Adam Morton

Marsupials previously thought extinct for millennia discovered in New Guinea The chances of finding one mammal species thought to be lost was ‘almost zero’ and finding two is ‘unprecedented’, biologist Tim Flannery says

Was good to write a positive story, though there is plenty we don’t know about these guys and there are challenges ahead to make sure they remain not extinct. But here’s to positive news.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Albanese government rejected advice on Tasmanian salmon farming impact before passing pro-industry laws FoI documents show ministers ignored recommendation for fresh inquiry that could have reduced or paused farming

Worth some attention and further questions amid everything else, imo

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place in blow to Keir Starmer Hannah Spencer elected as party’s first MP in northern England, as Labour sees a 25.3% drop in vote compared to 2024

Look at the Greens+Labour vote in Gorton and Denton and a Reform win should never have been in play. 1st past the post is truly mad. Be grateful for the Aus electoral system. Etc.

Not an original thought, not the main story here, but worth saying again and again.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Australia’s most costly anti-climate policy hits taxpayers for $30m a day as calls mount to wind back fuel tax credits | Adam Morton The government will hand over $10.8bn this financial year under the scheme that makes it cheaper for miners and other industries to use diesel and petrol

Column today - the fuel tax credit scheme for miners, farmers, industry is one of the 20 biggest budget costs. It's also a fossil fuel subsidy. Why are multinationals still being refunded these huge sums?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not to mention the large US population study showing the odds ratio effect of particulate air pollution on the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It’s large.

Emissions from trucks and buses cost Australia $6.2bn in health effects each year, study finds Research describes children exposed to air pollution equivalent to eight cigarettes a day by attending childcare near major roads

Air pollution from trucks and buses is costing Australians about $6.2bn each year due to the health effects of exposure to vehicle exhaust, a University of Melbourne study has found.

- @petrastock.bsky.social

Imagine there would have been a great @kudelka.bsky.social cartoon about the political response to the Australian women and children in the Syrian detention camp.

Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow Alcoa to keep clearing WA forest, document reveals Document also shows US miner had been unlawfully clearing land for 15 years despite warnings from department

The Aus govt’s decision to allow Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of WA jarrah forest despite its illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.

By @lisacox.bsky.social

Graham Readfearn steps into our climate future - podcast With extreme heat and heatwaves intensifying climate and environment correspondent Graham Readfearn tests how extreme heat affects us, our cognitive functions and our chances of survival

And you can listen to the pod here (or on usual channels etc)

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave from the future – video Graham Readfearn stepped into a climate chamber to experience what effects the heatwaves of the future will have on the human body

Also worth checking out the full video
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

REALITY TV SHOW:
Instead of Love Island, it's Heat Island

Lock up the owners and CEOs of coal oil and gas corporations in a building heated to 38 deg C. Temperature goes up just a little each day.

This is what they are doing to all our kids, who will have to live in the future that Big Oil made.

Extreme heat lab: enduring the climate of the future Graham Readfearn enters a simulation to investigate how heatwaves affect the human body

Extreme heat lab: Enduring the climate of the future
with @readfearn.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Everybody still on there convinced that they are a special flower unaffected by propaganda.

“How do you treat the afflictions of harrowing emptiness and wild vanity that made you want to be a pop star?” Why Bono can't let it lie. | Pete Paphides Get more from Pete Paphides on Patreon

Very good on this by @petepaphides.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/how-do...

stories by @lisacox.bsky.social @danjb.bsky.social

US mining company Alcoa hit with ‘unprecedented’ $55m penalty for illegal clearing of WA jarrah forests Environment minister says Alcoa cleared known habitat of protected species to enable bauxite mining

Also in WA:

"Watt...said he had also granted the company an exemption to clear further habitat for 18 months while the government considered a proposal for an extension of the company’s mining operations to 2045."

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Property developers spark anger over plan to clear woodland home to Baudin’s and Carnaby’s black cockatoos Proposal to replant inside a different type of protected woodland would not replicate diversity of cleared sites used by threatened cockatoo species, conservationists say

Property developers spark anger over plan to clear Perth woodland home to Baudin’s and Carnaby’s black cockatoos

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

For someone of a certain age and disposition, and maybe other people, the U2 EP has some great moments. Especially in the middle tracks. Understand the cynicism, but fuck that. Good on them.

China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies.

It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony

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The EPA’s credibility gap over antibiotic use That Tasmania’s EPA and Huon Aquaculture said nothing for more than two weeks about the use of antibiotics is a telling indicator of their preference for secrecy.

💊 “Rather telling that the use of an antibiotic in a major water catchment only came to light because of a tip-off from a courageous member of the public, rather than from the independent regulator charged with protecting the public interest.” #politas

▶️ tasmanianinquirer.com.au/news/comment...

DJ more, channel Zohran and get a sleep doctor: Adam Bandt on life after politics and saving the planet The former Greens leader’s appointment as CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation raised eyebrows – but for him, the mission remains the same

An interview with Adam Bandt

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

My friend Jon has died | First Dog on the Moon Jon Kudelka loved his beautiful family and was fiercely intolerant of greed and hypocrisy

Here is my cartoon about Mr Jon Kudelka www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

good to know you've read it. i'm not up for extended chats with fish, but did you consider the goal of the piece might actually have been to highlight underreported facts? eg Chinese + Indian coal power, a fresh debate about a carbon price, a review that will have ramifications, good or bad?

or - and bear with me here - a piece that is more than the headline, that sets out a bunch of facts and arguments that readers can digest, if they choose, to form an opinion about what's happening in Australia and overseas.

But thanks for the anonymous reaction.

If China's emissions had kept growing at previous levels emissions would like, what, maybe a full GIGATONNE higher....the area of avoided emissions here is like deleting the emissions of entire countries. This is happening at a scale that will very clearly have an effect in lessening disasters

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www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Labor will never have a better time to revisit carbon pricing – but does it have the stomach to make polluters pay? | Clear Air The government has not made enough of a dent in emissions, but global trends and a shambolic opposition offer a rare opportunity to act

A column today:

China and India reduced coal power last year. Is now the time Australia can tackle its big polluters by making them pay? (With some arguments in between these two issues.)

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’ Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast After decades of recovery, southern right whales are showing signs of a climate-driven decline in breeding rates, which scientists say is a “warning signal” about changes in the Southern Ocean. After being hunted to near extinction by commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries, southern right whales remained endangered in Australia. Continue reading...

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’

These are the headlines at the top of the Guardian this morning