Post of the Day
6 reasons 2023 could be a very good year for climate action
Wesley Morgan
Many people think of the annual UN climate talks as talkfests which achieve only incremental change, at best. Activist Greta Thunberg has described them as “blah blah blah” moments – grossly inadequate and too often hijacked by fossil fuel producers who would like the world to keep buying their main exports.
On This Day
Maghi – Sikhism
Climate Change
Warm 2022 makes the past eight years hottest ever recorded
World Meteorological Organization data shows last year’s average temperature was 1.15C more than pre-industrial levels
Three climate reports: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Some progress was made in 2022, but the forecast still looks bleak.
California’s deadly floods show how climate change can create weather whiplash
California’s floods reveal a likely climate change symptom: Quick shifts between opposing weather conditions.
Climate change & net zero in Tajikistan
If countries like Australia achieve their emissions targets, what about developing countries? Will they have the skills and the finances to reduce their share of emissions?
Climate protests: Tracking growing unrest
As climate impacts get worse and climate politics become more salient and invidious, protests will likely become even more numerous and influential.
Should fossil fuel firms be forced to clean up carbon pollution?
Could fossil fuel companies be forced to remove planet-heating carbon pollution from the atmosphere? Researchers argue in a new paper that would be a cheaper, fairer solution to the climate crisis.
Climate change progress hinges on massive changes in behavior from both public and private sectors
Ashley Ward
While 2022 brought historic legislation to address climate change, the year’s end showed us why such investment is needed.
National
Busted: Why experts say we can’t afford to buy into nuclear myths [$]
Australia is on the brink of a massive opportunity but the country’s stuck with out-dated ideas, experts warn.
Flooding washed $5bn from economy [$]
Floods caused a $5bn hit to the Australian economy last year and were a major contributor to the 16 per cent increase in fruit and vegetable prices.
Labor’s plan ‘won’t work without carbon capture’ [$]
An Australian company leading the world on the decarbonisation of heavy industries says more support is needed in the form of carbon capture and storage.
How a bio-inspired breakthrough could unlock economically viable green hydrogen
Australian technology that mimics the capillary action of trees and plants promises to deliver green hydrogen at the scale needed to replace fossil fuels.
Are Australian bushfires burning hotter? We dug into mud to find out
Emma Rehn
With Black Summer and Black Saturday still fresh in some people’s minds, it’s tempting to think bushfires in Australia have ramped up in intensity in recent times. But is this really the case, and how do we find out?
Climate proposals may not be perfect but still deserve support
Age editorial
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton must stop being a wrecker on climate policy and start supporting constructive change
Carbon tariffs ‘to hit hip pocket’ [$]
Joe Kelly
Introducing carbon tariffs could increase the price of Chinese goods sold in Australia, which make up about 25 per cent of total imports.
Australia: Rights failings tarnish regional credibility
Sophie McNeill and Elaine Pearson
The Australian government must reduce indigenous incarceration and stop subsidising fossil fuels.
Investing in a more ethical future
John McMurdo
John McMurdo, head of investment firm Australian Ethical, explains why 2023 is the perfect time for the for-purpose sector to focus on sustainable investment and create positive environmental impact.
Victoria
Once ‘more or less a ghost town’, Forrest in Victoria’s Otway Ranges went from bust to boom
The story of the dying country town is a familiar one, but what happens when a town turns its luck around and becomes a tourism destination?
Decades-long campaign to stop Footscray stench [$]
The smell was once so bad in Footscray people couldn’t breathe, but a years-long campaign turned the stinky suburb into one of Melbourne’s most vibrant.
Edwin R. Lampugnani et al
While hay fever sufferers are well aware of the pollen in Melbourne’s air, ongoing research is investigating exactly what other particles we might be breathing
New South Wales
Teen charged over bushfires that threatened homes
Police have charged a 16-year-old boy with deliberately lighting fires that led to two bushfires in southern NSW.
Queensland
Summer drenching in outback Queensland creates conditions you could ‘bog a duck in’
The wet season is delivering for parts of western Queensland, and some locals are saying it’s the best start to the year they’ve ever seen.
‘Urban renewal’: Retail future for city’s Cross River Rail stations [$]
The state government has revealed they are looking at introducing dining and shopping opportunities at the new train stations being built for Cross River Rail.
Resources to become more important in driving Qld growth [$]
Jim Chalmers
It’s no secret to any Queenslander that the resources sector has made a big contribution to our economy in recent decades and it can still help power the country by aiding solar, wind and hydrogen.
South Australia
Women glue themselves to bikes in first of series of planned disruptions to Tour Down Under
Two women in their 60s are arrested in Adelaide’s CBD after gluing themselves to a pile of bicycles on a city street in protest against Santos being the major sponsor of the Tour Down Under cycling race.
River Murray peak reaches all SA towns affected by flooding
SA’s Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs says the peak has reached Wellington, near where the river meets Lake Alexandrina.
Adelaide to host global green energy conference
Adelaide will host the International Renewable Energy Conference in April 2024, bringing together thousands of the sector’s global leaders as Australia aims to become a green energy ‘superpower’.
Australia’s only solar manufacturer launches $11m production and innovation facility
Australia’s only solar panel manufacturer launches $11m production and innovation facility in Adelaide, marking new milestone for domestic PV supply chain.
Ross Wilson talks the ‘Eagle Drop’ and green touring ahead of SA shows
Aussie rock legend Ross Wilson is encouraging his fans to be more sustainable and environmentally conscious as he makes his way back to South Australia this year — noting he’s now proud of the cultural phenomenon of the “Eagle Drop”.
Real victims of road-gluing climate nutters aren’t who they think
Caleb Bond
What these brainiacs don’t seem to realise is that Santos’s sponsorship of the TDU is the greatest green ruse of all time.
Northern Territory
Federal senators call for inquiry into land clearing for cotton in Northern Territory
The Northern Territory government has failed to regulate a nascent cotton industry and is “turning a blind eye” to unpermitted land clearing, according to a federal senator who is calling for an urgent inquiry.
With massive Sun Cable solar project in doubt, clouds over Northern Territory economy darken
As a breakdown between billionaire investors threatens one of the Northern Territory’s brightest economic hopes, the NT government insists it and other major projects will still go ahead.
The billionaire game of chicken over a giant solar project
Elizabeth Knight
Australia’s two high-profile environmental warriors have a marriage of ideology, but money and control speak a different language
Sun Cable was a colossus that collapsed under its own weight [$]
Matthew Warren
It wasn’t just the giant egos in the power project. It was economics, engineering and physics too gigantic to stack up.
Western Australia
Western Australia supports the country’s 30 per cent land conservation target by 2030, but it has no target to meet the goal within its own borders, with the head of national parks management admitting it will be difficult.
Uncontrolled bushfire threatens lives in WA
Residents in the path of an uncontrolled bushfire in Western Australia’s southwest have been urged to leave for a safer place as the blaze is a threat to lives and homes.
Iron ore, oil and steel giants line up to develop $70bn of green industrial projects in Pilbara
Big names, big dollars and big green plans are coming to WA’s Pilbara region, with seven projects allocated prize industrial land by the state government.
Sustainability
The smelly, greasy truth about how sustainable aviation fuel is made
Join our reporter as she tags along with a truck driver dumpster-diving for used cooking oil — all in the name of curbing aircraft emissions.
‘Recycling’ plan aims to replace water from Thames with treated sewage
Thames Water has proposed to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from the Thames and replace it with treated effluent from the large Mogden sewage works in west London to help tackle water shortages.
Just one meal of caught fish per year is a significant dose of PFAS
People who eat just one U.S. freshwater fish a year are likely to show a significant increase of a cancer-causing chemical in their bloodstream, new research warns.
The EV revolution brings environmental uncertainty at every turn
As demand for electric vehicles ramps up, environmental stumbling blocks have emerged.
Crude reality: Oil sanctions on Russia are having a big effect
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Last month’s price cap on Russian oil, backed by sanctions for those transporting it, is already choking the revenue stream Russia is reliant on to finance the war in Ukraine.
Touting his environmental ‘success,’ DeSantis is more con man than conservationist
Craig Pittman
When I heard Gov. Ron DeSantis’ second inauguration speech, I couldn’t help but to stand up and applaud. What a great con job!
Nature Conservation
Dolphins ‘shout’ to compensate for human-made background noise
Research adds to concerns about the impact of human noise pollution on marine life
Florida manatee deaths drop but starvation still a concern
Manatee deaths dropped in 2022 from a record high the year before, but Florida wildlife officials said Wednesday that chronic starvation caused by water pollution remains a major concern.
Deforestation ‘out of control’ in reserve in Brazil’s cattle capital
Forest destruction has ravaged Triunfo do Xingu, a reserve earmarked for sustainable use that has nonetheless become one of the most deforested slices of the Brazilian Amazon.
The right and wrong ways to protect endangered species
Stuart Mackintosh
As 2023 starts, can we be hopeful that leaders increasingly understand climate change and the degradation and despoilment of our planet and all its human and non-human inhabitants?
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