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Date: 18 July 2023 at 8:37:54 am AEST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Jul 18
Post of the Day
Jamie Pittock
The Murray Darling Basin Plan is an historic deal between state and federal governments to save Australia’s most important river system. The A$13 billion plan, inked over a decade ago, was supposed to rein in the water extracted by farmers and communities, and make sure the environment got the water it needed.
On This Day
Climate Change
Climate envoy Kerry hails China’s renewable energy, warns against coal
The American climate envoy is in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart about what the world’s two biggest polluters can do.
Global temperatures near record highs amid series of heatwaves
Global temperatures were soaring to historic highs as the world’s two biggest carbon emitters – the United States and China – seek to reignite talks on climate change.
Climate change menaces China’s ancient heritage sites
Ancient Buddhist murals in northwestern China are under “direct threat” as a result of unprecedented levels of rainfall brought about by climate change, researchers said on Monday.
Europe should cap ‘luxury’ energy use to meet emissions targets, study says
Limiting demand of richest 20% saves seven times greenhouse gases required to meet needs of poorest 20%, researchers find
Global race to net zero pushes up technology prices by 20pc
The annual GenCost report found wind and solar were the cheapest source of power generation, but all technologies were facing an increase in costs due to global demand and supply chain issues.
European heatwave: what’s causing it and is climate change to blame?
Emma Hill and Ben Vivian
Europe is currently in the midst of a heatwave. Italy, in particular, is expected to face blistering heat, with temperatures projected to reach 40℃ to 45℃. There’s even a chance that the current European temperature record of 48.8℃, set in Sicily in 2021, could be surpassed.
Jeremy Webb
On his way to Beijing to repair bilateral climate change relations John Kerry announced to the world the US would ‘under no circumstances’ pay climate change ‘reparations’ to the developing world. Why such a statement?
National
Fire ants spreading across Australia could have deadly consequences. Here’s why
Fire ant bites are nasty and can be fatal to some people.
Bowen attacks Dutton as ‘alternative PM from the alt-right’
The climate change minister will accuse the opposition leader of representing fringe-right views in a speech attacking Coalition support for nuclear energy
Why your plastic cup may soon have a passport to show where it’s been
The federal government is developing a scheme to track recyclable waste material through its full life cycle.
Labor targets farms, cars and waste as 2035 carbon cut fight looms [$]
Emissions from farms, buildings, waste dumps and vehicles will be subject to national reduction targets adding to restraints on energy generation and industry.
ALP environmental reforms ‘could end native forestry’ [$]
Australia’s forest industry fears the Albanese government’s new national environment standards could end native forest logging nationally.
Traditional owners embrace being ‘at the forefront’ of Australia’s green energy superpower plans
Aboriginal groups hold some form of ownership over about half of Australia’s landmass — and observers say the country’s energy transition cannot happen without them.
Fossil fuel prices have collapsed. So why are we paying more for electricity?
Ian Verrender
Inflation is creating inflation. Unlike previous episodes where higher prices sparked wage breakouts, a large portion of our inflation is being driven by interest rate hikes
Barnaby Joyce trashed the regulator and left Labor to clean up his pesticide mess [$]
Bernard Keane
The former Nats leader was told it was a bad idea to move the pesticides regulator to his electorate, but he did it anyway.
It’s time to get SwitchedOn and kick gas out of the system: Our future depends on it
Giles Parkinson
The big bad Greenies are not about to storm into your house to take away the BBQ. But we do need to electrify everything, as quickly as we can.
Bowen’s plan A is a shambles, it’s time to consider a plan B [$]
Judith Sloan
The common factor binding the members of the recently created Climate Club is the loftiness of their climate ambitions rather than their practical progression towards achieving them.
Victoria
Deep impact: Radars reveal Victoria’s road damage is worse than it looks
New technology shows Victoria’s roads are more damaged than they appear on the surface – and authorities say climate change will only make the problem worse.
Firewood shortage fuels energy bill pain
Regional Victorian households’ cheapest form of heating – firewood – is about to become far more expensive.
Victorian plant thought extinct for 70 years rediscovered following floods
The plant collection made by an amateur Mallee botanist in the 1950s helps scientists rediscover a plant thought to be extinct in Victoria.
New South Wales
Mount Canobolas, known to the Wiradjuri as Gaanha Bula or ‘two shoulders’, is officially renamed
The landmark mountain near Orange in NSW — where First Nations people have been gathering for thousands of years — will now be known as Gaanha Bula-Mount Canobolas.
‘What went wrong here?’: Big banks refuse coal king $1b debt refinance
Australia’s big banks have turned their backs on the country’s largest pure-play coal miner, refusing to refinance a billion-dollar debt in a major rebuff that will force Whitehaven Coal to source loans offshore, sending a worrying signal to other large coal producers and potentially speeding up the demise of the sector.
‘Overreach’: Eastern suburbs council gassed up over emissions
Homeowners in Sydney’s well-heeled eastern suburbs have been banned from using gas heating or cooking appliances in newly-built homes, under orders by a local council.
In the flight to renewables, innovation is the key to consumer value
Paul Verschuer
Rather than viewing NSW as an outlier in its progress away from fossil fuels, we should consider it a precursor to other states following the same path.
ACT
New Ginninderry proposal has conservation and connection at its heart [$]
A development application for a pavilion and parkland in Ginninderry promises to bring the “ability to easily access the Murrumbidgee River from the north side” a step closer, and focus on conservation and connection in the process.
Rangers reject cull call as dingo pack attacks woman
Two men in a ute helped rescue a woman injured by a pack of dingoes on a K’gari beach in the latest in a series of attacks on the popular Queensland island.
What to do if a dingo approaches you or your kids on K’gari
Recently there has been a spate of dingo attacks on K’gari island, off the Queensland coast.
Labor must hear Indigenous voice against Kimba nuclear site
Jim Green and Michele Madigan
Ahead of tomorrow’s expected federal court decision on a Barngarla Traditional Owners challenge to the planned Kimba nuclear waste site, Jim Green and Michele Madigan say federal Labor must be consistent on listening to Indigenous concerns.
Tasmania
EPA investigating illegal waste disposal in North and North-West
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is investigating the alleged illegal disposal of controlled waste at multiple sites in the state’s north and northwest.
H2Co launches as green hydrogen retailer to keep fuel costs down
Countrywide Hydrogen says it will sell the hydrogen it produces in Tasmania directly via a new brand called H2Co Energy to keep down costs.
Call to make our roads safer for cyclists [$]
A bike crash over the weekend in Legana has put the safety of cyclists in the spotlight with calls to improve road conditions across Tasmania for people on bikes.
Recycling firm ordered to stop dumping toxic waste residue [$]
Tasmania’s environmental protection watchdog has taken urgent action against a recycling firm to stop it disposing toxic waste that could harm marine environments or human health.
Northern Territory
Elders, environmentalists celebrate Lee Point win during vigil [$]
A vigil at Binybara Camp was brimming with songs and stories as Elders and environmentalists alike celebrated another win against Lee Point developers.
Solar farm ‘the size of a cattle station’ will add wind to power sale of energy to Singapore
Wind will be added to a territory-building, and potentially nation-building, plan to send Australian solar power to Southeast Asia through the world’s longest undersea power cable.
Western Australia
Multi-billion-dollar renewables project earmarked for Yindjibarndi native title land
The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has fought for years for compensation from iron ore mines in the Pilbara, but may soon be producing renewable energy to sell to those same companies.
Aboriginal owners and energy investors team up in plan for $3bn green hydrogen plant in WA
‘Radically different’ partnership aims to construct more than a million solar panels to power electrolysers
How traditional owners are speeding up big projects
Having indigenous groups involved at the start of a project would mean negotiating Indigenous Land Use Agreements would not dictate the schedule.
Why have these tiny, colourful Gouldian finches vanished from a Kimberley refuge?
While numbers of this tiny endangered bird are on the rise elsewhere, Gouldian finches are nowhere to be seen in this Kimberley environmental buffer designed to protect them
FOGO facade? Why WA councils would rather burn waste than get a third bin
It was hailed a critical pillar of a pledge to divert waste from landfill, but the state government has been accused of setting up the FOGO scheme to fail and touting disingenuous targets.
Aboriginal heritage in a state of drama [$]
Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation has parted company with the chief executive who reportedly wanted $2.5m of government funding before he would approve a tree planting.
Voice debate is made more difficult by new land laws [$]
Australian editorial
The WA Heritage Act exposes a raft of unintended consequences.
Sustainability
A shipping rule backfires, diverting sulfur emissions from the air to the ocean
When large ships use scrubbers to meet international air pollution limits, the treated fuel exhaust gets dumped into the sea along with other contaminants. Researchers say the discharges are packed with metals and organic compounds that threaten marine environments
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Technologists are figuring out how to make nylon green
Using a combination of electrochemistry and bacteria, one team has made a nylon building block from plant waste—cutting energy use and emissions in the process.
How waste pickers are helping to win the war on plastic pollution
There are an estimated 20 million waste pickers across the world, an informal army of street cleaners whose work goes largely unrecognised. Yet to some they are environmental stewards, clearing away the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life, often in countries where regular waste collection services are non-existent.
Energy industry uses whale activists to aid anti-wind farm strategy, experts say
Unwitting whale advocates and rightwing thinktanks create the impression that offshore wind energy projects endanger cetaceans
Latest Mekong dam will produce little power but much environmental harm
For years, the world’s largest inland fishery has also been under assault from a frenzy of reckless dam construction that is often driven by political and private interests without considering environmental costs.
The EU-Mercosur trade deal will harm Brazil’s indigenous communities
Despite the change of government in Brazil, the assault on Indigenous People’s land rights continues. The reason is simple: Bolsonaro was defeated at the polls, but Bolsonarism survives as a political force.
Heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology ever invented – SwitchedOn Australia podcast:
Anne Delaney
Dr Jan Rosenow from the global think tank, Regulatory Assistance Project, discusses why electric heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology ever invented, why overall energy demand will reduce by 40% if we electrify everything, and why energy efficiency is a key part of the electrification journey.
Alan Pears
It made headlines around the world when the much-hyped Barbie movie contributed to a world shortage of fluorescent pink paint.
America can’t build a green economy without China
Robinson Meyer
With few exceptions, you either let yourself learn from your competitors, or you fail to compete with them at all.
The Guardian view on a water crisis: Uruguay points to a wider issue – and to solutions
Guardian editorial
The South American country is running dry. But it can draw upon a history of social and political organisation to protect access
Nature Conservation
The unexpected presence of earthworms in the Far North could cause rapid changes in some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.
Deep-sea mining spurs fish to vacate mining sites, study finds
Between one month and one year after mining, scientists found a 43 percent drop in the number of fish and shrimp where mining had kicked up sediment.
A study that considered projected future climate variations predicted a severe decline in several gymnosperm species, including the Himalayan fir, Himalayan silver fir and Himalayan spruce trees.
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