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From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2026 at 9:09 am
Subject: Daily Links Sep 10
To:
Post of the Day
Nitrogen pollution is poisoning the planet – and barely anyone is talking about it
Julian Cribb
Human activity is releasing far more reactive nitrogen than the Earth can safely absorb, damaging climate, biodiversity, human health, soils and oceans.
On This Day
Climate Change
Can an entire Arctic ecosystem evolve to adapt to the climate crisis?
In the first project of its kind, scientists are trying to answer if the future of Alaska’s streams and tundra may depend not on survival of the fittest but on how species adapt together
In North Carolina, a race is on to restore critical peatland before it dries up or is destroyed
Scientists and investors are restoring a 23-square-mile (60-square-kilometer) tract of peatland in North Carolina to help curb climate-warming emissions and restore native habitat.
The ozone paradox: A growing cost of a warmer atmosphere
Mexico City’s air is getting cleaner, but ozone levels near the ground aren’t decreasing as fast as expected. Climate change is partly to blame.
We’re the mayors of Paris, Milan and Phoenix. The heat crisis has us all facing the same question
Emmanuel Grégoire, Giuseppe Sala and Kate Gallego
Our three cities are learning from each other about how to protect residents. These climate policies are also public health measures
Many people aren’t connecting the dots between climate change and extreme weather
Kiley Price
Scientific evidence has never been stronger. Why aren’t more people making the link?
National
Australia’s love for coastal living faces $850b reckoning
Australian researchers find more than 267,000 coastal properties and 2 million hectares of land across the country will face flood damage by 2100.
Senate inquiry will scrutinse APVMA decision to allow paraquat use
Independent Senator David Pocock has used support from the Greens and the Coalition to launch an inquiry into the regulator’s decision to allow the continued use of the controversial weedkiller.
Restoring Australia’s she-oaks means listening to Indigenous Knowledges
Anthony Romano et al
The she-oaks no longer whisper across much of Australia. A 2000-year record from GunaiKurnai Country holds the answer to who shaped these native woodlands and what restoration is missing
Can Australians have their burgers and their forests too?
Nick O’Malley
Australia is the only wealthy nation that is still clearing native vegetation beef despite the efforts of major buyers to meet goals to clear their supply chains.
I founded CDC. Data centres must do four things to earn social licence [$]
Greg Boorer
National cabinet’s decision to back mandatory standards for energy, water and land is not an attack on the industry. It shows digital infrastructure matters.
Peter Hannam
Environmental authorities will be faced with a wave of new e-waste as data centre industry ramps up, including rising amounts of so-called “forever chemicals.”
Proposed gas network revenue reforms leave consumers to pay for investors’ bad bets [$]
Brian Spak et al
In its draft determination on changes to the rules governing gas networks revenue recovery, the AEMC has misjudged who needs protecting.
Victoria
Parties divided over purple-lid glass bins ahead of Victorian election
Councils call on the Victorian government to reconsider a mandate requiring purple-lid glass-recycling bins to be rolled out to all homes by July 2027.
Auditor-general finds nearly half of Victoria’s roads in very poor condition
The Victorian auditor-general has found that 48 per cent of state roads were in a “very poor condition” in a report released today.
One Melbourne council has nearly 400 potholes. See how your area compares [$]
A new report has found that state government-managed roads around the state are deteriorating faster than they’re being fixed, as parties scramble for solutions before the election.
Communities in Victoria’s west push for return of passenger trains
Communities across western Victoria are pushing for the return of passenger trains along crucial routes ahead of November’s state election.
Victoria’s koalas in chronically poor health and population is half what was previously estimated
State government delayed releasing major report into the health of the koala population for more than 12 months
In a shock announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the Victorian government has announced it is abandoning the controversial renewable energy zone around Dookie.
$1.5b fast-tracked data centre ignites local backlash – and a warning for the tech industry [$]
A $1.47b Spotswood data centre to draw as much power as a regional city triggers pushback, as the state warns the tech industry community sentiment is changing.
New South Wales
Future of culling brumbies in NSW national park could hinge on one word
A brumby advocate has said in court that the pest management plan for a NSW national park does not give the government the right to conduct aerial culls.
Watchdog’s floodplain admission sparks call for immediate embargo
Calls to halt floodplain harvesting are mounting after NSW’s chief water regulator revealed uncertainty around enforcing the state’s water laws.
Inside Australia’s deepest motorway tunnels dogged by sinkholes [$]
Two years after sinkholes halted work, a first look inside the tunnels under Sydney’s south reveals a multibillion-dollar project of stark contrasts.
Carbon offsets threaten Great Koala National Park promise
Sue Arnold
The Great Koala National Park remains hostage to a controversial carbon offset scheme despite Labor’s longstanding promise to protect it.
Eastern suburbs high-rise proposals ignite housing density fight [$]
SMH editorial
A proposal to tackle Sydney’s housing crisis has convinced some the eastern suburbs will become high-rise heaven.
ACT
Locals fear community will be ‘dissected’ by new Dunns Creek Road routes [$]
Every day, 83-year-old Wesley Kilham can be found in his garden, tending his orchard and communing with the kangaroos, the wombats and the cockatoos.
Queensland
Microplastics stay with you forever – and there are plenty in Brisbane’s creeks [$]
QUT researchers have been looking at the amount and toxicity of plastic in our waterways. The results aren’t good.
Traditional owners’ shock as rival moves on remote mine site
Mining giant Rio Tinto has agreed to acquire the Aurukun Bauxite Project in far north Queensland from a joint venture between London-listed Glencore and Mitsubishi Development.
South Australia
Polling officials say they were ignored after offering to work at SA election
South Australia’s Electoral Commission did not follow up with polling officials who indicated they wanted to work at the 2026 state election, multiple former officials say.
SA energy boss touts gas ‘advantages’ of ‘world at war’
The boss of SA’s largest company insists Australia does not have a gas crisis, in a National Press Club address today.
‘Rockstars of the mammal world’ making SA comeback
An Eyre Peninsula breeding programme is bringing a rare mammal – that lives fast and dies young – back from the brink.
A new Water-cleaning tech plan for River Torrens blocked
bid to clear bacterial outbreaks in the city centrepiece waterway filled with debris is meeting opposition.
Tasmania
H5 bird flu spreads; owners urged to house poultry [$]
H5 bird flu detections in Tasmania have now reached 33 events, with authorities saying the virus has likely spread throughout the entire state’s environment.
Allegations levelled at salmon industry ‘under consideration’ [$]
Two new complaints made by an advocacy organisation regarding the Tasmanian salmon industry’s alleged animal welfare breaches are “under consideration”, the state government says.
Northern Territory
Maley defends family link in proposed data centre deal [$]
Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley has defended not telling the public about his family link to a gas company granted exclusive Crown land access for a proposed $40bn data centre project.
The Beetaloo trap. INPEX to frack more, pay less as NT debt balloons
Graham Bates
While the NT’s debt balloons and essential services crumble, foreign-owned INPEX extract billions through fiscal stability agreements.
Western Australia
Black dust pollution sparks push to change Chinese-owned miner’s licence
An investigation into dust pollution around Geraldton has found magnetite from industrial activities is directly contributing to the levels of dust throughout the community.
Sustainability
New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries
For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination.
Shuttered nuclear plant in Iowa gets $1.9B federal loan to restart
NextEra Energy is one of three U.S. energy companies to win backing from the Department of Energy to revive shut-down nuclear plants to meet soaring power demand.
Nature Conservation
How plastic fishing gear is hurting short-finned pilot whales
Short-finned pilot whales have a misleading name. They’re called whales, but are really a type of dolphin. They’re one of the many ocean creatures that call these islands home, and as a new study reports, a creature being targeted by Hawaiʻi’s ocean pollution problem.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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