News for May, 2025

The good news for May is that the news did not focus exclusively on Trump's antics. To be sure, he's been active, but so have the courts in bringing his Executive Orders into line. Oxygen is getting into the room.

Overall, the news still tends to the bad. Yes, Australia rejected the laughable nuclear policies of right wing conservatives, but will the ALP deliver what the electorate wants? The decision to approve Woodside's NW shelf extension gives one pause to reflect.

Nevertheless, a few rays of light keep on shining through. One of those rays is the Herds puppet production, whose trailer may be viewed below.

  

By no means all refugees from climate change are human

Environment

Battered and bruised, the environment nevertheless continues to serve up some tales of resilience.

The Ugly

• The breaking news is that Australia's new Environment Minister, Senator Murray Watt, has decided to approve a 30 year extension for a large offshore gas project (Woodside's North West Shelf Project). Expect to hear a *lot* more about this issue but, as a first act, this is not a good look from a government looking to tout its renewable and environmental credentials to the electorate rather than its ties to the WA government.
• Woodside 'celebrates' the recent approval... by spilling 16000 litres of oil into the ocean near Ningaloo Reef!?
• Woodside's project isn't the only one exploring for gas in ecologically sensitive areas. A rig has just set up off the Victorian coast near the 12 Apostles.

The Bad

• In addition to causing the first recorded coral bleaching in the area, a prolonged ocean heat wave poses a threat to WA dugongs.
• The same marine heat wave has caused a devastating and ongoing toxic algal bloom in South Australia's Gulf of St Vincent. The deadly effects aren't limited to the water: beach goers have also reported respiratory symptoms.
• Many bird populations in the US are in rapid decline.
• Scientists are recommending that urban beekeeping be limited to protect native bees. (Maybe. Personally I've noted the blue banded bees in my yard have been holding their own. There are other native species, of course)
• Bushfires, drought, and chytrid fungus have combined to render corroborree frogs 'functionally extinct', although their chances of recovery may be improved by a now fully mapped genome.
• Our oceans appear to be growing darker
  

The Good 

• Hello possums! ... but what are you doing in the Pilbara?
• ... why not? Along with eastern quolls, they are now thriving in the Flinders Ranges, a decade after reintroduction.
• While Healesville Sanctuary commence a breeding program for leadbeaters possum, a colony of them turns up in NSW.
  
• Meanwhile, critically endangered helmeted honeyeaters have been reintroduced into the Cardinia area
  
• While culling horses is a shame, it has been having a reviving effect on Koscziusko National Park 
• Setting a (super cannibal) cane toad to catch a cane toad?
  
• Whale song: it stirs the conservationist in you!
• Nothing like a properly controlled burn to get orange bellied parrots  excited for all the new growth goodies.

Climate

A kind of 'good' news was going to be that there is so much 'bad' news this month that even the 'ugly' contributors appear to be falling mute. But no: trust the Trump administration to blunder through!

The Ugly

• In the classic tradition of partial truths making the best lies, Trump energy secretary Chris Wright claims that the IPCC reports show no increase in extreme weather events. As you no doubt realise,  he's wrong.

The Bad

• Add bananas to the list of plant species threatened by climate change.
• In news that would not surprise Vilfredo Pareto, two thirds of global warming is due to the richest 10% (that'd include Australia) 
• Recent global temperatures have exceeded modelling. Why? James Hansen suggests decreasing cloud cover is allowing more energy in.
• The prospect of 2 degrees warming in the next five years is no longer considered improbable.
• Satellite monitoring is making a difference, and a recent IEA report admits methane emissions to be 80% higher than previously stated.
• ...a-and, as warming proceeds, expect more of this:
• Significant heatwaves in WA
• The aforementioned toxic algal blooms in SA
  
• Flooding in NSW
• Increased exposure to storm surges, like residents bordering Byron Bay following terrain damage from the recent cyclone.
• A Swiss village wiped out by the avalanche from a collapsing glacier
• Abandonment of vineyards in places like Catalonia.
• Significant tornado events in cities like St. Louis.
• Projected sea level rises will force millions inland. Well, we will live on the coast...
  
• Projected steel production threatens India's emission targets. However, it need not be so if newer technologies are adopted.

The Good

• China's emissions are finally starting to reduce. Maybe.
• The Antarctica has a secret defence against global warming: penguin poo!
• 57% of Britons say that urgent change is needed to address climate change. That includes reducing consumption (who's going to tell Malthus?)
• The time is coming when damage from climate change can be attributed to specific corporations. As to whether or not they will be...
• A landmark legal decision has forced EnergyAustralia to admit to 'greenwashing', and that  'carbon neutral' is an empty promise.

Energy

Meet the new bogeyman. Methane (aka 'natural gas') has long been touted as a 'cleaner' burning fuel, able to 'bridge' the transition from coal to renewables. However, this claim has come under increasing suspicion as the 'bridge' period seems to be stretching. The cleanliness is also questionable, since methane is 70 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, a 1% methane leakage offsets the benefit of burning it, and the actual leakages are being seen to be much higher than reported.

The Ugly

• Giving (conditional) approval to Woodside NW Shelf project extension until 2070, to cover a transition supposed to be complete by... 2050? Yes, there might be other factors at play, but... were Watt (or Albanese) thinking? It certainly wasn't the state revenue, because there isn't any.
  
• Having had one in Westernport Bay knocked back a couple of years ago, the Victorian Government has now given 'conditional' approval for a LNG plant in Corio Bay.
• Having approved it, the Queensland Government has just axed a $1 billion wind farm. 
• Forecast energy demand is growing. The growth is driven by data centres. The demand for data centres is ... AI. 
  
• In Australia, people appear to want to build data centres where renewables aren't.
• Musk, of course, powers his Chatbot with 35 unfiltered gas generators, and lets the Memphis locals choke on the fumes.
  
• Who ordered AI again? It turns out the actual demand for data centres is highly speculative.

The Bad

• Energy bills are forecast to rise by nearly 10% in places, particularly NSW. (Victoria is nowhere as bad). Why? Coal station outages, likely being covered by gas.
• Japan's gas demand has actually peaked, so where do Australia's increasing methane exports go? How Japanese companies have built a global network of gas supply and demand.
• ... which explains Japan's $10 billion offer to support LNG facilities in SE Asia.
  

The Good

• A firming gas demand? Operators of a new gas terminal in Port Kembla has delayed start of operations until mid-2027, since their forecasts see no need for it.
• The real 'firmer' (aka 'baseload') in the long term is batteries. The technology was shown to be a winner when Elon Musk built an installation in SA in 2017. It all started with a bet between two techbros...
• ... and the world's fourth largest economy (California) has no trouble with battery firming.
  
• First quarter of 2025 saw Australia powered by 43% renewables, with an 8% reduction in gas demand.
• A community owned wind farm in WA is set to double its output.
• If solar cooperatives can work in Rio de Janeiro's favelos...
• ... and German flat dwellers can hang solar panels from their balconies...
  
• ... it could be done in your local block of flats.
• Meanwhile, engineers in Slovenia have somehow done away with the Carnot cycle and created air conditioners without refrigerant gases.

Transport

 Energy use is often divided into 'stationary' and 'mobile'. This new section reflects the distinction.

The Ugly

• Move along! Nothing to see here.

The Bad

• Hydrogen as a transport fuel? It's certainly feasible and, as a store for renewable energy ('green' hydrogen) whose only exhaust is the water it was 'cracked' from, it sounds too good to be true. Joe Romm thinks it probably is, as he explains in this Volts podcast
• 'Green' aviation fuel from biomass like soy looks set to... *increase* emissions.
• What's causing this? EV sales at a 2 year low, while hybrids boom.

The Good 

• Political considerations aside, choice is good. Your next electric vehicle (should you choose to accept) is looking increasingly less like a Tesla.
• The tl:dr on hydrogen power: the world's largest (130m) electric powered ship has just been launched, in Tasmania.

Resistance

Trump's reign so far has been a clear-felling catastrophe. So far.

However, it's starting to look as if the US legal system is finally catching up to him. Courts are increasingly passing blocks on his more outrageous Executive Orders; the most recent and significant being a stay on his trade tariffs.

The Ugly

• Scientist reports 'doctoring' of North West shelf rock art report by WA Government.
• Flush from the NW Shelf decision, Woodside's CEO is attempting to place the blame for emissions on young people 'ordering from Temu'. As noted above, the truth is otherwise.
• Oil executives think Australia has 'done enough on climate change'. I'm sure they do.
• AI! AI for everything! But do we *really* want it deciding what to spend on our credit cards?
• Nick Clegg claims AI will fail unless it's allowed to plagiarise artwork without permission. (Has any forger tried this argument in a Court before?)
• Meanwhile, a chatbot has been sending floods of climate disinformation emails to Canadian city councils 
  
• Arbitrary detention for all: Trump is considering a suspension of Habeas Corpus.
• The Library of Congress is an essential tool for informing lawmakers. So of course Trump wants to take control of it.
  
• In the USA, it is now a chillingly realistic scenario to be confronted, without warning, by a group of masked, unidentified people who place you under arrest for illegal residency. They claim to be ICE, but maybe they're not.
• ... and if they are? ICE do not appear to consider civic responsibility a high priority: having left the children of people they arrest to fend for themselves. They are also starting to resort to anti-riot tactics.

The Bad

• An AI assistant that chimes in whenever? Hmm.. 
• Over-reliance on renewables (particularly wind) continues to attract blame for widespread power outages. This happened to SA in 2016, and last month in Spain. The actual causes tend to be complex, but renewables do not appear to be the issue. Nor do these events appear to slow transition efforts.
• The ALP may have enjoyed a landslide win in Australia's election last month, but both major parties are losing primary votes.

The Good

•  Rümeysa Öztürk, the student detained by ICE last month for publishing an article in a student newspaper vaguely supporting the Palestinians a year previously, has been released
• The recent landmark court decision that Energy Australia's carbon credit scheme was worthless 'greenwashing' would not have come about were it not for the group 'Parents for Climate'.
• The courts say no, Mister President, you may not unilaterally:
• set arbitrary import tariffs 
• stop work on an offshore wind farm that's already been approved
• remove climate data from official websites
• perform warrantless searches on Greyhound buses
  
• invoke the Enemy Alien Act to imprison and deport undocumented immigrants without due process
• The UK, as well as some states in the US are drafting legislation to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate related damage 
• Nazi salutes continue to be bad for business, with Tesla sales down 75% from last year.
• Echoing the thirties, disaffected young males are often blamed for the rise of right wing politics. However, results of the recent Australian election does not support this.
• Is the role of Murdoch Press in election results in decline?
• The unprecedented attempts of two GOP-dominated state courts to throw the election of a Democrat judge in North Carolina has been, itself, thrown out.