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Author |
Published |
Section |
Make a Rudd for It
Australia continues to deal with epic drought |
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15 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:46 PM on 15 Aug 2008 Longstanding drought has wreaked havoc across Australia, drying up lakes into shallow, acidic puddles and threatening drinking-water supplies. Unable to coax rain from the sky, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has fast-tracked a plan to buy back water entitlements from the heaviest irrigators in the Murray-Darling basin, an agricultural stronghold which produces all of the country's rice, nearly all of it ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Australia, climate, climate change impacts, news, water conflicts, water crisis (all these topics) |
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I'll Have the Marsupial of the Day
Aussies should fight climate change by eating kangaroo, says study |
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08 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:29 AM on 08 Aug 2008 Australians who want to make a dent in climate change just need to eat more kangaroo, says a new study in the journal Conservation Letters. The methane-producing burps and farts of sheep and cattle contribute 11 percent of Australia's annual greenhouse-gas emissions. Kangaroos, however, emit little methane. Researchers say that 175 million kangaroos could produc ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Australia, climate, climate change mitigation, food, greenhouse-gas emissions, livestock, news, scientific research, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Coffee, Mate
McDonald's Australia will sell certified-sustainable coffee |
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27 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:16 PM on 27 May 2008 Starting next year, all coffee sold at McDonald's in Australia will be certified sustainable by the Rainforest Alliance. The country's 484 so-called McCafés make 5,000 cups of joe per hour; Mickey D's pockets 20 percent of the more than $1 billion that Aussies spend on away-from-home coffee. The Rainforest Alliance certifies coffee farms that reduce pesticide use and treat farmers decently. ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Australia, business, food, news, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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Melbourne
A modern city can be remade |
David Roberts |
07 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Check out this great video of the street life in Melbourne, Australia, which is my new Place I Want to Move: From the accompanying post on StreetFilms: Melbourne is simply wonderful. You can get lost in the nooks and crannies that permeate the city. As you walk you feel like free-flowing air with no impediments to your enjoyment. For a city with nearly 4 million people, the streets feel much like the hustle and bustle of New York City but without omnipresent da ... |
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| Topics: Australia, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics) |
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Cheap clean coal now dirty, expensive
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David Roberts |
13 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The WSJ energy blog points out that skyrocketing demand for coal in the developing world is rapidly driving up the commodity price. (And WSJ proper points out that rising prices for coal mean rising prices for steel.) Meanwhile, Reuters says 'clean coal' is 'elusive' and the head of one of Australia's biggest energy companies -- AGL -- says that coal's days are numbered: ... Michael Fraser said it is unlikely any new coal generators will be built without significa ... |
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| Topics: Australia, business, carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy (all these topics) |
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Troubles a-Brewing
Climate change affects -- noooooooo! -- beer |
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09 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:42 PM on 09 Apr 2008 If dire warnings about the fate of global health and security don't move you to care about climate change, maybe this will: Climate change could make beer more expensive. (No! Anything but that!) Malting barley will likely be harder to grow in a warming world, especially in Australia, says climate scientist Jim Salinger. He warned at an Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention Tuesday that wit ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, climate change impacts, food, news (all these topics) |
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Cane, You Hear Me Now
Animal-welfare group backs toad-killing in Australia |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:48 PM on 03 Apr 2008 Australian politician Shane Knuth has proposed a special "Toad Day Out" for residents of the state of Queensland to kill cane toads, a poisonous invasive species that Knuth calls "the greatest environmental vermin and probably the most disgusting creature known to man." The plan even has the backing of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals -- with ... |
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| Topics: animal welfare, Australia, biodiversity, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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A Doom With a Review
Report by Australia economist suggests ambitious climate policy |
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21 Mar 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:38 AM on 21 Mar 2008 An interim report on the economic impact of climate change on Australia -- Oz's version of the Stern Review -- has been produced by economics professor Ross Garnaut. The government-commissioned Garnaut Review, which will be published in full in September, points out that Australia's dry climate, heavy reliance on agriculture, and tight trade relationships with developing countri ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, climate change mitigation, economy, news, progress (all these topics) |
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The Even Sterner Review
Australia's pivotal Garnaut climate report to back 100 percent permit auctions |
David Roberts |
21 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The bar for national climate policy just inched up again. In April of last year Australia's State and Territory Governments commissioned a comprehensive independent study from economics professor Ross Garnaut. The Garnaut Climate Change Review is meant to be Australia's version of the U.K.'s influential Stern Review: it will examine the economic impacts of climate change and recommend policy responses. The final report isn't due until September -- right in the heated ... |
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| Topics: Australia, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, international politics (all these topics) |
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You feisty devils, you
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Tia Ghose |
14 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Check out this National Geographic video about Tasmanian devils (via The Slog): By the way, Tasmanian devils are nearing extinction. |
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| Topics: Australia, wildlife (all these topics) |
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According to Protocol
Australia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol comes into force |
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11 Mar 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:12 PM on 11 Mar 2008 Australia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol came into force on Tuesday. While the Aussies have the second-highest greenhouse-gas emissions per capita in the developed world, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd waxed optimistic, saying the country is on track to meet its Kyoto-suggested emissions-reduction targets. "From today, Australia officially becomes part of the global solut ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, Kyoto Protocol, news (all these topics) |
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'Roo the Day
Australia military will kill hundreds of kangaroos |
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07 Mar 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:22 PM on 07 Mar 2008 Australia's military will cull up to 500 wild kangaroos on a military base in the capital city of Canberra after authorities determined Friday that it would be too costly to relocate them. Officials say overgrazing 'roos are endangering native grassland, a local lizard, and the threatened golden sun moth. A plan to shoot the animals was abandoned after police warned that stray bullets could strike n ... |
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| Topics: Australia, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Whaling and Gnashing of Teeth
Norway says whale consumption is good for the planet |
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04 Mar 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:53 PM on 04 Mar 2008 Eating whale meat is better for the planet than eating beef, pork, or chicken, according to a comparative carbon-emissions calculation by Norwegian lobbying group the High North Alliance. Says the alliance's Rune Froevik, in what may be a bit of an exaggeration, "Basically it turns out that the best thing you can do for the planet is to eat whale meat compared to other types ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, food, grassroots activism, greenhouse-gas emissions, Greenpeace, Japan, news, Norway, oceans ... (all these topics) |
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Australia today = the Southwest by 2050
Lessons the United States can learn from the drought in Australia |
Joseph Romm |
04 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The brutal drought has ended over large parts of Australia -- and consumers are obsessively reducing their demand for water -- and yet water 'prices are set to double in the next five to 10 years,' Water Services Association Australia executive officer Ross Young told a drought briefing in Canberra. The focus on water conservation has never been higher: Water is a dinner table topic. People are quite passionate about water and they are quite concerned about wa ... |
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| Topics: Australia, desertification, severe weather, water crisis (all these topics) |
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The Wonder Down Under
Aussie musician Xavier Rudd chats about coming to America and greening his tour |
Sarah van Schagen |
15 Feb 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| Xavier Rudd. Photo: James Looker When Australian musician Xavier Rudd was 10 years old, he realized that he could reuse an old vacuum-cleaner hose as a didgeridoo. Talk about a career rooted in green values. Since then, Rudd has moved on from vacuum-cleaner hoses to guitars, harmonicas, banjos, lapsteels, and even real didgeridoos -- but his environmental ethi ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, ecological footprint, green living, music (all these topics) |
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Whale Played
Aussies release gruesome footage of Japanese whale hunt |
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08 Feb 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:30 PM on 08 Feb 2008 There's a new twist in the twisty tale of Japan's off-then-back-on-again whale hunt: the Australian government has released gut-wrenching footage of what it says is a mother and baby minke whale being harpooned and hauled aboard a Japanese ship. An unamused official at Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research denied that the large and small whales were a mother and calf, and warned that the Austr ... |
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| Topics: Australia, international politics, Japan, news, oceans, whaling, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Mob Gnarly and the Whalers
Protesters converge on Japan's whaling fleet; Aussie court rules Japan hunt illegal |
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15 Jan 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:02 AM on 15 Jan 2008 It's been high drama on the high seas the past few days as the unpopular Japanese whaling fleet has been at the heart of legal action and a target of direct-action protest. Earlier this week, Greenpeace successfully tracked down Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and has been chasing them around, disrupting the hunt. Today, a federal court in Aus ... |
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| Topics: Australia, international politics, Japan, news, whaling, wildlife (all these topics) |
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How Do You Say
Australia will phase out plastic bags |
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10 Jan 2008 |
News |
| "Plastic Bag" in Australian? Australia will phase out plastic bags Posted at 4:20 PM on 10 Jan 2008 Following in China's footsteps, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced a goal to phase out plastic bags in the country by the end of 2008. sources: The Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters From the Archives Sub Woofer. Iditarod sled dog race forced to change starting point. How a Bill Becomes a Blah. Richardson drops out of presid ... |
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| Topics: Australia, news, politics, waste (all these topics) |
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Australia steps up to oppose Japanese whaling
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Jason D Scorse |
19 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| This move by the Australian government is great news. Moral: elections matter! Let's hope other countries follow suit and stop this madness masquerading as "scientific research". |
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| Topics: Australia, fishing, Japan, oceans, whaling, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Australians R Us!
No country in the world is more like the U.S., so where's our national climate-change leader? |
Guest author |
14 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest essay from Mike Tidwell, who is the author, most recently, of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. ----- Kevin Rudd. Photo: AP / Rob Griffith Culturally, politically, and spiritually, what country in the world is most like the United States? It's not Canada and it's sure not Great Britain. The answer is Australia. Ask anyone who's been there. It just feels like America th ... |
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| Topics: economy, elections, politics, climate, Australia (all these topics) |
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Rough times for the orange roughy
Better management is needed before closing fisheries is the only option left |
Andrew Sharpless |
07 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| About thirty years ago, diners around the world developed a taste for the low-fat white meat of a large pelagic fish known as a slimehead. The name was changed to orange roughy, and a delicacy was born. Unfortunately for the orange roughy, its long lifespan (a hundred years or more) and its late arrival to sexual maturity (at 20 years or more) has made it vulnerable to overfishing. As its popularity in fine restaurants has grown, orange roughy populations hav ... |
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| Topics: Australia, fishing, New Zealand, oceans (all these topics) |
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No Continent Is an Island
Australia ratifies Kyoto Protocol |
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03 Dec 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:36 AM on 03 Dec 2007 On his very first official day in office today, new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol, committing his country to deep emissions cuts and putting ever more peer pressure on the United States -- the only industrialized nation still holding out on Kyoto ratification. Full official ratification for Australia is still 90 days away since the U.N. has to do its bureaucratic waiti ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, Kyoto Protocol, news, United Nations (all these topics) |
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Oz fest
Australia national government transforms; conservative party falls apart |
David Roberts |
02 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| UPDATE: Australia's new government has ratified Kyoto. Wow. That was fast. Though we've mentioned them a couple of times in our news stream, I'm not sure I've fully appreciated just how seismic recent political changes in Australia have been. Not only was the Liberal (pro-business right) party defeated but according to John Quiggen it's completely falling apart, with most of its prominent conservative power brokers quitting and their successors repudiating the far-ri ... |
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| Topics: climate, Australia, politics, Kyoto Protocol, elections (all these topics) |
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A Plan With Garrett
Midnight Oil frontman is Australia's new environment minister |
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29 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 11:26 AM on 29 Nov 2007 Peter Garrett, former singer for rock band Midnight Oil, has been appointed the environment minister in Australia's new regime. Garrett, who has been a member of the Australian Parliament since 2004, will be a duet with new Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong. sources: Associated Press, Agence France-Presse From the Archives Another Headache. ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, elections, international politics, music, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Bat an Ai-yi-yi
Heat waves take a toll on Australian fruit bats |
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28 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 5:51 PM on 28 Nov 2007 Climate change has, ahem, taken a swing at bats. Unable to deal with scorching heat waves, thousands of Australian fruit bats have flapped their wings, panted, drooled -- then dropped dead. Which begs the question: Do bat researchers spend a lot of time yelling, "Quick -- to the bat cave!" We really, really hope so. sources: Agence France-Presse, The Telegraph Fr ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, climate change impacts, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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