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Date: 14 March 2024 at 09:16:39 GMT+11
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Mar 14
Post of the Day
Five nuclear questions Dutton needs to answer
Parker McKenzie
The Coalition’s push for a nuclear solution to Australia’s net-zero transition has left many questions unanswered, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his shadow ministry seemingly struggle with the facts, economics and reality of adopting nuclear power.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Day of Action for Rivers
Climate Change
US banks’ nuanced stance on funding coal projects with emissions abatement
Many U.S. banks continue to finance coal plants that adopt emissions abatement technologies, despite a global trend towards divesting from coal.
Election outcomes won’t shift climate goals, Cop29 leader says
At the upcoming UN climate summit, Cop29, the newly elected leaders around the world will be expected to uphold the same stringent climate commitments as their predecessors, emphasizing the universal urgency of addressing global warming.
Biden’s new budget includes funds for climate change initiatives
President Joe Biden has proposed significant funding toward the United Nations Green Climate Fund in his latest budget plan.
National
Global life expectancy fell by 1.6 years during the COVID-19 pandemic but Australia bucked the trend
Australia was one of the only countries to record an increase in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021, demonstrating the “relative success” of Australia’s handling of the pandemic, an infectious diseases expert says.
Fresh produce growers scramble to meet “forecast” supply deals with supermarkets, but every year millions of dollars of surplus food goes to waste. So what’s going on?
‘Large exothermic reaction’: Why your exposed batteries are causing hundreds of fires
Lithium-ion batteries have been responsible for more than 1,000 fires during the past year in Australia. Industry and government want regulation and action.
Milad Haghani
The Pitch Music and Arts Festival in Moyston, Victoria, was cancelled while festival-goers were already on site this weekend, after an extreme fire danger warning was issued.
E for equity? E-scooter and e-bike schemes can help people on low incomes and with disabilities
Alexa Delbosc
Low-income customers who qualify for subsidised rates are five times more likely to use shared e-scooters and e-bikes for daily travel. People with disabilities also value them
Dutton’s blast of radioactive rhetoric on nuclear power leaves facts in the dust
Graham Readfearn
Coalition’s claim of cheap power and quickly built reactors is at odds with real world experience of other countries
How to Blow Up a Pipeline: an eco-thriller Australia urgently needs
Adam Fleet
Daniel Goldhaber’s twitchy, tense film about a group of climate activists barely had a theatrical release here, but is a must-see
Renewable energy collapse not a sign of superpower
Australian editorial
Danger that government will throw good taxpayer money after bad.
Another case of undergrad politics overruling clear-headed science [$]
Amanda Vanstone
Labor is in a sticky quagmire with nuclear power. Chris Bowen is quick to disparage Peter Dutton’s endorsement of a shift to nuclear
It’s Monday after the next federal election. Does Albanese call Bandt? [$]
Shaun Carney
The Greens are struggling to break out from being a boutique, purist, inner-city outfit that tells its existing supporters what they want to hear.
Peter Dutton’s recycled nuclear contamination
Michelle Pini
“Nuclear power is one hell of a way to boil water.” ~ Albert Einstein
Automakers not the only ones caught out by slowing EV revolution
Jennifer Hewett
Chris Bowen will find it harder to maintain his preferred speed for new fuel efficiency standards as the pedal eases off the metal in EV sales.
Victoria
State-owned logging company VicForests to be wound up by June 30
Legal representatives for VicForest reveal it will cease to exist beyond June, after multiple court cases and heavy scrutiny of its business practices.
It could be an emissions boon or street parking nightmare: The plan to ditch on-site parking
Victoria’s transport department is considering scrapping minimum parking requirements for new apartments to encourage high-density development and reduce traffic.
Voters won’t know Suburban Rail Loop cost until after 2026 election
Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson says an independent costing of the second stage of the infrastructure project is wrong – but he won’t say how much it will cost.
Offshore wind plans blow up: too late, too expensive [$]
Expert warnings about the cost of Victoria’s offshore wind plans follow major setbacks with Tanya Plibersek’s veto of the Port of Hastings, and a drastically reduced Southern Ocean wind zone.
New South Wales
Dolphin’s ‘needless’ death off NSW coast reignites calls for shark net removal
A resident who caught vision of the dead animal north of Wollongong on his lunchbreak says he hopes it creates impetus for change.
NSW to double penalties for worst environmental crimes in wake of asbestos crisis
Planned overhaul of Environment Protection Authority’s powers to be biggest since it began in 1991, government says
Planning laws a bar to green goals: developers [$]
NSW has ambitious energy transition goals, but renewables developers warn the targets are only feasible with urgent changes to planning laws.
Sydney rock oyster farmers in hot water as marine heatwave leads to closure of lake
Water temperatures reached 29 degrees in parts of Merimbula Lake in the past week, forcing oyster farmers to close harvesting on a south coast estuary lake farmed for more than a century.
Australia’s biggest smelter to launch massive wind and solar tender, says nuclear too costly
A massive tender for wind and solar projects is to be launched next week to help repower Australia’s biggest aluminium smelter Tomago, near Newcastle, with its majority owner saying nuclear is out of the question because it is too slow and too expensive.
You can’t to do a U-turn on a toll road, but Minns might have to
Alexandra Smith
NSW Labor’s response to its wide-ranging toll review will be the state version of the federal government’s reversal on stage 3 tax cuts.
To drive fairness, Sydney’s road tolling reform must start now
John Graham
The Allan Fels toll review gives hope that a simpler, fairer system for most users is possible.
Queensland
Where Brisbane’s mayoral candidates stand on green bridges
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner promised five new green bridges within 10 years when he became mayor in 2019.
Photos show that, so far, nothing has saved the Great Barrier Reef [$]
The federal government faces fresh questions over its climate action after the Reef was hit by its fifth mass bleaching event since 2016.
How one Brisbane community is engineering its own flood response
After the 2022 floods, West End resident and engineer Adrian Sains banded together with other local experts to mitigate future inundation.
Leo DiCaprio’s spotlight on beef industry land clearing highlights crucial data discrepancies
Megan Hughes
A Hollywood A-lister may not have realised the can of worms he was opening by wading into the deforestation debate in Queensland.
South Australia
Population growth is unsustainable regardless of action to reduce impact
The SA/NT branch of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has welcomed the State of Environment 2023 (SoE) report for South Australia which states that human activities are the greatest driver of environmental change.
Tasmania
Tasmania has some of the oldest and highest polluting vehicles in Australia
The federal government will introduce a National Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES) from 2025, and it’s likely to affect Tasmanians more than most.
Hobart construction company has no permit for Risdon Vale “dump” [$]
Spectran Group copped a $40k fine for illegally dumping demolition waste, and now a second site operated by the company is under scrutiny. Here’s why nearby residents are upset.
Northern Territory
Bloodbath as lithium firm goes into meltdown
Beleaguered miner Core Lithium has announced two key resignations, as mining operations remain shelved at its flagship project.
Albanese’s piece of mine … for $1.1bn [$]
The PM will underwrite almost $1.1bn in loans and grants to build a rare earths mine and refinery in the NT and support a WA lithium mine, both backed by Gina Rinehart.
Western Australia
Bandicoots given new home after Mariginiup bushfires
Quendas displaced by the Mariginiup bushfire have new places to call home, with the City of Wanneroo installing bungalows in bushland.
WA private hospitals to axe anaesthetic agent in green push [$]
WA-based private hospital operator St John of God will scrub the use of high carbon-emitting anaesthetic agent ‘desflurane’ from 17 of their hospitals nationally.
Sustainability
New high-performance solar cell material
A new study reports the discovery of an entirely new stable, earth-abundant, high-performance material for solar absorbers — the central part of a solar cell that turns light into electricity.
Air pollution levels have improved in Europe over 20 years, say researchers
But 98% of Europeans live in areas WHO says have unhealthy levels of PM2.5
Air filters and scheduled window opening can reduce classroom pollution by up to 36%
To improve air quality in classrooms, schools should use air purifiers during the school day and open the windows after hours. That’s according to a new study.
Inner suburban Melbourne council joins French capital in targeting large vehicles and moving towards size-based pricing for parking
Climate policies to reduce motor vehicle emissions can improve children’s health, save money
A new study finds that policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles combined with investments in electric vehicles and public transportation would reduce air pollution and bring large benefits to children’s health. They would also save money.
The unstoppable scourge of plastic
Peter Boyer
Every day our newspaper is delivered to the driveway wrapped in a thin film of plastic to keep it dry in wet weather. The papers are recycled, but every day the plastic goes to the bin – because landfill is the only disposal option.
Nature Conservation
Seven times size of Manhattan: the African tree-planting project making a difference
Thousands of farmers have been persuaded by TREES scheme to replace barren monocultures with biodiverse forest gardens
Rainforest’s next generation of trees threatened 30 years after logging
Rainforest seedlings are more likely to survive in natural forests than in places where logging has happened — even if tree restoration projects have taken place, new research shows.
Range-shifting fishes are climate-change losers, according to new research
Concordia’s Jean-Philippe Lessard says populations fleeing warming waters are facing collapse
Pronghorn population declining due to human development
A new article looked at 40 years of data collected on 40 pronghorn herds residing in the Wyoming Basin Shrub Steppe. Overall, 80% of the herds saw a decrease in productivity, and nearly 43% saw a significant decrease.
Wildlife refuges face budget cuts, risking operations and conservation efforts
In a recent funding resolution, wildlife refuges across the nation are confronting a significant $14 million budget cut, endangering visitor centers, wildlife management, and the already limited number of wildlife officers.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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