News for August, 2026

Welcome to what's been going on over August.

For an introductory image, I thought I would post this cartoon with a message commemorating the life and work of writer and activist Wendell Berry.

Vale Wendell Berry.
The stories about 'climate hushing' this month suggest some won't like this sentiment,
but most will.

I did not know of him until recently, but a number of people whose opinions I respect have been mourning his passing, and the sentiment conveyed seems appropriate to the theme of this blog.

So, what *has* been happening? 

Environment

The Ugly:

• When expert studies are commissioned, adopting their recommendations might escape consideration.  Thus, as rising seas have the predictable effect on coastal erosion, isolated remediation efforts by local councils and governments continue to have the same ineffective and destructive outcomes as was predicted fifty years ago.

The Bad:

• Bushfires, algae, and now bird flu: inhabitants of Kangaroo Island are feeling understandably stressed.
• Bushfires may be coming to Antarctica, because grass is.
• Following last years's algal bloom, cuttlefish populations in Spencer Gulf have crashed by 97%.
• Still containing much ambiguity and 'pragmatism' when it comes to business interests, the new environmental standards just announced by the Australian government are considered a disappointment.
• The risk of oil spills for the Browse project, off NW Australia, is being understated by Woodside.
• Keep piling crises onto the environment, and what happens to the world food supply? We may be about to find out. 

The Good:

• While much of the formerly green English countryside has been crisping into a Summer landscape more familiar to Australians, rewilded areas have been showing more resilience to the heat.
• As woody meadows become more popular, Australia's road side reserves and nature strips are becoming more biodiverse.
• Some (though not all) frogs are showing signs of resistance to chytrid fungus. 
• Swift parrots may be doing it tough, but at least they have one less thing to worry about: being eaten by sugar gliders. (turns out this was never the threat it was thought to be!)
• Bilbies have been reintroduced into a park in Queensland.
• Christmas Island's critically endangered blue-tailed skinks have been given a new home in the Cocos.
• ... while one for Australia's rarest orchid is being sought.
• Australia has a new dark sky sanctuary. This may seem a trivial thing, but a pristine night sky is what prompted our earliest sciences, and is integral to a lot of indigenous traditions.
• What strange person thought would happen if they let some gophers run around for a day on the aftermath of a recent volcanic eruption? Something good, as it turns out, and the effects are still apparent 43 years later.

Climate

Most times, the effects of climate change are a slow, insidious creep: a string of warmer days here, a failed snow season there, a habitat erased, along with the niche species that lived there.

And sometimes, it comes with a devastating roar, as millions of tonnes of ice, rock, and water smashes its way down a mountain valley, wiping out whole villages in seconds before continuing on its way.

 

Part of First Dog in the Moon's succinct summary of last weeks events in Nepal, and Australia 

The true cause of the disaster that hit Nepal and Tibet last week (and the Swiss village of Blatten last year) is still being assessed. Glacial collapse, or melting of the permafrost that bound the underlying rock face? Either way, it is likely to be the first of many such catastrophes.

You would think that, by now, the evidence for climate change is so overwhelming that this conversation would be stilled. Well, yes, it is stilled in some quarters, but not in a good way. We have become inured to the stilling of voices in the face of brazen denial in Trump's America, but it is to be found world wide. In Australia, we are lucky to be able to speak out and criticise a government that is trying to do the right thing, sometimes (whenever 'now' is the time).

The US has already shown us that all it takes to lose this is a change of Government.

The Ugly:

• The love (of truth) that dare not speak its name:
• Climate change has been omitted from the NZ school curricula.
• Canada burns (with 20,000 evacuated), but the public broadcaster won't say why
• Climate protests in the UK continue to be muzzled by Government crack downs
• Climate change is bad for business. It seems saying so makes it worse.
• ... all while a heat wave wipes out economic gains in Europe.
• The Trump administration is in a class of its own, having just fired a West Point professor for insisting on doing his job: teaching climate science to military undergraduates who will be tasked with protecting the nation from *all* threats, including the ones the administration refuse to consider. Especially those.
• Cocking a snook. Even as their offshore gas projects come under further scrutiny, Woodside have elected to scrap their long term emissions targets. 

 The Bad:

• Nuclear power plants will save us... until river levels drop so much that they are forced to close.
• The Rhine's navigable depth is nearing record lows.
• After having now endured *five* heat waves this Summer, food in the UK is about to become harder to obtain. (In light of the suppression attempts mentioned earlier, I note that climate change is being openly mentioned as a factor.). The public is told to stock up on canned goods.
• More families depart Tuvalu as the sea covers more land
• Australia's ski resorts are closing a month early. While Japan coins a new term for severe heatwaves, scientists are referring to them as 'snow eaters' for the effect they have on glaciers and snow packs.
• If anyone in your life is still dismissing CO2 emissions as 'plant food', tell them the fossil record shows that force feeding forests does not end well. 

The Good:

• The difficulty in suing companies for climate related damage has been in assigning proportionate blame. Advances in statistical analysis means that it is now possible to do so. As an example, it is estimated that the emissions attributed to Norwegian company Equinor in the past year alone will cause an excess in mortality of 58,000. Now all someone has to do is the suing...

Energy

The Ugly:

• You can't make this level of misanthropic villainy up. First Total, now Trump pays $1.2 billion to RWE to cancel their off-shore wind leases, and switch to gas projects instead. That's US tax dollars being exchanged, by the way.
• ... and as for Puerto Rico trying to gain energy independence with solar power? The DOE is making sure  that won't be happening!

The Bad:

• Although it has been making strides in renewables, India is also continuing to drive an increase in coal production.
• An installation tax for solar panels is being considered to cover disposal costs at end-of life. Not a bad idea, as such. However, this point is classified as 'bad' because it could be due to an orchestrated misconception. Solar panels are long lasting, and appear to be readily recyclable. It could become a problem in time, but people are already looking at solutions.

The Good:

• A photovoltaic panel aiming for 37% efficiency is about to go on sale. (Standard silicon panels aim for around 20%. NB efficiency isn't the only factor in play in the economics) 
• A whole country, switching to renewables, in five years? Well, Uruguay managed it.
• Agrivoltaics works as well in Egypt as it does in Massachusetts.
• Rather than let it close, and in stark contrast to Trump's efforts, the Australian Government has struck a deal with Rio Tinto. They will subsidise the running of their aluminium smelter (the process for which has underscored the 'baseload' argument for decades) in exchange for converting to renewable energy by 2033.
• 'Plug-in solar' panels that can be hung from balconies is a popular trend in European rentals, and has just been approved in California. Perhaps Australia will be next?

Health

It may be childish, but I have no compunction about referring to the current US Health Secretary, RFK Jr, as 'the Dead Kennedy' because killing the poor through the withholding of appropriate medical care (especially vaccines) appears to be his agenda. You may wonder how such a fellow got through the Senate hearings. Apart from a certain 'rubber stamp' mentality, it appears he lied.

The Ugly:

• Trump has just ordered that childhood vaccination programs be staggered. The reason given is to reduce the loading on immature immune systems. A darker reason may well be the expectation that many people will not bother with multiple medical appointments.
• Does that sound paranoid? Well, the Dead Kennedy recently stated that the polio vaccine killed more people than polio. Seems he just got shares in an iron lung manufacturer.
• The US Government insists that no one has died from its abrupt closure of USAID. The evidence gathered by NBC over the past year says otherwise. This Bloomberg video also investigates the effects of the USAID shutdown. (NB: the comments are almost uniformly negative. They may have a point. They may be a bot swarm. Form your own opinion.)
• A more formal analysis in the Lancet estimates that 14 million excess deaths by 2030 (of which 4.5 million will be children) will be the legacy.

The Bad:

• Australia is slowly coming to grips with the likely consequences of bird flu arriving on its shores. Basically, a lot of unique animals (and not just birds) may die. Some species may even go extinct. It shouldn't be surprising if that provokes a feeling of sadness in you. It is called 'ecological grief', and can express itself in numerous ways. This article might help in unpacking them.
• Speaking of which, Macquarie Island staff have been evacuated to spare them the mental anguish of watching a disease they can do nothing to prevent decimate the resident elephant seals. 
• Meanwhile, diptheria cases continue to grow.

The Good:

• 'Long Covid' is a strange malaise that has bedevilled many: sapping them of energy and motivation for months, even years, after initial infection. The root cause has now been found to be, not malingering, but damage to the brain's dopamine delivery systems.
• How does one go about vaccinating 1000 wild penguins against bird flu?
• A drug that prevents recurrence of melanomas
• Statins have been found to safely reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in the elderly. 

Resistance

The Ugly:

• With the mid-term elections approaching, Trump is terrified of ballots. Mail-in ones in particular. While he tries to get the Courts to ban them, at his urging the USPS is seeking to complicate the process of sending mail-in ballots by having them classified as requiring 'sensitive handling'. Bad enough, but to then compare ballots to 'cremated remains' is really saying the quiet part out loud!
• 330,000 Haitians living in the US have just had their Temporary Protection Status removed. This means they may no longer work. This is how the situation in Ohio is described.
• The number of ICE deaths in custody now stands at 54.
• Videos from across the US show ICE squads acting more like armed street thugs than police. (The videos also show they're not as anonymous as they think)
• Australia expresses dismay over the US plans to abolish the International Criminal Court (ICC). What reason could they possibly have for doing that?
• Australia has rules against unethical lobbying, which are... circumvented with ease.

The Bad:

• Cory Doctorow on the risks that US digital sovereignty under the likes of Trump poses to other nations.
• Officials in the ICC have already suffered from blocks to US based social media and credit card services. Recent events in Holland  show why .Government offices in many European countries are in the process of extracting themselves from the clutches of Microsoft and Oracle.

The Good:

• An open source tractor that can be repaired without Massey-Ferguson bending over you? It's popular. 
• Societies are becoming increasingly polarised. Part of this comes from too many actors (or too few, when it comes to media concentration) having a vested interest in promoting a circus of divisive issues. Yet, even within areas of controversy, there is common ground to be found. Several techniques are being tried to find it. Deep canvassing is tried and true, although it does require a lot of volunteers. Another, being trialled in South Devon, has been dubbed 'radical listening'  by George Monbiot. Where would your stickers go?

Housing

The Ugly:

• Ah, weasel words! 'Streamlining' is all very well, but the Australian Coalition proposes stripping housing construction standards to the bare minimum to reduce costs to the buyer. Except it doesn't. The term 'spoiling the ship for a ha'peth of tar' comes to mind. Reintroducing the provision of gas to new homes isn't mentioned, but I'm sure it's hinted at somewhere, perhaps under 'consumer choice'.

The Bad:

• There is an increasing need for inner city suburbs to make affordable housing available to service workers. Yarra council was considering converting Collingwood Town Hall for this purpose, but has decided it isn't feasible. A similar project, in North Bend, Wa,  also fell apart. There are clearly problems with the idea, but it's still worth working on.
• ... because lack of such facilities is partially responsible for the a diminishing number of completed apprenticeships. 
• 'We would if we could'. Older people/'empty nesters' are often open to downsizing and letting the family mansion pass to another generation in need of the space. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it could be. 

The Good: 

• Old, but still fresh. Volts on the deep links between housing and climate policy
• Palo Alto policy changes prompts new development near transit.
• As much of Europe is considering air conditioners with a new sense of urgency, the quest to make cooling technology more energy efficient continues.

Transport

The Ugly:

• Does Trump hate bike infrastructure? You bet he does! 

The Bad:

• Did you know that, between 1938 and 1950, General Motors funded a campaign to have street cars/trams removed from American cities? I'd put this in the ugly box if it were still fresh enough to have an odour. I suspect corporate philosophies haven't changed much since, though.
• Some local news. Potholes on national highways are not a good thing. Thirty cars are reported to have suffered tyre damage on the Princes Highway near Bunyip. (I also noted some significant potholes on the Hume Highway near Seymour a couple of months ago)

The Good:

• Trump's idiotic Iran war does have a silver lining: EV sales in Australia and SE Asia are booming.
• It is estimated that, in terms of health benefits, every mile driven costs society $0.20/driver, whereas every mile cycled earns it $0.42/cyclist. By these measures, Copenhagen is way ahead.
• California has new standards for tyre rolling resistance. It is estimated to save motorists a billion dollars a year not having to burn petrol (or kJ) in order to overcome it.

Plaigue

 

"... but who reads, these days?"
Logo for the Amazon facility shredding rare books procured for AI training 

The Ugly:

The following statement says some quiet parts out loud and clear.

“We’re essentially looking at these data centers as digital pipelines and digital refineries for us to help get the value from our natural gas to global markets, but in a creative modern way,” Alberta’s Technology Minister Nate Glubish said in an interview.

If this seems a crazy thing to say, bear in mind a quote by economist  John Maynard Keynes:

"Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent" 

Keynes never had to contend with the AI revolution, but he would doubtless recognise it for it is: a bubble. One that is being pumped by people who want lots of data centres that exceed the capacity of the power grid, so that the demand for fossil fuels (in the form of gas generators) remains high and, for them,... profitable. (and in case you think Glubish's opinion is an outlier, here's similar remarks about Northern Territory's recent opening of the Beetaloo Basin)

The destructive reading of rare books is definitely not a beneficial service, but it is irrelevant to these people that the 'services' promised by AI are illusory. Indeed, they are potentially harmful to users who come to suffer from AI 'psychoses'. AI may have some niche benefits, but the harm they are causing at present clearly outweighs the good.

Meanwhile, the pumping continues. 

The Bad:

Despite the efforts of the Northern Territory (and Queensland), the Australian government is at least trying to set up some sensible ground rules. Specifically, data centres should provide their own energy from renewable investment, and recycle the water they use. These were laid out in a Memorandum of Expectations, published earlier in the year, and have been spelled out in more detail recently.

However, it is the states' responsibility to grant authorisation for land usage and, as has been noted, there are a couple of hold-outs. There is an interesting power play going on at the moment, with the Federal Government appearing to fold on the demand, but the Energy Minister then insisting that data centre applications must still prove that the power source selected is the cheapest to run. Powerful interests are at war, and the Government is not united. We shall have to wait and see who triumphs.

The Good:

After starting this section a year or so ago, it has become very clear that people are well aware of the issues that AI and the accompanying proliferation of data centres is causing. I don't think there's any further point in continuing to report on the obscene power demands of every data centre that gets put for approval. Instead, I will start concentrating on the push back. 

• Aren't younger folk meant to embrace new technology? When it comes to AI, Gen Z aren't having it!
• In fact, people in general are waking up to the false promises of AI 
• and... what does it mean when an industry like AI has lost someone like Bill Gates!!??
• If we *must* have data centres, perhaps they can be be made more flexible to put less stress on the power grid? Volts investigates the idea.
• ... although you can imagine what Juice Media think of the idea!