Date: 21 February 2023 at 8:47:26 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Feb 20
Post of the Day
Australian states among world’s most at risk from climate change, extreme weather
New report ranking the climate risk of every state, province and territory in the world puts parts of Australia in the top 10 per cent.
On This Day
Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) – Christianity
Tibetan New Year – Buddhism
Climate Change
For developing world to quit coal, rich countries must eliminate oil and gas faster
New research inverts past climate summit narratives and has important consequences for the phase-out of oil and gas production.
Rationing: A fairer way to fight climate change?
World War II-style rationing could be an effective way to reduce carbon emissions, according to new research.
Ecologists find unexpected feedback loops could complicate fighting climate change
It’s hard to escape the reality that the world is not doing well in responding to climate change.
Emission cuts will fail to stop climate change. What to do then? [$]
Tunku Varadarajan
Nathan Myhrvold outlines possibilities for ‘geoengineering’ to cool the Earth and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. He says ‘opponents worry that once you have geoengineering, people won’t make sacrifices to cut emissions’.
National
Ministers consider engineered stone import ban as unions warn of ‘epidemic’ to ‘dwarf’ asbestos
A new campaign is calling on the federal government to immediately ban engineered stone imports and manufacturing, with the CFMEU promising a ban on its members working with the product if the government does not step in.
Meet the pest-busting anglers hooking into aggressive, invasive species
There’s an exciting fishing movement catching on in Australia with pest-busting anglers deliberately targeting introduced species such as Mozambique tilapia and European carp.
Net-zero pathway for big polluters unveiled
Australia’s highest emitting resources industries could transition to net zero and create more than one million jobs if coordinated action to lay the necessary foundations is taken now, a report has found.
Businesses get access to $62m pool for energy upgrades
Federal grants of between $10,000 and $25,000 will be made available to small and medium-sized businesses to improve energy efficiency and cut power costs.
Billion-dollar rail deal to take trucks off the road
One of Australia’s largest transport companies plans to take more trucks off roads as part of a $1.8 billion deal to move more goods by rail.
Successive La Niñas have eased demand but with many renewable and storage projects now delayed, the energy market operator has revised its projections
Heavy industry needs 250GW new wind and solar to go green and hit 1.5°C target
Report setting path to rapid industrial decarbonisation says road must be paved with massive amounts of new big wind, solar and storage.
Snowy delays add supply tensions to grid, but new big batteries ease short term worries
AEMO says big batteries have eased short term supply issues, but more capacity urgently needed and Snowy projects delays loom over grid.
After the floods, we need to get ready for fire
John Hanscombe
Sky News meteorologist Rob Sharpe reckons El Nino has a 65 per cent chance of occurring next year. If it does, it won’t be floods upending lives. It will be fire.
Banning gas would drive emissions explosion [$]
Joel Riddle
With the Greens now demanding an immediate end to all gas projects, any semblance of a workable safeguard mechanism in this country has been hijacked by extremists.
Blue steel to green: No easy path for carbon cuts [$]
Eric Johnston
BlueScope’s journey has more urgency given it ranks as one of the top polluters and is likely to be caught out in Chris Bowen’s new emissions crackdown.
Labor’s Safeguard policy is a mirror image of fossil industry greenwashing
Ketan Joshi
Every trick that features in the climate plans of the planet’s worst emitters features in the Safeguard Mechanism.
From the dingo to the Tasmanian devil – why we should be rewilding carnivores
Euan Ritchie
No matter where you live, apex predators and large carnivores inspire awe as well as instil fear.
Victoria
‘Corners have been cut’: The danger lurking beneath our cities
Billions of dollars have been spent tunnelling beneath our largest cities exposing workers to silica dust, which can cause a deadly disease.
Flicking the switch: Power line plan to connect Victoria, NSW
Victoria is ramping up plans to build hundreds of kilometres of new power transmission lines as part of a push to share more electricity with NSW and increase renewable energy.
Vic government ‘not doing a thing’ as more timber job losses loom
More than 1000 timber workers face the axe as VicForests makes a last-ditch appeal against the legal lockup of Victoria’s native forests.
Victoria moves to fast-track controversial VNI West transmission link
Victoria government orders start to early works on transmission upgrade, including stakeholder and community engagement, engineering design, and cost estimation.
New South Wales
The ‘incredible’ comeback of native wildlife on Lord Howe Island
Four years ago, there were only 250 Lord Howe Island woodhens left. Now there are more than 1,100 thanks to a rodent control program. It’s being hailed as a symbol of what can be achieved for threatened species “if you get the settings right”.
Recycled milk cartons to provide houses with good bones
A new recycling facility in Sydney is aiming to turn up to 4000 tonnes of beverage cartons each year into boards for walls and floors.
It’s been a creeping problem along the coastline of south-eastern Australia for decades. But scientists, traditional owners and commercial fishers are joining forces in a trial project to help save Australia’s Great Southern Reef.
Snowy 2.0: The making of one of Australia’s most spectacular infrastructure debacles
Ted Woodley
On the sixth anniversary of its announcement, we look at six unenviable records the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project has set.
ACT
End zone own goal, planners and builders urge ACT govt
A coalition of housing advocates, community organisations and urban planners has called on the ACT government to ditch rules that limit suburbs to detached housing and instead allow more townhouses and terraces in Canberra.
Queensland
Why the Gold Coast’s ever-decreasing sand supply poses a planning headache
The Gold Coast has a surprising problem – a limited supply of sand. Ongoing beach erosion and climate change are expected to create even greater challenges for the city.
State govt gas well approvals slammed by activists
Activists warn that the approval of new gas wells near a contaminated site risks permanent pollution of groundwater and farming land in the state’s west.
Leaked note exposes mining giant’s push to change law for controversial carbon project
Major coal miner Glencore has been lobbying for legislation to be changed to prevent legal challenges to a controversial carbon capture and storage project in the Great Artesian Basin.
South Australia
Carp Frenzy to lure tourists back to Riverland
The organisers of the annual fishing competition hope the event can help struggling tourism operators regain some summer trade after the flooding while also raising awareness about invasive European Carp in the Murray Darling Basin.
Huge concern over energy transition plans, business says [$]
There is enormous concern among South Australian businesses that state and federal plans for the all-important energy transition are not up to scratch, Business SA says.
Tasmania
The use of a “restrictive covenant” — which excludes use of the land for public housing at a new Tasmanian real estate development — has been condemned by housing advocates and the state’s discrimination commissioner, who admits there is little which can be done.
Northern Territory
Buffalo holder in the heart of the Territory
A Northern Territory adaptation has recorded promising results for buffalo handlers in remote regions.
Sustainability
Plant power promises to shrink solar panel size, grow output, in new research
Research investigates the potential to mix the light-emitting abilities of plants with a plasmonic current to spark more efficient solar electricity generation.
Dumping radioactive water in Hudson River is ‘best option,’ per Indian Point nuclear facility owner
Holtec International, the company decommissioning the Indian Point Energy Center, plans to discharge about 1 million gallons of radioactive water in the Hudson River as early as August.
Ride-share companies are losing billions, so why their interest in unprofitable public transport?
Neil G Sipe
Why do Uber, Lyft, Didi, OLA and other ride-sharing companies want to partner with public transport agencies? For Uber and Lyft, the reason is simple: their business plans were based on eventually using driverless vehicles to eliminate their main cost, the labour cost of the driver. But human drivers won’t be replaced for some time.
Grant Douglas
There are around 440 nuclear power plants operating in 32 countries around the world, supplying some 10% of the world’s electricity. Another 60 reactors are under construction, and 300 more are proposed.
‘Brazen cronyism’: All eyes on Modi following explosive Adani allegations [$]
Emma Elsworthy
A handful of carefully worded sentences in an explosive report slamming Adani have sparked a firestorm for the Modi government.
Nature Conservation
Tracking microplastic ‘fingerprints’ in Monterey Bay
We don’t often think of plastics as having “fingerprints.” But they do. And, as we continue to find microparticles in unexpected places — from local anchovy and seabird guts to the deepest trenches of the ocean — identifying those fingerprints is increasingly important.
Essential insects in East Asia have declined massively, study finds
Insects that play a key role in East Asia’s ecosystems declined sharply over the past two decades, according to new research — a trend also seen elsewhere.
Why Western states are fighting to divvy up the Colorado River
Record droughts have left the Colorado River in dire straits, and Western states are pushing California to cut its usage sooner.
Why is the Amazon so important for climate change?
Here’s why the Amazon rain forest is key to protecting Earth from the detrimental effects of climate change.
The recipe for restoring damaged lands is missing one key ingredient: seeds
A new report highlights recovery solutions to fires, droughts and other climate catastrophes.
Would a nature repair market really work? Evidence suggests it’s highly unlikely
Yung En Chee
Why should governments do all of the heavy lifting to arrest the steep decline of many ecosystems? Endangered species live on private land too – so why not give farmers and landholders incentives to look after them and restore habitat?
—
return email, delete it from your system and destroy any copies.