment back into the national electricity market objective, removing a massive roadblock that has stymied the switch to renewables.
Victoria
Move over Finland, Australia is getting its own thermal energy ‘battery’
A Wodonga pet food factory is preparing to take delivery of a technology that experts say will help businesses get off gas, reduce emissions, and save money. Here’s how it works.
Traditional owners apply for federal protection of sacred Lake Tyrrell from dune buggy racers
Traditional owners of popular Lake Tyrrell in Victoria’s north west call on the federal environment department to urgently intervene and protect the area from further desecration.
Unions call for Victoria’s proposed laws targeting environmental protesters to be scrapped
Bill would see protesters who illegally disrupt forestry workers in logging zones face up to 12 months’ jail
All charged up: Councils push for kerbside car charging
Electric vehicle charging cables and plugs could be embedded in nature strips and footpaths in Melbourne’s inner north and west if two councils agree to implement trials for stand-alone homes that do not have off-street parking.
Controversial campsites open in Gippsland but BYO portaloo
Gippsland’s first campsites on licensed river frontages are open, but expect to share the site with grazing livestock — bring your own toilet.
Construction and transmission work begin on delayed wind farm in Victoria
Transmission and balance of plant works finally begin on delayed wind project near Port Fairy in Victoria.
ACT
New report outlines problems putting ACT’s waterways at risk [$]
An investigation into the health of ACT waterways has called for the National Capital Authority to hand management of Lake Burley Griffin over to the ACT government and for more stringent action against non-compliance when it comes to protecting the health of waterways.
Queensland
‘We couldn’t believe it’: Cassowary sighted on remote Country for first time in four years
Three Ipima Ikaya men have been trained in technology which will hopefully capture more proof of the vulnerable bird’s presence.
What is a void and how did it bring Brisbane’s CBD to a standstill?
The Brisbane CBD was shut down yesterday “out of an abundance of caution”, but experts agree it’s not every day a hole appears unexpectedly beneath a busy city street. Here’s what we know about the “void” and the chance of another one appearing in future.
Dramatic improvement in coral cover seen in parts of Great Barrier Reef
Record coral cover is being seen across much of the Great Barrier Reef as it recovers from past storms and mass bleaching events. But the new coral taking over is leaving the reef more vulnerable to future devastating impacts, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
Mature trees poisoned in a suspected vandalism attack in front of a Noosa Heads apartment complex will not be removed but have vines planted about them so they can stay upright to act like “big sentinel poles”, the local council says.
Reef report piles pressure on Labor’s climate target
Amid the political power plays in Canberra, experts warn Labor’s target won’t be enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Doubts over Qld LNG project after move to cap exports
Santos’s partners in a Qld LNG project fear their nations’ energy security will be at risk if Australia caps its gas exports.
Minister’s gas price threat: Husic vows to get tough on Queensland producers
The Federal Government now wants to dramatically rewrite the rules for the three Queensland LNG producers, claiming putting “a sharp focus on their behaviour” was important.
K’gari calling: Qld’s Fraser Island may be officially renamed
Two Palaszczuk government ministers have backed a proposal to rename the world’s largest sand island K’gari, an Aboriginal word for “paradise”
Farmers investigating the surprising superpowers of dung beetles in far north Queensland
In the quest to reduce water pollution, soil degradation and fly outbreaks, far north Queensland farmers are seeking assistance from the smallest of creatures — one cow pat at a time.
Secrets and lies: Why Govt wants to wipe away Fraser Island’s last links to ugly past
Brad Cooper
The State Government is clearing the decks to officially rename Fraser Island to its Indigenous name, K’gari, consigning the treachery of its shipwrecked, swashbuckling namesake to the dustbin of history.
South Australia
‘Absolutely ridiculous’: Stevens goes nuke too after Albo deal [$]
A key SA Liberal MP has joined his party colleagues’ new call for nuclear energy after Labor and the Greens agreed on a landmark climate target.
Majority support nuclear power, Premier ‘open-minded’ [$]
Backing for nuclear power to provide cheaper and more reliable electricity has been uncovered. Do you support a nuclear energy future for SA?
Legal action by Hills fertiliser factory told to deal with stench [$]
A fertiliser factory in the Adelaide Hills at the centre of longstanding complaints about its smell has taken legal action after being ordered to reduce the foul smell.
Tasmania
Tasmania’s State of the Environment report is 13 years overdue. So where is it?
When the national State of the Environment report was released a fortnight ago, it had been delayed by around six months – but that’s nothing on Tasmania’s report, which is 13 years overdue.
Northern Territory
Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife looks into ways to remove human waste out of the high points of the trail, which are inaccessible to vehicles.
Watch and Act issued as bushfire spreads in Central Australia
A Watch and Act has been issued for a quickly spreading bushfire in the Standley Chasm area.
Western Australia
WA marine parks creation hailed as ‘benchmark’ for Indigenous co-design
The head of the Kimberley Land Council says the co-design of new marine parks in northern WA should be the benchmark for similar processes in other government departments.
Why sustainability is so important for this group of desert rangers
Rangers who harvest wild sandalwood from one of the most remote corners of Australia are determined to operate sustainably amid calls for a ban to the practice.
Giant gas projects may escape bid to slash WA carbon pollution by 2030
WA’s environmental watchdog wants “a deep and substantial reduction” in carbon pollution this decade, but three giant export projects may escape the new tougher approach.
Lynas launches $500m WA mine expansion as clean energy demand drives growth
Lynas says a rapidly increasing shift to electric vehicles and wind energy has prompted it to expand its Western Australian mine.
Sustainability
Nature-friendly farming does not reduce productivity, study finds
Results of 10-year project reveal that rewilding areas can boost biodiversity and crop yields
Energy firms’ record profits during energy crisis ‘immoral’, says UN secretary general – video
UN chief António Guterres called on governments to tax energy companies ‘immoral’ record profits and help vulnerable communities with the funds
Ignore the culture warriors – low traffic neighbourhoods don’t close streets, they liberate them
George Monbiot
Some drivers are so enraged they’ve resorted to violence in my home town of Oxford. What has brought on this new barbarism?
Developing transformative visions for planetary health equity and healthier futures
Alison Barrett
What will it take to transform systems so that planetary health equity is prioritised rather than the excessive production and consumption of fossil fuel-reliant goods and services?
Nature Conservation
24 million tonnes of seaweed blanket Caribbean beaches, release toxic gas
Record amounts of sargassum seaweed are washing up on beaches across the Caribbean, causing major environmental problems.
The fee to access two of the main islands of the Komodo National Park rises to $364, a jump that local workers say will scare off tourists and see their incomes dry up.
How climate change is muting nature’s symphony
According to a 2018 report from the Audubon Society, over 300 North American bird species could lose half their ranges due to climate change in the next 60 years.
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