From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2026 at 8:23 am
Subject: Daily Links Sep 28
To:
Post of the Day
Climate policy has a sacrifice problem. My clinical trials kept solving it by accident.
Hana Kahleova
Many choices we ask people make to help the climate don’t reveal immediate results. But we found that changing diets can have a climate benefit and quickly reduce some health risks.
On This Day
Sukkot – Judaism
King’s Birthday – WA
Climate Change
Powered by sun and wind, the uncrewed vehicle will collect data to help Australian scientists better understand how oceans absorb emissions
Would you bet on the future of our planet?
Prediction markets are focusing on extreme weather and the climate crisis. But it’s led to questions about what exactly people are betting on
Nepal’s PM says flash flood was ‘warning to world’ as he scolds leaders at UN over climate change
Shah said Nepal’s recovery and reconstruction needs were estimated at about 10% of GDP, as he appealed for more international support
To mitigate Himalayan disasters, Beijing must abandon its narrow, fear-based controls
Tenzin Bhagen
The latest death toll of the Tibet-Nepal flood on Aug. 26 is now reported to be 1,453, with 5,200 still missing. But this reflects exclusively on the Nepali side. Under Chinese control, the Tibetan people are deprived not only of basic human rights in life, but the right to have their deaths openly recognized is denied by Beijing’s impulse to restrict information.
Tuvalu criticises its ‘good neighbour’ [$]
Stephen Long
In a scathing interview, Tuvalu’s climate minister criticises Australia’s inaction on phasing out fossil fuels, and the ‘unacceptable’ absence of global leaders at the Pacific talks.
September’s ozone hole was the biggest in 20 years. The warning signs appeared months ago
Hannah E. Kessenich et al
The area covered by the Antarctic ozone hole peaked at more than 27 million square kilometres in September, the second-largest ever observed for this time of year.
National
Pressure grows to import experimental sea lion vaccine as bird flu campaign launches
The Federal Government has launched a national education campaign on the H5 bird flu to provide “practical advice” to Australians on what to do if they come across sick or dead birds.
Hey Farm Assistant: farmers adding AI to their toolkits
Farmers are training AI to help them make business decisions while grappling with concerns about the fast-developing technology’s use of land, water and energy.
How to maximise your EV’s range while spending as little as possible
If you’re among the many Australians who have bought an electric vehicle this year, or just want to better understand your EV, here’s what the experts say about maximising the range of your ride.
Australia trails UN peers on climate national security [$]
Karen Barlow
As the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a record El Niño will push global heating beyond 1.5 degrees this year, the government still refuses to publicly detail the national security threat.
The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story [$]
Peter Martin
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
Albanese vs Miliband at Climate Week: it was no contest
David Spratt
Two leaders shared a Climate Week stage, but their speeches revealed contrasting approaches to climate leadership. Albanese spoke about Australia’s climate efforts; Miliband set out how governments must prepare for climate threats. The question is where Australia’s plan is.
Coalition panned after vowing to scrap renewable, EV and climate policies
Peter Hannam
The Coalition has unveiled plans to scrap Australia’s legislated climate targets, industrial emissions rules and vehicle efficiency standards, while reopening the door to nuclear power. It promises cheaper, more reliable energy – but has yet to show how its proposed changes would deliver lower bills.
We don’t need more babies – and not just because we have migrants
Millie Muroi
We shouldn’t be aiming for more children, but it might be a side effect of focusing on the right thing as we face an ageing population.
Victoria
Suburban residents protest 15-metre power poles linked to data centre expansion
When Cameron Botterill left home one morning, he didn’t expect to return to 15-metre power poles soaring above his residential street in Melbourne’s inner west.
Victoria considers ’emergency extractions’ of wildlife as bird flu spreads
With the spread of H5 bird flu around Australia, Victoria is looking for ways to protect threatened species.
Level crossings on hold as Labor vows to fix Melbourne’s most unreliable train line [$]
Services on the Upfield line will increase by 50 per cent under the government’s latest election promise, but drivers will continue to face long commute times.
Cut off for $750: Victorian man left in the dark after power company refused payment plan [$]
As the cost of living continues to bite, more families are reporting that energy, water and gas services are failing to offer support or solutions.
Coal and gas support doubles in Victoria [$]
Nine in 10 Victorian respondents to a new poll are demanding transparency on energy subsidies.
New South Wales
Site renowned for helping build Sydney Harbour Bridge in $1b energy showdown
The proponents of a $1 billion waste processing facility near Mudgee are preparing for a battle with the NSW government over its energy-from-waste framework, as locals are divided.
Plans for my suburb are a microcosm of what’s wrong with Australia’s housing. And it will get worse
Julianne Schultz
The system is already failing and amid a worsening crisis the country is rocketing towards 40 million people
Queensland
Mary River proves Australia’s most degraded catchments can be restored
Community effort transforms a degraded waterway, reducing erosion, increasing fish breeding and improving the quality of water that flows into the Great Barrier Reef.
Urgent dredging underway to save disappearing Queensland beach
Dredging work is underway to save a disappearing regional Queensland beach, but there are questions about its long-term viability and the impacts of increasingly powerful weather events.
Major renewable energy training hub opens in regional Qld
CQUniversity has officially opened its new multimillion-dollar renewable energy training centre in response to electric vehicle maintenance demand.
The residents and wind farm on the frontline of Australia’s energy wars
Gawara Baya is the largest wind farm to reach construction since Labor introduced a renewables investment scheme. More than 2,000km north of Canberra, residents say net zero is a dream ruining their home.
South Australia
High-rise developments in SA approvals bonanza
Hundreds of new residential and student apartments will be built across metropolitan Adelaide, including at a long-vacant CBD site.
Nearly 5000 gone: Exotic pest forces new suburban tree cull [$]
South Australia’s Giant Pine Scale biosecurity crisis has deepened, with four new infestations found in suburban Adelaide threatening a $3bn industry and 21,000 jobs.
Two billionaires, one online bet and a turning point for Australian energy [$]
Nick O’Malley
A mammoth storm in South Australia a decade ago prompted a bet between billionaires that caused a revolution in global grid technology.
Tasmania
Forty years after whaling was banned, threats remain
Since whaling was banned in 1986, whale numbers have rebounded but threats, mostly human-made, remain and are on the agenda at a meeting in Hobart.
Plan to spread dead salmon and crematorium waste at Bothwell [$]
Dead salmon treated with a suspended antibiotic, Cadbury chocolate factory waste and water crematorium fluid could soon be spread across 1500ha of Bothwell farmland.
Get rules in place to hold data centres to account, experts tell Tasmania
An artificial intelligence institute warns there may not be much economic benefit from data centre developments if public authorities don’t put binding conditions on proponents.
Tassie council rules out wood heater ban [$]
Despite wood heater smoke costing an estimated $293m a year in health impacts, a Tasmanian council has chosen education over a ban – with any by-law review still 15 years away
AI data centres face fierce Tasmanian backlash [$]
Firmus Technologies has faced a stop-work order and community backlash as new polling reveals most Tasmanians oppose its AI data centre expansion.
Northern Territory
How NT primary students will help lead climate action [$]
Territory primary school students will help shape Darwin’s climate future under a new Charles Darwin University program launching next year.
Western Australia
WA energy minister heads for Japan to quell gas reserve anxiety [$]
Amber-Jade Sanderson will travel to Japan this week to assure big LNG importers that her state is working on a carve-out from a new national gas reservation.
WA gas-fired proposal powering ahead as next steps taken[$]
Plans for a new $700 million WA gas-fired power station have taken a significant step forward with the State Government to seek environmental assessment of the proposal.
Sustainability
‘We don’t have time for more promises’: the Croatian town that took on an illegal waste dump
After years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands
A recent study published in Environmental Research reported an association between exposure to electromagnetic radiation in Mexico City — particularly the extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) produced by power lines and household wiring — and children’s risk for developing central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
Floating power plants could offer coastal communities a reliable energy source. Here’s how
Tina Soliman-Hunter
Around the globe, we are installing solar panels and wind turbines with unprecedented speed with the aim of curbing climate change.
Environment: Wind and solar are increasing but so are fossil fuels
Peter Sainsbury
Solar panel imports are surging across Africa, but the global shift away from fossil fuels remains too slow. Meanwhile, Australian environmental groups unite behind ten principles to protect native forests, and a tiny wallaby makes a rare appearance.
Why I’ve changed my mind on AI doomerism [$]
Francis Fukuyama
There is no question AI will have many positive economic effects. But there is a class of AI accelerationists who are completely out to lunch.
Nature Conservation
Two troops of chacma baboons are breaking into homes and shops but animal rights activists insist coexistence is the answer
‘All we could see was red’: The wildfires choking Indonesian Borneo [$]
For months, millions of people have been living under a stifling blanket of toxic haze, fuelled by a punishing drought brought on by the El Nino weather pattern.
New map shows how oil slicks are smothering our oceans – with one hotspot in Europe
More than 90 per cent of the estimated oil pollution in the oceans occurs within national waters – including in protected areas.
At the UN, Panama champions a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Nature
Panama’s center-right president called on world leaders to adopt a new non-binding treaty, building on his nation’s own national rights of nature laws.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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