Post of the Day
Human consumption of the Earth’s resources declined in 2020
Covid-19 led to 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with same period last year
On This Day
Ganesh Chaturthi – Hinduism
Coronavirus Watch
Confirmed cases: 24,407. Deaths: 472
How long can we rely on hotel quarantine to keep us safe?
Hotel quarantine has become one of the most important tools in combatting the spread of coronavirus, but the system is far from perfect. Experts say we may have to look to different solutions in the long term.
Virus drug benefit only marginal: study
Moderately ill COVID-19 patients had their condition improve after a 5-day course of Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir but the drug did not significantly shorten hospital stays and a 10-day course did not show a benefit, according to new data.
Climate Change
Climate change is causing more rain in the North. That’s bad news for permafrost
New study shows wetter weather is thawing the frozen ground that covers a quarter of the northern hemisphere, threatening to release massive stores of carbon.
Greta Thunberg urges Merkel to get out of climate ‘comfort zone’
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel “to be brave enough to think long-term” in a meeting on Thursday where they discussed the climate crisis and measures to fight global warming.
How the climate crisis is already harming America – photo essay
Climate change is not an abstract future threat to the United States, but a real danger that is already harming Americans’ lives, with “substantial damages” to follow if rising temperatures are not controlled.
Storing carbon in the prairie grass
Untouched grasslands in Texas and across the country can help mitigate climate change
Northern hemisphere sees record summer temperatures in the middle of the pandemic
While COVID-19 dominates the headlines, the northern hemisphere is being hit by some of the hottest weather ever recorded.
Climate change could make beer taste differently
For years, an increasing number of scientists have warned about the side effects of climate change like rising oceans and unpredictable changes in weather patterns. But this may be the most serious repercussion of climate change identified to date: Beer may taste different.
National
Household waste soars to levels usually seen at Christmas with more panic buying and single-use plastics during the pandemic.
Wind and solar output surge to new record high in main grid
Wind and solar smash output records in the National Electricity Market, combining to hit 11.8GW for the first time.
Insurance giant Suncorp to end coverage and finance for oil and gas industry
Suncorp’s decision to pull out of industry by 2025 puts it at odds with government push for gas-led recovery
Labor to join Greens in opposing $3.3m grant for Collinsville coal power feasibility study
The parties will vote in the Senate against controversial grant to Shine Energy, but are likely to be outnumbered
With its mining boom past, Australia deals with the job of cleaning up
A slowdown in Australia’s decades-long mining boom has left companies and communities grappling with what to do about closed or abandoned mining sites.
Labor group’s war on gas appliances
The Labor Environment Action Network is launching a campaign to encourage people to junk their gas-powered household appliances, as the party’s environmental wing escalates its campaign against using the resource as a transitional energy source.
Nev Power defends gas cheerleading on COVID-19 recovery taskforce
The head of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s COVID-19 recovery commission has defended his championing of the gas industry while being on the board of a gas producer.
Hopes of a gas boom fizzle [$]
Mike Seccombe
While the government continues to push for a gas-led recovery from the coronavirus-induced recession, the ACCC has another message – that Australia pays far too much for domestic gas.
Australia is about to get ripped off by the gas industry, and it’s not the first time
Ebony Bennett
The same geniuses who hiked up domestic gas prices, raked in the profits and left Australia with bupkis to show for it are trying to convince us (once again) that Australia has a gas supply shortage requiring huge taxpayer subsidies.
Draining the nation’s energy: how Canberra lags industry on green power
Peter Hartcher
The states, big industry and farmers are moving to net-zero carbon emissions, but the federal government – and the Parliament – are holding Australia back.
Sinking billions of taxpayer dollars into gas would make Australia an international pariah
Bob Carr
The Morrison government’s post-Covid recovery commission has called for an astonishing level of support for a declining carbon fuel
Ah shucks, how bushfires can harm and even kill our delicious oysters
Shauna Murray and Penelope Ajani
Bushfires not only destroy things on land, they can also have an impact on our seafood industry including our oyster farms.
Labor would have to be politically insane to follow Fitzgibbon’s fossil fuel frolicking
Katharine Murphy
It is not helpful to coal workers in the Hunter to pretend that a transition isn’t happening and doesn’t need to happen
Govt ignores health risks of climate change [$]
Paddy Manning
The government has been asked repeatedly to develop a plan to address the health risks associated with climate change, so why is nothing being done?
The end of the environment [$]
Bob Brown
The prime minister’s post-Covid-19 plan is to roar ahead with a slate of mega-projects that would be delayed by any proper consideration of their environmental and Indigenous heritage impacts. While the EPBC Act rarely leads to any project being given the thumbs down, it does require environmental impacts to be assessed, and this takes time. The government’s solution? Get rid of the federal assessment.
Ross Elliott
One of the first things to understand about our recent rates of actual and predicted future population growth is that they have been extraordinary in terms of the actual numbers and also in terms of the rate (speed) of growth.
David Crosbie
With pre-budget submissions closing in five days, David Crosbie makes the case for why all charities should make a submission and shares the 10 key recommendations the Charities Crisis Cabinet will be making to government.
Victoria
Footscray factory lease holder charged over fire
A businessman linked to a West Footscray factory that was destroyed in a mammoth blaze in 2018 has now been charged with endangering the safety of firefighters.
New South Wales
Fundraising appeal launched to buy back unburnt forest in Manyana
Manyana Matters Environmental Association (MMEA) is pleased to announce the launch of the Manyana Conservation Fund, managed by the charity partner for Australia’s National Parks, the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW).
Homes in Blue Mountains most at risk from bushfires, insurer says
IAG says the Blue Mountains local government area has the highest number of properties at risk of bushfires in NSW.
Alleged asbestos contamination cover-up on Wamberal Beach
Central Coast Council allegedly covering over building waste including asbestos with sand in 2017 outside a house on Ocean View Drive in Wamberal.
Queensland
Mining company keen to reopen Gympie’s Eldorado gold mine
An international mining company is pushing to reopen Gympie’s gold mine as it believes there is still a fortune lying in the ground.
Sixty-six hectares of SEQ koala habitat could be cleared under scheme
Queensland authorities cannot stop developers clearing 66 hectares of koala habitat at Springfield because it is an “exempt development” under the suburb’s planning scheme.
South Australia
New catch in fishing debate [$]
Professional fishermen want recreational anglers to be included in new measures to cut the catch of four key fish species to ensure their sustainability.
Tasmania
Launceston Dan Murphy’s moves to solar energy
The Launceston Dan Murphy’s store is now not only green in colour, but also in energy use.
Fish farms pay their (Nor)way, why not here?
Tasmania is missing out on both economic and environmental benefits from salmon farming in the state, according to the co-chair of the Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, Peter George.
Defeat of Gunns’ pulp mill led to a climate solution
Peg Putt
THE community victory that stopped Gunns’ devastating pulp mill from being built in 2011 has some years later produced a stunning climate result.
Western Australia
Indigenous rangers locate night parrot on remote WA salt lake
Rangers in Western Australia’s remote northern salt lake country have found one of the world’s most enigmatic birds, which was once thought extinct.
‘It just hasn’t worked’: Just 3 years old, the world’s largest floating factory remains offline
Shell’s massive floating LNG factory off the Kimberley coast has been in shutdown since February and analysts are divided on whether the multi-billion-dollar facility has a future.
Sustainability
Green chemistry – better, safer, more sustainable
From safer solvents to make better batteries, to catalysts that can clean up wastewater, green chemists are developing better ways of making stuff.
The quest to record the world’s edible plants
Non-profit Food Plant Solutions represents five decades of work by agricultural scientist Bruce French to catalogue more than 31,000 edible plants so children do not have to go hungry.
Human consumption of the Earth’s resources declined in 2020
Covid-19 led to 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with same period last year
In Northeastern Syria, pollution and conflict prevent clean water
Where the oil runs deep, the water turns foul.
Ocean Rebellion climate action group launches with protest against cruise ship
Climate activists linked to Extinction Rebellion projected protest messages onto hull of the World vessel in Falmouth, Cornwall
Intensive animal farming is ‘biggest risk’ for pandemics
There is a fundamental and often-overlooked connection between pandemics such as the current COVID-19 crisis and the animal farming in our food system, says a major new report published today.
Connected city streets mean healthier residents and communities
Chris Barrington-Leigh and Adam Millard-Ball
Designing urban neighbourhoods with connected streets supports walking and cycling. However, street-network sprawl is increasing globally due to urban growth via the suburbs and gated communities.
Biden’s green power play adds a new twist to the Cold War with China
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Democrats’ $2.8 trillion blitz on clean energy is as much a bid for superpower supremacy as it is about climate change. It is aimed directly at China.
Researchers find black and white solution to wind turbine bird deaths
Norwegian research team finds painting one of three blades of a wind turbine black reduces collision-related bird deaths by 70 per cent.
UN fund pays Indonesia for forest protection as deforestation rises
Campaigners accuse the Green Climate Fund of letting governments game the UN’s Redd+ forest protection scheme, as Indonesia is awarded $103 million
Maelor Himbury
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
0393741902
0432406862
return email, delete it from your system and destroy any copies.