News for March 2025:

Welcome to the March roundup of environmentally focussed news from Australia, where an election for May 3 has just been called. I'm sure plenty of other folk are waiting to fill you in on that, so I'll hold off on that until next month. Meanwhile, on with the show...

Environment:

The Albanese Government started its term by seeking to implement recommendations of the Samuel report on the EPBC Act in full. After some progress was made on framework, the delays started. Last year, the whole thing got put it in the 'too hard' basket. In the meantime, coal and gas project extensions got approved because 'there was no mechanism for stopping them on environmental grounds'. Now we have legislation hurriedly passed to allow an ailing industry to continue at the expense of the environment.

The Ugly:

• Environment Minister has been taken to Court for not fulfilling responsibilities to 11 threatened species
•  ACF Kelly O'Shannessy spells out just why the salmon amendments are such a betrayal of environmental custodianship.

The Bad:

• 80% of honeybees in the US have died off in the past year. Cause unknown.
• Having brokered an agreement to halt nature loss by 2030 two years ago, nations at the COP16 Biodiversity Conference are staring to waver on funding.
• Satellite images reveal land clearing of over 5,000 hectares of protected mallee habitat. 
• The little tern, a once common seashore bird, has recently joined another 21 species on the endangered list.
• Shades of 28 days Later...  heavy traffic noise triggers road rage in finches.
• Microplastics are now everywhere. Their presence has far-reaching health issues, and can even affect plant photosynthesis.
• ... and the Port Phillip dolphins.
  
• Microplastics are certainly present in the slurry sprayed onto fields in the UK. The effects are not known.

The Good: 

• Book review: 'Close to Home' describes the benefits of paying attention to your local environment.
• Rewilding projects continue, with beavers being released into the UK landscape.
• If these methods scale, there is some hope yet for dealing with all that discarded plastic. We may even be able to do something about do something about 'forever chemicals' as well, using... bubbles!?
• London's ULEZ program is producing a rapid improvement in London's air quality.
• Housing and land management are, if anything, more important to mitigating climate than transportation. Take a deep dive on this topic with this Volts podcast.
• What sort of housing is a better strategy?  
• Some lessons on sustainable living, from... Tokyo.
• How much cropland could be freed up if Americans cut down on their meat intake? 
• The social benefits of bikes over cars, in monetary units.

Climate:

The Ugly:

• The Loss and Damage Fund is a means by which countries can compensate others for climate related damages. So, of course, Trump is withdrawing the US from it.
• Taking Trump's lead, global banks are likely to back away from climate funding commitments themselves.
• Indeed, many banks seem to be positioning themselves to profit from a 3 degree warming scenario (they really seem to think the likely social collapse accompanying this doesn't affect them directly)
  

The Bad:

• The extent of Antarctic sea ice has fallen to a record  low.
• With Alfred still fresh in our minds, the future will see more cyclones heading South; possibly as far as Sydney.
  
• The damage to Bribie Island following Cyclone Alfred may leave Brisbane more prone to storm surges.
• Severe coral bleaching has struck both the Great Barrier *and* Ningaloo reefs
  
• As the Northern Hemisphere emerges from Winter, wildfires hit Japan, Korea, Long Island, the Carolinas, and Florida.
• Australia's no stranger to events like these, and can expect another 'black summer' sooner rather than later.
  
• In fact, the UN reported 150 'unprecedented' climate related disasters worldwide in 2024.
• Flood and drought Drought and flood. Study finds many cities are facing a reversal in their climates, and their infrastructures may no longer be fit for purpose.
• Can we adapt to a changing climate? No prizes for answering no: we need to mitigate the changes as well.
• Retreating glaciers and rising seas threaten to expose old nuclear waste sites.
• ... they also threaten the food source of 2 billion people.
• So, small wonder that, where climate chaos goes, war is likely to follow. (In fact, many armed forces are well aware of the risks climate change poses to national security, and do what they can...)

The Good: 

• MethaneSat's direct monitoring of emissions continues to come up to speed. The latest finding is that area emissions can vary markedly over time. This is not something an estimate would pick up.
  
• Methane emissions measured over a Queensland open cut coal mine are 3-8 times the reported estimate. While certainly not good news, it does demonstrate the value of being able to make direct measurements. Also, these would be classified as 'Scope 1' emissions, and definitely the originating country's (ie Australia's) responsibility.
• ClimateTRACE is now publishing a monthly newsletter of emissions which you can sign up to,  if you've a mind.
  
• While we are told by many that it's impossible to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, some places don't seem to be having a problem doing so much earlier.
• While China remains by far the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, for the first time its net emissions stabilised. Will 2025 be the year they start reducing?
• OECD study concludes tackling the climate crisis is good for the economy, although it seems many would prefer the GDP to reduce by 40% by the end of the century...

Energy:

The Ugly:

• The last thing we need are approvals for new gas exploration wells, let alone ones near marine parks. So, what does the Victorian regulator do?
• Nor do we need lying gas advertisements.
• Peter Dutton incorrectly blames renewables on rising energy prices. Vows to approve extensions to Woodside's NW Shelf gas project.
• Systems can get complicated, with unpredictable reactions to certain stimuli. Even so, when Japan can sell-on Australia's gas for a profit, some head scratching is warranted. (Bear in mind that a quarter of Australia's domestic gas use goes toward exporting the rest)
• Fossil fuel industry continues to plan big for future oil and gas expansions. Short of an outright ban on renewables, this isn't happening... oh right. Trump.

The Bad:

• According to the IEA, energy demands rose twice as fast last year as previously. While this demand has been met by renewable projects, it has also meant the continued use of gas and coal stations.
• An example of how our baseload coal power stations are coping.
  
• More studies showing that gas cooking is bad for your health: producing more pollution than a busy UK road. (Australian studies have already established its link to childhood asthma)
• The reason for Australian power price spikes? Not renewables, but there not being enough gas held in reserve. 
• An offshore windfarm was recently rejected on environmental grounds. This is fair, although it seems recent gas projects are getting approvals delayed instead.
• For all its spruiking of claims to become a renewables powerhouse, WA has been stalling on renewable projects recently. Possibly something to do with a gas project in the NW?
• In a similar vein, green hydrogen projects have stalled completely. *Green* hydrogen, generated with renewable energy, certainly has a variety of applications. For now at least, it seems the solution is lacking a problem.

The Good: 

• The case for expanded gas production as a bridging fuel has never been strong. As suspected, greater electrification (as well as milder winters) has pushed the AEMO's estimated shortfall back to 2028.
• Garnaut on the potential boom for the Australian renewable energy industry, despite Trump's deadening influence
• Remember when things like aluminium smelters required continual baseload power from coal? It now seems Rio Tinto thinks solar and battery storage will give them what they want.
  
• The Sun does not always shine on a particular spot. Batteries help address this issue, and so does linking spots of differing longitude. Australia already spans about 3 hours worth. Now there's a proposal to add another couple with a cable to New Zealand.
• Another essay claiming the US renewable energy market is unstoppable. Given that Florida now joins Texas and Iowa as a renewable superpower, it remains to be seen whether market forces can 'trump' the fossil fuel ideology decreed by the current administration.
• Household battery storage is surging.
• Batteries are helping the energy transition in a variety of ways.
• An interesting innovation on household battery storage.
• It seems that even coalition backbenchers don't want nuclear.
• Nuclear's not needed or wanted, but it's not the only alternative to renewable energy. How's geothermal doing? 
• Given Tesla's problematic image these days, it's nice to know there are alternative EVs. Perhaps even superior alternatives. (Until infrastructure catches up, the 5 minute charging time is a gimmick, but it shows that the technology is no longer Tesla's alone.)
• Indeed, the uptake of EVs in China now threatens to supplant petrol vehicles.
  
• Volvo heavy trucks go electric, with a 600km range.
  

Resistance:

 First, a word from your favourite beverage sponsors:

 

Admit it: you needed this! (attribution unknown)

 

I have already mentioned the need for this section is, by definition, ugly. Totalitarianism is on the march and, following Gandhi's mantra, we are in the phase where they fight you. As many commentators have already said, the next couple of years are going to be rough. And ugly. 

 

Trump is moving to secure his grip with typical speed and ruthlessness. After two months of catastrophic cuts to public services, and overbearing doctrine enforcement (DEI is banned, and anything not from white cis male American sources appears to fall into that classification), he is beginning to encounter serious resistance, but it is in the Courts rather than Congress, where the Democrats are missing in action (and it's been noticed).

 

However, moving fast always risks overreach. The tariffs (ruinous to the US as well as the rest of the world) that have just been imposed may prove to be Trump's undoing. There are bilateral movements afoot to block them. Time will tell if they come to anything.

 The Ugly:

• Imagine yourself walking down the street. Suddenly, a tall man in a mask and dark clothing looms over you. He is blocking your way. You turn around, but another man is behind you. Now others converge. They are not coming to help you. They claim to be police and that you are under arrest. They offer no explanation or identification as they handcuff you and take you away. Nobody knows where you are. We've seen this happen in places like Russia and Belarus. Only two months after Trump's inauguration, we now see it happening to permanent residents in the US. Some citizens as well. As Chris Hayes says: "This is as authoritarian as it gets."
• Zoe Daniel lays out the harm that Trump's brutish regime is doing, not only to the US, but also Australia.
• I think it an appropriate time to remind readers of the (hurriedly cancelled) Operation Fortitude, where passengers alighting at Flinders Street station were expected to present their tickets, and visas. Maybe lessons were learned that day. Maybe, ten years later, with Trump as an example, it could happen here again.
• Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE: also a term for the head of a seventeenth century Italian city state) was formed, ostensibly, to slash waste in the Public Service. The IRS estimates it to have lost half a trillion dollars to date.
• Musk isn't the only character trashing the US Public Service. Robert F Kennedy Jr, newly appointed head of the US Department of Health and Human Services and notorious anti-vaxxer, is expected to shut down the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. Meanwhile, the Texas measles outbreak continues...
• House Leader Mike Johnson has hinted that Congress may abolish District Courts that block the Executive Order/decrees by which Trump has been pushing his agenda.
• When officials are this overt with their threats, it's not surprising to learn that public discourse in America is becoming increasingly meek and muted. As Supertramp put it 45 years ago: "Watch what you say, or they'll be calling you a radical. A liberal. Oh fanatical, criminal".
• Greenpeace has been ordered to pay... $600 million in damages for obstructing the construction of an oil pipeline ten years ago. Greenpeace does not have $600 million. This is a SLAPP suite, intended to impose heavy fines, and use the courts as tools of extortion and suppression. Makes you think twice about brandishing a placard outside a company office?. Greenpeace will appeal. It seems they have grounds.
• If Trump has his way, Greenpeace won't be the last criminal case brought against climate groups.
• Not all the ugly stuff is happening in the US. Ballarat Council stripped an environmental group of $285,000 for supposedly antisemitic comments, discovered by... a climate denying councillor.

The Bad:

• "The fundamental weakness of Western Civilisation is empathy." So sayeth Elon Musk. It makes sense to anyone with a passing understanding of the (highly flawed) model of human behaviour used by economists for the past two centuries: empathy is the last thing the self-absorbed Homo Economicus should feel! On the other hand "Evil is the absence of empathy" is the conclusion reached by GM Gilbert, a psychiatrist interviewing defendants at the Nuremburg trials. Is Elon deflecting?
• "First They Came" is a well known poem that describes how fascism maintains its populism by identifying a minority group on which to pin all your troubles. As each group is eliminated, another is needed to take their place; until there's nothing left to come for but you. It is important to stop this process from the start by allowing no group to be ostracised in the first place.
• Trump's bullying tactics claim another victim. Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy is winding down its advocacy office.

The Good: 

• Resistance to Trump's mayhem may not be reported widely, but it is present, and it is growing. A national demonstration is planned for April 5.
• Court order trumps Executive Order attempting to claw back $20 billion in Biden era climate grants.
  
• The results of a recent state senate by-election in Pennsylvania (narrowly won by Democrats in a 25% swing) may be the shape of things to come, when other by-elections are held this week (update: Florida congressional seats retained by GOP, but only after a 15% swing).
• In spite of pumping an unprecedented $20+ million into their campaign, and flagrantly (not to mention illegally) offering financial incentives to voters, Musk's anointed candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court lost decisively to Susan Crawford.
• In response to the Centre for Disease Control website being shuttered, a snapshot of the site prior to shuttering is now available.
• Indeed, many public departments (Parks, CDC, Education) now have 'alt' Bluesky accounts.
  
• Since we're on this topic, how do we handle being governed and indoctrinated by psychopaths? It's sadly nothing new. What is intriguing to learn is that humanity as a whole remains altruistic despite being governed by such people. George Monbiot ponders what we can do with this information. I was recently intrigued to discover that, in his book 'Values' Mark Carney, the incoming Canadian Prime Minister, recounts a similar sentiment being expressed through parables by Pope Francis.
• In related news, Monbiot is currently promoting a documentary based on his joint work 'The Invisible Doctrine: a secret history of neoliberalism'.
• To change the mood, Finland has discovered a new way to tackle homelessness and its associated problems.
• Finally, ever stopped to think about how your approach to the climate crisis has evolved, and will evolve in the future? Have a listen to Alex Steffen's observations.