Daily Links Dec 22

I’ve always been fuelled by the belief that when enough people know that we need to change, we will. And it’s not just a numbers game, we need enough people of influence to know and wrt to the climate debate, this means enough people in the developed world. With record heat waves in Europe, people are starting to get it. Add to this the vulnerability to energy shock from a bellicose Russia and fossil fuels don’t look so smart. Though the indicators point in the right direction, we must still despair for the environmental damage that will occur before enough change makes a difference. 

Post of the Day

The climate changed fast this year, and institutions responded

Bill McKibben

2022 saw record heat and floods around the globe, but also, at last, major legislation in this country.

 

On This Day

December 22

Pancha Ganapati – Hinduism

 

Climate Change

Catching up to climate change by tracking big-picture patterns

A new model suggests that the rate at which ecosystems respond to climate change is a critical and overlooked component to reduce uncertainty about future projections.

 

UK woodlands could store almost twice as much carbon as previously estimated

UK forests could store almost double the amount of carbon than previous calculations suggest, with consequences for our understanding of carbon stocks and humanity’s response to climate change, according to a new study.

 

UAE to deport Egyptian-American activist who called for Cop27 protests

Arrest of Sherif Osman while visiting family in Dubai raises fears for activists at Cop28 climate conference

 

Climate activists got disruptive in 2022. They don’t expect you to like it

You’re not supposed to approve when people throw soup on a van Gogh.

 

Our favorite 2022 climate coverage. (Some of it’s even good news!)

Huge legislation. Secret Amazon airstrips. Political shenanigans. Also a trash guessing game. Reporters and editors from The Times’s Climate Desk share pieces they particularly liked.

 

The great carbon con is coming to an end

No more fluffy climate goals and emissions offsets. Businesses will soon be expected to show real progress.

 

Oil companies had a problem with ExxonMobil’s industry-wide carbon capture proposal: Exxon’s bad reputation

Newly disclosed documents confirm that the oil company’s reputational woes have extended into the industry itself and threatened to derail Exxon’s biggest climate proposal to date.

 

5 ways climate change made life more expensive in 2022

From grocery bills to insurance premiums, warming temperatures hit Americans’ wallets hard this year.

 

National

$1m milestone for interest-free climate action loan program

A non-profit funder is providing interest-free loans to community sector organisations for emission reduction initiatives.

 

Effecting change in the climate crisis

What does the Sunrise Project’s  Climate Compass research tell us about how individuals are willing to act on climate change mitigation measures?  

 

Anthony Albanese labels NSW energy deal ‘one of the biggest announcements’ he’ll make in office

Deal to connect Snowy 2.0 and renewable zones was struck in return for support for coal price cap

 

Plibersek presses go on no-go green zones

The federal government is forging ahead with a “traffic light” planning assessment system that will ban development in areas of high environmental value.

 

Industry ‘exposed’ by coal price cap [$]

The $125 per tonne cap on coal prices pushed through the NSW parliament on Wednesday will leave industry exposed, the Australian Workers Union has warned.

 

Gas reservation? Threats by the fossil fuel cartel may force government’s hand

Bruce Robertson

The Albanese government’s gas caps are not enough, which means gas reservation for the East Coast of Australia is likely as both industry and electricity consumers are held to ransom by gas cartel threats to withhold supply.


The new year will be all about grid firming as Australia rejoins race to renewables

Tim Buckley

We leave 2022 with a new policy clarity and momentum in the shift to renewables. The vital role of energy firming – including from batteries on wheels – is the next frontier.

 

Stop logging native forests

Letters

Readers take issue with the continued destruction of native forests.

 

Every Australian will be touched by climate change. So let’s start a national conversation about how we’ll cope

Robert Glasser et al

In an address to the National Press Club this month, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil expressed deep concern about the national security implications of climate change.

 

Global coal use in 2022 is reaching an all-time high, but Australia is bucking the trend

Andrew Blakers and Anna Nadolny

In a year marked by record-smashing floods, fires, heatwaves and droughts, the urgent need to act on climate change has never been more apparent. And yet, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found coal burning for electricity generation will reach record levels this year.

 

Victoria

Logging agency VicForests blames legal woes for record financial loss

State-owned logging agency VicForests has recorded an unprecedented $52.4 million financial loss this year, which it blamed on the costs of multiple court cases brought against it by community environment groups.

 

New South Wales

Emergency laws to cap coal prices rushed through NSW parliament

Legislation to curb soaring electricity prices has been passed in an extraordinary sitting of state parliament.

 

Tolls on Sydney’s M7 motorway to be extended for three years to 2051

Motorists will pay tolls on the M7 motorway in western Sydney for an extra three years as part of a deal with Transurban to widen the highway, build a new interchange and connect an arterial route near the city’s new airport.

 

Minns goes back to the future on NSW energy policy [$]

SMH editorial

The opposition leader is looking at new approaches to the energy sector but he needs to flesh out his policies for voters before the state election.

 

ACT

Public transport users see red amid bus cuts [$]

Public transport users in Canberra are raising concerns about reliability of services amid cuts to bus timetables.

 

South Australia

At least 700 sacred cultural sites in ‘direct pathway’ of flood as peak approaches in South Australia

First Nations rangers are on the lookout for damage to important cultural heritage sites including burial grounds, scar trees and rock shelters, many of which have already been inundated by flooding.

 

Elders’ requests for better protection were ignored. Now 30,000-year-old rock art has been vandalised

The rock art in Koonalda Cave, which is one of the earliest sites of occupation along the Nullarbor Plain, was purposely vandalised.


Small but nimble solar and battery projects continue roll out in South Australia

The latest in a series of solar projects with 5MW of PV and two-hours of battery storage has been commissioned in Murray Bridge in South Australia.


Tasmania

Shocking: Employees detail “toxic” culture of Launceston Reception Prison [$]

Prison officers have detailed the “toxic” environment of the Launceston Reception Prison and described how a lack of internal investigations, staff shortages and dysfunctional mental health services had impacted prison staff.

 

Western Australia

‘It just absolutely destroyed everything’: Warning issued over lithium-ion batteries

Jeff never thought his e-bike battery could pose any kind of threat, until the day he left it charging in the garage and woke to find his home in ruins. 

 

Native title brawl triggers $50bn legal threat [$]

A renegade group of traditional owners from Western Australia is threatening a $50bn class action over a landmark native title settlement struck on their behalf.

 

Sustainability

Researchers just figured out how to filter indestructible “forever chemical” pollutants

A new study in the scientific publication Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters reveals a possible way to break down PFAS in water by using hydrogen and ultraviolet light.

 

Plastic pellet pollution can end through coordinated efforts, report shows

Tiny plastic pellets called nurdles are a major source of global pollution, littering waterways, harming ecosystems and threatening marine life.

 

Adjusting the intensity of farming can help address climate change

Derek Lynch

We have little chance of tackling climate change and reducing biodiversity loss without a redesign of the world’s largest industry: agriculture and food.

 

Shipping’s oil era is coming to an end

David Fickling

The 50,000 ships plowing the high seas consume more than five million barrels of crude every day, not much less than all the aircraft in the sky. One-twentieth of all oil ends up burned in a ship engine. Those days may soon be ending.

 

Nature Conservation

Endangered pink iguana hatchlings found on Galapagos Islands

Endemic to the slopes of Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, the iguana is considered critically endangered and just several hundred of the animals are estimated to be left.

 

Using deep learning to monitor India’s disappearing forest cover

Using satellite monitoring data, researchers have developed a deep learning algorithm that could provide real-time monthly land use and land cover maps for parts of India.

 

‘Degraded’ tropical forests surprisingly rich in wildlife, study finds

Though much thinner than old-growth woodlands, logged tropical forests in Borneo are more abundant in plant and animal life, according to a new study that argues against converting such “degraded” forests to oil palm plantations.

 

Biodiversity: one way to help countries stick to their commitments to restore nature

Niak Sian Koh and Claudia Ituarte-Lima

When a hydropower dam in Argentina threatened to wipe out the hooded grebe, a bird found nowhere else on Earth, a local fishing community turned to the law for help.

 

5 options for restoring global biodiversity after the UN agreement

Henrik Svedäng

Not everyone is happy with the settlement, or convinced enough has been promised to avert mass extinctions. Thankfully, research has revealed a lot about the best ways to revive and strengthen biodiversity – the variety of life forms, from microbes to whales, found on Earth.

 



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