A bushfire burning in the Takayna/Tarkine in Tasmania's north-west has come within metres of a grove that contains the oldest-known Huon pine, estimated to be 3,000 years old.

Well fcuk :(

There is something significant missing from most of the political and media discussion about the Australian government’s promised, and now abandoned, nature protection laws: the environment. Logically, it should be a focus of the debate. In practice, it barely gets a look in.

Nature bats last :(

Well that's just fcukibg depressing :(

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Labor has shelved plans to pass its contentious nature positive environmental laws before the election.

The decision comes after fierce resistance from West Australian Premier Roger Cook and sections of the mining industry.

Drill, baby, drill!

Artificial lighting at night can also disrupt nocturnal insect reproduction. And, predators such as owls and bats may learn to hunt around artificial lights where prey becomes more concentrated and vulnerable.

The exact reasons why nocturnal insects are drawn to light remain unclear, but recent research suggests that some nocturnal insects use light to maintain stable, level flight by orienting their bodies so light hits their upper surface.

$200 million to support NAB’s Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment providing discounted green finance for businesses and manufacturers A 0.5% interest rate discount on investments in manufacturing, transport and recycling as well as industry more broadly. Some eligible activities might include:

Manufacturing: Projects in production and/or manufacturing facilities which produce key components used in renewable energy generation, including in solar, wind and battery storage. Transport and vehicles: Purchase of electric vehicles, hybrid utes, and electric or hydrogen trucks, buses and heavy equipment. Also, manufacturers focused on the production of net zero emissions vehicles, from cars and trucks to buggies and earthmoving equipment. Recycling: Facilities which repair or re-use products or components, as well as those producing recycled glass, metal, paper and plastic from post-consumer waste. Customer loans for investments through the NAB Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment program are expected to range from ~$10,000 to $5 million.

A business that secures a $5 million loan with a 0.5% interest rate reduction would save around $25,000 per year.

$100 million to support NAB’s Agribusiness Emissions Reduction Incentive program providing discounted green finance for farmers and agribusinesses to reduce emissions A 1.15% interest rate discount on finance solutions which back farmers and agribusinesses to reduce their emissions.

The finance can be used for a range of emissions reduction activities, from enhanced fertilisers which can reduce nitrous oxide emissions to methane inhibitors and changed land-use methodologies. It also encourages farmers to estimate their baseline emissions as part of their ongoing farm emissions reduction plans and to consider investments in technologies and practices that yield financial and environmental returns. Customer loans for investments through the NAB Agribusiness Emissions Reduction Incentive program are expected to range from ~$1 million to $5 million.

An agribusiness that secures a $5 million loan with a 1.15% interest rate reduction would be able to save $57,500 per year or invest that money back into an eligible green project such as methane or nitrogen inhibitors or re-forestation.

With the election coming up, there are interesting open letters being released.

They can be useful to understand how organisations would like to see the country progress.

Oooff, WAs gas biting natures arse.

A Curtin University-led report has revealed that Western Australia (WA) consumes more than three times the global average of raw materials and must change its economy to reduce waste and pollution, conserve resources and lessen reliance on new materials

Good luck with that in a gas is good for climate change state, a state who elects young earth creationists like Andrew Hastie.

I do a bike ride across the mountain to Derby here in Tasmania from my place, the only bit of bush is near the top, (farmlamd before) forestry after). I always stop to listen to the bush.

Their Study Solving Climate Change Requires Changing our Food Systems

I know this article is probably not surprising many people, but theres a few interesting parts, like,

The study explains how our growing demand for meat and animal products is unsustainable, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimating that demand for meat will double by 2050.

“This demand will require approximately 80 percent of existing forests and shrubland to be converted into land devoted to raising animals. Such a trajectory would have devastating consequences for us and the planet,” Professor Knight said

And,

The study presented strategies to re-think current food systems, including the removal of government subsidies and higher taxation of animal products to account for externalised costs of animal agriculture.

Quick explainer on 'flow batteries' by vanadium flow battery designer Maria Skyllas-Kazacos.

The South American species was introduced to Queensland as a pot plant in the 1890s.

Birds and other animals have since spread it from Charters Towers in North Queensland to Marrar in southern New South Wales.

The numbers are difficult to pin down, but a 2021 study led by Flinders University Professor Corey Bradshaw found it was Queensland's most costly weed since 1960.

But although finding the snake has been a success, Mr Clemann said more work needed to be done.

"We've got a changing climate. That means that fire is more likely, more severe when it does happen, so by far this snake is not safe yet," he said.

its something I guess in this ecological nightmare we're living.

Lucky we're doing something about it /s

Nickel is commonly used in renewable energy infrastructure, such as in batteries and corrosion-resistant steel, and demand is expected to double by 2050 to support low-carbon technologies," Dr. Mervine said.

"However, the biomass carbon emissions from vegetation clearing for nickel mines are almost always overlooked in carbon accounting, sustainability reports, and sourcing decisions.

Dr. Evelyn Mervine from UQ's School of the Environment analyzed data from 481 international nickel mine sites and undeveloped deposits and found the land footprint of nickel mining could be four to 500 times greater than previously reported.

The number of Australian animals, plants and unique ecological communities officially recognised as being in danger of extinction rose to 2,245 last year.

Australia has one of the world's highest rates of extinctions with about 100 species of flora and fauna lost since European colonisation.

There were 42 new additions to the national list of threatened species, including 21 animals, 20 plants and one threatened ecological community — the King Island scrub complex.

tl;dr Pumped the shit out to sea after an initial filtering only, no other city in Aus does this (they use secondary processes after the initial filtering), did it because it was cheaper.

back to the article...

The environmentalists Dr Richard Gosden and Prof Sharon Beder take a different view – Gosden accuses the EPA and Sydney Water of knowing “exactly what’s happening”.

Gosden and Beder were part of a group called Stop the Ocean Pollution (Stop) who campaigned in the 1980s to have “secondary” treatment added to the Bondi, Malabar and North Head plants before the outfall pipes were built.

Stop garnered significant support, including from the 250,000 people who Gosden said attended the Turn Back the Tide protest concert in Bondi in 1989, but ultimately were unsuccessful.

Sydney invented beach culture,” Gosden says. “It’s Australia’s single cultural invention that’s been properly exported. And all the time, it’s been conducted in diluted sewage.”

Must be disappointing to them, in the 1980s they protested (as experts!) and pointed out this will lead to a "shitty" future (pun intended) FF 40 years and here we are, swimming in our own shit.

Reminds me of the climate debate really.

Link to report:

Electric Shock! Australia's Lightbulb Moment