If there is a silver lining to the ascent of the ‘Buffoon who would be king’ in the US, and that is a bigly if, it is in the opportunity afforded to China to take global leadership in the climate response. This is with support of the ‘backs against the wall’ Europeans and the UK. We can but hope. There’s a glimmer that AUKUS might be a dead project too. And on that, we’re also hoping.
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From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: 17 March 2025 at 9:01:15 am GMT+11
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Mar 17
Date: 17 March 2025 at 9:01:15 am GMT+11
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Mar 17
Post of the Day
Alan Kohler
While markets and media were chasing Donald Trump’s tariff fiasco last week, something far more important was unfolding in East Palestine, Ohio.
On This Day
Saint Patrick’s Day – Ireland
Nuzul Al-Qur’an – Islam
Climate Change
World coffee prices reached a multi-year high in 2024 – increasing 38.8 percent on the previous year’s average – mostly driven by inclement weather affecting key producing countries, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said today.
Ed Miliband visits Beijing as part of plan to create global axis working in favour of climate action
Breakthrough Energy, the climate organization funded by Bill Gates, is downsizing its U.S. policy team and European operations as it pivots away from influencing government policy.
Ed Miliband
I will be the first UK energy secretary since 2017 to visit. It is negligence towards today’s and future generations not to engage China on this critical topic
National
With power unlikely to be restored in some areas for weeks, EV owners are finding clever uses for their ‘batteries on wheels
SUVs are now Australia’s most popular new car to buy. But while owners enjoy tax benefits and more powerful engines, society is paying in ways big and small
Once, governments stumbled over themselves to shower money on rooftop solar owners. No longer — payments have tanked up to 99.93 per cent for exports.
The day after being sworn into office on September 18, 2013, newly installed environment minister Greg Hunt called chief climate commissioner Tim Flannery to tell him he was out of a job.
Georgie Purcell
What’s happening to our native wildlife across the country is just as horrific as what we witnessed in that video – it’s just occurring behind closed doors
Jennifer Hewett
Power prices will be a key election topic as Labor sells the benefits of renewables and the Coalition insists nuclear offers the only affordable answer. But under both plans, it’s customers who will pay.
Aidan Morrison
There is precisely zero cause for future optimism about prices turning a corner. Every excuse has been exhausted.
Australian editorial
It is a mistake to leave the hard work of convincing the electorate of the need for reform and the details of it to the election campaign. The energy disaster provides a platform to build the case for change.
Piers Akerman
This election is shaping up as a choice between realists, who understand the cost of electricity is driven by the Net Zero fantasy, and fantasists, who tend to tear up and clutch their hankies whenever they listen to sob stories.
Jack Redpath
Failing coal power plants and fossil gas companies making super profits will send electricity prices higher next year.
Vikki Campion
There is ‘indisputable evidence’ Chinese company CATL, which has manufactured hundreds of EV bus batteries for NSW, uses slave labour in making its components.
Karen Barlow
The government invited only the progressive independents – excluding the Greens, the Coalition and the relevant parliamentary committee – to a briefing on the still-unpublished Climate Risk Assessment report.
Tony Wood
Four major actions will be necessary to get Australia on track to the 2050 target. Three swift actions must be taken to ensure reliable and affordable electricity in the transition.
Jessy Wu
The MCB playbook is clear: acknowledge contradictions before critics turn them into weapons, overwhelm with technical solutions, reframe luxury as sacrifice, and wealth as the solution.
Victoria
In a gravel riverbed in East Gippsland, the critically endangered Avon peppermint gum is thriving, despite researchers originally believing there were just 10 left in the wild.
Authorities are investigating a massive bushfire that prompted midnight evacuations as it ravaged bushland on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Dozens of businesses across Melbourne’s southeast say they have been hung out to dry by the Allan government as “never-ending” SRL road closures and disruptions isolate them from customers.
Every year, an estimated 2.5 billion nurdles – lentil-sized plastic resin pellets – enter Port Phillip Bay through stormwater drains.
Wild duck hunting is added to a list of prohibited activities near an outbreak of the H7 strain of bird flu, and shooters worry it could be a “practice run” for broader restrictions.
New South Wales
One local council has employed the wriggly, worm-like creatures and their insatiable hunger as part of a push for sustainable waste solutions.
Members of the public are being urged to help track the extent of a fish kill in a region hit hard by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.
The accelerating risk of climate disasters including floods, bushfires and storms means Sydneysiders in some parts of the city are paying over three times more for home insurance than others.
SMH editorial
Beneath our city, a maze of tunnels is under construction. More must be done to keep Sydney’s tunnelling workers safe.
ACT
The Greens in the ACT are pleading with the federal government to block the new access road to Canberra Airport because they said it would cut through the habitat of an endangered lizard.
Canberra Times editorial
Cost of living will be a top-line priority for voters in this upcoming election.
Queensland
Attorney general says legislation developed in response to Citipointe scandal could ‘create unnecessary burden on organisations and institutions’
A week after bracing for cyclonic impact, one of Australia’s tourism hotspots is learning the full extent of damage.
South Australia
Premier Peter Malinauskas has had a veiled dig at his former boss as he outlines plans to axe urban growth boundaries to open up land in five major areas.
Tasmania
A month on from salmon chunks washing ashore, opponents to industrial fish farming have gathered at the site to repeat their call for the practice to be stopped — with Tasmania’s Premier adamant a “majority” still support the industry.
The bushfire warning for the West Coast hub of Queenstown has been downgraded with firefighters optimistic
The state’s environmental watchdog has confirmed that small traces of antibiotics have been identified in chunks of salmon materials that have washed up on southern Tasmanian beaches.
Northern Territory
Rachel Paltridge et al
It’s a late winter afternoon in the spinifex grasslands of the Great Sandy Desert. Pintupi Elder Mantua Nangala holds a firestick and presses it against a clump of dry grass.
Western Australia
Labor MP Patrick Gorman has defended the decision to allow Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to launch his campaign in WA despite controversy surrounding the Nature Positive laws.
Sustainability
Less than 1 per cent of F1’s total carbon footprint comes from the cars on track. What will it take to make the sport more environmentally friendly?
Offshore wind faces community and political opposition as well support for its promise of ample renewable energy and while some claims can be ruled out, experts say other concerns are valid.
Peter Sainsbury
Governments and corporations have been tricking the public by focusing emissions reduction attention on net, rather than real, zero. Reducing methane emissions would reduce global warming quickly and cheaply. Bring back our swamps.
Jim Green et al
The current push in Australia to deploy nuclear power reactors once again contrasts an excessive optimism by nuclear proponents against the continuing stagnant situation of nuclear power worldwide.
The Economist
The billionaire’s closeness to Donald Trump and support for far-right causes have prompted a backlash, but Tesla’s sales are sinking for other reasons too.
Guardian editorial
New evidence of particles damaging crops strengthens the case for an international plastics treaty
Nature Conservation
Social media can help scientists track animal species as they relocate in response to climate change, new research shows.
The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to scale back protections for wetlands, aligning with a 2023 Supreme Court decision that limited federal authority over U.S. waterways.
Recovered grasslands need more than 75 years of continuous management to regain their biodiversity because specialized pollinators are slow to return. A new finding underscores the importance of preserving old grasslands as reservoirs of biodiversity, even if it is just as ski slopes.
Tanya Latty
About 90% of flowering plants rely on animals to transfer their pollen and optimise reproduction, making pollination one of nature’s most important processes.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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