Post of the Day
96% of humans feel global warming: Study
Whether they realized it or not, some 7.6 billion people – 96 percent of humanity – felt global warming’s impact on temperatures over the last 12 months, researchers have said.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Black Sea Action Day
Climate Change
Greenpeace accused of greenwashing Egypt’s image ahead of Cop27
Criticism of group comes as advocates warn environmentalists should not downplay concerns about Egypt’s human rights record
Cop27 climate summit: window for avoiding catastrophe is closing fast
The effects of global heating could soon reach a tipping point, but scientists fear that the meeting in Egypt will become bogged down in recriminations
COP27: As nations head for climate summit in Egypt, some signs of hope
Here’s the bad news and the good news as the world returns to talks over the existential threat of rising temperatures.
What gets prioritised and ignored at UN climate negotiations?
A new study analysed UN climate negotiation agendas going back to 1995 to understand which issues have been prioritised – and those that have not.
What trees say about climate change and how the agriculture sector can listen
Trees speak to those willing to listen, and the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative in Regina knows the language. According to the researchers, the trees are talking about climate change.
Climate change could displace millions in the Middle East
With poor rains, extreme heat waves and droughts, climate change could displace millions of people in the Middle East, the world’s most water-poor region, with the attendant risk of environmentally detrimental urban expansion and the potential for resource conflicts.
At UN climate summit, India to flex its negotiating muscles
As countries gathered in Scotland were crystallizing their pledges at last year’s United Nations climate conference, India used its might to intervene. Along with China, India took issue with the draft deal’s suggestion to “phase out” coal, preferring the wording, “phase down.”
Can China lead the way on climate reparations?
David Shearman
At a time when the developing nations are doing it tough in the face of inflation, rising power and food prices, many poor African, Asian and Pacific Island nations, struggling with the ravages of climate change, are asking for reparation. Will it be China and not the US that leads the way?
National
Treasurer can’t say when power bills will come down, as government weighs price cap
Jim Chalmers says the government is “always recalibrating our expectations for electricity price rises” and that prices will “moderate in time”.
Gas companies warn we could soon be crying poor
As the federal government weighs its options for regulating the gas market to bring down soaring power prices, exporters of Australian gas, riding high on record profits, have fired a warning shot.
Major changes could reduce power bills
Labor is considering making big changes to the gas market to bring down spiralling energy prices – but time is running out.
Electric incentives: how to save on an EV
Australians could soon save more than $11,000 on the cost of an electric vehicle but the discounts will depend on where they live and drive.
How to get EVs into more Australian driveways
Carola Jonas
As millions of Australians juggle increased cost-of-living expenses including soaring fuel prices exacerbated by the end of the temporary fuel excise cut, interest in electric vehicles has once more been rekindled.
Voters back price caps to tackle rising energy bills
Polling shows 80 per cent of Australians strongly back a price cap on power to ease pressure on energy bills, while the treasurer flagged the measure as a preferred option to cash payments.
Why it’s time to turn TV fiction off and get ready for nuclear power [$]
David Penberthy
Australia is wholly capable of creating the safest and most self-contained nuclear fuel industry the world has ever seen … if only we’d stop watching the TV fiction.
Dutton had little room to manoeuvre in budget reply [$]
Opinion
Peter Dutton promising Australia nuclear power from scratch – from opposition – is brave stuff indeed.
Pursuit of renewables delivering broken power bill promises [$]
Opinion
As Labor, Teals and Greens scream to close cleaner black coal power stations without providing any reliable replacements, Australia should consider all forms of energy.
Brian Robert Cook
As the Victorian city of Echuca prepared for flooding this week, the council moved rapidly to build a temporary earthen levee as others sandbagged. This kept some homes dry, likely worsened flooding in others, and prompted blame from many sides.
Kim Wingerei
Jim Chalmer’s first Federal Budget was delivered this week. Politically astute, yet containing few surprises or significant reform measures, it was a budget lacking in courage to tackle the big challenges.
Trigger shy: dithering on the obvious fix for gas and electricity bills costs every Australian
Rex Patrick
A simple solution to the gas crisis and rising energy bills is being ignored. In WA they earmark a portion of gas supply for domestic users. This Domestic Reservation Policy works. Prices are lower, supply guaranteed. So why is the government refusing to do the same for all Australians?
Dark clouds hang over next climate change meeting [$]
Graham Lloyd
This energy crisis has become the Albanese government’s Covid emergency.
Labor could pay the ultimate price from electricity shock [$]
Nick Cater
The steepest rise in energy prices will hit the mortgage belt hardest, not the teal voters who want to accelerate the renewables boom.
Victoria
The one town in Victoria hoping for more rain
The third consecutive La Niña has been good news for Victoria’s largest freshwater lake and its nearby town is hopeful it continues to fill — attract tourists in the process.
States divided on power price cap [$]
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews calls on Anthony Albanese to implement an east coast gas reservation scheme amid growing splits between governments on how to best bring electricity prices down.
Andrews’ rail rebrand throws everyone for a loop
Charlotte Grieve and Kishor Napier-Raman
The Premier debuted something called the SRL Airport over the weekend. Hang on, what is that?
New South Wales
Single-use plastics ban moves to new phase – podcast
NSW in a move flagged 12 months ago. And while all Australian jurisdictions are making changes, environment groups say greater coordination will be critical to solving the pollution crisis.
Raising Warragamba Dam probably can’t stop floods. There’s a simpler solution closer to home
Tone Wheeler
Rain is everywhere, like sunshine on solar panels. Why not collect and use it locally, leaving the existing dam for flood mitigation?
Queensland
Hot in summer, icy in winter: How to make your home energy efficient
Summers in central Queensland can get scorching, but Arthur Hunt has retrofitted his home with strategic blinds, awnings and trees. Here’s how you can make your home energy efficient too.
Reef rangers: The tourism operators who’ll help save our icon [$]
More than two dozen Queensland tourism operators will be paid to monitor the health of the Great Barrier Reef and remove pests.
Fears thousands of endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtles have perished
The endangered “bum-breathing” Mary River turtle is facing a frightening new threat with fears thousands of juveniles have been swallowed whole by mystery predators.
A multi-billion-dollar renewable energy project to be built on the doorstep of Collinsville that will deliver green ammonia to Korea is the latest in a line-up of developments slated for the former coal town, but residents say they’ll believe it when they see it.
Tasmania
Tasmania’s eastern quolls are dying out and scientists don’t know why
Tasmania has long been thought of as a stronghold for the eastern quoll, but new research shows the species has been in decline in the state for the past 35 years.
Native carnivore loss is a boon for other scavengers. But can the ecosystem cope? [$]
Like many carnivores, the Tasmanian devil spends a lot of its time scavenging roadkill and carcasses for its food.
Western Australia
Well, if Adelaide can do it: How Perth can go net zero by 2030
Many feel helpless and frustrated by political climate action. But in our city a group of cross-sector individuals are determined to make it happen. Are you in?
‘Trashing the joint’: Alarm grows as oil and gas giant clears the Kimberley
An oil and gas giant’s application to clear more than 1000 additional kilometres will impact some of Western Australia’s most vulnerable species, say conservationists.
Sustainability
Kidnapped French-Australian environmentalist freed in Chad
Jérôme Hugonot, a conservationist with dual French and Australian citizenship, has been freed after being taken hostage in Chad earlier this week.
IEA estimates 30-fold jump in hydrogen demand by 2030 [$]
To meet European demand alone, the IEA estimates the total capital investment in hydrogen is as much as $1.3 trillion.
The movement to keep buildings from making you sick
Environmental health expert Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard, explains why people should demand more from their schools and offices.
Nature Conservation
This turquoise lake is more than 2 million years old. But not everyone supports the fight to save it
Lake Ohrid is a Balkan treasure, nestled between mountain ranges in North Macedonia and Albania. It’s known for its ancient architecture and natural beauty. But it’s under threat by the very people who love it most.
Scenes from the Mississippi River show hope, frustration amid drought
Historically low water levels have caused far-reaching concerns over yet another rupture in the international supply chain and what that could mean overseas and for typical Americans.
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