From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2026 at 8:45 am
Subject: Daily Links Oct 2
To:
Post of the Day
“It’s made us more wasteful:” Solar and battery homes plug in to a new age of abundant energy
Peter Hannam
CSIRO study finds households with solar and batteries are enjoying periods of “limitless” electricity, a shift that clashes head on with concepts of energy sharing and efficiency.
On This Day
Sukkot ends – Judaism
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Trump the environmentalist? How his Iran war exposed the fragility of dirty energy
Gavin Newsom says Trump is a ‘gift’ to the climate cause for dispelling notions of fossil fuel energy security
‘Explosion of melt rates’: 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years
Alpine regions in Europe experiencing extreme glacier collapse due to heat-trapping effects of fossil fuel pollution
California rushes to prepare for massive ‘Kelvin’ wave and predicted sea level rise
Wave nearing southern California expected to reach San Francisco Bay Area by October as it crawls toward Alaska
Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is learning to live with floods but climate change has raised the stakes
Forecasters warned on Sept. 27 that high tides could combine with heavy rain to increase the risk of flooding in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable cities. As heavy rain combined with the tide on the evening of Sept. 30, the Saigon river and smaller waterways spilled onto the roads of Vietnam’s commercial capital.
The easy wins are gone. What’s actually next for net zero? – Outrage + Optimism podcast
Net Zero was once a radical idea. Now it’s both an accepted global target, and an increasingly toxic political faultline. This week, Tom is back from the UN General Assembly and New York Climate week, where António Guterres used his last speech as UN Secretary-General to call for every country to set a timeline for quitting fossil fuels.
Governments know how dangerous climate collapse is. Why aren’t they telling us?
Julian Cribb
British intelligence warns that climate and ecosystem collapse could drive conflict, migration, famine and economic instability. Yet governments continue to conceal the full scale of the threat.
National
FTA goals on climate are locked in, says EU [$]
The European Union’s new ambassador to Australia has poured cold water over the Coalition’s plea to gut the free-trade agreement of its climate change goal
Who wins your vote for the 2026 ABC Australian Insect of the Year?
Experts have nominated two butterflies, a pair of beetles, a signal fly and a glow-worm as 2026 ABC Insect of the Year finalists. Now you get to help decide the winner.
Birds are building nests with our rubbish. Can we offer them something better?
Bethany Kiss et al
It’s spring, and Australian birds are building their nests. But with what? Alongside grass and twigs, birds are collecting our rubbish. In 2023, a global study found litter in the nests of 176 different bird species, with common culprits including cigarette butts, plastic bags and fishing nets.
When crises reshape nations: what history tells us about Australia’s energy vulnerability
Charles Coppel
In 1942, crisis forced Australia to rethink a dangerous strategic dependence. Today, reliance on imported fuel creates another vulnerability. Electrification offers a path to greater economic and national security.
Albanese jets off to talk climate, but interest rate pain is never far away
Michelle Grattan
In ordinary people’s day-to-day thinking the cost of living dominates, and never more than this week, when the Reserve Bank hiked rates to the highest level since 2011.
Plantations are the future of timber. Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought
David Lindenmayer
As plantations supply more of Australia’s timber, how they are established and harvested will increasingly shape biodiversity. Good management can make a substantial difference.
David Shoebridge brings a fighting edge to the Greens
Mark Beeson
David Shoebridge’s rise to the Greens leadership offers a chance to challenge Labor from the Left and push for more radical action on inequality, climate change and AI.
Mark Cully
Big means high migration; small means modest migration. It is a political and economic choice, one that needs to be actively made, not sidestepped and left to its own devices.
Victoria
Family trapped in floodwater rescued as record rainfall hits Melbourne
Victoria is on flood watch as heavy rain is set to continue into Friday.
New South Wales
Brumby advocate challenges legality of wild horse removal in NSW alps
The shooting has stopped for now, but a brumby advocate is mounting a legal challenge to ban their removal from Kosciuszko National Park.
Heritage listing for ‘first of its kind’ outback solar experiment
A solar plant built in the 1980s in a remote opal mining town has been recognised for its pioneering contribution to the renewable energy industry.
Climate Change Authority chair says planning commission did not account for climate-related economic damage in NSW
Georgina Woods
There is no greater treachery than this failure to face up to the climate crisis. How can we now fend off despair?
NSW’s largest coal mine project is set to expand. Here’s what authorities got wrong about the trade‑offs
Liz Hicks
The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission has just greenlit an expansion of the largest coal mine project in the state’s history.
New auctions are the last chance saloon for NSW wind, and its ability to replace coal
David Leitch
On the face of it, NSW wind development looks like an epic policy disaster. Hosts are ready for the party, the bar is open, the music is playing, but no-one has shown up.
Queensland
Tehan wants Crisafulli to mine uranium reserve worth billions [$]
Queensland’s Premier has refused to lift a uranium mining ban – despite voting to overturn it just over a decade ago.
Crisafulli doubles down on rejection of Coalition’s AI nuclear push [$]
“Have a look at our energy plan. It’s working,” the premier said.
South Australia
‘No gloating’: Judge makes call on controversial court case
Federal Court Judge Natalie Charlesworth has dismissed claims that a $45 million North Adelaide Golf course project violated national environment and heritage laws.
River Murray report a ‘shrieking alarm’ for SA water supply
A new report has groups claiming millions of taxpayer dollars are being poured “down the drain” as a fraction of promised water-saving projects are delivered.
Tasmania
Taylor says $200m Bell Bay bailout exposes Labor’s net zero failure [$]
Branding the smelter rescue a ‘bandaid on a bullet wound’, the Opposition Leader says the bailout wouldn’t be needed if the government scrapped net zero and lowered power prices.
Regulator and TasWater clash over what is driving rising household bills [$]
Tasmania’s economic regulator has hit back at TasWater’s claims his office is to blame for surging bill rises, saying the utility can discount charges but will not as it will lose revenue.
Northern Territory
This marsupial used to be ‘abundant’ — now, researchers can’t find it
More than 30 wildlife-tracking cameras have been filming in Litchfield National Park for almost 12 months, but researchers are yet to spot the endangered northern quoll.
Exotic fungus detected in NT melons and cucumbers in first Australian cases of disease
Monosporascus cannonballus is detected on two NT properties, marking the first cases in Australia.
Western Australia
Shark warning issued after whale carcass finally removed [$]
An 18-tonne rotting whale carcass has finally been hoisted off South City Beach, but an urgent shark warning now covers the entire Perth coast as great whites continue to prowl the shallows.
Sustainability
US datacenter discharged large amounts of pollution for almost a year with no permits
Records show Vineland facility in New Jersey emitted health-harming pollution before regulators stepped in
Are we in the Anthropocene Epoch? Scientists can’t decide
While the Anthropocene is a term most of us are well aware of, it is not an official geological epoch. Now a group of scientists has reignited the push to get it formally recognised.
State refinery ‘renaissance’ plan raises fresh questions over pollution, health and taxpayer risk
News that the country’s largest fuel refinery is to be reopened – and expanded considerably – has stirred Durban fence-line communities who fear a resumption of noxious petrochemical fumes seeping in to their homes and lungs.
Clothes that cool you, warm you—and make power as you move
In a bid to cool people, not rooms, engineers made a printable fabric that turns body motion into electrical signals that switch on cooling and heating when you need it.
New “plant armor” more than triples strawberry yields
A new protective fabric boosted strawberry yields by as much as 3.56 times while blocking insects and still allowing sunlight, rain, and airflow to reach the plants. Originally inspired by research on military clothing, Plant Armor could also help farms reduce pesticide and water use.
Jim Green
Latest nuclear status report details the glum state of affairs for the far right’s favourite clean power source. It’s already been overtaken by solar for the first time.
Nature Conservation
‘The toll is huge’: El Niño-driven wildfires overwhelm Indonesia’s orangutan population
The global climate phenomenon has triggered devastating infernos in the ape’s Indonesian heartlands, with long-term effects on the animals still unknown
Think more rain means more river water? Not necessarily
Some rivers are receiving more rain than before but have lower water flow, according to a study
Fifty billion seedlings: Can Ethiopia replant its ravaged forests?
A legacy of deforestation has left Ethiopia struggling with more intense flooding and drought. The country is trying to restore its native forests through one of the world’s most ambitious and well-funded tree-planting campaigns, but experts question whether the trees will survive.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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