‘You’ve got look holistically’, says Chris Bowen. Tell that to those in Spain working to recover from unprecedented (there’s that word again) floods, tell that to the Pacific nations with which our coal exporting government would like as co-hosts of COP31, and don’t bother telling that to the MAGA people voting tomorrow in the US, there’re too many syllables in ‘holistically’.
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From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: 4 November 2024 at 8:51:22 AM GMT+11
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 4
Date: 4 November 2024 at 8:51:22 AM GMT+11
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 4
Post of the Day
Madeline Taylor and Paige Street,
You might have heard about your local Buy Nothing Project group on Facebook. If not, you probably know someone who’s a member. We estimate at least one million Australians are involved as members or live in households with a member (probably their mum).
On This Day
Recreation Day – Tasmania
Climate Change
Concerned students press for their high schools – some with $1bn endowments – to reinvest in clean energy
Nick O’Malley
Everyone knows both the solution to climate disasters and what’s causing them, but our leaders remain unwilling or unable to take corrective action.
Guardian editorial
More than 200 deaths and widespread destruction in Valencia are the latest sign of danger in a warming world
National
They have roamed for thousands of years, their presence woven into the country’s culture and ecosystems. But the increasing presence of dingoes in areas where farmers are grazing livestock is creating a complex and emotive challenge.
Solar panels that can be printed out like newspapers and rolled up to fit in your pocket are one step closer thanks to a new development by CSIRO.
More Australian businesses are adopting electric heavy-duty trucks but the industry still risks missing its emissions reduction target, experts warn.
Santos and Beach Energy’s Moomba project hopes to overturn the technology’s weak reputation. Its detractors say it has already had 20 years to prove them wrong.
Australia’s main grid reached a record renewable share of 47.4 pct for October, while in South Australia wind and solar accounted for an average 85.2 per cent of state demand.
Some developers are dumping the renewable energy generation components of their projects in favour of battery only plans, with projects planning large solar farms the main ones affected.
Stronger winds and heavier rainfall in eastern Australia have boosted renewable energy generation and pummelled coal to its lowest share of the grid on record for this time of the year.
The climate change minister is ‘disturbed’ by rising temperatures and increasingly unnatural natural disasters – but that’s what gets him out of bed every day
How to replace gas – Energy Insiders podcast:
The gas industry says we need more of the fossil fuel to prosper. Jarrod Leak, from the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity, says that’s not true, and there are alternatives.
Gareth Hutchens
How many people can live sustainably on the Australian continent?
Patrick McClelland
None of the following statements are true. Offshore wind farms kill whales. Regional communities oppose renewables en masse. Renewable energy was designed to be cheaper.
Graham Lloyd
Offshore turbines are sold as a way to bypass hurdles for renewables — but they are far from a perfect solution. In the global arms race for emissions-free energy, Australia has thrown caution to the wind.
Matt O’Connor and Rob Fowler
Despite its vast size, Australian land is not living up to its full potential. Much of it remains idle or allocated for uses that barely scratch the surface of what it could offer. This is due to a variety of factors, including unsustainable land management practices, regulatory constraints, and conflicting commercial and environmental interests.
Victoria
Removing wildlife carcasses from the road is a usual morning for Jason Cichocki but he says a new technology has more than halved the number of animals colliding with vehicles.
Victorians may be slugged more for drink packs and slabs of beer, beverage companies have warned, as the operating costs of the state’s cash-for-container scheme gets set to rise by 30 per cent.
Victorians who buy electric cooktops to replace gas models will be able to use their receipt to claim rebates of about $140 under changes to the state’s energy upgrades program that have taken effect, with plans to allow major retailers to provide the discounts.
New South Wales
The Coalition took advice from the same ‘rebel’ Indigenous group Tanya Plibersek did in stalling a gold mine near the NSW town of Blayney.
Melbourne City Council banned them and Canberrans appear to love them, but Sydney and NSW councils are yet to decide if e-scooter hire companies will be allowed to move in.
Children living in a remote, desert-like town in north-western NSW can fill their drink bottles with safe, chilled water sucked out of the air by hydropanels at their school.
A massive wind farm proposed for Mudgee has been approved, with a few key moderations. Here’s what it means.
Giles Parkinson
The iconic mining town of Broken Hill should have everything it needs to provide electricity to its residents and industries. Once, it did.
SMH editorial
Sydney Water’s proposed 50 per cent hike in water rates is too big an ask.
ACT
A $63,000 project to disrupt the build-up of toxic blue-green algae in Lake Burley Griffin had no measurable impact, the National Capital Authority has concluded.
Canberra Times editorial
The news that landowners in the ACT kill about 7000 kangaroos a year is surprising. There is an official cull of the creatures, which resulted in the deaths of 1232 eastern grey kangaroos in seven nature reserves in June.
Queensland
For Save Eungella campaigner Jonelle Neilsen, the visit symbolised the start of the healing process for the community.
The Queensland government will scrap a major renewable energy scheme but is facing calls to reveal its alternative plan.
A mega pumped hydro storage project presented as a centrepiece of Queensland Labor’s re-election platform was ‘commercially unviable’, would cost more than double its planned $12bn price tag, according to a report.
The Queensland Museum expert discovered the carnivorous critters while controlling a deep-sea vehicle from his desk.
New Premier David Crisafulli has revealed what’s been blocking new tourism projects from coming to Queensland as he makes a move which will open the door to a cableway in the Hinterland.
New data obtained by Brisbane Times reveals how traffic on the city’s major thoroughfares changed after public transport fares were dropped to 50¢.
Noel Turnbull
The new Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli, has made some moderately progressive comments about climate and nuclear energy but they are, when considered in the context of the latest Zurich-Mandala Climate Risk Index, insignificant compared to the scale of the problems the State faces.
South Australia
The global race to upgrade coal operations is proving difficult. At South Australia’s struggling steelworks, taken over by Sanjeev Gupta’s firm, jobs have been lost and promises to invest remain unfulfilled
Scientists say southern right whale numbers have recovered in the Great Australian Bight Marine Park, and are now calling for further protection as they move into new areas.
Total patronage of Adelaide’s trains, trams and buses has recovered significantly since the pandemic – but is still more than 10 per cent down on pre-COVID levels.
SA farmers and the Nationals are warning they cannot absorb the costs of a new scheme the government says will maximise opportunities in a clean economy.
Tasmania
Electric vehicle enthusiasts, policy makers and industry representatives from across the country converged in Tasmania to discuss the latest developments in EV use and technology.
A Hobart junior doctor is heading to the UK to study public and planetary health after winning a prestigious scholarship. She says climate change will affect everyone – including Tasmanians.
Tasmanian protesters flocked to Hobart’s Parliament Lawns, as part of nationwide action to put an end to native forest logging.
Northern Territory
A Top End council will spend the equivalent of one-eighth of its annual income removing and remediating stockpiles of asbestos-contaminated concrete waste at two of its municipal tips, documents show.
A five-year fight over an illegal walkway has brought up dark memories of dispossession and voicelessness for Kakadu National Park Traditional Owners.
It is said Bula sleeps at Gunlom Falls, at the base of sickness country; a spirit so powerful the Jawoyn people liken it to Armageddon.
Western Australia
After finding numerous trees with branches sawn off, WA photographer Lynn Webb is increasingly concerned the lure of $8,000 per kilogram seeds is putting the environment at risk.
West Australian voters back an independent environmental watchdog and tougher environmental laws, according to new polling senator David Pocock hopes will strengthen the government’s resolve.
Billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has withdrawn from a bid to transform Australia’s largest sheep station into a green energy hub, blaming delays in government approval.
Vapes can now only be legally purchased in WA with a prescription. But the state’s efforts to reduce their availability is an uphill battle.
Sustainability
Satellites have long been used to track plastic in the ocean but have struggled to accurately spot pollution against a sandy background. Now a newly published algorithm might change all that, and lead to clean-up work all over the globe.
Thousands of small farms have closed according to analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states
Plant’s owners hope analysis of tiny sample will help to establish how to safely decommission facility
As heatwaves become more intense, cities are looking for strategies that can help keep neighborhoods cooler.
The new research shows that using generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini could improve city planning by enhancing access to tools that help measure walkability, safety, lighting, and more.
A recent paper in Frontiers in Toxicology examined research submitted by industry to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the neurotoxicity of neonicotinoids – the most widely used class of insecticides in the U.S. and worldwide – and found that the data was evaluated improperly by the agency.
Nature Conservation
Countries at the UN COP16 summit on nature have approved a measure to create a permanent body for Indigenous peoples to consult on United Nations decisions about nature conservation.
Citizen scientists enable researchers to analyze effectiveness of protected areas
Data could help rethink climate change models regarding sources of carbon and CO2 sinks
Two humpback whales were found dead in krill fishing nets near Antarctica earlier this year, while a third whale had serious injuries, a report from a conservation conference in Hobart has revealed.
Conservation summit agrees global levy on drugs from nature’s genetics and stronger indigenous representation, but developing nations furious at unmet funding promises
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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