Will COVID-19 Really Change Our Relationship with the Natural World?
Scientists have little doubt: the destruction of nature makes humanity increasingly vulnerable to disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Australia PM Scott Morrison defends coal industry amid catastrophic blazes
Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister continues to defend the nation’s reliance on the coal industry and its emissions targets in the wake of catastrophic wildfires. He returned from holiday amid much criticism earlier this week to a continued spread of infernos across the country. He seeks to put distance between climate change and the ongoing fires. “Australia is taking action on climate change,” he told Australia’s Nine News. “What
As Wildfires Scorch Australia’s Lands, It’s Oceans Fair Even Worse
Over recent decades, the rate of ocean warming off Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state and a gateway to the South Pole, has climbed to nearly four times the global average, oceanographers say. One of the first victims of this change is the ocean kelp. More than 95 per cent of the giant kelp – which provides a vital habitat for some of the rarest marine creatures
New Zealand Sets The Bar
New Zealand parliament has passed legislation to pass its commitments to the Paris Agreement into law. This sets a target for the country to achieve zero net carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The news establishes New Zealand as one of the few countries in the world with a legislated commitment to the goals of the agreement. Near neighbour Australia (despite suffering from devastating fires, heat-wave
Commercial Fishing and Plastic in the Ocean
If you are really serious about wanting to stop plastic from polluting the oceans, you should be prepared to stop eating fish. ©WIRED Once plastics are in the ocean, there’s no easy way to remove them. Rather than biodegrade, plastics simply shred into ever tinier parts that end up entering the marine food chain and our freshwater systems. Plastic is indeed, forever. And trying to
Climate change: Study underpins key idea in Antarctic ice loss
BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos, reports that a new study has found the diminishing thickness of ice shelves is matched almost exactly by an immediate acceleration in the glaciers feeding in behind them. It means we can’t rely on a lag in the system to delay the rise in sea-levels as shelves melt in a warmer world. The glaciers will speed up in tandem, dumping
Why Australia’s Mining Boom Will Leave Permanent Scars
With the coal boom on the wane, mining companies want to escape the cost of rehabilitating their sites. But even if governments effectively restrain them, many of the huge voids in the landscape will never be filled in. The Australian coal industry is dotted with recent examples of major miners selling projects to smaller players at peppercorn prices, unloading both their rehabilitation liabilities and the
Was The Fracking Ban a Cynical Election Ploy?
The Conservative Party has been accused of using a fracking ‘ban’ as an ‘election ploy’ after admitting the suspension may only be temporary. The Government is facing growing calls for a permanent ban, as Labour raised concerns the apparent U-turn was only a part time measure in the run up to the election next month. Our future may be bleak if our Politicians freely and cynically use
Australian PM: Coal Industry Defender and Climate Change Denier
In the Guardian Article Scott Morrison and the big lie about climate change: does he think we’re that stupid? Richard Flanagan argues that the Australian PM is so determined to protect the coal mining industry that he even denies the possible influence of climate change in recent devastating droughts and bushfires. In a year that has seen Australia ravaged by fire, the floods, cyclones and
Are We Missing the Real Issue?
In his article, Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change, I am a Realist, William E Rees explores the possibility that the switch to green energy sources will not meet our growing demands. Survival will ultimately depend on us facing hard facts about energy, growth and governance. In fact, he ventures to assert that existing policy for climate disaster-avoidance seems designed to serve the