|
|
Date: 16 April 2023 at 8:09:18 am AEST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Apr 16
Post of the Day
Living with density: will Australia’s housing crisis finally change the way its cities work?
Experts agree medium- and high-density development in established suburbs is an essential part of making housing more affordable. But the opposition from existing home owners is fierce
On This Day
Easter – Eastern Christianity
Orkney Day (Feast Day of Saint Magnus of Orkney) – UK
New look at climate data shows substantially wetter rain and snow days ahead
A new look at climate data shows that, by the end of the century, the heaviest days of rain and snowfall across much of North America will likely release 20 to 30 percent more moisture than they do now.
National
Changes to petroleum resource rent tax estimated to net Australian government $94.5bn
Greens to use Parliamentary Budget Office costing to push Labor to clamp down harder on tax concessions for gas producers
Big-ticket transport projects face delays as budget pressures build
The Geelong Fast Rail is “no longer a priority”, which will in turn hold up the Western Rail Plan, while speculation mounts that the big-ticket Melbourne Airport Rail project will also be delayed.
Victoria
‘How we heal as a nation’: the replanting and return of the forests of Tower Hill
A lush landscape devastated by colonisation, and a people disenfranchised and decimated – nearly two centuries later, could Tower Hill be returned to its former owners and glory?
New South Wales
Inland rail review supports concerns raised by regional communities
Wagga Wagga and other towns on the inland rail route have been asking for a bypass and say that is supported by Dr Kerry Schott’s review
Why residents want to hand back millions of dollars promised for a suburban park
Two councillors have joined multiple residents’ groups in wanting to hand back almost $5 million allocated to the upgrade of a park in one of Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs.
ACT
Customer rebates grow 95% in ACT, driven by electricity connection issues
The rebates were worth a total close to $300,000.
Why electric cars sound very strange indeed [$]
When Peter Granleese cautiously steps out onto Bunda Street with cane in hand, he’s placing his complete faith in Canberra’s electric car drivers that they are watching out for him.
Queensland
Deserted islands: the push to make owners responsible for ‘derelict’ Queensland resorts
Bonds, insurance, fines or mandatory remediation are being considered as part of a plan to restore Great Barrier Reef islands smashed by cyclones and left abandoned
The traditional owners of K’Gari (Fraser Island) have condemned the developer of a proposed five-star luxury resort on the island, which claimed to have their support for the plan.
Western Australia
Cyclone Ilsa: how disasters, the housing crisis and underinsurance can conspire to worsen inequality
Kate Booth
Most communities along the northwest coast of Western Australia appear to have dodged a bullet after Cyclone Ilsa made landfall overnight. While some structures, such as the Pardoo Roadhouse, were damaged, the destruction was less than we feared.
Sustainability
Force of nature: Why a walk in the park can do you the world of good
The garden forever carries the seasons in the soul. Painters and poets have walked among its flowering, and in autumn drawn forth on it.
Filtering pollution: A microfluidic device for collecting microplastics via acoustic focusing
Microplastics (MPs), plastic debris smaller than 5 mm, indirectly harm the environment. They are traditionally collected and removed from water by filtering through meshes, which is inefficient. In this light, researchers from Japan have developed a high-enrichment microfluidic device that utilizes acoustic focusing to collect and remove 10–200 μm MPs from wastewater without recirculation. Its collection rates and enrichment ratios ranged approximately from 70–90% and 50–100, respectively on test samples.
Evidence that multidrug-resistant bacteria are being passed between pet cats and dogs and their owners will be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).
A new analysis of the carbon footprint of products used in the five most common surgical operations carried out in the NHS in England shows that 68% of carbon contributions come from single-use items, such as single-use gowns, patient drapes and instrument table drapes.
Microwaves advance solar-cell production and recycling
New technology advances solar-cell production and recycling A microwave technology invented at Macquarie University will improve the manufacture of solar cells and make them easier to recycle.
Utilities need investments to decarbonize — Investors need accountability
Tricia Holland et al
RMI’s forthcoming platform has the data to make this a match
Ben Holland et al
For over a century, discriminatory land use and housing policies in the United States have segregated neighborhoods and engineered entire cities around single-family homes and personally owned automobiles. These policies have led to a chronic housing shortage, numerous harms for disadvantaged communities, and sprawling development patterns that exacerbate climate change and ecological harm.
Trees in savanna areas of Cerrado produce three times more bark than species in forest areas
The mechanism has resulted from evolution over millions of years to protect the buds that enable plants to survive fire. A study conducted in an environmental protection unit in São Paulo state (Brazil) can contribute to strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change.
—
return email, delete it from your system and destroy any copies.