Date: 5 February 2023 at 8:23:09 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Feb 5
Post of the Day
Protected areas fail to safeguard more than 75% of global insect species
Insects play crucial roles in almost every ecosystem — they pollinate more than 80% of plants and are a major source of food for thousands of vertebrate species — but insect populations are collapsing around the globe, and they continue to be overlooked by conservation efforts. Protected areas can safeguard threatened species but only if these threatened species actually live within the areas we protect. A new study found that 76% of insect species are not adequately covered by protected areas.
On This Day
Thaipusam – Tamil
Climate Change
Researchers think they have a rock-solid solution to atmospheric carbon pollution
A California startup using rocks to soak up carbon dioxide from the air has teamed up with a Canadian company to mineralise the gas in concrete, a technological tie-up they say could provide a model for fighting climate change.
Study reveals salps play outsize role in damping global warming
Humans continue to amplify global warming by emitting billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. A new VIMS-led study reveals that a distant human relative called a salp plays an outsize role in damping the impacts of this greenhouse gas by pumping large amounts of carbon from the ocean surface to the deep sea, where it contributes nothing to current warming.
Study reveals new clues about how ‘Earth’s thermostat’ controls climate
Rocks, rain and carbon dioxide help control Earth’s climate over thousands of years — like a thermostat — through a process called weathering. A new study led by Penn State scientists may improve our understanding of how this thermostat responds as temperatures change.
Victoria
Power play: Can the Andrews government make the all-new SEC work?
Josh Gordon and Royce Millar
If you believe the government, the publicly owned renewable energy generator will drive down prices and create tens of thousands of jobs. But how?
New South Wales
No more parks, 30km/h streets: three big ideas to make Sydney better
Should our local streets be 30km/h? What if older Sydneysiders rented out their spare rooms to students? And do we really need more parks – or just better ones?
PM won’t be drawn on the future of NSW PEP-11 gas project
On the campaign trail ahead of the NSW election, Anthony Albanese refuses to be drawn on the future of a gas licence after a decision to cancel it by Scott Morrison triggered legal action.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described former PM Scott Morrison’s decision to halt a gas-drilling project off the NSW coast as “dishonest” and “incompetent”.
State Labor backs Albanese on PEP11, despite opposition to project
NSW Labor will stand by federal government legal action that could nullify Scott Morrison’s halting of the controversial PEP11 gas field project, despite its previous opposition.
‘Difficult and expensive’: Councils say laws don’t deter illegal removal of trees
Sydney councils have called for harsher punishments for illegal tree removals, saying paltry fines do little to deter dodgy tree loppers and unscrupulous property developers.
Australian children aren’t walking to school – but there’s a plan to change that
Schoolchildren are more likely to be driven rather than walk or cycle to school, prompting a Sydney council to develop safe routes to encourage parents to let children navigate busy roads.
Metro is the sexy new project, but what the west needs is better buses
Michael Koziol
Ahead of the state election, the government and opposition are throwing everything they can at western Sydney: metro lines, motorways, schools, parks, aquatic centres – promises galore.
ACT
Treated effluent considered as future ACT water source [$]
Canberrans appetite for drinking recycled water will be tested this year as Icon Water explore treated sewage as an option in response to depleting reserves.
‘A lot of fly-by-nighters’: Illegal felling underway in ACT parks and reserves [$]
Chainsaws were recovered alongside drugs, cash and ammunition when police raided two properties in Canberra recently, the stolen tools reportedly used in ACT parks and reserves when illegal logging surged last winter.
I spy with my citizen science eye [$]
Stuart Harris
“Su! I’ve got a jumping spider with a snack,” exclaimed Amie, who was lining up a macro photograph of the creature alongside her relatively new friend at the Australian National Botanic Gardens earlier this year.
Queensland
Monster cane toad to become prize museum exhibit
Giant amphibian “Toadzilla” will join others like “Yuk” and “Bette Davis” at the Queensland Museum — but it may be a few months before the frozen specimen is ready for visitors.
Biggest sign yet that coal trade with China is back on [$]
Beijing’s coal shoulder for Aussie exports could be at an end, with encouraging signs for Queensland’s mineral trade.
‘Our fate rests on efforts like this’: the family restoring precious rainforest to its former glory
The mass clearing of Queensland tropics in the 20th century – and the force of cyclones – won’t deter an attempt to regenerate ancient growth
South Australia
Does a green hydrogen power plant stack up? – Energy Insiders podcast
Sam Crafter dealt with technology skeptics when he led the task force for the Tesla Big Battery. Now he’s doing it again as head of South Australia’s hydrogen office.
What a dump: The SA town desperate to change its reputation [$]
Peter Goers
Sixty per cent of the community voted for a nuclear dump. There are now rivers of gold in this Eyre Peninsula town, but how do you put lipstick on a pig?
Sustainability
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Adani Enterprises to be dropped from Dow Jones sustainability indices |
Market experts believe that putting in additional surveillance mean intra-day trading would require a 100 per cent upfront margin. The exchanges move might curb speculation and short selling in these stocks.
Study links adoption of electric vehicles with less air pollution and improved health
A team of researchers have now begun to document the actual impact of electric vehicle adoption in the first study to use real-world data to link electric cars, air pollution and health.
Climate change may cut US forest inventory by a fifth this century
A study found that under more severe climate warming scenarios, the inventory of trees used for timber in the continental United States could decline by as much as 23% by 2100. The largest inventory losses would occur in two of the leading timber regions in the U.S., which are both in the South.
Almost all of Africa’s maize crop is at risk from devastating fall armyworm pest, study reveals
Almost all of Africa’s maize crop is at risk from the devastating fall armyworm pest (Spodoptera frugiperda) according to new research. Scientists have highlighted how almost the entire African maize crop is grown in areas with climates that support seasonal infestations of the pest.
The spillover effects of rising energy prices following 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
New research finds that, if energy (fossil fuel) prices increased by 20% globally in a month, overall prices would rise by 3.15% (weighted average) and social surplus would lose 6.83% of pre-invasion monthly GDP.
Environment: Life scientists endorse civil disobedience
Peter Sainsbury
Australia’s oceans, Greenland’s Ice Sheet and Antarctica’s sea ice are all feeling the heat. One million species are on the edge of extinction. No wonder life scientists are taking to the streets.
Nature Conservation
Voiceless frog discovered in Tanzania
Researchers discovered a new species of frog in Africa that has an unusual trait: it’s completely silent.
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