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Date: 9 October 2023 at 8:46:15 am AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Oct 9
Why is the world so incredibly hot right now? It’s not just climate change
Climate change is the main reason temperatures are so high right now, but here are five other reasons you might not be aware of.
On This Day
Climate Change
Climate change brings earlier arrival of intense hurricanes
New research has revealed that since the 1980s, Category 4 and 5 hurricanes (maximum wind speed greater than 131 miles per hour) have been arriving three to four days earlier with each passing decade of climate change.
Two-dimensional compounds can capture carbon from the air
MXene and MBene compounds hold promise for new technologies to combat climate change
What you can do about climate change
So you want to do something about climate change, but what? We have ideas. Some require a little planning, while others might mean one less thing on your to-do list.
Climate change is disrupting ocean currents. We’re using satellites and ships to understand how
Shane Keating and Moninya Roughan
Earth’s ocean is incredibly vast. Some parts of it are so remote that the nearest human habitation is the International Space Station.
As the planet burns, the insane chase the almighty dollar
Gerry Georgatos
With a reliance on fossil fuels and the world’s governments promoting
neoliberalism, humanity is heading towards global extinction.
Climate disaster: Pope Francis repudiates developed world’s economics and culture
Paul Collins
‘It is no longer possible to doubt the human origin of climate change’ (Pope Francis).
New Zealand’s carbon emissions are on the way down – thanks in part to policies now under threat
Robert McLachlan and Ian Mason
It may have been largely overlooked in the election debates, but New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are finally on the way down.
What’s worse than ‘gobsmackingly bananas’? You really don’t want to know – cartoon
Fiona Katauskas
The climate’s changing and so is the terminology
National
PNG threatens to send refugees back to Australia unless it keeps funding humanitarian program
Papua New Guinea official accuses Australia of abandoning 70 men but government maintains it has no responsibility for them
Just 50 of these animals are left in the wild. The fight to save them has spanned decades
There are just 50 southern brush-tailed rock wallabies left in the wild. These are the people fighting to save them.
Rio Tinto ready for smaller, riskier projects in green energy hunt [$]
Chairman Dominic Barton says the mining giant will widen the net in its hunt for materials for the energy transition. He also talked up Rio’s ambitions in aluminium and lithium.
Santos to provide assumptions for net zero in greenwashing case [$]
The oil and gas producer has been asked to provide sworn statements by November 24 on the assumptions behind its emissions targets as part of a greenwashing case.
Swift parrot named 2023 Australian bird of the year winner
Critically endangered parrot narrowly pips the tawny frogmouth, runner-up for the third time in the biennial Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll
Meet the religious leaders teaming up to fight climate change
Faith leaders from different religions and denominations are coming together to share a strong message about climate change.
Renewables ‘arms race’: clean energy report says Australia must spend $10bn a year or be left behind
The country must work harder to attract investment to keep up with the US and other competitors, Clean Energy Council says
The width of a fingernail is about to clean up Australia’s trucking emissions [$]
A tiny change smaller than the width of a fingernail is set to make a huge difference to Australia’s trucking economy and accelerate the adoption of zero-emissions trucks with mandated advanced safety features for freight-hauling and delivery tasks.
How Australian households can go electric, cut emissions and save money
Saul Griffith
Ridding your home of fossil fuels doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. It just has to be part of your 10-year plan
Six reasons why global temperatures are spiking right now
Andrew King
The world is very warm right now. We’re not only seeing record temperatures, but the records are being broken by record-wide margins
The Voice could advise on how to address natural disasters like bushfires
Claire Hooker and Michelle Dickson
After three wet years, bushfire season has begun again. We have been warned this season could be a bad one.
United Nations climate policy has hijacked Australian population policy
Stephen Saunders
Captivated by the UN climate emergency, our smug ruling classes happily endorse Albanese’s regressive population-housing emergency.
When fossil fuel companies control politics and the media, protest is more important than ever [$]
Bernard Keane
When fossil fuel companies control governments, climate advocates have no alternative but direct action. And their numbers will grow as the world cooks.
Need for robust examination of nuclear energy options
SMH editorial
The speed with which we instigate changes to systems of energy generation is one of urgency. A real debate must be had.
Need to widen ban on forever chemicals is urgent
SMH editorial
Like 20 other students at her high school in middle America, Amara Strande battled liver cancer. She died last April aged 20, but her last crusade saw her home state of Minnesota ban forever chemicals in consumer products. Australia take note.
Voted for bird of the year? Now make your avian affection really count
Sean Dooley
Help BirdLife Australia build a picture of how our birds are faring by joining the Aussie Bird Count. You can’t solve a problem you don’t know you have
Zena Armstrong and Peter Logue
Until governments engage with and provide more funding to the people under threat, we will always be playing a dangerous game of catchup
It’ll be hard to hit net zero without boosting our engineering workforce [$]
Romilly Madew, Damian Ogden
Last week’s report by Jobs and Skills Australia, The Clean Energy Generation: Workforce needs for a net zero economy; is a call to action for Australian industry.
Consultant calamity: Alan Finkel, ACIL Allen and the hydrogen hype
Rod Campbell
A dodgy consultants’ report by ACIL Allen gave rise to Australia’s failed hydrogen strategy and massive public subsidies. It all means climate action delayed.
Look outside the ordinary to get energy transition back on track [$]
Alexander Danne
We need to pull game-changing financial and legislative levers, including lifting the nuclear ban, compulsory land acquisition and taxpayer subsidies.
We’re yet to hear full story on EV battery issues [$]
Chris Mitchell
Few journalists will write it, but the premium paid for EVs is hard to justify given “range anxiety” and the need to search for charging stations.
Making inroads into landfill again after recycling setback [$]
Tanya Plibersek
When the REDcycle soft plastic scheme collapsed last year, it came as a shock to all of us.
Victoria
Australia’s solar energy output eclipses records, sparking urgent need for battery storage
Around Australia, records are tumbling as rooftop solar production soars to new highs. Experts say the trend is pushing the grid to its limits and highlighting the urgent need for storage.
Melbourne Water must improve flood forecasting, review into Maribyrnong disaster finds
A review into Melbourne’s 2022 floods finds the city’s water authority should overhaul its approach to flood modelling, but is unable to determine whether the disaster was worsened by a controversial wall at Flemington Racecourse.
Men rescued from floodwaters, damage bill in the millions, as Victorian flood clean-up begins
Temporary supply shortages of vegetables and fruit are on the cards as individual farmers see many millions of dollars of produce and infrastructure wash away in Victoria’s east.
The controversial chemical used by every Melbourne council
Every Melbourne council is using a weed killer that a World Health Organisation agency says probably causes cancer, despite residents and the council workers’ union calling for it to be banned.
Tiny apartments: Melbourne housing crisis solution or glorified slums?
The future of affordable housing in Melbourne might resemble New York, Hong Kong and now Brunswick – apartments under 25 square metres with common spaces and no car parking.
New South Wales
Hundreds attend rally against proposed offshore wind zone along Australia’s east coast
Organisers estimate around 500 people attended today’s event at Nelson Bay, as locals raised concerns about the potential impact of an offshore wind zone.
‘We owe it to the planet’: Senior academics support offshore wind farm
Scientists, academics and engineers give in-principle support for an Illawarra offshore wind farm — but warn operators must meet rigorous standards to protect marine ecosystems.
‘Holy grail’ of water birds, the Australian painted-snipe, spotted in NSW
The discovery of an Australian painted-snipe at Lake Cargelligo in the Riverina has twitchers aflutter as sightings of the small bird are so rare that ornithologists don’t even know what they sound like.
NSW logging industry’s greater glider survey was done when the nocturnal animals were asleep
The Forestry Corporation searched a NSW forest for greater gliders during the day, when the endangered animals would have been asleep.
Firefighters’ anxious wait for NSW for smoking NSW green energy unit to cool down
Firefighters have called in expert technicians to help deal with a dangerous heat build-up at a cutting-edge renewable energy storage plant but the incident has been stabilised.
Third of NSW plunged into drought-like conditions [$]
Questions have been raised over what measures the state government has in place to deal with forecasts of a bone-dry summer after a third of the state spiralled into drought-like conditions in six months.
NSW mining boss forged partner’s signature amid $20m coal fight
A mining executive forged his business partner’s resignation after their company was hit with a $20 million bill for failing to deliver coal in the NSW Hunter, a court has found.
ACT
Another new baby giraffe in Canberra gives hope for species ‘suffering a silent extinction’
Two-week-old calf Mkali is the fifth giraffe born under the Canberra breeding program, and it’s hoped she will grow up to be part of the program’s next generation.
Electricity bill rises in ACT kept just below inflation over past year [$]
The average electricity bill in the ACT rose by $115, a below-inflation increase, as the territory benefits from long-term renewable energy contracts
Queensland
Murrawah Johnson and Monique Jeffs have been awarded a Young Voltaire human rights award for their victory over Waratah Coal’s Galilee basin coal project
Major changes at Brisbane Airport to reduce noise over suburbs
More planes will fly over the bay and some will have quieter engines.
Population surge threatens Brisbane’s way of life
As interstate migrants continue to surge into SEQ, a new report says there’s a danger they could damage the very thing they’re flooding in for – our lifestyle and quality of life.
High-profile anti-Adani protester under fire after Russian meeting [$]
A controversial anti-Adani activist and anti-Voice campaigner has come under fire after meeting with the Russian ambassador.
There’s a hidden source of excess nutrients suffocating the Great Barrier Reef. We found it
Douglas Tait and Damien Maher
The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s most important environmental and economic assets. It is estimated to contribute A$56 billion per year and supports about 64,000 full-time jobs, according to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. However, the reef is under increasing pressure.
South Australia
BHP says ‘nuclear renaissance’ helps Olympic Dam expansion case [$]
Rebounding uranium prices will boost the business case for an expansion of BHP’s Olympic Dam smelter and by extension, the potential for higher uranium exports.
Tasmania
Dean has fallen in love with the elusive Tasmanian azure kingfisher, but fears not enough is being done to protect the species, which is one of 14 endangered native birds without a recovery plan.
Environmental watchdog urged to make major call on salmon [$]
Lawyers for a leading conservation group have written to the head of Tasmania’s environmental watchdog, asking him to refuse the looming renewal of salmon farm licences in Macquarie Harbour.
Northern Territory
‘Design a house we want’: Push for climate-ready homes designed by and for Indigenous Australians
First Nations people from Tennant Creek have launched a project to design culturally appropriate houses that can weather Australia’s soaring summer temperatures.
A court among the coconut palms: when justice came to visit the Torres Strait
The world’s first climate change class action has seen Australia’s federal court travel to the Torres Strait to hear arguments on the front line
Western Australia
Tourists warned to stop hassling endangered marsupial for selfies
Visitors to Western Australian forests are being urged not to hassle numbats — or any animal — to get a shot for social media.
These salty plants grow in a farming wasteland and could feed the world’s growing population
Farmers in Western Australia are turning salty wastelands into pillows of gourmet greens — and they’re now in high demand in Australia’s best restaurants.
‘Money, power and influence’: One man’s fight against Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest
When Yindjibarndi leader Michael Woodley stood his ground against Andrew Forrest’s FMG he had no idea he’d still be fighting for compensation 14 years later. Despite community division and lengthy court battles he’s never backed down.
Mark McGowan phone call allegation puts fossil fuel influence in WA under new spotlight
Carmen Lawrence says former premier’s behaviour, if true, is ‘certainly improper’ and ‘ethically questionable’ and shows power of oil and gas interests
Tilda will remember this day for the rest of her life. It’s the day she broke the law
The battle over the climate is escalating, and nowhere more than in Western Australia, where a new generation of protesters is prepared to break the law to make their point.
Sustainability
What ‘nuclear pervert’ Putin’s latest missile threats could mean for humanity
The Russian president this week revealed more details about an experimental nuclear missile. This is what we know about it, and how successful testing has been so far.
Israel’s shadowy nuclear weapons program must be subjected to IAEA safeguards: Qatar
Tel Aviv is estimated to have up to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia.
Plants could worsen air pollution on a warming planet
New research shows that plants such as oak and poplar trees will emit more of a compound called isoprene as global temperatures climb.
Feeding seaweed to cows can cut methane emissions, says Swedish report
Study proposes government commission more research into environmental benefits of cattle feed additives
We’re all gonna die! How the idea of human extinction has reshaped our world
For most of human history, we didn’t think the end could possibly happen. These days, we can hardly count the ways.
Environment: Australia labelled a ‘Planet Wrecker’
Peter Sainsbury
Wind and solar roll-outs are increasing globally but Australia and other Climate Wreckers are ignoring the science and developing new oil and gas fields.
Why predicting the future might be the easiest job in the world
Jim Bright
Every decent-sized company seems obsessed with knowing the future, leading to a surge in “futurologists” trying to predict what comes next.
Nature Conservation
‘Super predator’: New study shows animals fear humans more than lions
Lions have long been seen as one of the world’s most fearsome predators, but according to a new study, wildlife’s fear of humans surpasses that of the big cats.
Deforestation is pushing the Amazon rainforest closer to a point of no return
Human survival depends on this iconic ecosystem, and only one thing will save it.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
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