https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=22778&page=2
Date: 19 December 2023 at 9:00:51 am AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Dec 19
Post of the Day
Since 2009, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative has coordinated an annual horizon scan, a well-established method for predicting which threats, changes, and technologies will have the biggest impact on biological conservation in the following year.
On This Day
Climate Change
Exoplanets’ climate — it takes nothing to switch from habitable to hell
Simulation of entire runaway greenhouse effect, which can make a planet completely unhabitable
Carbon removal isn’t weird anymore. That worries scientists
Tech fixes for sucking climate pollution from the air are gaining ground globally. It was never supposed to happen.
Geoscientists map changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide over past 66 million years
An international consortium of geoscientists has reconstructed atmosphereric levels of carbon dioxide going back 66 million years using proxies in the geoloogical record.
The climate summit must have got something right
Peter Boyer
Signs were not good leading up to the 28th global climate summit. Held in Dubai and attended by close to 2500 fossil fuel lobbyists, it was chaired by a leading player in the host country’s profitable fossil fuel trade.
National
Climate authority confirms Australia has been fudging its methane emissions data
Federal government urged to act “immediately” as major report finds Australia well behind international best practice on measurement and reporting of methane emissions.
Renewables surge, but higher coal exports fuel Greens’ ire
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says a boom in wind and solar farms will transform Australia into a clean energy superpower.
Flirting with nuclear energy down under
Binoy Kampmark
The advent of AUKUS, with its inane yet provocative promise of nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, adds yet another, complicating dimension to this fact.
Refugee NZYQ will get substantial compensation for false imprisonment. It’s unpalatable but just [$]
Michael Bradley
It may seem wrong for a convicted child sex offender to receive compensation from the government, but it reflects justice in all our interests.
Women left feeling ‘betrayed’ and ‘devastated’ by NDIS review [$]
Kristina Ziwica
‘What is the point of having a national strategy for gender equality, a national strategy to eliminate violence against women, and then this review comes out and there’s nothing.’
From laggard to leader? Why Australia must phase out fossil fuel exports, starting now
Fergus Green
For years large fossil fuel producers – including Australia – have expanded fossil fuel production while maintaining rhetorically that the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But global emissions are overwhelmingly caused by the extraction, transport and burning of fossil fuels. Unless fossil fuels are phased out, emissions will grow and the climate crisis will worsen.
Why this year’s fire season is different to Black Summer
Laura Chung
This fire season has already started off with a bang: but how are conditions different and could new technology make a difference to this summer?
Dates and details firm up for launch of Australia’s first offshore wind auction
Victorian government sets the stage for first round of offshore wind energy auctions, with plan to call for expressions of interest in late 2024 and to award contracts in 2026.
A conservation team is revegetating Victoria’s Phillip Island with fire-retardant native plants to protect the world’s largest colony of little penguins from the effects of climate change.
New South Wales
Ballistics expert questions calibre of guns being used to cull brumbies in national park
A NSW upper house inquiry into the aerial shooting of brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park has been told that the choice of weapon was behind the high number of shots required to kill the horses.
Rare loggerhead turtle eggs moved from path of dangerous king tides
The precarious location of a rare Mid North Coast loggerhead turtle nest prompted rescuers to act quickly to give any hatchlings the best chance of survival.
‘Too late’: Out of control blaze threatens lives
Locals have been told to rush inside their homes as an out of control fire sweeps through, with “ember attack” also plaguing houses further away from the front.
Slowing motorists on WestConnex ‘an option’ to reduce Rozelle traffic crawl
Chronic congestion on local roads in the last few weeks overshadowed the opening of a 10-hectare parkland on Sunday above the Rozelle interchange.
Lengthy delays in fixing huge gap in wild dog fence ‘defy comprehension’
A grazier whose property is situated at the start of a 32-kilometre-long gap in the wild dog, or dingo, fence says repair work has not begun despite the minister for agriculture claiming it is underway.
Don’t listen to politicians, these graphs show residents are leaving NSW in droves
Matt Wade
In the early 1940s NSW was home to nearly 40 per cent of Australia’s population, but that share has been declining ever since.
Queensland
‘Couldn’t be predicted’: Miles defends bureau as flood victims fume
The scale of the disaster that descended on Far North Queensland could not have been predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather tracking systems, Premier Steven Miles says.
North Queensland underwater after worst flood in decades – video
Queensland’s far north has been flooded by heavy rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Jasper.
Steve Turton
Unprecedented rain brought by Tropical Cyclone Jasper has triggered widespread flooding in far north Queensland, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Cairns airport is closed, roads are extensively damaged and residents in the city’s northern beaches are cut off by floodwaters.
1,000MW extra demand from nowhere: What happens when solar PV output falls off a cliff
Andrew Wilson
At a macro level, the energy transition will be filled with many large challenges to be solved. There are plenty of smaller, unexpected, and fascinating ones as well.
Rolling up our sleeves and ignoring the greenwashing – but are leaps and bounds enough?
Dennis Atkins
Queensland has just sworn in the most environmentally-aware Premier in its history at the same time the world is finally taking the issue seriously. But can Steven Miles cut through the hyperbole
Why ‘Green Grannies’ made raucous protest in Qld parliament [$]
Lee Coaldrake and Dianne Tucker
A protest a year ago that disrupted state parliament was out of desperation because nothing we were doing was working to convince the government to stop fossil fuel projects.
Tasmania
Updated irrigation scheme ‘better aligns with demand in the region’
Applications for water sales under an updated Tamar Irrigation (TI) Scheme opened on Monday, with the government saying the new version “better aligns with demand in the region.”
EPA sells out Tasman Peninsula to Tassal
Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection media release
EPA Director, Wes Ford, has sold out residents of the Tasman Peninsula by renewing industrial Atlantic salmon operations for another two years in Long Bay, next to World Heritage site, Port Arthur.
Northern Territory
Santos’ lawyer accuses expert of ‘weaponising’ heritage
Gas company Santos’ barrister has accused an anthropologist of weaponising cultural heritage to stop construction of the Barossa pipeline.
Santos wins Timor Sea drilling approval
Adelaide-based Santos has been given the green light to begin drilling works in the Timor Sea, although the Barossa project’s gas pipeline is still the subject of a court dispute.
Western Australia
Kimberley Mineral Sands slammed for statement misleading stock market on Land Council’s “consent”
A mining company operating in Western Australia’s north has falsely claimed it had the consent of the Kimberley Land Council for works, the Council says.
Experts weigh in on plans for low-level radioactive waste to be stationed at a Perth defence base, as the Premier suggests it can be sent elsewhere.
WA’s environmental watchdog will look at Alcoa’s bauxite operations, south of Perth, amid concerns about the impact of its mining on drinking water, jarrah forests and animals that live in the area.
‘Overthinking it’: Why Australia’s green ambitions are roadblocked in Western Australia
Australia has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, but frustrated landowners in Western Australia say green land uses are being road-blocked by government red tape.
A warmer, drier climate could mean more salt lakes in Western Australia will turn pink, but less rainfall could also dry up some lakes entirely.
Sustainability
Judge throws out Kabwe lead-poisoning case against Anglo American mining
A South African court has thrown out a case brought against the multinational mining company Anglo American on behalf of 140,000 Zambian women and children, who allege they have suffered lead poisoning from one of its mines.
Green shipping corridors gaining momentum
Ports around the world are investing in green fuels to allow cargo ships to sail carbon-free.
The global plastics treaty: Why is it needed?
This comment in The Lancet argues that, “… physicians, nurses, health workers, and scientists are trusted voices who can help mitigate plastic pollution and reduce its harms to health.”
Recycling, renewables and rubble: How environmental issues could make or break Ukraine’s EU bid
In 2020, only 4% of Ukraine’s waste was recycled – the lowest rate in Europe.
Starmer’s £28bn green pledge is a vote winner. Labour must ignore Tory attacks and keep the faith
Polly Toynbee
Strategists are getting nervous, but energy efficiency and kickstarting growth are important to voters
Our patients need us to stand up to Big Oil
Lisa Patel
It’s time we took on Big Oil’s campaigns of obstruction and misinformation that inflict health harms on all of us, but particularly on vulnerable and marginalized communities. Health professionals and health systems should speak out against fossil fuel industry efforts that place communities in harm’s way.
Nature Conservation
How the Black Mambas are protecting endangered wild animals in South Africa
A group of trained anti-poachers, who call themselves Black Mambas, are fierce protectors of wild animals in Greater Kruger National Park. But they refuse to use bullets.
Restoring boreal caribou habitat, one tree at a time
Seismic lines have carved up forests in northern B.C. To protect the caribou, the Fort Nelson First Nation is trying to erase as many as possible.
Can you change a chicken into a frog, a fish or a chameleon?
Researchers show how changes in cellular activity can drive changes in embryonic development
Benji Jones
Good God, give this US agency a few more dollars to stop a mass extinction.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
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