Date: 30 October 2022 at 8:18:56 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Oct 31
Post of the Day
Is Australia’s growing love of Halloween endangering our wildlife?
According to an online warning, decorations such as fake spiderweb ‘take a terrible toll’ on birds. We ask the experts how big a problem it is
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Africa Day of Food and Nutrition Security
Climate Change
Roadblocks, soup hurling, superglue … Just Stop Oil protests divide activists on direct action
As a month of climate protests ends, environmentalists are split on whether disruption or moderation is best to galvanise change
Does the word ‘woke’ do what it says on the tin?
Jacqueline Maley
Many commentators have dismissed the art vandals as “woke” activists.
National
A vital cog in the energy market is ‘bust’ and that is bleak news for consumers
A little known but vitally important part of the electricity market is “bust” and industry is warning the fallout will force retailers to the wall and push prices even higher.
Australia drops nuclear weapon opposition
Australia has abstained from a vote on a nuclear weapons ban treaty at the United Nations.
‘People seemed threatened by it’: Three couples on their decision not to have children
It’s predicted that between next year and 2029, the number of couples living without children will overtake the number of couples who have kids.
Cycling wars resume in Australia’s biggest cities – but is it a ‘bikelash’ or just nimbyism?
Experts urge evidence over passion amid concerns about loss of parking, construction disruption – even where the governor general will park
Coalition dam money will go towards government’s secret fund to buy water rights from irrigators
Money for dams is reallocated so the Albanese government can buy water entitlements from farmers.
Electric vehicle transition has huge health benefits
David Shearman
A transition to electric vehicles would not only help the environment but provide personal health benefits as well
Albo’s had a shocker on power pricing [$]
Peta Credlin
Before the election, Labor repeatedly promised that average household power bills would be $275 lower by 2025. This week’s Budget exposes the truth — that people can expect huge increases instead.
Victoria
‘Fix the faults’: Coles criticised for using carbon credits from controversial project
Carbon-neutral farmer says use of offsets from Armoobilla project ‘outrageous’ but company says they meet ‘rigorous requirements’ of government standard
New South Wales
NSW koalas could vanish by 2050: Advocates
Koalas in NSW could be extinct by 2050 unless the government makes drastic changes to knocking down trees.
‘Sick to death’ of ‘blathering’, ecologist issues grim warning about fate of ‘fluffy national icon’
A koala conference in NSW, held with the aim of building pressure ahead of next year’s state election, also heard from an Indigenous conservationist who says cultural practices will play a key role in staving off extinction.
Here’s what we know about the scheme to buyback or repurpose 2,000 flood-hit homes
$800 million is being set aside to help home owners move to higher ground or make their homes more resilient. Here’s what we know, and still don’t know, about the scheme.
How Cammeray tree clearing scattered wildlife over lower north shore
A few months ago, Kristina Dodds walked around the side of her Northbridge home to find a pair of persistent kookaburras who had decided the warmth of the metal exhaust fan was a good place to build a nest.
Hundreds of trees in northern Sydney under threat from elite rugby precinct
Residents in northern Sydney fear hundreds of trees will be cut down for an elite sporting facility that they say will ruin a nature reserve.
ACT
New cat laws to end ‘trap, neuter, return’ program
A national commitment to invasive species management will see new technologies deployed to control feral cats, as the ACT phases out its trap, neuter, return policy.
Queensland
Meet the central Queensland couple battling to save Australia’s brumbies
Paul Johnston and Moreen Levin have rescued and rehomed 300 brumbies across the nation and are hoping to inspire others to give the horses a new lease on life.
Batteries, budgeting: Our desperate measures in power price crisis [$]
With the Federal Government failing to keep crippling power prices in check, Queenslanders reveal how they’re adapting.
Northern Territory
Single-use plastics were banned years ago in Darwin. But since then, alternatives have been melting in the heat. So, where to from here?
Western Australia
‘Red with crabs’: Millions of Christmas Island critters begin annual migration
Red crab migration season has kicked off on Christmas Island — and experts say it could be one of the biggest in years, with up to 65 million crustaceans making the journey.
It’s time for solar microgrids to replace dirty diesel generators
In rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, costly diesel generators are often the only power source. A concerted push to deploy solar microgrids could change that.
Passenger car preheating produces as much particulate emissions as driving dozens of kilometers
A new study measured particulate emissions from passenger car preheating with an auxiliary heater in sub-zero conditions. The preheating emissions were compared to calculated emissions from driving to determine the driving distance corresponding to the preheating emissions under current emissions standards.
Project to analyze microplastic pollution in cities
New UAB crowdfunding campaign to develop a simple sampling methodology for urban areas
The story behind China’s fourth generation nuclear reactors
Kari McKern
The fact that only China has implemented a Small Modular Nuclear Reactors is a testament to the skills and capacities of Chinese nuclear engineers and the policy makers that the West, despite renewed interest in the idea, will find difficult to match.
Stan Grant
These events are what statistician Nassim Taleb popularised as “Black Swans”. Why? Because they are outliers. They have extreme impact. What’s more, we are all wiser after the event, concocting explanations that make it all seem so predictable.
Environment: Cherish old trees, rivers and birds
Peter Sainsbury
The world’s old trees, Australia’s rivers and the USA’s birds are in decline. The cause is the same everywhere – failing to respect nature.
This Techno-life: to simplify or not to simplify!
Adrian Lipscomb
Understanding the difference between “needs” and “wants” is an essential lesson in the quest for simplicity.
Nature Conservation
The case of Latin America’s mysterious disappearing (and reappearing) white-lipped peccaries
A collaborative study documents the periodic disappearance (and reappearance) of white-lipped peccaries in nine countries in South and Central America.
El Niño increases seedling mortality even in drought-tolerant forests
Scientists conducted a 7-year study on seedling recruitment and mortality in a national park in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. During the study period, an extremely strong El Niño event occurred, leading to a stronger and longer drought than normal. Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs), which experience an annual dry season, are considered drought-tolerant. Nevertheless, the study found that seedling mortality increased in SDTFs when severe and prolonged drought occurred.
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