hanrahan

Around the world, people are being encouraged to travel by foot, bike or public transport rather than by car. The reasons are many and varied: to mitigate climate change, pollution, traffic congestion and infrastructure costs, and to improve health and wellbeing.

But in New Zealand, despite efforts by governments, councils and individuals, sustained increases in the use of alternative modes of transport remain elusive.

Spike in fossil fuel use a result of global gas crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

This sub headline makes zero sense though, gas is a fossil fuel.

Well, that burns my coal :(

Wot? Why?

With vast amounts of space, intense sunshine and a leading role in solar power’s creation, Australia is an ideal candidate to take advantage of the solar revolution.

But that’s not been the case so far for large-scale solar. In 2023, Australia fell out of the top 10 countries for solar installations for the first time in three decades.

We’ve seen mega-projects struggle to get off the ground and have been unable to fully capitalise on our geographic advantage.

As is all too common in this space, large-scale solar power has been politicised, with the Nationals calling for renewables projects in regional areas to be scrapped.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/29563625

In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it's become an almost daily occurrence.

And he's not alone.

"At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this," Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.

"But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it's like everybody notices it."

As in every election over the last 20 years, at stake will be the question of whether Australia chooses a clean energy future, or prolongs the life of coal and gas – an outcome the nuclear plan relies on.

In that sense, nuclear energy is shaping up as an election fig leaf like no other.

John is on Mastodon @johnquiggin@aus.social. I'm not sure if me tagging him here on Lemny federates to Mastodon ?

This could mean taxpayers would compensate corporations if exploration is unsuccessful. Resources Minister Shane Jones has stressed that no decision has been made yet, but the government accepts commercial exploration for new gas resources is unlikely without state support.

However, subsidising fossil fuel activities seems contrary to New Zealand’s recent international commitment to phase out incentives for the industry. It is also difficult to square with the government’s climate strategy to make clean energy abundant and affordable for everyone, announced last week as part of the second Emissions Reduction Plan for 2026–30.

Helping corporations potentially exploit new fossil fuel resources, thereby adding greenhouse gas emissions, may also be contrary to the government’s obligations under international human rights law.

Drier conditions have led to waterbird numbers in eastern Australia plummeting by 50% compared with 2023, one of the country’s largest wildlife surveys has found.

Conducted annually since 1983, the eastern Australian waterbird aerial survey is one of the world’s longest continuous bird counts as well as one of the largest by geographical distance covered.

Self-declared sovereign citizens, who believe Australia’s laws do not apply to them, are having a serious impact on the family court, experts say

Kind of odd to me becase even if you do believe this, the judicial institutions have armed police and jails on their side and you have your thumbprint, (unkess your name is Train I guess, which was a whole other thing) seems a losing battle from the get go? Whats the upside ?

Why is the land drying out so fast? It's partly because there is more heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases emitted from burning fossil fuels. This excess heat has exacerbated evaporation and is drawing more moisture out of soil.

Climate change has also made the weather more volatile. When drought does cede to rain, more of it arrives in bruising downpours that slough the topsoil