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Date: 17 January 2024 at 8:57:09 am AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Jan 17
Post of the Day
Patrick O’Connor and Anthelia Bond
Climate change and biodiversity loss are arguably the greatest environmental challenges the world faces. The way we use land is crucial in finding solutions to these problems. In theory, actions such as revegetation and avoiding land clearing can tackle both problems at once – for example, by simultaneously storing carbon in plants and providing habitat for animals.
On This Day
Feast Day of Anthony the Great – Catholicism
Guru Gobind Singh’s Birthday – Sikhism
Climate Change
Third of UK teenagers believe climate change exaggerated, report shows
YouTube criticised for amplifying lies about the climate with disinformation videos watched by young people
The scientists fighting back against climate doomers [$]
As the realities of climate change begin to bite, there’s a new problem emerging: the voices suggesting it’s too late to stop looming, species-ending catastrophe.
CEOs fear climate change and AI threats could doom their companies in 10 years, survey shows
The survey conducted by PwC revealed executives believe there needs to be a major overhaul if their companies want to stay afloat with setbacks like artificial intelligence and climate change. CEOS around the world fear their companies won’t survive another decade, survey shows
In first public statement, new UN weather chief calls to bolster warning systems for extreme weather
The new head of the United Nations weather agency said Tuesday that strengthening early warning systems that monitor when and where extreme weather will happen is a key priority for her administration that will help reduce the risk of natural disasters that are exacerbated by climate change.
Trump supporters expect a ‘battle’ against climate science in 2nd term
For all his bombast, the former president’s agencies hesitated to rewrite federal climate reports or install loyalists atop key science agencies. Some of his allies expect that to change.
Iron fertilization isn’t going to save us
The controversial geoengineering technique can defer, at best, a few years’ worth of emissions. And that’s ignoring the potential side effects.
National
‘You don’t just rush out and start spending money’: Slow going for high-speed rail
Transport Minister Catherine King said governance and planning had to be right, as the opposition slammed progress on the project.
Green law activists’ $16bn risk to projects [$]
The Environmental Defenders Office is threatening to tie up more than $16bn worth of projects in pending litigation, amidst renewed calls for green activist court cases to lose taxpayer funding.
Energy funding pledge for low income earners [$]
More than $200m will be spent on energy saving upgrades in social housing and helping provide access to solar power for low-income renters and apartment residents.
Top-selling Tesla misses safety mark in Australia
A new version of one of Australia’s best-selling electric cars could be recalled after the country’s vehicle safety agency refused to issue a rating for the vehicle.
Battery prices are tipped to fall 40 per cent. Here’s what that means for cheaper EVs
A string of recent developments, from battery manufacturing to new engine efficiency rules, will affect the price you pay for a new car.
Blowing in the wind: Former Greens eco-warrior says we should all fear wind turbines
The renewables sector is booming but one man is shouting from the rooftops that it is coming at a huge cost to the environment and he’s getting strong support
Fossil lobby claims voters want nuclear. Grid simulation shows it’s the last thing Australia needs
Sophie Vorrath
As the Coalition goes nuclear in its opposition to solar and wind, data modelling 100% renewables on Australia’s NEM reminds us why SMRs are not part of the picture.
Victoria
State was warned in 2017 about dredging challenges at Port of Hastings
The Allan government said it was blindsided when the Commonwealth rejected its plan to base an offshore wind farm at Hastings. But Victoria’s own infrastructure body warned in 2017 the state couldn’t build on the wetlands.
Deadly asbestos still being dumped in ‘wild west’ Victoria as state rejects landfill funding
A plan to increase the network of safe landfill sites for the disposal of asbestos has collapsed, with the state refusing more funding for the program following delays and cost blowouts.
Should Australian parliaments axe the Lord’s Prayer? In Victoria, it’s up for debate
Every parliament, except the ACT, features the Christian prayer. But it hasn’t always been the case, and some say it’s time to change
ACT
Why cyclists need miracles on their way to work [$]
Bageshri Savyasachi
Why are there no protected cycle lanes along Northbourne Avenue?
Queensland
Another day, another dingo attack as K’Gari campers bitten for third time this year
A man has been bitten on the leg by a dingo in the third attack in as many weeks at a popular Queensland tourist spot.
Floating ‘rafts’ of deadly fire ants in Qld pose growing threat to NSW
Venomous fire ants caught in Queensland floodwaters are forming living rafts that can quickly travel long distances, raising the threat of more incursions into NSW.
South Australia
Extinction Rebellion bridge abseiler who halted Adelaide traffic sentenced over protest
Meme Caroline Thorne, whose peak-hour protest outside the Adelaide Convention Centre during an oil and gas conference triggered the SA government to introduce new anti-obstruction laws, is ordered to pay $750 in compensation to the emergency services who retrieved her.
Fears for endangered bird as rocket proposal encroaches on habitat
An environmental expert says noise and rocket launches run a “very high risk” that the endangered southern emu-wrens will “disappear” from the area.
Tasmania
Marinus Link to split from TasNetworks to go its own way [$]
TasNetworks is positive for the next chapter of Marinus Link because ‘projects of this size need their own entity’. What’s to come.
Northern Territory
Chief Minister heads to Japan to assure industry ‘we back gas’ [$]
After a significant win for Santos’ Barossa project, Chief Minister Eva Lawler hopes a taxpayer funded trip to Japan will shore up crucial investor confidence in the Territory gas market.
Indigenous groups and gas giants promised clearer rules
Indigenous leaders and gas giants have been promised clearer guidelines after confusion over an offshore project ended up in court.
EDO lawyer slammed by judge in Santos case moves on [$]
An Environmental Defenders Office solicitor found by a judge to have distorted the words of an Indigenous witness has left the organisation.
Santos win reveals the environmental movement’s damaging own-goal
Elizabeth Knight
The clear message is that environmental groups need to pick their battles more wisely.
Green defenders overreach themselves in the Tiwi Islands [$]
AFR editorial
In a pushback against environmental lawfare, a Federal Court judge has seen through attempts by expert witnesses to manipulate spiritual beliefs and push their own agenda.
Tiwi travesty underscores the need for better offshore regulation [$]
Samantha McCulloch
There should be an investigation of the EDO to underline that vexatious claims cannot be the way to halt gas projects.
Western Australia
Perth packs floods, fires and hail into one 41C day
Outer suburban homeowners were more worried about bushfires on Tuesday, never expecting the danger that swept up out of nowhere to endanger life and property.
RAC rolls out first electric roadside assistance vans [$]
Electric vehicle drivers who run out of charge can now be rescued, with RAC rolling out its first electric roadside assistance vans in Perth.
Hitchhiking cane toad sparks race to trap pests before ‘frontline’ reaches WA tourist town
A 15cm-long cane toad found in Broome is believed to have travelled there in a vehicle from an infested area, and authorities expect there will be more.
It’s a major regional city, now its residents are calling for basic kerbside recycling
Kerbside recycling in these WA cities and towns could reduce Australia’s landfill waste, so what’s the hold up?
Sustainability
Agricultural nitrogen pollution is global threat, but circular solutions await
Carbon dioxide is just one of several powerful greenhouse gases destabilizing the global climate, and just one of the human-produced pollutants severely impacting the natural world and threatening to push Earth out of its current habitable state.
Are gas stoves dangerous? We tested against induction cooktops to find out
Scientists’ best answer, at the moment, to whether you should ditch your gas stove is: We’re not sure yet.
Cities make progress in the battle against air pollution
The world’s megacities are showing signs of air quality improvement, focusing on transportation, industry, waste management and clean energy.
First uranium mines to dig in the US in eight years begin operations near Grand Canyon
The push for more nuclear energy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spiked uranium prices, leading mines for the element to begin operating again in the U.S. despite long-term environmental and health impacts.
Murder, drought and peyote: the deadly struggle for Mexico’s water
How the twin menaces of mining and agribusiness threaten a sacred way of life.
Nature Conservation
This pristine lake has endured for 2m years. Why are its fish in crisis?
Beneath the surface of one of the world’s oldest lakes in Mongolia, Hovsgol grayling, a species found nowhere else, are struggling to survive.
In Colombia, a park for anacondas and anteaters, where ranchers are now rangers
Colombia created its latest, and perhaps last, national park by befriending the traditional ranching culture that surrounds it.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
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