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Is the only time we can discuss the truly ‘big issues’ when no one is paying attention?

Is the only time we can discuss the truly ‘big issues’ when no one is paying attention?

The kindest thing to say about Turnbull's absurd proposal to extend the life of the country's oldest coal generator is that he is playing politics. There is no other reason to ask AGL to stick a bandaid on an increasingly unreliable coal generator on basis that it will lead to increased security and lower prices.

On 6 September 2017, the Australian Government released advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on dispatchable capability in the National Electricity Market.

The animals hold "social rallies" and choose when to hunt via a sneezing ballot, a study finds.

In September 1991, eight scientists sealed themselves inside a giant greenhouse for two years. Linda Leigh was one of them.

Exclusive: Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted

Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.

Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.

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Options for collaboration between research communities post-Brexit will be set out in a government paper.

Prymnesium parvum has wreaked calamitous damage on angling spots in Norfolk, making it an economic and environmental threat

Many effects of global warming appear gradually but can cause sudden and devastating changes. A rise in sea levels is one; it makes estuaries and lagoons slightly more saline, which in the case of the Norfolk Broads, suddenly threatened a big attraction, angling.

This is because tiny “golden” algae called Prymnesium parvum, which thrive in slightly saline or mineral rich water, can turn toxic, suffocating the fish by destroying their gills.

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If you’ve been following media coverage of the post-hurricane flooding in Texas during the last couple of weeks, you will have seen many images and accounts of people evacuating with their pets.

You will no doubt also have seen emergency responders and volunteers rescuing abandoned pets and stranded horses and livestock. Similar stories play out during all types of natural disasters, whether they’re floods, cyclones, or bushfires.

An estimated 63% of Australian households have at least one pet – one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world – and including those pets in your emergency plan can be vital.

Last week a New South Wales coronial inquest into the 2015 Hunter Valley floods heard that an elderly resident who drowned refused to leave her home without her dog and bird, prompting parliamentary questions to the NSW minister for emergency services over provisions for animals in emergencies.

Read more: Dry winter primes Sydney Basin for early start of bushfire season

I have spent the past three years leading a project on animal management in emergencies, which considers the challenges for emergency responders, as well as owners of pets, horses, pet livestock, animal-related businesses, and livestock farmers.

Recently we have teamed up with a community-led group in the Blue Mountains, Blue ARC Animal Ready Community, to focus on identifying and helping to solve local challenges and barriers to emergency preparedness and planning for animals.

Research suggests people often forget to include their chooks in household emergency plans. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

So if you have animals, what can you do to protect them? The first thing to do is check general resources on emergency plans. Unfortunately there is no Australia-wide emergency response approach, so it’s important to make plans that are suited to your own situation and the help you have available.

Here are my top tips for taking care of your animals in an emergency:

• It sounds obvious, but creating an emergency plan that includes pets is the first step. If you don’t have a household plan, the Australian Red Cross Rediplan is a good place to start. Consider a range of potential emergencies in your planning: heatwaves, prolonged loss of power, floods, cyclones and bushfires. Most importantly, think about every creature in your household: our research suggests that chooks are popular but often not considered when it comes to emergency planning.

• Plan to leave early. Evacuating with animals can take longer, especially when you have multiple types of animals or need to make multiple journeys. Don’t plan to leave animals behind, or plan to leave a household member behind to take care of the animals. Stay aware of weather conditions and emergency warnings.

• Have an emergency kit for your animals: fill a “go bag” (or box) with items you’ll need if you need to leave in a hurry. If you have essentials you can’t afford to leave in a box, make a checklist and know where they are. There are some excellent checklists available online to get you started.

• Plan where you will take your animals. Emergency services can’t help evacuate your pets or larger animals in emergency situations, and not all evacuation centres will accept them. The official position is that your animals are your responsibility, so you need to know where you’ll take your animals and how you’ll get them there. Most people rely on taking them to friends or family, but this can sometimes mean that different animals need to go to different places.

Read more: With the rise of apartment living, what’s a nation of pet owners to do?

• Plan for what will happen if you’re not at home, or can’t get back home. No one likes considering this situation, but it is often a reality. Speak to neighbours or nearby friends about what you would like them to do if you’re not home (and offer them your support if they’re away). Make sure you have contact numbers for neighbours and those who might be able to help in these situations.

• If you have horses or other large animals, find a buddy. Horses, and other large pet livestock, are special cases in emergencies: their size means that there are additional challenges in their handling, loading, transportation, and relocation. Many equine groups have guidance for horse owners, and advocate buddy systems to help owners. There are also networking systems, such as Walking Forward Disaster Relief Team, that help horse owners prearrange safer places to relocate their animals ahead of emergencies.

• Hardest of all: practice your plan. Most emergency preparedness advice suggests that you practice your plan, but it’s particularly important with pets. It’s better to find out early that your ideal plan doesn’t work in practice. Finding work-arounds, and making a plan B and C, is far easier without the threat of imminent danger.

Remember, your animals depend on you. Plan for all the human and non-human animals in your household, and stay safe.

September 16 and 17, 2017, is the NSW Rural Fire Service-led Get Ready weekend, with various bushfire awareness and preparedness activities being planned across the state. To support that event in the Blue Mountains we have co-developed, with Blue ARC and the Resilience and Preparedness Group, posters and flyers encouraging residents to make an emergency plan for all the family, including links to useful resources.

Mel Taylor receives funding from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre

The Category 5 storm is due to make landfall on the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean later.

A supplier is working with farms in Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Suffolk, Sussex and Wiltshire.

The variables in the climate change formula are mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. Denying the problem loads up on the suffering.

Human-caused climate change amplified the damages and suffering associated with Hurricane Harvey in several different ways. First, sea level rise caused by global warming increased the storm surge and therefore the coastal inundation and flooding from the storm. Second, the warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which intensifies extreme precipitation events like the record-shattering rainfall associated with Harvey. Third, warmer ocean waters essentially act as hurricane fuel, which may have made Harvey more intense than it would otherwise have been.

There are other possible human factors at play about which we have less certainty. For example, it’s possible that Harvey stalled off the coast of Texas because of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns associated with human-caused global warming. As climate scientist Michael Mann notes, his research has shown that these sorts of stationary summer weather patterns tend to happen more often in a hotter world, but we can’t yet say if that happened in Harvey’s case.

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German environment group says industry has not tried to cut pollution over the past year and reneged on a promise to install soot filters

The world’s cruise ships have done virtually nothing to reduce their pollution over the past year, with some still emitting as much particulate matter as 1m cars a day, a report says.

The annual survey of 63 ships, conducted by the German environment group Nabu, refused to recommend a single one for adequately reducing its environmental impact in 2017.

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Experts says the 2017 bushfire season will start early and be more intense than usual.

Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says Snowy Hydro 2.0 and other projects should be fast-tracked, rather than relying on coal.

Scientists from Florida International University have teamed up with Nasa to create the world's deepest coral farm in an effort to tackle the decline of coral reefs.

Energy rule-maker says it supports change to 5 minute settlement period, but wants it introduced gradually and not before July, 2021.

Coalition wants AGL to keep 46-year old Liddell coal generator open another five years, despite AEMO saying there is no threat to security standards and best way to minimise is to have more renewables.

AEMO says the biggest threat to Australia's electricity supply is hotter temperatures, failure of large fossil fuel plants, and delays in investment in new wind and solar. Smart solutions such as demand management and storage will mean no need for new coal generators.