Peter Sainsbury

Stories from the USA, Britain and Australia about the links between Black Lives Matter, climate change and inequality. Investment in renewable energy continues to climb but it remains woefully inadequate to head off a climate catastrophe. Abandoned oil and gas wells spew out methane but Themeda Green brings happiness.

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Three graphs to stimulate the little grey cells: Norway’s domestic and exported greenhouse gas emissions, global electric car sales and changes in CO₂ emissions during COVID. Plus, India plans to become a global renewable energy powerhouse (with Gautam Adani’s support) and plastics fly to the wilderness.

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What do organisations’ green promises mean and are they keeping them? Contrasting fortunes for insects: the locust plague in Africa and Asia is set to grow massively but overall insects are in serious decline globally. And they are not alone: species are being lost at an alarming rate globally and Australia is leading the way, although we are starting to do a better job of monitoring our negligence.

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The ‘politics of prevarication and inadequate action’ from Rio in 1992 to Paris in 2015 is followed by stories of the ongoing investment in fossil fuels rather than renewables by G20 governments and major oil and gas companies. China has the potential to generate 60% of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and solar microgrids deliver the goods in emergency situations.

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It’s not difficult knowing what to do to prevent an environmental and human catastrophe. What’s difficult is making it happen and starting it now, especially in Australia. Today’s articles highlight some recommendations for governments. Finally, a couple of wins in court, and reproduction and Raymond Chandler.

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A guide to the Australian government’s plans for the post-COVID recovery and bureaucrats and scientists talk with feeling about Australia’s Climate Wars. Cyclone Amphan hits India and Bangladesh, providing a current example of the increasing frequency of strong tropical storms. Worldwide, animals big and small are going extinct, and Australia is working hard to fuel the trend.

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In the absence of urgent climate action, rising temperatures over the next 50 years will render much of the globe uninhabitable for humans and trees. But global fossil fuel consumption is still rising and a NSW coal company has repeatedly and grossly underestimated the CO₂ emissions when its coal is burnt. A pandemic caused by a coronavirus: what a surprise. NOT! And Madagascar’s remarkable flora and fauna.

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Australians think they have it tough with bushfires, coronavirus and bleaching of the Reef but the people of Pacific and African nations have a multitude of other problems to cope with as well – few of which they caused. Are the world’s governments up to the challenge of creating the structural change needed during the post-COVID recovery? CO₂ emissions may be down this year but will it last? And will it make any difference to the world’s melting glaciers and ice sheets?

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Two stories from India: creating environmentally sustainable, healthy cities for the post-COVID world and the installation of cheap solar energy signals the end of coal. Plus, Joseph Stiglitz summarises some principles the Australian government should adopt post-COVID, a literary interlude and a summary of carbon capture and storage.

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Ecosystems are likely to collapse sooner and more abruptly than previously thought, which is not surprising considering Trump continues to destroy the environmental in the USA. We can do better: the post-COVID recovery can be used to promote environmental sustainability and we have the technology to halve greenhouse gas emissions every decade. You can do your bit – make a submission to the review of the EPBC Act in the next 5 days.

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Biodiversity features heavily this week: a distressing update on bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef but good news that the right action now could restore the Earth’s oceans to good health by 2050; the Tasmanian government hellbent on logging native forests; and the decline of Spotted Frogs in the USA heralding bad news for humans. Finally, a cause and effect conundrum.

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Coronavirus is yet another serious disruption to daily life in Africa, while the Brazilian President prefers clearing the Amazon to managing the epidemic. Two reports from WWF highlight the contributions that nature-based solutions can make to solving global problems but not everyone agrees. Coal no longer ‘cheap’.

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If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. How will a coronavirus-led recession affect CO₂ emissions? Will health improve from cleaner air with fewer vehicles on the road? How can governments use stimulus packages to protect the vulnerable and hasten the transition to a low carbon, environmentally sustainable, just world? And good news for Torres Strait Islanders: $25m to cope with sea level rise.

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Marine and coastal environments are the focus this week: how ‘The Blue Acceleration’ poses threats to natural environments, economies, lives and homes through ocean warming, melting ice caps, changes in ocean currents, sea level rise and even bushfires. And some early attempts to protect flood-prone areas in the USA.

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Teck Resources withdraws from an oil sands mining project in Alberta Canada and Equinor oil company pulls out of drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight, even though the project has already received Australian government approval. Coronavirus is just one of a string of dangerous new infections caused by the clearing of forests by multinational agribusinesses. Ongoing coal mining in India is causing extreme human suffering as well as warming the planet.

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Three articles from the USA, all with relevance for Australia. Economist Jeffrey Sachs analyses the costs and timelines for decarbonisation; activist and writer Bill McKibben provides an overview of climate change and climate action at the start of the decade; and essayist Mary Annaise Heglar discusses the relationship between climate change and racism and oppression. Finally reports from the Victorian and NSW governments about their responses to the bush fires.

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Without the ‘services’ provided by nature, humanity could not exist – so why do we keep destroying nature? Financial institutions have cold feet about investing in Alberta’s oil sands and the Premier directs a blow torch at their bellies. A follow up to last month’s Siemens story and hints for environmentally sustainable alcohol intake. Finally, a reminder that the Great Barrier Reef is still in danger.

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A disturbing report about how climate change exposes women and girls to violence, abuse and exploitation. Calls for a treaty to protect the Arctic from militarisation and commercialisation. Concerns that some people are more concerned about preserving pictures of animals than animals themselves, and increasing covering of climate change in the media.

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Migration is the focus this week, particularly within country migration, with stories about human migrations in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the USA, bird migrations in Australia and bee migrations in the USA.

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If we’d started the transition 30 years ago, gas might (might!) have been a viable transition fuel but it’s certainly not in 2020 despite what the PM and his gassy friends say. (more…)

Despite the rhetoric of support for action to combat climate change from senior company executives and members of government, banks and rich nations continue to fund the development of coal mines and power stations, even in countries that currently don’t have any coal power. Centuries of abuse of waterways leads to problems along the Mekong River and in the Everglades, and plagues of locusts devastate crops in East Africa.

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A development plan for the 21^st century is needed for northern Australia, perhaps informed by lessons from the Niger Republic. Three stories from north America: dead ‘penguins’ along the west coast indicative of severe ecosystem disruption caused by ocean warming; Trump fails to halt coal’s decline; and US Department of Justice provides support for oil companies being sued by city governments. Finally, 2019 was a very hot year.

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Excess heat will be responsible for 8.5 million deaths per year by 2100. Russia possibly developing plans for adaptation to climate change but Australian politicians continue to rage against the dying of the coal-generated light while investors flee coal companies. Meanwhile an Australian hero works for a just transition.

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The dismal failure of the Madrid COP meeting in December starts the round up for 2020, and no one should be surprised by Australia’s disgraceful performance in Madrid when they see the government’s latest greenhouse gas emission projections to 2030.  In better news, the highest court in the Netherlands has required the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%. Nothing about the fires themselves, just a couple of observations about reactions to them.

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Strong evidence that every day’s delay in reducing greenhouse gas emissions makes the ultimate task more difficult (and less achievable; exploding the myth that natural gas is a safe, low emissions transition fuel to a carbon free world; hoped-for outcomes from the current COP meeting in Madrid; some Christmas suggestions; and a visual tribute to a genuine hero of 2019. Happy Christmas and let’s hope 2020 sees progress towards the creation of an environmentally sustainable world.

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