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Date: 29 September 2023 at 9:07:41 am AEST
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Sep 29
Post of the Day
Pep Canadell
It was a rare bit of good news on climate. The International Energy Agency this week released its latest net zero roadmap, showing it was still just possible to hold global heating to 1.5℃.
On This Day
Grand Final holiday (Victoria)
Ecological Observance
Arbor Day – US Virgin Islands
International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
Climate Change
Eighteen climate activists arrested for shutdown protest in McCarthy’s office
Members of Sunrise Movement refused to vacate House speaker’s office entrance until he pledged to avert US government shutdown
Big European insurers ‘underwrite 30% of US coal despite net zero pledges’
Lloyd’s of London, Zurich and Swiss Re among top 10 insurers of largest US coalmines, study finds
Swiss glaciers lose 10% of their volume in two years
Volume lost during hot summers of 2022 and 2023 equal to total depletion between 1960 and 1990, says report
On Jakarta’s vanishing shoreline, climate change seen abetting child marriages
Marriage before the age of 18 is classified as a form of gender-based violence by the United Nations, but is commonly practiced in low-income communities to mitigate household economic pressures.
National
So you want an electric car, but will you be able to charge it?
As Australia’s electric vehicle market is set to expand rapidly in the coming years, but experts fear that access to power for their EVs won’t be simple for everyone.
Sydney could reach 35C on Sunday for the NRL and NRLW grand finals and Melbourne 29C for Saturday’s big AFL clash
Citizen scientists: Mapping the nation’s biodiversity bounty – podcast
Members of the Australian community are volunteering to document Australia’s vast and diverse biodata. Citizen scientists play a crucial role in understanding where species occur, where they thrive – and where they’re under threat.
Graham Readfearn
Rising risk of heatwaves and bushfires means politicians will be put to the test about the effect of the climate crisis. Already, some have roundly failed
We are under threat from mass immigration [$]
Andrew Bolt
The torrent of new arrivals and mad multiculturalism is threatening Western countries like ours – and it’s time our politicians dare to face the facts.
Can we enjoy a hot summer anymore? [$]
Canberra Times editorial
There was a time when a heatwave this early in the lead up to summer would have been greeted with unalloyed joy. We would be anticipating this coming weekend’s forecast temperatures just short of 30 with relish. Summer’s come a bit early, we would be saying with glee.
How Australia’s flawed environmental legislation fuels the climate crisis [$]
Lesley Hughes
My childhood spent immersed in Sydney’s bushland is why I became a biologist.
Forgive me for getting into a flap, but why are we so keen to protect things that kill us?
Madonna King
From swooping magpies to biting dingoes and mauling sharks, it seems the bigger threat animals pose to humans, the more we argue for leaving them alone. It just doesn’t make sense.
Dam it Jim, don’t just talk about the weather [$]
Matt Canavan
If the Treasurer really believes his own warnings of more droughts why isn’t he building dams to help us get through these impending dry spells.
David Karoly
From Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef in the North, to the Snowy Mountains in the Southeast, and jarrah and marri forests in the Southwest, Australia is home to incredibly diverse ecosystems. Many of our plants, animals, birds and fish are found nowhere else in the world.
Damned lies and carbon credit verification: who checks if sequestration is real? [$]
Bernard Keane
There’s been no independent analysis of whether tens of millions of carbon credits are legit. Insiders say the verification system is broken.
Which is cheaper: nuclear or renewables? [$]
Graham Young
Net Zero Australia predicts capital costs for the renewable transition will be $9 trillion by 2050, and $1.5 trillion by the end of the decade.
Victoria
‘Savage’ consquences of Labor water plan [$]
Northern Victorian farmers fear that when drought hits a Labor government plan to lock away water for environmental use will leave them high and dry, amid allegations of “lies and spin”.
AMCS: Consultation required on Otway seismic testing
Media release – Australian Marine Conservation Society
The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is calling on gas exploration company TGS and partner SLB to take heed of today’s Federal Court rejection of Woodside’s approval for seismic testing for its Scarborough project and ensure that they consult properly with affected stakeholders on its Otway seismic testing plans.
New South Wales
Farmers say shelving a road tunnel through the Blue Mountains could lead to higher food prices
The 11km tunnel would ease transport costs, saving trucks from traffic lights, congestion and frequent crashes, farmers say.
NSW schools may close in hot weather this term — but some parents say it’s not sustainable
A new bushfire risk register is being used to decide which schools close and which stay open during dangerous conditions. This is how it works.
The NSW government is currently in talks with Origin about using taxpayer subsidies to extend the life of the plant in the state’s Hunter region. It follows a review that found the state should discuss delaying the plant’s closure to help prevent blackouts due to the slow building of renewables.
‘Scar on our hearts’: Thousands fight to halt wind farm [$]
A push to build an offshore wind farm on the NSW south coast has been met with concern it could cause “disfigurement of the sea” and a petition labelling it a “scar on our hearts”.
Motorway to Sydney’s new airport rises out of paddocks
Carved through paddocks, a $2 billion motorway linking Western Sydney Airport to major arterial routes is more than one-third complete and groundwork under way on 14 of the 17 bridges needed for the project.
Queensland
Sustainability a key issue when doing business with younger generation
Gold Coast companies at the forefront of social and environmental change
South Australia
When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected to catch a feral cat or fox. Instead, he caught a species that was thought extinct in South Australia more than 130 years ago.
Northern Territory
Uranium clean-up way over budget, running late… sounds like true nuclear power [$]
Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane
The company cleaning up the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu says the project is running badly over budget and already late.
Western Australia
Woodside’s Scarborough gas project dealt blow with part of its environmental plan ruled invalid
Woodside’s massive Scarborough gas development suffers a major blow, with the Federal Court finding an environmental plan for part of the project was not legally approved and was therefore invalid.
Date locked in for Cook’s global green energy summit [$]
Roger Cook will convene a summit to map out WA’s pathway to global green energy superpower in mid-November – delivering on a pledge made during his first major keynote speech after becoming Premier.
Sustainability
Vietnam jails environmental activist for three years for tax fraud
A Vietnamese court has jailed Hoang Thi Minh Hong, the director of an environmental advocacy group, for tax evasion but Human Rights Watch is accusing local authorities of weaponising laws to target activists.
Welsh town first to trial 10p bottle and can return scheme across community
Hundreds of Brecon households sign up for scheme in which they get money for every container they recycle
More aid money spent on clean air than fossil fuels for first time
Clean Air Fund says despite increased spending on air pollution, projects still receive less than 1% of funding
Clouds now contains plastic, contaminating ‘everything we eat and drink’
Tiny bits of plastic have now become an “essential component” of clouds and may be contaminating “nearly everything we eat and drink” via “plastic rainfall”, according to a new study.
With fossil fuels, ‘peak demand’ isn’t what it sounds like [$]
Javier Blas
The term suggests a rapid descent from the highest point, but we should expect a levelling before we see a fall.
Handkerchief or tissue? Which one’s better for our health and the planet?
Mark Patrick Taylor and Hester Joyce
Maybe you have hay fever, COVID, a cold or the flu, and are reaching for a tissue or handkerchief. But which one’s better at stopping infections spreading? Which has a smaller environmental impact? Is it the hanky, which has been with us since at least Roman times? Or the more recent and widely-used paper tissue?
Muhammad Rizwan Azhar
Picture this: you’re cruising down the Great Ocean Road in your brand new electric vehicle (EV), the ocean to your left and the wind in your hair. But what if I told you this idyllic drive could turn into a nightmare, with the faint smell of something burning?
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
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Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation