Post of the Day
Exposure to air pollution has a significant impact on rates of cancers typically associated with smoking, according to a recent study.
On This Day
Feast of Saint Sarkis – Armenia
Magha Puja – Buddhism
Climate Change
Rich people are boiling the planet
What’s one thing wealthy people of all nationalities have in common? Far higher emissions than the poorer people in their country.
Climate change is overpowering America’s electric grid
The current electric grid was built to withstand a climate that no longer exists.
Net zero is a quest for space cadets [$]
Greg Sheridan
We must stop fooling ourselves; the chances of achieving the earthly paradise of net zero in this lifetime are … zero.
The global climate change suicide pact
Andrew Glikson
There was a time when leaders fell on their sword when they were defeated in battle or lost their core beliefs, nowadays most do not even resign their privileged positions to resist the existential danger posed to advanced life, including human civilisation. It is long past time to declare a global climate and nuclear emergency.
‘Goldilocks gases’: attendees at conservative climate forum encouraged to watch their words [$]
Julia Bergin
Experts in climate denialism are declaring a war on climate related words. What do they want erased from the vernacular?
National
Federal government teases strategy on battery storage and power prices
The federal government will spend the next few weeks talking to energy storage companies before revealing what it will do to help build more big batteries around the country.
Energy relief plan won’t be ‘one size fits all’: PM
Anthony Albanese says relief for energy costs isn’t a “one size fits all” approach, with the country’s treasurers close to finalising the details of the national energy bill relief plan.
Sweet dreams on a sustainable mattress
It is estimated 1.8 million mattresses are discarded in Australia each year, resulting in 22,000 tonnes of landfill. Less than 20 per cent are partially recycled, and the bulk is being dumped.
Eleven Aussie battery start-ups tapped for “hyper-acceleration”
A new initiative aims to drive onshore lithium battery innovation by challenging 11 start-ups to deliver ground-breaking new technologies or ancillary services.
Networks win rights to access “community” battery scheme in controversial call by regulator
Monopoly electricity network companies have won limited rights to own and operate community batteries in one-off waiver to ring fencing rules.
Electric vehicle policy sparks debate over car bans
Widespread support for changes that could lower the price and increase the supply of electric vehicles has been outlined in hundreds of responses to the federal government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy.
$1bn win for coal in bid to cut costs [$]
Anthony Albanese will pay coal generators between $750m and $1bn in rebates under his market intervention which capped the price of coal used for electricity at $125 a tonne.
The treasurer says the choices made this decade around three key areas – renewable energy, industry and technology – could determine the nation’s long-term future.
Europe’s big players should copy Joe Biden’s green deal – not revert to old ways
Lorenzo Marsili
The EU needs an ambitious climate strategy for industry. So why is Giorgia Meloni its chief supporter?
Climate Council names Australia’s worst emitters – podcast
The Climate Council report names 12 fossil fuel corporations as responsible for releasing more than 287 million tonnes of climate-harming pollution since 2016.
A feral invasion is destroying our once-pristine national parks
Laura Chung
“The wilderness is now largely dominated by feral animals. When I was a child you never saw a horse.”
Looming gas shortage the price of monstrous stupidity [$]
Andrew Bolt
When our gas starts to run out in two years it will be no accident, it will be the price of madness. Won’t someone save us from this lunacy?
What the carbon credits review didn’t say [$]
Mike Seccombe
The government’s review of the flawed carbon credits scheme is nuanced, political and confusing.
The month in ESG: Carbon credits scheme review, single use plastic in the bin
Terence Jeyaretnam runs through all the markers in environmental, social, and governance news for the first month of the year.
How solar farms can double as havens for our wildlife
Eric Nordberg
We know about “agrivoltaics”, where land under and around solar panels is used to grow crops and graze livestock. But what about “conservoltaics”?
Victoria
Resurrecting an extinct state icon
A joint project between an Australian university and a US bioscience lab seeks to bring back a marsupial hunted to extinction by European settlers.
Victoria’s new-look SEC could sell power direct to homes and businesses
The Andrews government is considering an expansion of the State Electricity Commission that could allow Victorians to buy their power direct from the government for the first time in more than two decades.
‘Like a dream’: Environment group cheers bulldozers in bid to improve city creek
Workers spent the week breaking up and removing 50 metres of concrete panelling along the sides of the Moonee Ponds Creek in Strathmore, the first step in a decades-old bid to restore the waterway to its original state.
‘Sheer bloody passion’: How a small town turned a dirt hole into a vibrant, picturesque lake
A farming community in Victoria’s Mallee noticed a glaring gap in its social wellbeing when its much-loved lake dried up. So it banded together to build a new one.
The history of EVs is long and weird and this rusty Porsche, parked in Melbourne, sums it up
Converted from petrol in the 1950s, the world’s first electric Porsche is parked in a Melbourne workshop. Here’s how it got here — and the forgotten history of early EVs.
‘I hate Myki’: What Victorians say is wrong with the revered ticketing system? – video
Here’s what Victorians reckon is wrong with Myki, Victoria’s public transport ticketing system.
How Labor turned public energy woes into election gold with SEC plan
Royce Millar and Josh Gordon
Labor’s single most popular policy was a vague commitment to reinvent the SEC, the old publicly-owned power commission. Why was it such a political winner?
New South Wales
Supermarket giants told to clean up three Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of soft plastics
The Environment Protection Authority warns the enormous stockpiles of soft plastics are sitting in warehouses from “floor to the ceiling, blocking entry ways and preventing adequate ventilation”.
PEP-11 project revived after Labor refuses to defend Scott Morrison’s secret ministry action
Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to reject a controversial offshore gas exploration licence off the New South Wales coast is set to be overturned.
Greens pitch free public transport to NSW voters
All forms of public transport should be free, transport services should be put back into public hands and pets should be allowed to catch a ride too, the NSW Greens say.
Teals and other NSW independents seek to kill controversial Pep-11 gas permit
Candidates hoping to hold the balance of power to push for state-level development bans
Lunch with the spokeswoman for the ocean’s oddities
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is untangling the web of marine life in Sydney Harbour and makes a living delving into whale gunk and boiling blubber.
Queensland
Down to the wire: Heatwave threatens energy record as Qld asks for more electricity
If Queensland is lucky and the notoriously fickle generator fleet holds up we should be able to scrape through tonight’s peak of energy use without blackouts or load shedding.
Finally, a business case for ‘forgotten’ Ipswich Motorway upgrade
The final stage of a multibillion-dollar motorway upgrade that has been needed since a boy in Riverview was struck by a truck at a set of traffic lights is coming to fruition.
South Australia
It took months, but river’s mouth has too much to swallow
Imagine one of the greatest floods in recent history with hardly a drop of rain falling from the sky – such is the reality of South Australian cattle farmers Jenni and Darryl Llewellyn.
Dirty water an unpleasant aftertaste of Murray flood
Rotting organic litter and fish washing back into the River Murray channel from floodplains is contributing to higher levels of dirty brown water flowing into thousands of regional households.
The radical plan to build world’s biggest green electrolyser and hydrogen power plant
South Australia defied the critics with the first Tesla big battery, now it plans to do the same with the world’s biggest green hydrogen power plant.
Western Australia
Twiggy Forrest’s FFI reports signing contracts with ‘more than 50’ Esperance landowners
Fortescue Future Industries’ global campaign to become a green hydrogen superpower will continue its push into Esperance where it claims to have signatures from “more than 50” owners willing to lease it land.
Calls for city’s cat laws to be tightened to save native wildlife
A Perth council meeting has unanimously passed a motion calling for laws to prohibit “killing machine” cats roaming outside amid concerns about their impact on wildlife.
Disposable coffee cups banned in WA under new rules
Nine more single-use plastic items will start being phased out in WA from the end of this month including plastic coffee cups and lids, with the extra expense for sustainable substitutes deemed ‘minuscule’.
How politics is hindering the Kimberley flood emergency [$]
Jesse Noakes
As Western Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the state faces the vast task of post-flood rebuilding in a way that prepares for more extreme rainfall events.
What the heck was that radioactive capsule emergency in Western Australia all about?
Cason Ho
It began as the scarcely believable tale of a very tiny and very lost radioactive “Tic Tac” in the Australian desert, and ended up a planet-sized news story.
Sustainability
Lower your risk for dementia by spending time in nature
Older adults who lived in an area with more green space had a lower rate of hospitalization for some diseases and dementias, a large study showed.
Nature Conservation
Meet the living, travelling 2023 Pacific Games mascots, raising awareness for endangered species
Solomon Islands boast the largest turtle nesting grounds in the Pacific, with sea turtles intrinsic to the archipelago’s culture. However, three species are now endangered, two critically so.
An El Niño is forecast for 2023. How much coral will bleach this time?
An El Niño would generate many impacts on both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including the potential for droughts, fires, increased precipitation, coral bleaching, invasions of predatory marine species like crown-of-thorns starfish, disruptions to marine food chains, and kelp forest die-offs.
Hawaii whale dies with fishing nets, plastic bags in stomach
A whale that washed ashore in Hawaii over the weekend likely died in part because it ate large volumes of fishing traps, fishing nets, plastic bags and other marine debris, scientists said Thursday, highlighting the threat to wildlife from the millions of tons of plastic that ends up in oceans every year.
Rio de Janeiro and the new model for biodiverse cities
From Rio de Janeiro to Kanazawa, cities all over the globe are being recognized as biodiversity hot spots—and reimagining conservation in the twenty-first century.
How undersea cables may affect marine life
Submarine cables carry electricity and information across vast oceans and seas, but we’re only beginning to understand their possible impact on delicate marine life.
The threat of ocean acidification
This film explores the alarming effects of ocean acidification, drawing on the expertise of scientists and the first-hand experiences of a Native Alaskan community. The film also looks at what can be done to lessen the problem.
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