Post of the Day
Our leaders had a final chance to halt climate breakdown. They failed each and every one of us
George Monbiot
It’s a miracle that any one of us is alive today. Those with the power to grant that miracle to future generations chose not to
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
The head of one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers has called for a clampdown on fugitive emissions on economic and environmental grounds, but says fossil fuels are crucial to the renewable energy transition.
What happened at Cop27 on day 11?
EU agrees to loss and damage fund to help poor countries and activists interrupting proceedings lose their passes
Cop27 talks continue over EU climate loss and damage fund proposal
Last-ditch plan for providing cash to countries suffering climate-related disaster brings overtime wrangling
US shamed as the ‘colossal fossil’ of Cop27 climate summit by campaigners
Climate action group believes US is blocking progress on global heating by rejecting payments to poorer countries
‘Shameful’ UN silencing Indigenous voices, say banned Cop27 activists
Campaigners who interrupted US president’s speech had passes revoked after they put ‘lives in danger’
Sinking land and rising seas threaten Manila Bay’s coastal communities
Groundwater pumping in the Philippines is causing coastal land to sink while the razing of mangrove forest has left the area vulnerable to bigger storm surges from the rising seas.
‘Have a heart’: 10-year-old Ghanaian climate activist receives standing ovation at Cop27 – video
Nakeeyat Dramani, a 10-year-old Ghanaian climate activist, appealed to delegates during a Cop27 session in Sharm el-Sheikh to ‘have a heart’. Nakeeyat spoke ‘on behalf of young people’ who feared for their future, after seeing the impact of the climate crisis every day, in the form of air pollution, flooding and droughts.
Cop27: fossil of the day and passionate plenaries – in pictures
Media briefings, protests and plenary sessions at the Cop27 UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
Time is running out. We must call out the vested interests propelling the climate crisis
Gabrielle Kuiper
It is not enough to professionally communicate the science of climate change. This is not a matter of rationality.
What my COP27 from hell says about climate change [$]
Hans van Leeuwen
An AFR correspondent’s encounters with the Egyptian proclivity to prevarication and procrastination casts light on the scramble of the COP27 finale.
The money behind direct action climate protests [$]
Jesse Noakes
Behind the recent string of climate protests in art galleries and museums – here and overseas – is a network of organisations with backing from oil heiress Aileen Getty.
There’s a new proposal to overhaul Australia’s fuel rules. It could see some vehicles banned
New rules about fuel quality in Australia could ban the sale of some vehicles but see a new generation of green cars hit local roads.
Winds of change gather pace for biggest carbon-emitters
The battle for stronger climate ambition for AGL appears far from over, especially now that billionaire investor activist Mike Cannon-Brookes’ board picks have been elected.
Australia basks in climate ‘good guy’ glow
Australia’s new Labor government has a spring in its step after a stellar turn on the world stage at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt.
Truckies back net zero by 2040 push [$]
Anthony Albanese is facing calls to sign a global pledge for all sales of new trucks and buses to be zero emission by 2040.
Hydrogen fuel pumps are on the way in Australia — so how long until the vehicles arrive?
Tasmania will soon have hydrogen fuel pumps at several service stations as governments and the private sector combine to try fast-track the uptake of zero-emissions vehicles in heavy transport sectors.
Developed or developing? China question divides COP27
Chris Bowen met with his China counterpart in Egypt for the first ministerial level meeting between Australia and China in five years. Negotiations dragged into the night.
Green offset tax is a con that will ruin rural Australia
Vikki Campion
Biodiversity tax is adding up to $300,000 to the cost of a regional home and will suffocate rural Australia — without producing any actual benefit to the environment.
Questions over ACCU review after allegations panel member urged ‘potential’ for investors [$]
Bernard Keane
A member of the high-powered review of the integrity of Australian Carbon Credit Units is said to have raised their investment potential in comments that, if correct, raise concerns about the review process.
Rachel Withers
Australia has a moral imperative to stop opening new fossil-fuel projects, whether the government accepts it or not
Inside Mike Cannon-Brookes’s AGL coup [$]
Mike Seccombe
When Mike Cannon-Brookes’s takeover of AGL failed, he opted for a mutiny, and it’s dragging one of Australia’s oldest companies – and our largest polluter – into a renewable energy future.
What it’s like to negotiate a climate agreement [$]
Thom Woodroofe
The latest COP27 is the first United Nations climate gathering in nearly five years from which Australia hasn’t emerged as a diminished global power. In recent years, it has become par for the course that such gatherings result in stories of Australia siding with the likes of Russia and Saudi Arabia to block progress.
Dear Australia, would you mind terribly not mining all those fossil fuels? – cartoon
Kudelka
Victoria
Massive blaze at recycling plant
Three people were treated for smoke inhalation as dozens of firefighters battled a large fire at a recycling facility in Melbourne’s southwest.
Suburban Rail Loop: the right track or ‘extravagance and folly’?
When Daniel Andrews travelled to Box Hill on August 28, 2018 to announce the “biggest transformation of public transport in Australian history”, it wasn’t the first time a politician had spruiked a circular train line through Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Timber rally rolls into Morwell [$]
Two convoys of timber trucks are heading to Morwell, in a funeral procession marking the death of an industry.
If you care about nature in Victoria, this is your essential state election guide
Sarah Bekessy and Brendan Wintle
If we learnt anything from the past federal election, it’s that Australians care about climate change and nature. A survey released this week suggests the same dynamic is at play as we head into the Victorian state election.
New South Wales
Routine check uncovers ‘grey turbid water with possible coal material’ in national park
The NSW Environment Protection Authority is reviewing the licence of the Metropolitan coal mine following repeated incidents of coal pollution spilling into waterways in the Royal National Park.
‘It’s a disgrace’: Eugowra resident confronts Dominic Perrottet over flood response
Frustrations bubble over in the Central West, where a local man has demanded more support for flood-stricken communities from the NSW premier, as prepare-to-evacuate orders are issued for towns downstream of Forbes.
NSW plans to cut carbon emissions from major projects [$]
Cranes on the new Sydney Fish Market and Powerhouse Parramatta projects are switching to biodiesel as NSW encourages contractors to be more sustainable.
Energy conflict is indicative of dark times for Liberals [$]
Gerard Henderson
In politics, the saying ‘division is death’ contains an essential truth. It is rare for divided parties to prevail at election time and NSW Treasurer Matt Kean should take note.
ACT
‘Exceptional case’ between Ngambri and ACT govt for land rights to involve Ngunnawal Elders
The ACT Chief Justice has denied the United Ngunnawal Elders Council from being defendants against Ngambri custodians, who are seeking recognition as traditional owners of Canberra.
Plan to rebuild two Namadgi huts after government changes its tune [$]
The ACT government has reversed its position on rebuilding two huts destroyed in bushfires almost three years ago.
By George, the lake’s filling up fast. But how full is it?
Tim the Yowie Man
It’s the question that just won’t go away. It’s more persistent than this spring’s seemingly incessant downpours. Just how full is Lake George (Weereewaa)
Queensland report backs future for coal
Queensland’s coal industry is emerging as a winner in the global energy crisis as demand from India, Japan and South Korea pick up the slack from China’s ban.
Queensland’s higher coal royalties has had little impact on profits, new data shows
The state’s treasury does not expect the taxes to make a significant impact on investment decisions
Ride on time: Push for ‘Brisbane to the border’ cycle route gathers pace
An uninterrupted cycle path from Brisbane all the way to the Gold Coast is still years away but the gaps are beginning to be filled.
South Australia
Shoot to cull: SA’s unsung hero killers [$]
Welcome to the frontline of the battle to save our endangered species, where a bunch of blokes with guns are among our fiercest protectors.
The potential devastation facing the world’s only ‘pure’ Ligurian bee population
Kangaroo Island had been a sanctuary for Ligurian honeybees for more than a century when the 2019-20 bushfires hit. Will the varroa mite deliver a new sting?
Tasmania
Popular city platypus dies after becoming tangled in twine
A popular city-dwelling platypus dies after becoming entangled in twine, and just after a call went out for the Tasmanian public to supply earthworms for its recovery.
Break O’Day call for alternate east-coast route ‘as a matter of urgency’ [$]
Break O’Day Council have written to the state government urging immediate action to develop alternative access routes for the region following the St Marys pass landslide in October.
Code red for Rosebery Mine tailings plan with another long delay
Efforts to save the Rosebery Mine face another significant delay, and it now looks extremely unlikely owner MMG Limited will be able to construct its preferred tailings storage solution in time.
Northern Territory
Under the draft Georgina Wiso water allocation plan, the territory government says more than 262 gigalitres of water can be taken “sustainably” each year within the Daly, Roper and Beetaloo district.
Sustainability
‘No to plastic bags’: How Senegal’s Plastic Man is fighting pollution
On a Senegalese beach covered with plastic trash, environmental activist Modou Fall wears a uniform of plastic bags, cups and other junk in an effort to talk to anyone who will listen about the problems of plastics.
‘Drought ravages all living things’: Kenyan herders dig for hope in Africa’s untapped aquifers
Kenyan herders fear drought could take what little they have left — but Africa’s largely untapped aquifers could save them.
Superblocks are not pro-bike or anti-car, they’re all about the evidence
Marco Amati and Alexia Yacoubian
It’s time to start thinking about how people want to use city spaces rather than travel through them.
There are 8 years left to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but is it enough time?
Rees Kassen and Ruth Morgan
In 2015, the United Nations identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Since then, the SDGs have been woven into research programs, national and international policy, and election campaigns globally. But the clock is ticking — with just eight years to 2030, it is worth asking how we will get there.
Nature Conservation
Even a limited nuclear war could devastate the world’s oceans: here’s what our modelling shows
Tyer Rohr et al
The US and Russia have recently agreed to hold talks on the New START Treaty, the only accord left regulating the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world. While this is undoubtedly good news, we must not allow it to lull us into complacency. Global events this year, most notably in Ukraine, have raised fears of a nuclear conflict to levels not seen since the cold war. There are more than 10,000 nuclear warheads remaining in the world, and the Kremlin’s language regarding weapons of mass destruction has became increasingly threatening in 2022.
We created the world’s first donkey embryo using IVF in a bid to save species from extinction
Andres Gambini
The embryo is frozen in liquid nitrogen until a suitable female donkey is found to grow it into a baby.
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