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Victoria gives $10m for hydrogen hub which will study storage and clean energy vehicles
Government says project will create 300 jobs and will test and improve technologies, including a refuelling station for hydrogen vehicles
The Victorian government has given $10m for a hub in Melbourne’s south-east that will test and improve hydrogen technologies.
The hub will be based at Swinburne University of Technology and study both clean energy vehicles and hydrogen storage.
Continue reading...Who killed summertime? How do we trace the complex roots of responsibility?
Shining a light on an evil killer is easy and satisfying. It drives the script of the tales in which we absorb ourselves as we retreat from a world become too much
When I was growing up, one of my parents’ favourite albums was a live recording of a Pete Seeger concert called We Shall Overcome. On it was his rendition of a Bob Dylan song called Who Killed Davey Moore. Pete’s voice imploring an answer to that question would ring out from the record player in the living room and across the house.
The song explores the question of who bore responsibility for the death of an African American boxer who was killed in the ring when he was just 30 years old. Each verse begins with the refrain, “Who killed Davey Moore?” In the verse that follows, some group or individual associated with his life and death – the coach, the crowd, the manager, the gambling man, the boxing writer, the other fighter – gives their answer. Each, in turn, responds “Not I”, and explains that they cannot rightfully be accused of killing Davey Moore. They were just doing what it is that they do: going to the fight, organising the fight, writing about the fight, throwing the punches, and so on. And, of course, they are each telling the truth. Or a truth of sorts.
Continue reading...Dust bowls and deluges: the harsh beauty of South Australia
Photographic artist Alex Frayne has shot the landscapes of South Australia for over two decades. His latest book, Landscapes of South Australia, pays homage to its deserts, hills, plains and waters
Continue reading...Less than 5% of green homes grant budget paid out, Labour reveals
Party calls for flagship renewables scheme to be extended amid significant delays and problems
Labour is calling for the government’s green homes grant scheme to be extended by at least a year after revealing that less than 5% of the allocated budget has been given to householders.
Nearly five months in, only £71m of the allocated £1.5bn budget for householders has been awarded to those seeking help to move from fossil fuel heating to renewable alternatives.
Continue reading...How will we heat homes in zero carbon Britain?
Digging, cards and chocolate: HS2 activists on life in Euston tunnel
Protesters ‘in the muck together’ since 27 January say they are in good spirits as they resist eviction
Packs of cards and plentiful supplies of chocolate are essential parts of the tunnel survival kit, according to the environmental activists living underneath Euston to protest about HS2 – the high-speed rail link that is due to come into the London station.
Since the early hours of 27 January, nine activists from the campaign group HS2 Rebellion have been occupying a network of tunnels they and others dug out.
Continue reading...CP Daily: Friday February 5, 2021
South African carbon tax could be too low, too limited to cut emissions -report
Speculators hit 1-year high on CCA length, as emitters reduce short positions on V21s
Oregon LCFS posts first quarterly credit deficit in 1.5 years for Q3 2020
EU Market: EUAs extend record high, notch huge 16% weekly gain
US farmers’ cooperative targets up to $20/tonne for soil-based carbon offsets
US Carbon Pricing and LCFS Roundup for week ending Feb. 5, 2021
FOI documents show Scott Morrison has 'bungled' environment law reform, Labor says
Papers reveal federal environment department officials warned against preemptively handing approval powers to states
Federal officials warned against transferring environmental approval powers to state governments before a major review of conservation laws was complete, saying it could undermine hopes of substantial reform.
Despite the warning, the Morrison and Western Australian governments pushed ahead with plans to give the states greater authority in approving developments before the formal review by former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel was finished.
Continue reading...It's not impossible for Morrison to land a grand emissions bargain. It's just very hard | Katharine Murphy
So far the PM’s new rhetoric on net zero doesn’t match the substance and the only way that will change is if he can corral the Nationals
Back in the olden times, when circumstances required John Howard to backflip, he made a performance of it. Howard’s purpose was simple: the prime minister wanted everyone to notice the shift.
Scott Morrison isn’t from the Howard backflip school. His style is more liquid. But I think Morrison wanted voters to notice when his language shifted significantly on Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050 – a pivot that followed Joe Biden’s victory in the US election.
Continue reading...How kangaroos could be jeopardising conservation efforts across Australia
With its natural predator in decline, roo numbers are growing – and research suggests the marsupial is doing more damage than rabbits in the country’s interior
The experimental fencing had gone up to keep the rabbits out, but the ground inside the conservation area at Yathong in central New South Wales had still been nibbled and munched bare.
“It was completely denuded,” says Prof Mike Letnic. “It was like a moonscape.”
Continue reading...Week in Wildlife – in pictures
The best of the week’s wildlife pictures, from starfish at Dogger Bank to a sky full of migrating birds in Kashmir to the last moments in the life of a zebra brought down by cheetahs
Continue reading...The Guardian view on valuing nature: priceless things sold cheap | Editorial
Governments could be at the start of a slow but huge transformation in how they treat natural life
One of the most important things about this week’s landmark review into the value of nature may appear to be a footling detail: its publisher. The 600-page report was commissioned by the Treasury, headed by Rishi Sunak, rather than the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whose boss is George Eustice. The difference appears to be tiny – the two ministries are a mere 10-minute walk apart – but it represents a huge paradigm shift. For this is the first time any country’s finance ministry has put out a comprehensive study into the economic importance of maintaining a variety of life on Earth. Its author is Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, a Cambridge economist. His argument is both needed and subversive: our economic models and our models for how to run an economy both require urgent overhaul if humanity is to survive and prosper.
For so long, government ministers have treated biodiversity as way down the to-do list, beneath winning the next election and ensuring asset markets and public services are not in meltdown. Plurality and integrity of natural life, of everything from parasites to parakeets, is no more objectionable to a politician than the latest Attenborough documentary. But doing much about it has never seemed a high enough priority.
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