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Date: 22 March 2023 at 8:26:45 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Mar 22
Post of the Day
New IPCC report shows Labor’s approach is deadly and reckless
Ketan Joshi
The Labor party has manufactured a widespread delusion that climate action can be left to later. What will it take to break through the fog of denial?
On This Day
Ecological Observance
National Tree Day – Sint Maarten
Climate Change
What price clean air? This benefit alone will cover cost of 1.5°C climate action
IPCC report provides “unequivocal statement” that the economic benefits of limiting global warming to below 2°C outweigh the costs.
The state of the climate in 2023
In the last few years, the world has experienced extreme weather, record temperatures and rapid ice melt. Where are we on key climate indicators?
The IPCC’s climate report has drawn the battle lines for Cop28: oil profits or a livable future
Simon Lewis
A pact to phase out fossil fuels in November’s UN climate talks is the only credible response to the warnings of scientists
The climate doomsday clock is ticking
Canberra Times editorial
Tuesday’s IPCC report on global heating can be summed up in two words: “act now”.
Peter Boyer
Monitoring the world’s biggest sheet of ice is mostly a humdrum affair for Jan Lieser. Every day since 2006 the University of Tasmania glaciologist has been checking satellite images of the East Antarctic coast that are almost always pretty much the same as the day before.
National
UN says Australia must quit coal by 2030, reach net zero by 2040, no new coal or gas
In case they missed the message from the IPCC, UN chief delivers the cold hard facts on climate and fossil fuels. Will Australia respond?
Researchers urge mandatory scheme to ensure solar panels are recycled
New study calls for comprehensive “product stewardship scheme” for solar panels, that puts whole-of-life responsibility on shoulders of the producer.
Australia’s oldest gas power company urges customers to go electric
AGL Energy has launched a website to simplify the process of quitting gas and accessing the benefits of a more electric and energy efficient home.
Independents want coal and gas projects buried in net zero clause rather than Safeguard bans
Independents suggest new gas projects should meet net zero standard for the life of project, in compromise deal on Safeguards Mechanism.
Boom cycle means 82 pct renewables target is doable, says regulator
Clean Energy Regulator says 82 per cent renewables target is within reach, but new installations need to ramp up.
Unsanitised e-waste ‘a significant threat’ [$]
The thoughtless disposal of smart phones, laptops and other devices is opening up serious risks of major data theft by criminals and state actors
Safeguard offsets plan useless: Mining magnate
Billionaire Andrew Forrest has spoken out against the federal government’s safeguard mechanism legislation which would allow big polluters to offset their emissions.
Howard: It’s time to act on nuclear energy [$]
John Howard says Australia needs to seize the opportunity of the AUKUS pact to develop a domestic nuclear power industry.
How’s the water? Check the app [$]
The national science agency’s AquaWatch mission will deliver groundbreaking earth-to-space monitoring of water quality
Samoan PM to push Aus on climate, fossil fuels — visit
Australia and Samoa are set to sign a new deal on education and health, as Anthony Albanese welcomes Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa to Canberra.
Call for new rules on batteries imported to Australia as global e-bike fire injury toll nears 100
Safety group documents 57 serious incidents worldwide this year that injured 97 people and killed eight
Australia’s 116 new coal, oil and gas projects equate to 215 new coal power stations
Richard Denniss
Australia has 116 new coal, oil and gas projects in the pipeline. If they all proceed as planned, an extra 1.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases would be released into the atmosphere annually by 2030.
Thara Phillip et al
The number of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia doubled in 2022 and Tesla’s Model 3 emerged as the best-selling mid-size car, the first time an EV has held this title. Despite these headlines, Australia is off to a slow start with electric vehicles. They accounted for only 3.8% of all vehicle sales in 2022, rising to 6.8% of new car sales in February 2023.
Elen Shute et al
A wonky skull. Enlarged ear chambers. Asymetrical ears. It looks like the elusive night parrot has traded off vision for excellent hearing
What Australia could do with $368 billion on the very real climate threat
Daniel Bleakley
Australia is willing to spend $368 billion on submarines to protect national security. What could it do with that money to counter the very real climate threat?
Rachel Withers
It is demoralising watching Labor reject the findings of the global scientific community
The climate change threat to our mental health
Grant Blashki and Craig Hyde Smith
It’s time to address the mental health impacts of climate change to support more people in the face of more extreme weather events
New research reveals how forests reduce their own bushfire risk, if they’re left alone
Philip Zylstra and Grant Wardell-Johnson
We know long-unburnt mountain forests in south-east Australia are far less fire-prone than more recently burnt areas. And forests in south-west Australia have the lowest fire risk when they’ve not been subjected to prescribed burning.
Species don’t live in isolation: what changing threats to 4 marsupials tell us about the future
William Geary
Conserving native wildlife is a challenging task and Australia’s unenviable extinction record shows us we urgently need more sophisticated and effective approaches.
Let’s stop pretending we are going to recycle all this plastic
Nick O’Malley
We like the idea of recycled single-use plastics because it takes away the guilt around how cheap and easy it is. But most cannot be converted into a useful product at a reasonable cost.
New gas is not a sensible solution to Australia’s energy mess
Andrew Stock
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has warned of possible gas shortages in the future, particularly during peak winter periods
Victoria
A protest against a major energy transmission project planned for Central Victoria turned ugly this afternoon when nearly 100 farmers rallied with tractors against the controversial Western Renewables Link (WRL).
New South Wales
Fish kill clean-up finally underway, a week after river fills with millions of dead creatures
The clean-up of millions of stinking, rotting, dead fish is finally underway, almost a week after an unprecedented fish kill affected a far-western New South Wales town.
Conservative think tank’s ‘bizarre’ anti-emissions-reduction campaign labelled ‘scaremongering’
The Institute of Public Affairs is warning regional NSW that net-zero emissions targets will cost tens of thousands of people their jobs, just days out from the state election.
Gen Z voters want action on housing, environment and gambling as NSW election looms
For the first time, the under-40s will make up the majority of voters at the NSW election on Saturday. And they have clear messages about the issues they care about most.
‘Zero-emissions’ bus a fizzer on campaign trail
There were blushes in NSW Labor on Tuesday, when leader Chris Minns’ “zero-emissions” campaign bus ran flat – forcing a return to an old-fashioned gas guzzler.
Raising of Warragamba Dam ‘spun’ in New South Wales election campaign
Chas Keys
An interesting comment was made this month about the New South Wales Coalition’s intention to raise Warragamba Dam in order to store floodwaters and thus mitigate the problem of flooding downstream. The comment as retailed by ABC Online came from the Liberal MP and candidate for the seat of Hawkesbury in the coming state election,
ACT
‘Early days’ for ACT climate adaptation as Australia fails to keep pace
Australia has not kept pace with responding to the impacts of climate change and the widening adaptation gap is getting harder to bridge, a leading expert and vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group says.
Work with other states to improve biosecurity threat detection, ACT govt told [$]
Environment officials in the ACT should work more closely with other jurisdictions to learn how to proactively identify biosecurity risks to the territory, which are expected to increase in a changing climate, the government has been told.
Drop light rail project to ‘end traffic chaos’, Canberra Liberals say
A study of traffic delays on Canberra’s southside should be commissioned to consider the impact of road works associated with light rail works in the city centre, the opposition has said.
Queensland
Coal booming but New Hope plans renewables and repurposing mines
Coal company New Hope said it had the ability to double its production over the next three years and claimed the world was demanding more coal, not less.
South Australia
South Australia swamped with nearly 30 proposals for world leading green hydrogen plan
South Australia’s plan to repeat the success of the Tesla big battery with a world-leading green hydrogen plan receives overwhelming response.
Calls for more nature protection as South Australia powers ahead with renewable energy
Peak environment groups in SA urge the state government to increase natural protections as renewable projects advance.
CFS sounds alarm on climate change, disaster response
The SA Country Fire Service has warned that without a resources boost it will need Australian Defence Force support “much quicker” in future natural disasters, amid concern about the impact of climate change on future disaster planning.
Nuclear waste controversy continues in Federal Court
Michele Madigan
On Monday 6 March, the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC) began action in the Federal Court in Adelaide to overturn the federal Ministerial declaration to selecting Napandee near Kimba as the proposed site for a national nuclear waste facility.
Park lands protection a losing battle, but worth fighting for
Jane Lomax-Smith
In the first of a series of monthly columns for InDaily, Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith explains why she opposes the Malinauskas Government’s “aggressive pro-development agenda in our park lands”.
Tasmania
Dead eels wash up on Tamar riverbank [$]
A collection of dead eels washed up on the banks of the Tamar River are likely to have been killed in the Trevallyn Power Station intake.
Northern Territory
Secret report found Traditional Owners unlikely to benefit from fracking in the Beetaloo Basin
A secret report commissioned by the Morrison government but never released found Traditional Owners from the Beetaloo Basin are unlikely to make economic, social, cultural or other gains from fracking plans for the region.
Western Australia
More charges for anti-Woodside protester
Counter-terrorism police have laid fresh charges against a woman who glued her hand to an art gallery wall to protest an energy giant.
Sustainability
How do we make farming better for the planet? Ask women
A BU-led research team used video games to test farmers’ reactions to conservation dilemmas
Every stage of plastic production and use is harming human health: Report
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, a potential influx of hazardous materials that the Earth and humans can’t handle, according to
a new report from the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health.
U.S. burn pits in Iraq leave a toxic legacy 20 years after the invasion
On American military bases, trash was burned in the open, poisoning the air. In the villages surrounding Iraq’s largest burn pit, sickness has been a constant.
Scientists make big step in developing sustainable glass
Although still in its laboratory testing phase, new biorecyclable glass shows potential for a greener economy.
Rising airline emissions could trigger global caps as early as 2024
Rising airline traffic is expected to trigger global emissions-related requirements for some carriers as early as next year, according to a top airline trade group, even as debate broadens on the effectiveness of that approach.
French parliament votes nuclear plan with large majority
France’s parliament voted in favour of the government’s nuclear investment plan with a large majority on Tuesday, a day after the government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote over its pension reform plan.
States test an electrifying idea: roads that can recharge your electric vehicle
A new technology that would allow electric vehicles to charge while driving on roads could help trucks transition to zero emissions.
Why most plastic can’t be recycled
With only 9% of annual plastic waste recycled, the myth that we can recycle our way out of a mounting plastic pollution crisis doesn’t add up.
‘Ukraine is a false justification’: America’s destructive new rush for natural gas
As the war in Ukraine sent natural gas prices skyrocketing, liquid natural gas (LNG) plants are springing up all along the fragile Gulf Coast – seriously harming not just local communities but the world’s ability to keep the entire climate crisis at bay.
Satellites and space junk are blurring our cosmic vision, researchers say
Night skies are getting lighter and that is affecting astronomy research, cultural traditions and the natural world, a study has found.
Denis Fougerouse
Thirty-seven years ago, on April 26 1986, the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown. In the weeks that followed, the deadly event drove hundreds of thousands of people to relocate from the surrounding area, which is still a deserted “exclusion zone” today.
Nature Conservation
Coffee plantations limit birds’ diets
Habitat disruption and changes in diet threaten bird species’ survival
Inbreeding contributes to decline of endangered killer whales
New genome sequencing shows Southern Residents are highly inbred
Stressed out: Mapping the human footprint on coastal areas globally
A global mapping project has revealed the major stressors placed upon global coastlines by human activity.
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are everywhere: Here’s what that means for wildlife
Researchers have found PFAS in the bodies of wild animals everywhere they’ve looked. Now they’re beginning to understand the health effects.
UK fishing vessels ‘underreporting’ whale, dolphin and porpoise bycatch
Only 19 cases of cetacean bycatch reported under Defra scheme, but experts say figure much higher
World’s biggest single eradication operation aims to remove mice from island
Invasive house mice threaten endangered seabirds and wildlife on Marion Island in Indian Ocean
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