Post of the Day
Violet Coco is not alone: the climate activists facing jail
Lee Coaldrake was 18 when she joined protests in Brisbane against South Africa’s rugby tour of Australia in 1971.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Animal Rights Day
National
Leaders strike agreement on energy relief
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has landed a deal with eastern states to provide power bill relief for households and businesses.
What is the energy price relief plan and will it actually reduce power bills?
Treasury modelling suggests average household will be $230 better off after national cabinet backed $1.5bn intervention
Squadron plans nearly a dozen big batteries in push for “firm” renewables
Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy has nearly a dozen big battery project proposals as the market focuses on “firmed” renewable power supplies.
CSIRO says Australia can – and must – build its own silicon and solar cell supply chain
Major new report says domestic production of silicon is the first step to breaking Australia’s dependence on overseas markets and meeting its huge solar power goals.
Two big Australian solar projects get green light after securing $540m in funding
Lightsource bp says it will be the biggest solar developer in Australia after securing funding for two new large solar farms.
Planes, trains and automobiles: comparing cost, speed and emissions of Sydney-Melbourne travel
With fuel prices at record highs and carbon emissions more important than ever, we look at the costs and benefits of various modes of transport
Violet Coco is not alone: the climate activists facing jail
Lee Coaldrake was 18 when she joined protests in Brisbane against South Africa’s rugby tour of Australia in 1971.
Hurdle preventing Australia from ‘worldwide feat’ on renewable energy
Australia’s east-coast grid could be producing bursts of 100 per cent renewable energy in less than three years, but our electricity grid is not up to the job.
How to secure an electric vehicle for Xmas
Australia’s supply of electric vehicles appears to be turning a corner, with a handful of companies able to offer the new technology to buyers within weeks and second-hand stocks starting to fill out stores.
Adults are back in the room, with policy that paves the way for cheaper electricity
Tim Buckley
Storage mechanism paves way for grid decarbonisation at the speed and scale required as we leave behind our unreliable, ultra-expensive thermal power fleet.
Coalkeeper killed off as Labor states embrace Matt Kean’s auction and underwriting plan
Giles Parkinson
Energy ministers have dumped one bad Coalition idea and embraced a good one from another Coalition government. Here’s how the Capacity Investment Scheme will work.
Throwing money around won’t move the energy price mountain
Age editorial
Price caps provide relief at the margins, but a much larger retooling of our energy system is required to tame power bills.
Will price caps on coal and gas bring power prices down? An expert isn’t so sure
Bruce Mountain
In a bid to arrest escalating power prices, Australia’s federal, state and territory governments have agreed to impose caps on the wholesale price of coal and gas.
Jonathan Green
Giving any credence to the Opposition’s complaints over energy policy would require a very short memory
Are we really OK being a nation that jails people over a mild inconvenience?
Ebony Bennett
The anti-protest laws that have swept the country are a threat to us all, even if you’ve never attended a protest in your life. Governments are writing and passing laws that authorise companies to legally cause harm to our community and environment, while jailing individuals seeking to stop such harm through non-violent protest.
On potential energy solutions, too many deny the facts [$]
Chris Kenny
On potential energy solutions, too many deny the facts on nuclear.
Victoria
3,000 tonnes of soft plastics discovered in Melbourne warehouses as EPA probes REDcycle
Victoria’s environmental watchdog says it’s working to mitigate fire risks after discovering 3,000 tonnes of soft plastics in half a dozen warehouses, weeks after the national REDcycle recycling program was halted.
Centuries-old St Kilda red gum at the centre of a native title claim
Thousands of commuters pass it every day, but few know of the significance of the gnarled red gum towering above a small sanctuary of native bush, grasses and wetlands behind St Kilda’s Junction Oval.
Phillip Island: A story of regeneration
Only 7km south of Norfolk Island lies Phillip Island, a place formerly ravaged by invasive species. Now wildlife are returning and scientists are studying what’s there.
Victorian Libs leadership conundrum — it’s the climate, stupid!
Jono La Nauze
After the defeat at the 2022 State Election, the Victorian Liberal Party now has a chance to better its reputation by learning from Labor’s climate policy.
Captive breeding to prevent extinction
Mikaeylah Davidson
New research into the embryo health of captive bred Southern Corroboree frogs may help their survival and guide conservation efforts
New South Wales
NSW government declares gas pipeline project ‘critical state significant infrastructure’
A pipeline to connect gas projects in NSW has been declared critical state significant infrastructure, which opponents fear will fast-track approval and limit debate.
As Australia winds down for Christmas and the floods leave the nightly news bulletins, great swathes of land remain underwater
Arshak Makichyan
I know what it is like to live in a country where there is no way to voice opposition
The sentencing of climate activist Violet CoCo [$]
Royce Kurmelovs
The new anti-protest law that handed a climate change activist a 15-month prison term is an international embarrassment, human rights watchers say.
ACT
ACT pushes to make healthy environment a human right [$]
The ACT is pushing forward with a plan to become Australia’s first jurisdiction to make a healthy environment a human right.
Queensland
A grand vision to irrigate the outback is dumped after 80 years. What’s the plan now?
A decades-long vision to drought-proof arid western Queensland has been abandoned by the state government after an expert review declared it completely unviable
Weather warning as power prices triple in one year [$]
Extreme weather is set to challenge Queensland’s state-owned energy companies into the future the auditor-general has warned, as wholesale electricity prices nearly tripled in one year.
Line in the sand: ‘Mass destruction in the name of green energy’ [$]
An Indigenous community is split over a mine plan some say they knew nothing about.
Trapped into reporting on a bunch of stunts [$]
Des Houghton
A recent climate protest at Parliament House was a serious breach of security; you would be shot dead for that in many countries. It’s time we starved them of the “oxygen of publicity”.
South Australia
SA braces for catastrophic bushfire risk
South Australian emergency services are on high alert with catastrophic bushfire conditions forecast for two districts on Saturday.
How a proposed cycling overpass exposed a thorny green divide
Conservationists and cyclists would seem like good bedfellows, but a proposed bicycle overpass which will encroach upon a Forestville reserve pitted the two against each other in a clash of corflutes and Facebook posts.
Electricity safety campaign sparks behaviour change
Research has confirmed the effectiveness of an electricity-related safety campaign running across South Australia.
River Murray daily flow data thrown into question [$]
Daily data for water flow of the River Murray could be inaccurate as it is revealed floodwaters bypass monitoring equipment in SA.
Premier squibs the nuclear debate we need to have
Matthew Abraham
The Premier’s latest nuclear foray had a half-life of 24 hours, but he doesn’t need to look far for the culprits who keep killing the debate.
Labor’s nuclear reactionaries teach Mali a lesson on common sense [$]
David Penberthy
The same old Sydney-centric response to the SA Premier was more indicative of Labor’s past than its potential future.
Tasmania
‘Just the beginning’: Blue Tier group to continue logging fight after legal setback
A group worried about the environmental and economic impact of native forest logging on the Blue Tier mountain bike trails loses a legal challenge but says the fight is not over.
Premier urges cable car proponents to soldier on, in face of planning roadblock
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff says he would be “pleased” to receive an updated kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car proposal after the company behind the project hit a major snag in the state’s planning tribunal.
Tasmania to monitor new fed environment watchdog
The state government will monitor federal plans to establish an Environmental Protection Agency to ensure it doesn’t damage Tasmania’s economy or hit job prospects in the timber, mining and salmon industry, Treasurer Michael Ferguson said on Thursday.
Northern Territory
New fishing permit system to be introduced 14 years after High Court’s Blue Mud Bay decision
The Northern Land Council will allow recreational fishers to continue to access remote Aboriginal waters under a new permit system set to take effect from next month, however some popular fishing areas will remain off limits for now.
Western Australia
Parts of Australia are forecast to reach temperatures as high as 48 degrees Celsius this weekend, as large parts of the north bake under some of the hottest temperatures in the world.
Europe’s largest port eyes WA green hydrogen as source of renewable power
The WA government will take part in an international study to determine how to fast-track hydrogen exports from Oakajee, north of Geraldton, to the Netherlands and Germany.
With this WA fracking company in liquidation, who foots the clean-up bill?
New Standard Energy had high hopes of extracting gas in the Kimberley. Now with only $17,000 in the bank, the company has left one of its sites in disarray and three others are yet to be rehabilitated.
Rinehart muscles out Stokes in battle for Perth Basin gas
There have been twists and turns worthy of a night at the WWE as two of Australia’s richest people wrestle for control of a minor player with a big interest in Perth Basin gas.
‘Suspicious’ timber mill blaze prompts asbestos warning [$]
Police are treating a fire which ripped through an asbestos-riddled timber mill in the South West on Friday morning as suspicious.
Sustainability
This massive robot is designed to harvest EV metals from the ocean. But can it be done sustainably?
Impossible Metals has a more sustainable way to harvest nickel and cobalt, but experts worry it could still disrupt vital ecosystems.
Japanese companies turn discarded food into new products, cutting waste
Some Japanese companies are using discarded foodstuffs to make entirely different products — and help save a bit of the planet in the process.
How to buy clothes without ruining the planet
For an Earth-friendly closet, how you shop — finding ways to reduce unnecessary purchases of new items, thinking about how you might wear what you buy and looking for clothes that will last — matters.
What will be the climate impact of a new coal mine in the UK?
The UK government says a proposed new coal mine in Cumbria will have a “broadly neutral” effect on greenhouse gas emissions, but its climate change advisers disagree.
The US is a rogue state leading the world towards ecological collapse
George Monbiot
It’s not just indifference. It’s an active, and deadly, cavalier attitude towards the lives of others: an example other nations follow
The worst of Europe’s energy crisis isn’t over
Javier Blas
Energy markets are so tight that only a few degrees Celsius, or a few windless days, are what separate Europe facing blackouts from having enough power to make it through the winter.
Nature Conservation
Carnegie Museum research shows climate change threatens wildflowers
Climate-related warming means the seasons change earlier, leading trees to put out their leaves sooner and leaving wildflowers with a shorter window of time in the sunlight.
Puffin nesting sites in western Europe could be lost by end of century
The majority of puffin nesting sites in western Europe are likely to be lost by the end of the century due to climate breakdown, a report has warned.
Marine life hit by ‘perfect storm’ as red list reveals species close to extinction
Unsustainable human activity putting dugongs, abalone shellfish and pillar coral at risk of disappearing, says latest IUCN update
The five ways we’re killing nature and why it has to stop – video explainer
Fighting the climate emergency is only one side of the story. Science tells us we must tackle the biodiversity crisis at the same time as addressing global heating to save the planet from further catastrophe.
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