|
|
Date: 13 November 2023 at 8:48:14 am AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 13
Post of the Day
Feral horses and peatland carbon emissions
A ground-breaking new study has found carbon emissions from Australian alpine peatlands to be much higher in areas disturbed by feral horses.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Tree Day – North Macedonia
Climate Change
Emmanuel Macron pledges €1bn to fund research into melting ice caps
The French president has called for action at a climate summit in Paris attended by heads of state and scientists before Cop28
US and China reach ‘some agreements’ on climate – John Kerry
The two nations finding common ground is a crucial part of any consensus at COP28.
National
Albo offers whole country home in Aus
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to offer thousands of Pacific Islanders the chance to live in Australia as climate change threatens their home.
When two wheels are better than four: a buyer’s guide to ebikes
With plenty of room for children, shopping or a slab of beer, ebikes are causing some to reconsider their relationship with cars
The government is backing hundreds of infrastructure projects across Australia, however some may now be cancelled due to cost overruns. This is unlikely to happen without a fight from the states
‘Sea-country’ alliance could push traditional owners closer to mining industry, critics say
National Sea Country Alliance Summit told that the agendas of environmental groups do not always align with First Nations priorities
‘Fool’: Backlash over PM’s Tuvalu offer
The Prime Minister has come under fire from both activists and sceptics over plans to offer residency to climate-affected Pacific islanders.
Kiribati president reluctant for climate change resettlement deal with Australia
The president of Kiribati has played down the chances of his country striking a treaty with Australia similar to the landmark pact that Anthony Albanese signed late last week with Tuvalu’s prime minister.
How water buybacks are draining country towns in the Murray-Darling Basin
For many Murray-Darling Basin communities, the water provides far more than what’s grown on the land. Talk of drought and water buybacks have some worried about the future.
Robert Hill, Peter Garrett and former state ministers back teal MP Sophie Scamps’ call on all governments to work together on transition
On Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, homes are already being inundated by king tides, the cemetery has been affected by erosion and sea walls have been built
Coffee while you recharge: What convenience stores could look like in a low-carbon future
Viva Energy boss Scott Wyatt is tackling a low-carbon future by including EV chargers, among other things, in his plans for the country’s largest retail convenience business.
Energy transition at risk from floods, heat and drought
The new Mandala-Zurich Climate Risk Index report urges greater consideration of climate mitigation in Australia’s massive transition to green energy.
Traumatised Canadian firefighters may not be able to help Australia this summer [$]
Emma Elsworthy
There aren’t enough Australian firefighters to protect us from a possible Black Summer season, but a burnt Canada warns it’s exhausted.
Put climate at the heart of environment law [$]
Jennifer Rayner
Our national environment law does not deal with greenhouse gas emissions or the dangerous global warming they produce. To be blunt: the law that is meant to protect our environment offers no protection whatsoever against the biggest threat it faces now.
The massive gap between govt rhetoric and actions on emissions [$]
Ebony Bennett
Farmers know you can’t fatten a pig on market day and scientists know you can’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 while expanding coal, oil and gas production.
Jane McAdam
For many years, I have been calling for the Australian government – along with other governments – to play its part in assisting Pacific communities affected by the adverse impacts of climate change and disasters.
The L-NP’s mealy-mouthed new vote-buying ‘commitment’ to the environment
Belinda Jones
After years of climate change debate the Coalition are finally speaking up for the environment, sort of ─ when they can see a vote or two in it.
Rex Patrick
This week’s Senate sitting ended with Senator Penny Wong calling out the Liberal Party for saying “no” to Santos, Woodside and Inpex, in circumstances where the Labor wanted to say “yes” to Big Oil.
Australia’s doomed climate-change con game
Alan Kohler
The basic choice every country must make about climate change is whether to pay for it from the budget or pass the cost on to consumers.
Nuclear ‘hot air’ distracts minister from climate fires [$]
Tom Minear
Energy Minister Chris Bowen tweeted gleefully when a nuclear project collapsed. Tom Minear questions his silence on bad news for offshore wind and electric vehicles.
It’s code blue for Australia’s ocean crisis
Simon Bradshaw
We are up on a northern part of the Great Barrier Reef for the launch of Code Blue: Our Oceans in Crisis – the Climate Council’s first comprehensive report on climate change and our oceans.
Labor’s creative climate diplomacy reclaims lost ground in the Pacific
AFR editorial
Open, multicultural and democratic Australia should derive quiet confidence from using the national assets that closed, mono-cultural and authoritarian China can’t match.
Victoria
As the tide ebbs on this Victorian coast, a curious line of domes comes into view
Residents along Victoria’s coast are fighting back against coastal erosion with innovative and environmentally friendly solutions.
Why Melbourne’s neo-Nazis are making their presence known
Law makers, far-right experts and civil libertarians are struggling with how best to deal with a small, but highly active, group of extremists.
Ben catches fish in the Yarra, under the city’s bridges. Is it safe to eat?
You can pull snapper, flathead, bream, even mulloway out of the Yarra under the city’s bridges – if you avoid snagging on an O-bike.
Victorian biosecurity bill could see fines for trespassing on farms double to $115,000
Government says legislation designed to strengthen state’s response to animal security, while critics describe move as ‘ag-gag by stealth’
Gas ban ‘will blow up 1300 jobs’ [$]
The Allan government argues its gas policy will cut emissions. Industry says Victoria will be ‘cooking with coal’ as jobs leave our shores
State to cook with coal, not gas [$]
Australian editorial
The Allan government’s plans to push Victorians into buying electrical appliances will have adverse economic consequences.
HESC grotesque say Victorian locals as Japanese giants push Western Port coal-to-hydrogen
Sarah Russell and Jane Carnegie
The jury remains out on hydrogen as commercial fuel. Yet a massive new fossil fuel project planned for Victoria’s Western Port Bay, to supply energy for Japan, is subsidised by state and federal governments, and continues the burning of brown coal
New South Wales
The council forced to clean up 142 tonnes of waste from hoarders
A NSW council says it is ill-equipped to deal with a hoarding crisis because forced clean-outs, and legal battles are not addressing the underlying mental health crisis.
Traditional custodians and South Sea Islander elders gather to officially mark the removal of Ben Boyd’s name from a national park on the NSW far-south coast.
EPA blasts NSW Forestry’s incompetent greater glider population survey
The NSW Forestry Corporation failed to properly search a forest for endangered greater gliders before logging their den trees, a watchdog has alleged.
How a false claim about wind turbines killing whales is spinning out of control in coastal Australia
Windfarm critics claim projects will harm marine life. Scientists say that’s not backed by credible evidence
Cross-party push to end native forest logging as 1200 alleged breaches found: report
In a report by Wilderness Australia, the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia and South East Forest Rescue, published Monday, the groups allege Forestry Corporation failed to identify and protect greater glider habitat.
Jobs, exports mark shift in coal power [$]
NSW coal miners – who now employ a record 25,170 workers – are cashing-in on Beijing’s removal of export bans after shipping coal valued at $3.3bn to China in eight-months.
ACT
ACT campaigns for ban of ‘killer stone’
The ACT government will advocate for a nationwide ban on engineered stone, which has been called “killer stone” by construction work union members.
Can the ACT’s hunger for EVs create our own ‘little Norway’? [$]
Creating a “little Norway” in the ACT will take consistent and progressive policies on electric vehicles, say experts from Oslo.
Queensland
Koala breeding season sparks call to protect and preserve iconic species
Koalas are now on the move looking for love or a new home, with veterinarians and wildlife carers urging all Queenslanders to be extra vigilant and help keep koalas safe this breeding season.
Beat the ‘bin tax’: Score $200 and save waste at the same time [$]
Brisbane City Council has launched a landmark overhaul of its waste strategy, offering residents a chance to claim a $200 rebate to combat the state government’s “bin tax”.
Qld company fined for environmental breaches, but not for causing a stink
The company has been fined more than $45,000 for breaches at an industrial site south-west of Brisbane, but residents’ complaints about putrid smells are yet to be addressed.
South Australia
How one woman turned farm waste into a sustainable food business
A South Australian woman is turning farm waste into a sustainable food business by making meals out of second-grade fruit and veggies.
Libs join parklands protest to demand backflip on Mali’s pool splash [$]
The opposition has joined protesters in the Adelaide parklands to demand Labor reverse a key decision on the city’s new aquatic centre.
Tasmania
Why does Tasmania need more conservation covenants? And what are they? [$]
How do conservation covenants help restore nature?
Wobbly possum disease is on the rise, and experts aren’t sure why
In 2019, a cluster of brushtail possums around the greater Hobart region were found presenting symptoms of a fatal sickness – Wobbly possum disease.
Tasmania’s big salmon paid $51m company tax on $7bn income [$]
A progressive think-tank claims Tasmania’s big three salmon companies pay minimal company tax and employ less than 1 per cent of the state’s total workforce, which the industry angrily denies.
Bushfire fanned by winds threatens homes on Tasmania’s east coast
Residents have been urged to take shelter as an out-of-control bushfire bears down on homes on Tasmania’s east coast.
How wife of Mona founder brought together combatants of Tasmania’s forest wars
Curator and artist Kirsha Kaechele has organised a forestry congress at the Museum of Old and New Art, with unlikely guests including loggers, activists and scientists.
Northern Territory
33 million hectares of land already burnt this NT bushfire season, surpassing Black Summer’s total
Ben Hayes says 60 per cent of his vast Central Australian cattle station has been burnt as the Northern Territory reports that an area five times the size of Tasmania has already been scorched this season.
Western Australia
Shouts of ‘snake’ are cause for joy for researchers in the Exmouth Gulf
Come along on a trip to Exmouth Gulf as researchers hunt for one of the ocean’s most cryptic creatures.
Perth’s ‘greedy generation’: How urban sprawl empties taxpayer wallets
Housing estates on the fringes should pay a sprawl tax, says a Perth property expert, but others in his industry are “strongly opposed” to such a radical idea.
Questions for Chalice Mining [$]
John Kinsella
Chalice Mining is seeking partners to develop a massive ‘green metals’ deposit near the Julimar Conservation Park in Western Australia. Poet John Kinsella is seeking assurances that the region’s unique ecology will be protected.
Sustainability
Wood burners more costly for heating than gas boilers, study finds
Charity says research dispels myth that wood burning, which has health risks, is a cheaper energy option
Eight billion humans: World’s population passes milestone despite falling birth rate
The human species has topped eight billion, with longer life spans offsetting fewer births, but world population growth continues a long-term trend of slowing down, the US Census Bureau says.
Can Tesla batteries be replaced or recycled?
If you own a Tesla electric car or are considering buying one, here’s what you should know about battery maintenance and life cycle.
‘I want it now’: How the Veruca Salt effect makes online shopping less sustainable
As Australians draw up their Christmas lists, more are choosing to shop online than ever before. But is it better for the environment to buy online or from a shop?
We need a global treaty to solve plastic pollution – acid rain and ozone depletion show us why
Deborah Lau
After years of discussion, international negotiations on a global plastics treaty resume this week in Nairobi, Kenya, at the UN Environment Programme headquarters.
Environment: Plants and fungi – abundant and ubiquitous but poorly described
Peter Sainsbury
Very few plants and fungi have been scientifically described – many are destined for extinction before we knew they were extant. Australia’s top companies lack transparency and honesty about their climate politics. Australia’s emissions are decreasing but far too slowly.
Nature Conservation
The little-known island nation of Timor Leste is quickly becoming known as one of the best places in the world to see blue whales — but experts say their late migration spells trouble for their health and for tourism.
How scientists are using poop to track climate-change effects on pikas and their mountain home
American pikas are more than just adorable little mountain dwellers — they’re also a potential canary in the coal mine when it comes to the impact of climate change on their ecosystem. B.C. researchers are now developing new ways to better monitor their populations.
Ocean pollution cleanup starts by preventing plastic waste, study says
Researchers caution that plastic removal technologies used so far have shown mixed success in the amount of waste material they are able to collect.
Low-intensity fires reduce wildfire risk by 60%
High-intensity, often catastrophic, wildfires have become increasingly frequent across the Western U.S. Researchers quantified the value of managed low-intensity burning to dramatically reduce the risk of such fires for years at a time.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
This email and any files transmitted with it may be confidential and legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must not disclose or use the information contained in it.
If you have received this email in error, please notify us by return email and permanently delete the document.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this country and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay respect to their elders past and present and to the pivotal role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play in caring for country across Australia.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation