Post of the Day
Coles, Woolworths plastics recycling scheme collapses, secret stockpiles revealed
The company behind soft plastic collection points at Coles and Woolworths has admitted it has not been recycling the items.
On This Day
Feast of the Virgin of Almudena – Madrid
Climate Change
‘No effective climate policy without peace’: Zelenskyy uses COP27 speech to take aim at Russia
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia’s war is impacting negatively on climate change at COP27, as Andrew Forrest calls for a halt to seabed mining.
There are no ‘amazing solutions’, so what can countries do in the face of extreme flooding?
Extreme weather is drowning many parts of the world with countries lacking the resilience and funding to cope with the devastating downpours. What can we learn from these global floods and what solutions are on the table at COP27?
The Ugandan youth activists urging action at COP27
Hilda Flavia Nakabuye and Patience Nabukalu, two young, outspoken women from Friday’s for Future, a global, youth-led climate action group, have travelled to Egypt with an important message: listen to young people from Uganda and across Africa.
COP27 hands business a to-do list. This is what’s on it [$]
The UN wants to steer global rules on greenwashing. Britain spruiks setting net-zero plans. And Michael Bloomberg hopes to standardise companies’ climate data.
Mexico to raise climate emissions target for first time since 2016
Mexico will raise its target to unconditionally cut greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below usual levels by 2030 at this year’s COP27 U.N. climate summit, its environment ministry said in a statement Tuesday, lifting its previous target of 22%.
COP27: Island nations want China, India to pay for climate damage
Highly polluting emerging economies including China and India should pay into a climate compensation fund to help countries rebuild after climate change-driven disasters, the prime minister of island nation Antigua and Barbuda said on Tuesday.
What bicycle touring can teach us about climate change
What bicycle touring and nomadic pastoralism can teach capitalist Western democracies about meeting the challenge of global warming.
Time to end ‘era of fossil fuel colonialism’ in Africa
Africa is suffering most from climate change but, with proper support, could also play an “indispensable, positive role in the planet’s climate change future,” Kenyan President William Ruto says.
Bogus net zero pledges: ‘The sham must end’ [$]
A UN group has set up a series of red line recommendations for Australia and other OECD nations to end coal, oil and gas production, ban new fossil fuel exploration and end financing of fossil fuels within eight years.
Barbados PM hails ‘loss and damage’ addition to climate agenda at Cop27 – video
Mia Mottley has celebrated ‘loss and damage’ – the idea that rich countries, having emitted the most planet-warming gases, should pay poorer countries who are suffering from climate disasters they did not create – being added to the agenda of Cop27.
Rishi Sunak — a Thatcherite in Downing Street
Binoy Kampmark
Britain’s new Prime Minister offers little hope of achieving economic progress and action on climate change.
COP27 First Day: Climate backsliding and buyer’s remorse
Richie Merzian
COP27 is all about implementation. But where things will unravel is around compensating developing countries for loss and damage from climate change.
Google took fossil fuel money to spread climate change misinformation [$]
Cam Wilson
A new report claims Google made more than $400,000 by breaking its own policy of prohibiting climate misinformation ads.
Dilemma over curbing global warming [$]
Canberra Times editorial
There is a political difficulty when it comes to real action on global warming: many people moan about high energy prices even as they know that weaning society off fossil fuels might mean higher energy prices, at least in the short term.
A climate change message tailor-made for conservatives
James Broughel
Conservatives may finally be ready to get real about global warming and climate change, but it will require a more positive message from liberal environmental groups to get them on board with government solutions.
COP27’s golden opportunity to save our food systems and avert climate disaster
Tonya Allen
Global hunger and climate change are inextricably linked — they both demand an urgent reshaping of our food systems.
National
Is fishing management keeping up with the pace of climate change?
The head of Australia’s fishery management authority has defended the organisation’s handling of declining fisheries after criticism it didn’t respond quickly enough to the changing climate.
Treasury recommends market intervention to lower Australian power prices
The federal government’s chief economic advisor endorses market intervention to cap or reduce coal and gas prices, warning unusually high company profits are coming at the expense of poorer Australians.
Both sides of the Murray on high alert as river towns brace for rising water levels
Tiny communities along the Murray River are preparing for the worst, as rising water levels threaten homes and farmland — with some areas already evacuated.
Australia backs ‘green’ shipping at COP27
Australia has backed a global plan to promote ‘green’ shipping and clean up the industry, at the COP27 climate conference.
Behind Santos’ push to become ‘green gas’ giant
Santos boss Kevin Gallagher walks a fine line but he insists gas is here to stay – for now.
Australia named among major economies not paying “fair share” of climate finance goal
Report finds Australia has shirked its climate finance commitments, joining other major western economies to fall tens of billions short.
Aussie e-bike riders unlock safer map app
An app designed to help nervous cyclists avoid hills and busy roads will reach more Australians as part of a new deal with an e-bike service.
Cities worlds apart on climate, population [$]
A new survey of key city leaders finds critical differences between Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth on tackling climate change, reducing social inequality and managing population growth.
‘Devil bird’: why the midnight cooee calls of the koel are driving Australians ‘insane’ this year
The night calls that are said to herald the Australian summer have continued later than usual. Here’s why
US warns Australia against joining treaty banning nuclear weapons
US embassy in Canberra says treaty ‘would not allow for US extended deterrence relationships’
Secret ministries: Morrison officials asked industry department for brief on Pep-11 gas project
The unusual request in December 2021 came because the-then PM had already designated himself in charge, Senate estimates reveal
Cop27 summit in Egypt opened with warning countries could either sign ‘a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact’
How Australia joined the fight to negotiate on climate compensation
Australia’s Minister for the Pacific, Pat Conroy, said Australia had fought to ensure the controversial issue made it onto the agenda.
Climate warrior MPs backed by fossil fuel cash [$]
Environmentally-conscious independent MPs are facing hypocrisy claims after revelations their election cash from the Climate 200 war chest originally came via donors with ties to the oil and gas industries.
‘Careful examination’: Plibersek questions former government’s dam projects
Water Minister Tanya Plibersek says she will be taking a “very careful look” at all federally funded dam proposals.
Gas lobby chief rips AGL, Origin, EA for gouging small customers [$]
Ian Davies, departing APPEA chair, has lashed out at big gas retailers like Origin, AGL and Energy Australia for gouging small and middle-sized manufacturers.
Australia’s rental housing is a national disgrace – and improving it will combat the energy crisis
Tristan Edis
Making rental properties more energy efficient (and liveable) will free up power for other users
Rupert Murdoch is leading Australia to climate ruin: FLASHBACK 2019
Norm Sanders
The UN has issued a dire warning at the start of COP27 that our world is speeding down a “highway to climate hell”.
Callum Foote
The schism between the lifters and leaners in corporate Australia has deepened. BHP, Rio and the banks are tipping in massive tax while tax paid by fossil fuel giants remains paltry, abjectly failing to merit a social licence to operate in Australia.
How many ABC journalists will report from COP27 in Egypt?
Margaret Reynolds
Many loyal ABC supporters were puzzled that our cash strapped public broadcaster could afford the cost of sending 27 staff to London to report on Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, but at least some of us hoped this may signal a fresh direction in overseas news reporting and analysis.
Stop the cynical, political, lazy mud-slinging at gas [$]
Ian Davies
The calls for draconian “price caps” only serve to deter the desperately needed investment in the transition fuel critical to Australia’s energy transformation.
Vulnerable need immediate relief from energy stress
Travis McLeod
A direct payment to low-income households experiencing should be considered. Households shouldn’t have to choose between paying an energy bill or putting food on the table.
Some power stations still believe they will be burning coal and polluting in 2050
Giles Parkinson
For all the talk of climate catastrophe and state government targets, some coal companies still think they are going to be burning coal for power in 2050.
Victoria
The mega projects changing Victoria [$]
Over the next decade an array of new infrustrcute projects will be complete and how Victorians move around the state will be changed forever.
New South Wales
Anger over decision to build overhead powerlines in Kosciuszko National Park
Conservationists have criticised a federal government decision to build overhead powerlines in the national park as part of the Snowy 2.0 project.
Our oceans are warming, but beachgoers might still feel the chill
A phenomenon you’ve seen in the film Finding Nemo is partly to blame – but there’s more to the story.
“Unknown, uncertain, uncosted:” Snowy gets grilling on Kurri Kurri green hydrogen
Senate Estimates hears “hydrogen ready” gas plant will start out using fossil gas only and require retrofits of new equipment to get to 30% green hydrogen.
ACT
Canberra Environment Centre push back against eviction from the ANU
Almost 750 people have signed a petition since it was launched on Friday to keep the Canberra Environment Centre on the Australian National University campus.
Queensland
The expansion hinges on the results of a three-month period of community consultation between December this year and February 2023, and industry feedback.
Logging company admits unlawfully felling trees in Queensland world heritage area
A company guilty of logging in protected rainforest without approval argues it was asked to do the work by traditional owners wanting to live on country.
Why the clownfish’s bright colours may help it avoid a ‘death sentence’
Life in a coral reef can be dangerous for anemonefish if they fall out with the species’ strict social hierarchy. Their orange and white colours may be critical to fitting in.
Perfect one day, crowded the next: 1000 people a week move to Queensland
More than 270,000 people moved to Queensland in the five years before the 2021 Census and the echoes are still rumbling through the economy.
Favourite Aussie car brands are stragglers in the race to zero-emissions
Australia’s biggest car brands have been ranked on their efforts to reduce emissions and the news is not positive for many of the country’s top sellers.
Greens’ radical proposal for energy retail [$]
Queensland Greens will unveil a proposal to tear up the licences of energy retailers in a major overhaul to the supply of electricity as power bills surge.
It’s not quite ‘Alexa, water my crops’, but automation is helping turn a salty problem sweet
These cane growers hope automated irrigation can slow decades of rising groundwater and prevent runoff from flowing onto the Great Barrier Reef.
South Australia
Snapper fishing ban likely to stay beyond summer
The ban on catching snapper is almost certain to remain – potentially for years – with a new scientific report revealing the perilous state of the prized table fish.
‘Parklands Putin’: Rex Patrick calls out Premier over school expansion [$]
The Lord mayoral candidate has railed against Adelaide Botanic High’s expansion on to the parklands – despite once complaining he couldn’t enrol his daughter there.
Bob Brown ‘moved on’ from logging protest
Former senator and Greens co-founder Bob Brown has been moved on by police while staging a protest against logging in Tasmania.
TWS lobbies LegCo on World Heritage committments
The Wilderness Society has written to the Legislative Council, the Upper House of the Tasmanian Parliament, urging its members to ensure that the promises made by the State Government to the international community and World Heritage Committee are kept.
TLC creates new reserve at Sloping Main
Conservation organisation the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC) today announced its newest nature reserve, at Sloping Main.
Brown: ‘Trees cut from under swift parrots’
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
Bob Brown Foundation President, Bob Brown, camped out last night in a squalid logging coupe in Tasmania’s north east highlands, with defenders of vital swift parrot habitat.
How much land will be needed? [$]
Examiner editorial
Australia’s quest to reduce emissions looks as though it is going to “devour” vast expanses of land.
Northern Territory
Push to double NT mining to plug looming $52m economic hole [$]
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro says the NT’s future hinges on mining and she has promised to double the resource sector across the Top End. Here’s what else the CLP boss wants to do.
Central Australian species left ‘out of sight’ in federal plan to stop extinctions, advocates say
The Threatened Species Action Plan neglects almost all of central Australia, advocates say, and could spell disaster for the Lake Eyre Basin and its endangered wildlife.
Sue Jackson and Matthew Currell
A water war is brewing in the Northern Territory – and the battle centres around a line on a map.
Western Australia
Zebra finch builds nest in ‘outrageous’ place
A zebra finch has found a rather unique hollow for its eggs in outback WA — and one expert says it could become more common, as humans continue to destroy habitat.
The state government has revealed how it will manage tourism and conservation at the Abrolhos Islands, but not everyone is happy.
Sustainability
They made a material that doesn’t exist on Earth. That’s only the start of the story
If synthetic tetrataenite works in industrial applications, it could make green energy technologies significantly cheaper. It could also roil the market in rare earths.
Europeans are burning trees to keep warm
Sky-high energy prices have people turning to wood to provide a cheaper alternative—and EU laws are helping incentivize this.
France electricity prices surge past €1,000/MWh as more nuclear reactors close for winter
France announces another four reactors are broken and won’t be operating over winter, sending power prices soaring and increasing fears of blackouts.
Ceramics that breathe oxygen at lower temperatures help us breathe cleaner air
With the shift to electric cars a cumbersome process, improvements to exhaust gas purification in petrol or diesel cars are crucial in the fight to reduce emissions.
Bees are under stress- and we rely on them for our food – podcast
Museum collections of bees show that they are increasingly stressed by climate changes, according to a new study published by scientists from Imperial College London and the Natural History Museum. Researchers took photos of thousands of bumblebees to study the evolution of their shape during the 20th century.
Paul Oliver and Deborah Bower
A chocolate treefrog that looks like a Freddo. Burrowing frogs which live in trees. Long-nosed frogs named after Pinocchio. Frogs which go straight from egg to froglet without stopping at tadpole. And large treefrogs which can glide from tree to tree.
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