15.1 C
Byron Shire
June 21, 2025

Planet Watch

Climate change and the future – a layman’s interpretation

Diverse opinions in media climate change debates exist, except among climate scientists, but the starting point to analyse climate change is temperature.

Smart tech for a hot planet: how AI is powering climate action

As the impacts of climate change crash down around us – megafires, record floods, brutal heatwaves – it’s easy to despair. But amid the climate chaos, a new and potent ally has emerged: Artificial Intelligence.

Climate reality in Paris – how to make change?

Al Gore was in Paris two weeks ago. Me too. I was excited like a fan girl – and reminded of my age – those younger than 40 had no idea who I was talking about.

Who’s going to pay for energy and how much?

With the Australian federal election imminent, voters are being inundated by the usual flood of photos showcasing campaign stunts – the real world policy implications are always serious.

Jagun Alliance – rebuilding Indigenous knowledge

Sustainability is intrinsic to Aboriginal cultural frameworks, all ways of being, knowing and doing. It’s about being in the right relationship with Country, and all the endemic species being in the right relationships, in the kinship Country for Country, Jagun.

Will Morrison’s gas-led recovery delete the IPCC’s belief we need climate action now?

Most Australians know the news, or have had firsthand experiences themselves, of two years of floods, fires, coastal erosion, and storms, both here and overseas. In fact Australia has warmed on average by 1.44 ± 0.24 °C since national records began in 1910.

‘Unprecedented’ but not unpredicted – we are now suffering from our failure to listen to scientists’ predictions of the impacts of climate change 30...

As Australians head into another election season just as many parts of the east coast are recovering from ‘unprecedented’ flooding since February, and the national psyche is still reeling from the trauma of the ‘unprecedented’ Black Summer bushfires before that, it is critical now more than ever to vote according to your environmental conscience and fear for the future.

Ethical investing goes prudential

Ethical investing is the idea of using your money to make the world a better place rather than simply chasing the greatest financial return. It seeks to account for people and planet, not just profit. 

On track to three degrees of warming

Our planet has warmed by 1.1 degrees, on average, since the Industrial Revolution, and Australia has warmed by 1.4 degrees since 1910 when records of temperature measurements began.

What’s going on with gas?

David Lowe According to the prime minister, we’re in the midst of a ‘gas-led recovery’. Until about five minutes ago, the gas in question was...

Is hydrogen part of a sustainable energy future?

There’s a lot to like about hydrogen. For starters, it’s abundant. Hydrogen can store excess renewable power. When liquified, it’s more energy intense than fossil alternatives. In a fuel cell, it can generate electricity. When it’s burned, the only by-product is water.

Human activity, climate change risk more pandemics

New research has revealed climate change, environmental degradation and human activity are creating a perfect storm for more deadly pandemics like COVID-19. Scientists from the...

Planet Watch: Environmentally sound building

Globally, buildings are responsible for a massive share of energy and material consumption. Sustainable building movements are trying to change this, some by going back to the past, and some by diving head-first into the future.

Planet Watch: Are humans the disease?

Humans have told a lot of stories about how awesome we are, but there's one emerging hypothesis that casts our species in a very anti-heroic light. In terms of the planet, are we behaving like a disease?

Planet Watch – Top three environmental issues

With so many environmental crises occurring, it’s hard to focus on just three issues to provide an update to Planet Watch readers – but here's our top three...

Planet Watch: War and the environment

War is probably as old as humanity. The natural world is much older, of course, but it's been damaged and affected by human conflicts since we first started killing each other.

Planet Watch: Living off grid and accepting nature’s limits

Living off grid can teach an individual about living within the limits of their immediate environment – a lesson we need to learn as individuals and as a species. We are well on the way to tipping the Earth beyond its ability to support the myriad lifeforms, including us, that are here.

Planet Watch: Regenerative agriculture as one answer to planetary crisis

Over the last few decades, modern industrialised agriculture has wrought havoc on natural systems. It has razed forests, decimated biodiversity, and has done immense damage to soils.

Planet Watch: the madness and corruption of unconventional gas

The people of the Northern Rivers of NSW breathed a big sigh of relief when they stopped the unconventional gas industry at Bentley. But the industry didn't stop when it hit resistance – it simply went around us, and left the region in a false bubble of security.

Planet Watch: Deforestation leads to more disease

Conserving primary forest and its biodiversity will reduce the likelihood of future disease outbreaks including pandemics like COVID-19, Ebola.

Planet Watch: Is hydrogen the fuel of the future?

There's been a lot of hot air in the media recently about hydrogen. The problem is that there's hydrogen and then there's hydrogen.

Planet Watch: As the NSW North Coast heats up what does it mean for you?

The North Coast region of NSW has already experienced significant climate change: average temperatures on the east coast of Australia have increased by around 0.7 °C compared to pre-industrial levels, and this warming trend is expected to continue.

Planet Watch: the great global experiment

One hidden gift of this pandemic is time to reflect. As the meme goes, 'It's like the Earth just sent us all to our rooms to think about what we've done'.

Planet Watch: Climate change and disease

As we find ourselves in the midst of a one-in-100-year global pandemic, now is the time to reflect on the way in which human activities help bring about the creation of new diseases and the spread of existing diseases.

Planet Watch – Roadblocks to renewables

The Australian political response to the COVID-19 pandemic has proved that governments can act quickly if conditions demand it, even if that means overturning longstanding ideological obstacles.

Planet Watch: Emergency on planet Earth

The knowledge of both anthropogenic climate change and the term ‘biodiversity’ have profoundly reshaped both our behaviour and the way in which humans see ourselves in relation to our environment.

Planet Watch: A hot topic – Energy in the age of global warming

Australians have now experienced some of the devastating impacts of what a global heating of just one degree looks like. We must decarbonise our economy, and the earlier we do this, the less painful and costly it is going to be.

Planet Watch: Drowning not waving – tales from a dying ocean

This month Planet Watch explores how climate change will affect the oceans and its creatures.

Planet Watch: Farmers, forests & climate change

Farmers, forests and climate change: The way that humans use and change the land and its vegetation can have a profound effect on the climate, and can either counteract or exacerbate climate change.

The Channon Tavern shows off its new trees

As part of the Northern Rivers Watershed Initiative (NRWI), the owners of The Channon Tavern were recently awarded a grant to plant 2,500 trees on the banks of the creek below the venue.

Salt water over roads with upcoming king tides

Ballina Shire Council is encouraging motorists to drive safely over the coming days with king tides leading to minor flooding of some local roads. 

‘Soul-destroying’ approval of zombie DA on Cobaki estuary

Locals say that the approval of the latest modifications of the flood prone, zombie development application (DA) for a 37-lot industrial subdivision at 60...

Northern Rivers continues to support refugees on World Refugee Day

The Northern Rivers has been active in settling refugees here and since August 2022 has seen 42 refugees from Syria and Venezuela settled across the region.