Date: 11 November 2022 at 9:06:16 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 11
Post of the Day
To those who sneer at activists blocking roads: what are you doing to save the planet?
Polly Toynbee
The Tories’ despicable plan to imprison protesters is unlikely to stop those who fear imminent climate catastrophe
On This Day
Remembrance Day / Armistice Day
Saint Martin’s Day – Christianity
Ecological Observance
International Energy Saving Day
Climate Change
‘More than 50 poor countries in danger of bankruptcy’ says UN official
Developing countries falling into default would be catastrophic and delay climate action, UN development chief warns
Climate activists target private jet airports and demand ban at Cop27
Climate activists have blocked entrances to two of the UK’s premier private jet airports as part of a global wave of action against private aviation timed to coincide with Cop27.
Show of solidarity and a T rex: day four at Cop27 – in pictures
Protesters wear white as US House speaker Nancy Pelosi joins delegates at climate summit in Egypt
The unfairness of the climate crisis – podcast
Join us on this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient as we speak with researcher and migration expert Yvonne Su about climate-induced migration, the ways in which the climate crisis should factor into refugee claims and the burden of care that is owed to displaced people.
Australian emissions nearly double of Egypt
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are nearly double Egypt’s, according to a new emissions tracker, despite the Middle Eastern country being home to four times as many people.
Big polluters need to pay up, say Aussies
Nine out of 10 Australians think big polluters should pay for the impacts of climate change.
The ‘big business’ of electric vehicle conversion is tipped to explode, according to one car expert
Greg Sievert loves his 1993 Volvo 240 Wagon. In fact, he loves it so much he’s living the manufacturer’s example and has popped an electric motor under the hood.
Australia sheds title of having world’s most expensive electricity [$]
Australians love being top of the world — but not when it comes to electricity costs. It’s a title we have finally lost, as power prices in other parts of the world rise at astronomical rates.
Help save native frogs and get them to leapfrog Taylor Swift to the top of the charts
Citizen scientists from all over Australia are encouraged to get involved this FrogID Week to help research teams build up their database of frog knowledge to help combat extinction threats.
Labor risks new row with miners over coal, gas tax [$]
Federal cabinet is set to consider a new tax on gas and thermal coal aimed at cutting energy prices when Anthony Albanese returns from a nine-day overseas trip.
Big energy bid is a vote of confidence in future of gas [$]
Australian editorial
Global players can recognise the value of Australia’s resource assets.
Most Australians want rich nations to pay for climate change impacts – podcast
The majority of Australians surveyed in a new report have identified climate change as their number one global concern, ahead of armed conflict. It comes as world leaders meet in Egypt for the United Nations climate talks.
The Australian’s back-of-the-envelope green hydrogen figures are overblown and forget climate impact
Graham Readfearn
The claim it would take 25% of Australia’s land mass to provide the planet with green hydrogen misses an obvious point
The $18 billion bombshell to turn Origin Energy green
Elizabeth Knight
Having missed out on AGL, the heavyweight Canadian investment group Brookfield has left little to chance in its pursuit of its next target.
I’ve been to seven COPs. This one is different.
Simon Bradshaw
Australia has come out on the front foot at this year’s COP27 after dragging its heels at previous summits
Recycling plastics requires changes that are drastic
Helen Millicer
Just as Australia can be a clean energy superpower, we can be one of the few countries with a highly circular plastics economy.
Remember – recycle comes after reduce and reuse
Letters
If plastics are still being collected but not recycled, only stored, odds are they will end up with other non-recycled rubbish
There are now three certain things in life, but what happens when the lights go out?
Rosemary Lyster
It’s often said that only two things in life are certain – death and taxes. But unfortunately, there’s another. When extreme weather events (EWE) hit Australia’s electricity grid the lights go out.
Phoebe Quinn and Katitza Marinkovic Chavez
Many young people feel anxious, powerless, sad and angry about climate change.
Batteries of gravity and water: we found 1,500 new pumped hydro sites next to existing reservoirs
Andrew Blakers et al
In eight years, Australia wants to be four-fifths powered by renewables. Solar and wind investment is pouring in. But to firm the renewables and overcome the intermittency, we need overnight energy storage. That’s why there’s so much interest in pumped hydro.
Pointless, petty regulations are a handbrake on Australia’s truck fleet
Ingrid Burfurd
We all rely on trucks: they carry our fuel, tools, construction materials – and of course, food and parcels. While trains specialise in carrying bulk goods such as coal and grain, trucks carry nearly 80 per cent of the non-bulk items we use at work and home. But unfortunately, trucks also create carbon emissions, and pollution that damages people’s health.
Net Zero? The hypocrisy of the religious clerisy
Graham Young
It is a rootless age when 100 of the leaders of various Christian and other churches in Oceania can pen an open letter to Prime Minister Albanese demanding Australia stop ‘approving new coal and gas projects’.
Victoria
‘I would love to be able to walk to the shops’: Why are so many short trips in Melbourne by car?
Many residents in Melbourne’s booming outer suburbs are relying on cars for short trips due to missing or badly maintained footpaths and a lack of safe crossings. Rapid population growth is putting pressure on local roads and public transport.
The not-for-profit had said a fire at a Melbourne facility linked to the closure of Coles and Woolworths soft plastics recycling had delayed processing, but now says this is not the case
Visy hosts Labor fundraiser while bidding for $500m contract
Recycling and packaging giant Visy, run by billionaire Anthony Pratt, is one of a handful of firms in the running to operate the state’s container deposit scheme.
Victoria’s Young Australian for 2023 working to improve justice system for Indigenous people
Bendigo’s Darcy McGauley-Bartlett has helped to create a program ensuring all young Indigenous people are eligible for a caution when coming into contact with the justice system.
IBAC and the half-baked publicity of leaked reports
Yee-Fui Ng
The strong investigative powers of anti-corruption commissions have to be counterbalanced by the requirement for procedural fairness.
Hugh Saddler
Australia is an exception among developed nations in having increased energy use per person since 2005. A new consultation paper offers hope of policies that can lift the nation’s energy performance.
New South Wales
NSW government accused of reigniting ‘koala wars’
The NSW government introduces a bill to strip local councils of their ability to regulate private logging, and extend private forestry approvals to 30 years.
‘Rain bursts’ over Sydney have intensified 40% over last two decades, research finds
New analysis of weather data suggests potential for severe flash flooding has increased far beyond predictions
ACT
Arrest made following anti-fossil fuel protest [$]
A 58-year-old woman has been arrested after blocking traffic on Northbourne Avenue on Monday morning.
Queensland
Disposing used mattresses a ‘huge problem’ as Queensland councils turn to recycling
A south-east Queensland council is the latest to join an ambitious mattress recycling trial aimed at recovering precious landfill space.
Queensland changes ID verification process in wake of Optus hack
Queenslanders will now have to give their licence and card numbers when dealing with banks and telcos, but some have questioned whether the protocol really amounts to a two-factor authentication system.
More than 100 native animals seized, dead animals found in freezer of Brisbane home
More than 100 caged native animals and 25 carcasses found in a freezer are seized from a Brisbane home in one of the worst cases Queensland wildlife officers have seen.
Hydrogen finds a home in Beerburrum forest
Pure Hydrogen has bought an option over 21ha north-west of Brisbane where it plans an “emerald” hydrogen facility using biomass.
Electric taxis, cars charged to enter CBD – businessman’s bold Brisbane plan [$]
Energy and EV businessman Trevor St Baker outlines his ideas to turn Brisbane into the quietest and cleanest city in the world.
Lost busways of Brisbane: 2032 Games put abandoned blueprint back on the agenda
Adrian Schrinner
With only a third of Brisbane’s planned 75km of busways ever built, the 2032 Games mean they should be revisited.
South Australia
Thousands of properties at risk as River Murray daily flows expected to peak at new high
Up to 165 gigalitres a day is now expected to flow down the River Murray into South Australia from early December, putting an estimated 3,680 properties at risk, with authorities now outlining evacuation plans for vulnerable locals.
Moving legal goalposts for park lands grab undermines public faith
Morry Bailes
The state government’s rewriting legislation so it can bulldoze a state heritage precinct for a hospital destroys confidence in heritage protection and sets a disturbing precedent.
Tasmania
‘Hard deadline’ for project [$]
Federal Labor has given the Tasmanian government a hard deadline of the end of April 2023 for it to have its business case for the cableway at Cradle Mountain approved
Greens bill prohibiting Mt Wellington developments fails
Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor on Wednesday sought to kill off any future developments on Mount Wellington with a bill seeking to repeal a facilitation law, but the government voted down the motion
Mount Lyell enthusiasm as decision time draws closer [$]
The company hoping to restart the historic Mount Lyell mine expects to make its final investment decision late next year.
Tasmanian Liberals’ ecocide [$]
Michelle Pini
Tasmanian Liberals’ ecocide
In recent years, under the Coalition-led Federal Government, an inordinate amount of rhetoric about “freedom of speech” has been spouted and duly broadcast across compliant media outlets.
Western Australia
Recycler calls for government action as more soft plastics head to landfill
Narelle Kuppers makes surfboard fins from plastic lids in Western Australia. She says ambitious goals for recycling are being hampered, by a lack of leadership from the federal government.
Sustainability
World’s biggest carmakers to build 400m more vehicles than 1.5C climate target will allow
Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai/Kia on track to make far more petrol and diesel cars than is sustainable
Population almost 8 billion: Pressures on the planet? Countless
Michael Bayliss
A world population milestone of 8 billion. An exploitative economic system that assumes infinite growth on a finite planet that’s getting hotter. You do the maths.
Nature Conservation
People in Cape Town shoot baboons with paintball guns. Now some want them culled
Troops of baboons frequently raid homes and damage property on the Cape Peninsular. Animal rights advocates want people to learn to live with their wild cousins, but others want stronger action.
Politicians persist in plundering the planet for profit
Dermot Daley
So long as governments remain in the pocket of the logging industry, we will continue to destroy our forests and kill the planet.
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