Date: 12 September 2022 at 6:54:40 am AWST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Sep 12
Post of the Day
Reasons for (cautious) optimism: the good news on the climate crisis
Adam Morton
Every fraction of a degree of global heating avoided makes a difference. Here are some reasons for hope
Climate Change
Will Charles as King mean an end to his climate change activism?
As prince, Charles was a vocal advocate for environmentalism and championed sustainability, but as he begins his reign as monarch, tradition will expect him to remain politically neutral.
China’s drought raises spectre of a new threat from climate change
First COVID hit supply chains for automobiles, electronics and other goods – now climate is emerging as a disruptor.
The climate crisis is real – but overusing terms like ‘crisis’ and ‘emergency’ comes with risk
Noel Castree
“Crisis” is an incredibly potent word, so it’s interesting to witness the way the phrase “climate crisis” has become part of the lingua franca.
Climate crisis in Pacific needs urgent attention
Stephanie Stephens
In Vanuatu, the land I see today is different from the land captured in photographs from my childhood. As I child, I played on the sandy beach down the road from my home.
The climate crisis is no excuse to make corporations richer
John Aspray
Corporate polluters got us into this mess, and now they expect the American people to pay them to fix it. But let’s be clear — the climate crisis is no excuse to make rich corporations richer.
National
King Charles divides over one issue
Australian leaders are split on how the new King should approach one issue, with Anthony Albanese encouraging Charles to continue speaking his mind.
Environment agenda brings departmental shake-up [$]
The new Climate Change and Environment Department is set for an overhaul as its secretary moves to align the agency with the Labor government’s environmental agenda.
$8.7b forestry manager turns to agriculture [$]
Agriculture provides greater scope for growth than forestry, says New Forest Australia and New Zealand managing director Mark Rogers.
Grow up, go nuclear: Albanese’s reactor gag a relic of the past [$]
Tim Blair
Led by Anthony Albanese, Labor’s opposition to nuclear energy is infantile, free of facts, ignorant of history and based on panic in previous eras
Paul Bloxham, Jamie Culling
Australia, an energy superpower and one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas, is facing an energy squeeze.
Greg Hunt steers into sweet spot [$]
John Durie
Once a crop-protection business, the Nufarm chief executive is determined to create three sustainable solutions for the clean energy transition.
Victoria
Trevor can’t have solar panels because he lives in public housing. He doesn’t think that’s fair
Solar panels could produce enough energy to cover the cost of Trevor Grinham’s electricity bills, but there needs to be a change in policy before that can happen.
This river has been toxic for months. Now this group is devising a plan, but will it be too late?
It has been a sad year for residents and longtime visitors watching the Curdies River deteriorate. But there is a glimmer of hope.
As Melbourne’s west grows, poor bus services are forcing residents to rely on cars
There is a bus stop right next to Iqbal Hossain’s home in Hoppers Crossing, in Melbourne’s outer south-west. But he rarely uses it.
ACT
Species threatened by airport expansion plans: minister
Plans to expand the Canberra Airport have raised concerns with the Environment Minister, who says an access road across Commonwealth land would risk extinction of an ACT threatened species.
South Australia
E-scooter check: Review could see them here to stay [$]
The City Council is considering whether to extend the e-scooter trial for another year.
Cash for your cans: Uber-style recycling opens in Adelaide [$]
Cans and bottles can be collected from homes and businesses with cash transferred directly to bank accounts or charities in a new service launched in Adelaide.
Tasmania
Anglican Church in Tasmania to go to trial for first time in 180 years to fight child abuse case
A man who claims he was abused as a child by a notorious paedophile priest is taking the Anglican Church to trial — and for the first time in Tasmania, the church will contest the case at a trial.
Northern Territory
Lucrative water licence that ignited a political scandal quietly renewed in full
A large licence to extract water near the outback Northern Territory town of Mataranka is quietly renewed in full by the same political party that condemned the saga a decade ago.
Western Australia
Extended ban on prized fish species not necessary and risks economic benefits, lobby group says
A proposal to put some of WA’s most popular table fish off limits to recreational anglers for up to nine months of the year may do more harm than good, a fishing group warns.
Beetle infesting trees in Perth could pose deadly threat to Moreton Bay figs
WA scrambles to control polyphagous shot-hole borer, which has spread to 200 locations in state’s capital
Sustainability
Cheaper electric vehicles coming despite high battery costs
The latest came on Thursday from General Motors, a Chevrolet Equinox small SUV with a starting price somewhere around USD 30,000 and a range-per-charge of 250 miles (400 kilometres). You can get range of 300 miles (500 kilometres) if you pay more.
California’s green dreams mean adding more EVs to rickety grid [$]
California’s climate policies will increase electricity demand, requiring a grid that carries perhaps 80 per cent more power by 2045.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant halts operations in Ukraine
The plant “is completely stopped” after the number 6 power unit from the grid is disconnected at 3:41am local time on Sunday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy having called for the surrounding area to be demilitarised.
Environmentalists say pyrolysis requires too much energy, emits greenhouse gases and pollutants, and turns plastic waste into new, dirty fossil fuels.
The Biden administration wants to cut geothermal energy costs by 90 percent
The Biden administration has announced an ambitious new goal to make the use of geothermal energy “widespread,” underlining the administration’s efforts to phase out the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Switzerland picks site near German border for nuclear waste storage
Swiss authorities have selected a site in northern Switzerland not far from the German border to host a deep geological storage repository for radioactive waste.
Nature Conservation
Ospreys make triumphant return as breeding pairs spread across UK
Conservationists hail success of breeding programmes as first chicks in two centuries hatch in Leicestershire
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