Date: 29 October 2022 at 9:05:55 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Oct 29
When wind and solar replace fossil fuels, we will use less energy, save money, and won’t be as sick
Modelling for Australia economy shows rapid switch to renewables will save energy, save money, and deliver considerable health benefits.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
National Cat Day – USA
Climate Change
Climate crisis study finds heatwaves have cost global economy $16tn
Researchers examining data going back to 1990s find global south has borne brunt despite causing least emissions
The ozone hole shrank, showing the world can solve environmental crises
Even with the complications and caveats, the world’s response to the ozone crisis should be seen as an instructive, even inspiring, success story — one that can perhaps inform our response to the climate crisis.
Jessica Riga
Centuries-old paintings have been targeted by environmentalists as a way of drawing attention to their cause, with Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring joining the soupy ranks.
Energy transition splutters as energy crisis bites [$]
Graham Lloyd
Dark clouds hang over the next climate change meeting as the West grapples with rising costs.
Climate change: A communications failure
David Fenton
To defeat the worst ravages of climate change, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and others have urged a WWII-style mobilization to rapidly transform our entire energy, built, transportation and industrial infrastructure to stop polluting the atmosphere. But how can the public be mobilized for war if they don’t even know they are under attack?
Energy ministers talk tough on gas supplies
Australia’s energy ministers have agreed to “look at all levers” to ensure gas supplies are maintained and prices are kept stable, Energy Minister Chris Bowen says.
‘Extreme makeover’ looms as petrol stations switch to electric
Petrol stations will close during the transition to electric vehicles in the next decade and those remaining will change radically by adding cafes, restaurants and places to hang out while cars recharge, an Australian energy conference has heard.
It took a hatchling turtle six days to poop out all the plastic it had consumed along Australia’s coastline.
Keep digging, but no drilling: Australia called to net-zero arms race
Australia can still achieve net-zero and avoid catastrophic heating, says a world authority – but only if it shuts the door to new gas in WA, NSW and the NT.
New rules, profits tax threat on energy prices [$]
Australia’s energy ministers have agreed to urgently impose tough new regulations on the sector to tackle price spikes and clamp down on ‘obscene profits’ of gas producers.
Increased investor confidence in clean energy
Government collaboration and support are key drivers for increased optimism in green energy investment, but risks remain a deterrent, say renewable energy investors.
Renewables reach record 68.7 per cent share of generation in Australia’s main grid
Renewables set new record for instantaneous share of main grid generation on Friday, with wind and solar alone also setting a new benchmark.
CEFC backs developer’s 8GW of solar, wind and storage plans for Australia
Australia’s green bank tips $75m into a debt raise for ACEN Australia, to help fast-track delivery of 8GW pipeline of solar, wind, battery and pumped hydro.
Rally drivers set out to prove electric vehicles can go the distance even in the Outback – video
A group of rally drivers have set out on a 10-day trek from Perth to Sydney today, re-creating part of the journey from the famous 1968 London to Perth marathon rally. And one team will brave the Australian outback with an electric vehicle, in an attempt to prove electric cars aren’t just made for city driving.
A simplified cheat sheet for how power prices turned into a monster problem
Laura Tingle
Politically, the pressure is on to find a way of providing relief to households and business from the impact of energy prices that have already risen at least 20 per cent and are forecast to rise at least 50 per cent overall in the next couple of years
Rays of hope amid dire climate warnings
Age editorial
Australia is better placed than most countries to transition from an economy powered by fossil fuels to one reliant on the sun, the wind and hydro.
Government intervention to control energy prices now seems inevitable
Tony Wood
The government has three key options to halt soaring prices for electricity and gas, and all of them have difficult consequences.
Who’s going to pay for Greenies’ utopia? Spoiler alert — it’s you! [$]
Vikki Campion
Three of the four top taxpayers in Australia in the financial year ending 2021 were mining companies. If they shut down, where will the government find a substitute revenue stream?
Albanese mugged by new energy reality [$]
Peter Van Onselen
Labor will be forced in the months and years ahead to do what John Howard did after winning in 1996: distinguish between core and non-core commitments.
We’re making the ultimate sacrifice to prove our virtue [$]
Chris Kenny
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not to blame for our energy crisis – we did this to ourselves.
Guilt and dread as floods remind us of ecological crisis
Richard Hil
The flood crisis engulfing much of Australia reminds us of the future we face in an era of climate change. Here’s the thing; writing abstractly about something and experiencing it directly are two very different things. Or so I’ve discovered.
‘It’s kind of horrific’: BoM cuts compromise forecasts [$]
Rick Morton
As the Bureau of Meteorology deals with cuts and delayed upgrades, it is breaching its international obligations for weather data.
A decade on, Labor delivers a climate budget [$]
Karen Middleton
Anthony Albanese’s first budget embeds a response to climate change – as a major economic factor – across departments.
How the government supports greenwashing [$]
Polly Hemming
Unlike in almost any other country, Australia’s corporate greenwashing is being facilitated and encouraged by government.
Dutton and Coalition still ignorant and deluded on battery storage and nuclear
Giles Parkinson
Peter Dutton and the federal Coalition remain dangerously deluded about battery storage and nuclear power.
Victoria
One of Victoria’s biggest dams has started to spill
A dam that holds about half of Melbourne’s water supply is spilling for the first time in 26 years.
Mistakes that get your recyclables binned [$]
A growing amount of recyclables are ending up in landfill in Victoria because of these common mistakes with kerbside bins.
What’s in the mud? Flood victims’ fears eased by early test results
Mark Patrick Taylor et al
Flooding stirs up river sediments, which can spread contaminants in our waterways and floodplains. Flood water can carry sediments bearing contaminants from a range of sources, both historical and new, such as sewage, petrol stations, industrial yards and farming areas. This is worrying many people whose homes and gardens have been hit by repeated floods across eastern Australia.
The Maribyrnong flood debacle [$]
Martin McKenzie-Murray
While homes are in ruins, residents displaced and fingers pointed regarding the recent Maribyrnong floods, one question is everywhere: did a wall built to protect Flemington Racecourse make it worse?
New South Wales
‘Monster’ mine expansion knocked back in ‘extraordinary win’ for Indigenous heritage
Glencore’s Glendell coal mine expansion aimed to extract an additional 135 million tonnes of coal at a site that is culturally significant to Wonnarua people.
When Sally Christiansen learned that land near the local lake would be developed into residential housing, she felt uneasy about further impacts on the local waterway.
Protesters hold cultural ceremony at development site in bid to stop bulldozers clearing land
A group of First Nations people and supporters hold a cultural ceremony at Deebing Creek near Ipswich in a bid to disrupt bulldozers clearing land for a proposed development.
Strict anti-protest laws may have encouraged mining conference to move from Melbourne to Sydney
Legal observers also say police in the eastern states have been visiting the homes of climate activists in the leadup to the conference
Here’s what we know about the scheme to buyback or repurpose 2,000 flood-hit homes
$800 million is being set aside to help home owners move to higher ground or make their homes more resilient. Here’s what we know, and still don’t know, about the scheme.
NSW grants $3 million to Cannon-Brookes backed solar cell innovator
SunDrive is quickly emerging as a favourite child of public and private investors, with the lion’s share of a NSW funding allocation going to the solar innovator.
ACT
‘Disgraceful’ call to axe three key road projects creates anger
Labor’s decision to scrap three federally supported road projects in the ACT has been labelled “disappointing” and “disgraceful” by community members.
Brumby argument could be blown out of the water, with election looming
Tony O’Leary
Myths and legends about feral horses and the poetry linked to them can be readily adapted to suit a local environment if The Man from Snowy River is any guide
South Australia
Dredgers standing down as high river clears Murray Mouth
Peter Oliver looks toward the Murray Mouth from his food van on Hindmarsh Island, animated as he talks about news of the dredgers across the way being removed for the first time in eight years.
Funding question over Riverland flood levees
Riverland councils have welcomed $3 million of state government funding to help shore up levees ahead of high River Murray waters expected to peak in early December, but say more might be needed.
Professional fishos throw hand grenade in SA snapper war [$]
The reopening of the snapper fishery is in doubt as professional fishermen ask for a delay while research is conducted on how many fish recreational anglers catch.
Tasmania
Government report signals uneasy future for gas industry
The state government will act to ensure gas sector investments and stability of supply continue during the energy transition, but it will not “prolong the use of natural gas and LPG beyond the time it is needed”
Northern Territory
‘Number 1 pest for sweet potatoes’ detected in Australia for first time in NT
An aggressive microscopic pest that stunts plants and causes galls on sweet potatoes has been confirmed in a Top End vegetable farm and several suburban properties, but how it arrived is a mystery.
‘If you take our water you kill our culture’: Traditional owners fight against cotton and fracking water use
A group of traditional owners concerned about new water-thirsty industries in the Northern Territory have asked a Melbourne artist to paint them a huge map of their country, which they plan to present to the federal government.
‘No one is above the law’: Kakadu traditional owners launch High Court appeal against Parks Australia
A years-long battle over alleged sacred site damage at one of the most popular attractions in Kakadu National Park is set to reach the High Court.
Western Australia
Damian Green uses native Leptospermum trees to generate Manuka honey, known for its anti-bacterial properties.
Sustainability
EU bans new petrol, diesel cars from 2035
The European Parliament and EU member countries have reached a deal to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.
The movement to keep buildings from making you sick
Environmental health expert Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard, explains why people should demand more from their schools and offices.
Why more and more girls are hitting puberty early
A pandemic-era rise in early puberty may help physicians to better understand its causes.
Coffin? Casket? Cremation? How to make your death more environmentally friendly
Paola Magni and Edda Guareschi
We can all agree humans need to reduce their impact on the environment. And while most of us think of this in terms of daily activities – such as eating less meat, or being water-wise – this responsibility actually extends beyond life and into death.
How much hot air is in the gas debate? [$]
Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane
In Europe, warm weather and US gas shipments mean the continent is better prepared for winter than at any time in recent years.
Nature Conservation
For water quality, even a sliver of riverbank forest is better than none
Costa Rica currently has laws in place to protect riparian zones along waterways, but they are unevenly enforced.
Russia and China are fuelling tension at a frosty summit on Antarctica’s future [$]
Julia Bergin
With one week of international talks on Antarctica down and one more to go, can member nations reach consensus on key issues in the deep south?
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