As this Friday 18 April is a public holiday, there is no session. The next  Sustainability/Stock and Land session will be on May 2.

Links to articles for Easter reading have been sent to class members in an email, including three excellent articles from the New Scientist in the email.  The fortnightly list of media links is included below.

U3A Benalla Stock & Land and Sustainability Group 
Media links for 18 April 25 session 

ABC Rural Newsletter 4 Apr 25 
Link 
 
SBS Dateline – modular housing 10 Apr (SBS on demand?) 
 
ABC News 7 Apr 25 - Expert says Labor must ensure battery subsides don’t entrench inequality 
Link 
 
The Conversation 8 Apr 25 - Reality check: coral restoration won’t save the world’s reefs  
Link 
 
The Conversation 8 Apr 25 - The latest update on NZ’s state of the environment is sobering – but there are glimmers of progress  
Link 
 
ABC News 8 Apr 25 - Why Australian governments no longer make drought declarations 
Link 
 
The Conversation 11 Apr 25 - Extinctions of Australian mammals have long been blamed on foxes and cats – but where’s the evidence?  
Link 
 
The Conversation 11 Apr 25 - As more communities have to consider relocation, we explore what happens to the land after people leave  
Link 
 
The Conversation 14 Apr 25 - Most bike lanes in inner Melbourne have less than 40% tree cover – that’ll get worse, new maps show 
Link 
 
ABC News 14 Apr 25 - Wind farms need to be set back further from homes, landholders say 
Link 
 
ABC News 15 Apr 25 - One brick higher (locations under insurance risk) 
Link 
 
The Conversation 16 Apr 25 - Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat  
Link 


John Lane

​Our next session will be on this Friday, 4 April, commencing at 10:00 am.

Recently, the Fenner School (part of the Australian National University) and the Australian Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, published a report on the state of Australia's environment in 2024. There is some interesting information published in this report and I'd like to spend a little time going through it - it's not just 'doom and gloom'.

I've attached the usual document containing links to various articles that I found interesting over the last couple of weeks. Happy reading!

​Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.

John Lane

The combined Stock & Land and Sustainability group had an excursion to Winton Wetlands for our first session in March. Ably led by group member Charlie, and supported by Andy from the Regent Honeyeater Group, we went behind the scenes to look at the extensive work being undertaken to deal with pest weeds and create new plantings with the aim of eventually bringing back this large area to something like its original state. This will clearly be a job that will take decades, but is was great to see the enormous amount of work done to date.

While the convenor had the second session off, Neville fielded a wide-ranging general discussion on sustainability at this session.  He suggested that a new collective belief, emanating from the USA, that it was costing too much to achieve the atmospheric CO2 objectives already agreed on and we therefore should not even try, is starting to filter to Australia. The question asked - is climate change policy costing too much? Have we determined not to spend money on attempting to prevent climate change detrimentally affecting this planet? The larger context is whether we have decided to say to our great grandchildren - whatever problem we leave for you it's going to be your problem - not ours.

​John Lane

Sustainability got off to a good start at our first session in February, with much sustainability related news to catch up on after the summer break.

Neville facilitated the second session in my absence, starting with a discussion of the Los Angeles fires and the claims that water was not diverted from Northern California when it should have been. Much discussion ensued. Moving on to Australian matters, a recent investigation showing that, contrary to expectation Dingoes are still more or less purebred, also led to much discussion. It was thought that Dingo genes had been diluted by wild dogs.  Apparently not. This leads to the question - should we be culling dingoes? A 4-Corners programme concerning Wind Turbines and the problems getting the wider population to accept them also featured.  Thanks, Neville, for reporting back on the session.

On Friday 7 March, Charlie is taking us on an excursion to Winton Wetlands to see the work going on towards rehabilitating the wetlands and consider how different environments are managed there.  We will drive around a circuit not normally open to the public, looking at the different kinds of environments, different soils, and more.  Anyone interested in farming should find it equally interesting.   Meet in the car park at 10 am for car-pooling.  Bring a water bottle and a hat. 

With our joint coverage of Stock and Land this year, (we are holding the fort until a new convenor is found for Stock and Land), sessions and excursions which link sustainability and agriculture will feature.  Looking forward –we have an excursion planned in May to the property 12 km south of Benalla managed by Mark Foletta. Mark received the 2023 Award for Excellence in Diversification and Sustainability.  Keep an eye on upcoming newsletter reports for further details. 
​
John Lane, Neville Gibb and Charlie Corser

It's not been a great end of the year for our areas of interest; we've had two failed international conferences (biodiversity and climate change), more indicators that social equality is going backwards, the proposed new national environmental laws have hit the buffers and more. But in this session we'll try to find some positive news to finish our year on.

Attached are some articles and a document with links to others that you might find of interest. We could talk about the recently released social wellbeing report from the NAB (of all institutions!). But have a look and see if any other items grab your fancy.

John​


ABC News 18 Nov 24 - A climate solution or distraction? The carbon capture facility at Chevron's Gorgon project tells a cautionary tale 
Link 
 
The Conversation 18 Nov 24 - Meltwater from Greenland and the Arctic is weakening ocean circulation, speeding up warming down south  
Link 
 
ABC News 19 Nov 24 - Boomers keep booming while young borrowers and renters pick up the tab 
Link 
 
Energy Matters Newsletter 12 Nov 24 - What to Expect in Solar Technology Over the Next Decade 
Link 
 
CSIRO newsletter 20 Nov 24 - New CSIRO facility takes printed flexible solar tech from lab to real world 
Link 
 
The Conversation 24 Nov 24 - From a US$300 billion climate finance deal to global carbon trading, here’s what was – and wasn’t – achieved at the COP29 climate talks  
Link 
 
The Conversation 25 Nov 24 - Australia in a baby bust? It’s not that simple – and a panic won’t help  
Link 
 
NAB Q3 2024 Wellbeing index 
Link 
 
The Conversation 25 Nov 24 - After nearly 10 years of debate, COP29’s carbon trading deal is seriously flawed  
Link 
 
The Conversation 27 Nov 24 - Record renewables go into the grid in 2024, generating 45% of electricity in 2025  
Link 
 
ABC News 29 Nov 24 - Australia falls dramatically short of emissions reduction goal, as NSW swelters through early heatwave 
Link 
 
The Conversation 2 Dec 24 - A $13 billion, 30-year flop: landmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline  
Link 
 
The Conversation 30 Nov 24 - Cool water from the deep could protect pockets of the Great Barrier Reef into the 2080s  
Link 
 
 
 
 
 ​

In our first session for November, the sustainability group focussed on the latest State of the Climate Report. This eighth biennial report draws on the latest national and international climate research, encompassing observations, analyses and future projections to describe year-to-year variability and longer-term changes in Australia’s climate.

Observations, reconstructions of past climate and climate modelling continue to provide a consistent picture of ongoing, long‑term climate change interacting with underlying natural variability. Associated changes in weather and climate extremes—such as extreme heat, heavy rainfall, coastal inundation, fire weather and drought—exacerbate existing pressures on the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems.

These changes in the weather and climate are happening at an increasing pace; the past decade has seen record-breaking extremes contributing to natural disasters that are exacerbated by anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, including ‘compound events’, where multiple hazards and/or drivers occur together or in a close sequence, which intensifies their impacts. 

In our second November session we had a free ranging discussion on a variety of topics sparked by articles published in the weeks before. These included the need for gas as part of our long-term transition to stopping use of fossil fuels for electricity production, the global biodiversity convention meeting of parties and the increasing movement of carbon tied in to the northern perma-frost.

15 Nov Session – Article Links
 
The Conversation 1 Nov 24 - 5 things you can do to end the biodiversity crisis as the world talks about it at COP16
Link
 
The Conversation 1 Nov 24 - Ancient mud reveals Australia’s burning history over the past 130,000 years – and shows a way through our fiery future
Link
 
ABC News 1 Nov 24 - New satellite tool scans for plastic pollution on beaches from over 600 kilometres above Earth
Link
 
The Conversation 5 Nov 24 - Yes, burning gas is bad for the climate. But keeping it in Australia’s energy mix is sensible
Link
 
The Conversation 4 Nov 24 - Dams have taken half the water from Australia’s second biggest river – and climate change will make it even worse
Link
 
The Conversation 6 Nov 24 - The frozen carbon of the northern permafrost is on the move – we estimated by how much
Link
 
UN Biodiversity CoP 2024
Link
​

1 Nov Session – Article Links
 
ABC News 19 Oct 24 – USA study finds LNG worse than coal
Link
 
The Conversation 18 Oct 24 – Ancient Greeks and Romans grappled with environmental damage
Link
 
ABC News 20 Oct – Farmers reducing methane
Link
 
The conversation 21 Oct 24 – Australia’s fertility rate has reached a record low.
Link
 
The Conversation 23 Oct 24 – Why isn’t the insurance industry supporting the ‘building back better’ principle?
Link
 
The Conversation 23 Oct 24 – A post code approach to electrification
Link
 
The Conversation 22 Oct 24 – Huge volumes of whey thrown away. But  it could be used
Link
 
The Conversation 24 Oct 24 – Is Victoria’s economy going as badly as it seems?
Link
 
The Conversation 24 Oct 24 – Cultural burning is essential for disaster management
Link
 
ABC News 23 Oct 24 – Housing fight has made it in the streets
Link
 
The Conversation 24 Oct 24 – Pacific nations pressure Australia on fossil fuels exports
Link
 
The Conversation 25 Oct 24 – Four steps to provide genuine progress to restore nature
Link
 
The Conversation 29 Oct 24 – Why building more big dams is a costly gamble
Link
 
The Conversation 28 Oct 24 – Spreading crushed rock over farmland can remove CO2 from the atmosphere – if done right
Link
 
The Conversation 28 Oct 24 - Spreading crushed rock over farmland can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere if we do it right
Link
 
ABC News 30 Oct 24 - Declining tropical cyclones and east coast lows lead to major shift in Australia's rainfall
Link

At our first session in October we focussed on progress towards sustainability across our three themes; society, economic and environmental. What we found was that progress towards overall sustainability in Australia is a little bit of two steps forward, one back.

In the social area housing was a problem, primarily because the housing supply (relative to population growth) was in a poor state. This was particularly true for public and community housing, the stock proportion of which has fallen significantly since the 1950s. The relative cost of housing, and rental vacancies, is also making it more difficult for people to get the housing they need.

Economically the story is in two halves. GDP per capita is reasonably steady; even growing slowly. But the distribution of income and wealth is way out of kilter. The top 20% of households earn 12 times more than the bottom 20%. Additionally, the wealth of the top 20% of households is 93 times more than the bottom 20%.

​In the environment there is both good and bad news. Clearing of primary forest nationally has been trending down this century from around 400,000 ha/annum over the period 1990-94 to under 60,000 ha/annum over the period 2015-19.  Over the long-term (since European colonisation) species extinction has been very significant. However it is difficult to judge from available data how species are travelling in more recent times; but there have been some species that have become extinct this century (and some 're-found').

At our second October session we spent half out time discussing the upcoming council election and what it might mean for sustainability in Benalla. Too much time was spent discussing why the convenor left the community candidate forum early! We then covered many other topics including if governments would soon be subsidising home solar batteries given we have almost reached saturation point with roof-top solar to the extent that during sunny days utilities are/will soon be having to stop importing roof-top solar into the grid.


​John Lane

"We'll be having another sustainability group session this Friday, 18 Oct commencing at 10:00am

I don't plan to talk about anything in particular so looking forward to you bringing forward items for discussion.

Attached is the usual document containing links to reports on topical issues, some of which might start a conversation.

Looking to see you all on Friday.

John"

The Conversation 4 Oct 24 – Reintroducing native grasslands in urban environments

The Conversation 30 Sept 24 – Why is the Darling River drying up?

ABC News 5 Oct 24 – Does Hydrogen still have a future?

ABC News 6 Oct 24 – Calls for subsidies for solar batteries

ABC news 6 Oct 24 – Britain’s last coal-fired power station closes

ABC News 7 Oct 24 - What nuclear power in the United States tells us about the
Coalition's controversial energy policy.

ABC News 10 Oct 24 – Temp over shoot of global temp target may cause more
problems than thought.

ABC News 10 Oct 24 – Grantham moved after 2011 floods

ABC News 13 Oct 24 – Coal power plant experiment to ‘turn down’ then ‘up’ with
fluctuations in solar/wind supply

ABC News 16 Oct – Possible new federal govt scheme to support battery uptake

Traditional burning practices in the NW deserts – Youtube video:

​John Lane

The Sustainability group meets again this Friday at 10:00 am. Not sure of a topic as yet. The news is full of war!

Following are links to articles that you might find interesting.

John

At our first session in September, the Sustainability group looked at the latest quarterly report on Australian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions published by the Australian government. Overall, the since 2005 (Australia's baseline year) there is a picture of steady, but steep, decline. In 2005 Australia emitted over 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and equivalent gasses. This has declined to around 110 million tonnes. However the rate of decline appears to have 'flat-lined' in recent years. Over this period of all the 'industry' categories, Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry has been the best performing and is now below net carbon zero (-20%: a carbon sink).  Electricity Production (34% of all emissions), Stationary Energy (23%), Transport (22%) and Agriculture (19%) are the industry sectors emitting the greatest amount of GHG.

At our second session for September, we discussed more climate change related topics; A national hydrogen strategy and The net-zero pathway, both released by Federal government agencies. There have been a few setbacks on the hydrogen front in recent times and given the slowing of the rate of decline of GHG emissions, the net-zero pathway looks quite difficult.

​John Lane

​The Sustainability Group meets again this Friday (6 September) commencing at 10:00 am.  Please look at the links below to articles you might find interesting. One of these is to a summary of Australia's 2024 greenhouse gas emissions profile of the various sectors that generate GHG emissions. The report was recently released by the government. I'd like to take you through the key findings of this report as I don't think we've looked at our progress recently.

Article Links

The Conversation 15 August – New methods of engagement needed to get locals on board with renewable energy developments   

The Conversation 18 August - What actions economists think will fix the housing crisis
 
The Conversation 19 Aug 24 – Three steps to give the new environment laws teeth

The Conversation 20 August 24 – No quick fixes to solve environmental problems
 
ABC News 21 Aug 24 – Overhaul of environment laws look shakey
 
ABC News 21 Aug 24 – Environmental approval for Sun-cable proposal
 
The Conversation 21 August 24 – ACCC’s draft sustainability guideline misses the ‘social’ element
 
ACCC July 24 – Draft guide on sustainability collaborations
 
The Conversation 15 August – New methods of engagement needed to get locals on board with renewable energy developments
 
The Conversation 27 August 24 – Global population is now slowing rapidly-will a falling population by better for the environment?
 
ABC News 27 August 24 – Deforestation on farms - Coles-Woolworths urged to dump beef linked to deforestation


John Lane

At our first August session, the sustainability group discussed a number of issues arising from circulated articles. In the previous month the big news was Twiggy Forrest laying off hundreds of workers from his Green Hydrogen enterprise, raising the question as to whether the hydrogen bubble has burst even before it formed. It was a reminder of how fast the field of industrial sustainability and renewable energy was moving. Nothing is settled and everything is changing. In a similar vein was news that sodium-based batteries, rather than lithium, might become the standard for large scale battery farms. Sodium is abundant and doesn't have the ignition potential of lithium.

At our second session we were privileged to hear from a guest speaker. Mike Vanderzee, a Swanpool local, is with the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and he works on the Murray-Darling Basin issue. His extensive background in all things 'water' meant he has an in-depth perspective on the history of the Wentworth Group working to  influence governments to cap extraction of water from the basin and establish a pool of water for the environment. It was interesting to learn that the target for the environmental pool agreed by governments was somewhat less than that recommended by scientists and that even this lower level has not yet been achieved, hence the Federal government has resumed buying water on the open market. There have been lots of twists and turns in this story over the decades!

​
​John Lane

The Sustainability Group meets this Friday 16 August at 10:00 am. I have arranged a guest presenter for this session. He is Mike Vanderzee from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. Mike's role, and that of the Wentworth Group, is to influence the policies of governments to achieve better environmental outcomes for the Murray-Darling Basin.

Following are links to various articles that may be of interest. 

John
​
NS 1 June 24 - Cement without emissions.pdf 
NS 8 June 24 - Cleaner ships may warm the planet faster.pdf
NS 8 June 24 - Turn to the trees.pdf
NS 15 June 24 - Earth warms as heat trapping doubles.pdf
NS 25 May 24 - The idea of biodiversity.pdf 

In case you couldn't get to class on Friday 19 July and would like to keep 'in the zone', John planned to spend a little time exploring CSIRO's 'My Climate View' product -https://myclimateview.com.au and discussing links drawn from the following pre-reading list ...

The Conversation 8 July – Antarctic ice self-collapse
 
ABC news 9 July – Overseas buyers looking to Australian gas producers
 
The Conversation 9 July 24 – EV's ‘rescue’ the grid
 
ABC News 12 July 24 – How best to dismantle redundant oil/gas rigs in Bass Strait
 
ABC News 16 July 24 – China’s race to install renewables
 
ABC News 16 July 24 – Managing nuclear waste from Lucas Heights

Some interesting reading for a cold wintery weekend!

After the break Bev led us through Peter Maddock’s detailed report 'Another Successful Swanpool Environmental Film Festival' on the BSFG website. The program this year looked at the ‘big picture’, particularly power structures and economic theory. A session, ‘Finding the Money’, introduced a new economic theory, ‘Monetary Monetary Theory’. More locally, Bertram Lobert spoke about Save our Strathbogie Forest group’s concern that ‘Planned Burns are not Making Us Safe’ and their efforts to make changes through the courts. We also previewed a film shown at the festival ‘The New Corporation – the unfortunately necessary Sequel’, which is currently available on SBS On Demand.

​Neville Gibb 

In the absence of John, we passed our second session over to Susan Campbell, who kept our interest at a premium with her life story.

Susan shared many stories about her and her husband Sandy's problems with their Barnawatha farm and its final acceptance as being a model farm which won many accolades.

Sue also told us of her history with Landcare which is quite extensive. We thank her for her good work.

​Neville Gibb

The sustainability group had an outing to Susan and Sandy Campbell's property on the Shepparton Rd for our first session of April. They have a large worm farm which produces fertiliser for their farm. It was amazing that an apparently simple system, with the irrigation powered by solar, can replace 'industrial' fertiliser. Inputs are horse manure from the nearby equestrian centre and chicken farm waste; just add water and worms. We all came away with a sample to try out.

There was a lot to read and talk about in March, with member contributions playing a key role.  Fe raised the issue of the harmful effects of fast fashion, much of which is made from plastics, and toxic textile dyes, particularly textile dye water pollution, on the environment.  Fe’s resources included the ‘Plastic Soup’ website’s ‘Plastic Fashion’.​

Also on the theme of waste, Bev brought along the latest edition of the ‘Businesses and Organisations offering Recycling Deposit Points’ flier produced by the BSFG WasteWise Benalla team, the team offering a range of recycling options to us in the servery area of the kitchen.  Here’s a photograph of the latest ‘gathering point’ they’ve created to help us all to recycle thoughtfully!  

Note:  Article links from John for our first session in March included
 
ABC news 21 Feb 24 – Staggering rise in roof-top solar capacity predicted
Link
 
The Conversation 28 Feb 24 – Conversion of former mines to pumped hydro schemes
Link

​Bev Lee

"As we hear so much that is negative on the sustainability front I though we could have a look at what we've got to be cheerful about. Hannah Ritchie, from the World in Data organisation in the UK has recently published a book that attempts to put our current 'troubles' in perspective - and it seems there are many reasons to be cheerful.

In addition to suggestions sent out as email attachments, these articles are worth reading

The Conversation 6 Feb 24 – Earth temperature may have risen more than 1.5C
Link
 
The Conversation 6 Feb 26 – Category 6 cyclones?
Link
 
The Conversation – Sea-based permaculture
Link
​
I look forward to discussions about human achievements across numerous fields.

John

Welcome to a new year with the Benalla U3A Sustainability group. Our first meeting is scheduled for this Friday 2 February but due to a bad cold I will cancel this session. A bad start, I know, but better that than me giving you my cold (at least it's not COVID!)

So, our next session will be on 16 February commencing at 10:00 am. Sorry for any inconvenience.

In the meantime, here's a photo of our joint excursion with the Stock and Land group in early December to to visit Alistair Cumming's innovative venture developing a method of milling the leaves from a very specific species of eucalypt to extract substances to be used in the pharmaceutical industry. ​

I've emailed links to some articles that you may find interesting to read before our 16 February class, including:

The Conversation 10 Jan 24 – 2022 Antarctic heatwave  Link
​The Conversation 11 Jan 24 – Heat affecting storms and floods  Link

​The Hans Rosling video below provides a hint as to what I'll be talking about at our next session.

John Lane

​The sustainability group met twice in November. At our first session John made a presentation about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. This is due to expire in mid 2024 but is going to fall short of its water saving targets. These were established in the early this century to try claw back water for the environment. Diversions, mainly for irrigation, had stretched river and floodplain health to the point of environmental collapse. Getting water back from consumptive use for environmental purposes, and the manner of delivering 'environmental' flows, has been controversial for over two decades. Legislation to extend the plan for a further three years, which includes reinstating water buy-backs as a means of getting more water available for the environment, has caused enormous ructions amongst the competing forces. In fact the Victorian Government has pulled out of the inter-governmental agreement. The legislation is currently being reviewed by a Senate committee.

At our second session we listened to an informative podcast* in which Michelle Grattan interviewed Greg Combet, former Minister for climate change and energy in the Gillard governments. Greg had previously been Secretary of the ACTU and has recently been appointed as chair of the Australian government's new Net Zero Agency which has been charged with helping regional communities transition away from fossil fuel industries. The agency started work in July to help communities like those around Hazelwood in Victoria and Liddel in NSW, already dealing with coal power plant closures. It will work with state, territory and local governments, existing regional bodies, unions, industry, investors and First Nations groups to help former fossil fuel industry workers retrain and access support.

There will be a change of day for our next session - it will be at 10 am on Tuesday 5 December at the U3A.  The reason for the change is that we are joining with the Stock and Land group to visit an innovative venture that's being progressing in Benalla. Alistair Cumming has developed a method of milling the leaves from a very specific species of eucalypt to extract substances to be used in the pharmaceutical industry. We'll visit his experimental mill located in Benalla and then visit his farm at Lurg where he has a plantation of the species he uses. 


​John Lane

*https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-former-climate-minister-greg-combet-on-australias-mission-to-reach-net-zero-217277​

The Conversation 9 Nov 23 – Pacific Islands & fossil fuels - Link
 
The Conversation 9 Nov 23 – Fmr Climate Minister Greg Combet talks to Michelle Grattan     Podcast
 
The Conversation 10 Nov 23 - Friday essay: if the world’s systems are ‘already cracking’ due to climate change, is there a post-doom silver lining?
Link
 
ABC News 10 Nov 23 - The world has experienced its hottest 12 months on record, and El Niño is set to drive temperatures higher
Link
 
The Conversation 14 Nov 23 - Fire is consuming more than ever of the world’s forests, threatening supplies of wood and paper
Link
 
The Conversation 13 Nov 23 – Murray-Darling water buybacks won’t be enough if we can’t get water to where it’s needed
Link
 
The Conversation 20 Apr 23 - Victoria’s plans for engineered wetlands on the Murray are environmentally dubious. Here’s a better option
Link


Also Recommended: 

Wade, G (2023) 'The Health Costs of Wildfires' New Scientist 4 November 2023 p 14 and p 15

'Le Page, M (2023) We Must Hit Net Zero by 2032 to avoid breaching 1.5C limit' New Scientist 4 November 2023 p 8

John Lane

Discussion about the Murray-Darling Basin shenanigans featured on November 3. Recommended reading (with links) on this and other topics are listed below, together with articles from a recent New Scientist (these links require a subscription, but you may come across them over time). 

ABC news online 21 Oct 23 – Effect of dark roofs    Link
 
The Conversation 23 Oct 23 – What happens to workers when coal power stations close   Link
 
The Conversation 23 Oct 23 – Powerline roll out rage   Link
 
The Conversation 23 Oct 23 – Cleaning up old mines   Link
 
ABC news 24 Oct 23 – Marshall Islands water supply
Link
 
The Conversation 24 Oct 23 – Changes to global climate maps
Link
 
The Conversation 27 Oct – Data ‘clouds’ in the sea
Link
 
The Conversation 31 Oct – NT Govt approved Beetaloo project
Link
 
ABC news 31 Oct – Roof top solar
Link
 
ABC news 31 October – Murray-Darling Basin water buy-backs
Link
 
Productivity Commission - Interim report (2023) on review of Murray-Darling plan implementation
Link
 
The Conversation 1 Nov 23 – Beach erosion causes
Link
 
ABC 1 Nov 23 – Bogus carbon credit scheme
Link

And, from the New Scientist on 14 October 2023 - (subscription required)

Sparkes, M 'Should we worry about AI's energy use?'  New Scientist 14 October 2023 p11

Hsu, J "The growing carbon footprint of satellite internet" New Scientist 14 October 2023 p14

Dineen, J "The power sector has almost hit peak emissions" New Scientist 14 October 2023 p 18

John Lane

The sustainability group in October had one session where we examined what a previous chief scientist of Australia (Alan Finkle) thinks is the recipe for moving Australia to a renewable energy future.  This was off the back of a thought-provoking book he published this year.  It’s clear we are not moving fast enough to achieve the national targets. 

​Our second session was dominated by a video that Bev introduced.  It was Twiggy Forest addressing world business leaders warning of a little discussed aspect of global warming – lethal humidity.  Rising humidity may lead to areas of earth unsustainable for human (and other animal) existence.  It was a sobering presentation. (Link: https://youtu.be/kigyFOj7HUw?si=IOUxXSjkFvYNOvQ )
​
John Lane