(AU The Guardian) After Adani: Whatever Happened To Queensland’s Galilee Basin Coal Boom?

The Guardian - Graham Readfearn

Only the controversial Carmichael mine has opened, while a dozen other projects are shelved, lapsed or discontinued

File photo of the Alpha Coal project in the Galilee basin. The project was sold by Gina Rinehart to conglomerate GVK and is understood to be dormant. Photograph: Andrew Quilty/Greenpeace

Queensland’s huge untapped Galilee coal basin was touted as a jobs and revenue bonanza by its supporters, with the potential to liberate hundreds of millions of tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases.

The Galilee’s potential as a “carbon bomb” was wrapped up in a dozen or more coalmining projects and estimates of billions of dollars of investment.

So far, just one project has made it through the starting gate – Adani’s controversial Carmichael mine, which sent its first coal to port late last year. The mine was supposed to be the first of many.

Yet there is little sign of more coal to come, with many projects shelved, lapsed or discontinued, and uncertain futures for those that remain.

Adani is poised to ship its first coal – is this failure for Australia’s defining climate campaign? Read more

“There was genuine hope, and house and land prices skyrocketed,” says Sean Dillon, the mayor of Barcaldine regional council, which covers several small towns including Alpha, Barcaldine, Aramac and Jericho in the basin.

Dillon says communities have become jaded by the promises of jobs and income.

“Everything was on the cusp and then it just got mothballed. It’s left a few communities scratching their heads,” he says.

Dillon’s own cattle station property north of Alpha sits over one of the proposed mines, known as Kevin’s Corner. That tenement, along with two others, was sold in 2011 by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting for a reported $1.2bn to the Indian conglomerate GVK.

Dillon says his understanding is that project is now “completely dormant”.

The broader failure of many of the mines to materialise is down to “geography and workforce”. All the mines are greenfield sites – largely undeveloped land still covered in scrub or fields – with high costs to develop the infrastructure needed.

He says most people in the region are not opposed to new coalmines, but there’s a desire for diversification of an economy that’s dominated by agriculture.

A state government-backed plan for a renewable energy precinct in the region has “got people excited”, he says.

“These non-traditional jobs … people are not against them, but they are just more familiar with resource extraction jobs. But they are keen to see some alternative options.”

Approved but not progressed

The one project that has got off the ground, Adani’s Carmichael mine, still retains approvals to mine up to 60m tonnes of coal a year for export to power stations. But the company has said the project is currently downscaled to a 10m-tonne-a-year operation.

In the early 2010s, the Queensland government passed environmental approvals for six mines in the Galilee – including Carmichael – with more than 15,000 operational jobs claimed across the projects.

By 2014, a government-backed assessment of the basin’s coal identified four mines that had gained initial approval, two more going through environmental approvals and a further seven considered at much earlier stages of development.

The Galilee basin in central Queensland. Photograph: Andrew Quilty/Greenpeace

Earlier reports from environment groups and others identified nine of those projects as “megamines” which, if they gained approvals and were at full production, would produce 330m tonnes of coal a year.

When burned, all that coal would emit 857m tonnes of CO₂ a year, according to a report from Climate Analytics.

But slowly the projects – and the jobs claims – have fallen away.

The Degulla mine had an estimated 35m tonnes of coal a year waiting to be dug. But in 2013 its Brazil-based owner Vale, one of the world’s biggest miners, put the project on the market.

Vale announced last year it was getting out of coal altogether and told the Guardian this week it still has “exploration tenements in the [Galilee] region that are in [the] process of divestment”.

The Chinese-owned Macmines Austasia abandoned its bid for a mining lease for its $6.7bn China Stone mine in 2019.

A state environmental assessment for another mine, the South Galilee Coal project, lapsed in late 2019. The project’s part-owner had already gone into administration and there’s little sign of action from the mine’s American investor.

Hancock Prospecting has interests in two mines and Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal also has two mine projects identified.

Market analysts S&P Global said in a bulletin in December there was “yet to be any commitment registered for these projects”.

Palmer’s Galilee Coal project – once known as the China First mine – is linked to his company’s plans to build a power station in the Barcaldine region. Those plans, submitted to the Barcaldine regional council, were called in by the state government in December.

Hancock Prospecting and Waratah Coal did not respond to a request for response. The Queensland Resources Council said no one was available to speak before deadline.

Tim Buckley, an energy market analyst at the pro-renewables Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says when the Galilee projects were proposed, they threatened to become “a climate bomb that was unparalleled”.

“All but one didn’t even get out of the starting blocks and I think none will,” he says.

Buckley says the entire economic rationale for coal has changed since the projects were announced.

“A decade ago it was about catering for a growth in demand in energy across Asia,” he says. “But now it is about decarbonisation. It is accepted now that coal is on a slow but terminal decline. The world is completely different now.”

Anti-coal protesters outside Waratah Coal headquarters in 2021. Photograph: Russell Freeman/AAP

A December report from the Office of the Chief Economist noted 37 coal projects in Australia at the feasibility stage, but many were delayed.

There was a growing preference for expansions of brownfield sites – previously utilised land – over greenfield investments, the report said, with “an expanding list of lenders/investors who have withdrawn from financing new thermal coal projects”.

Buckley says: “Everyone today that still loves coal sees it as cheaper to buy stranded assets that exist rather than go for greenfield projects.”

The Queensland government is working on a development plan for the resources industry. A draft says that the global market for thermal coal “is likely to decline as countries choose their own path to reduced emissions” but there could still be pockets of growth.

“Queensland’s high-quality thermal coal deposits mean that we are well placed to respond to these opportunities, while continuing to support the coal industry to decarbonise and remain competitive for longer,” the draft says.

In a statement, the Queensland resources minister, Scott Stewart, said the “development of any specific project is a matter for the relevant company”.

He said the government had “long held the position that we support resources projects which stack up financially, environmentally and socially”.

Stewart said the plan would look at “taking advantage of the worldwide demand for new economy minerals which are critical as part of clean energy technology like batteries and renewables”.

Links

• Resources and Energy Major Projects: 2021
• (AU ABC) Australian Conservation Foundation Wins Federal Court Challenge Against Adani And Environment Minister
• Galilee Basin mine next to Adani put on hold amid doubts over future of thermal coal
• Adani: 2,000 hectares of black-throated finch habitat removed from conservation plans
• Adani builds coal-fired power plant in India to send energy to Bangladesh
• Bill Shorten says there's a 'role for coal' and Adani mine just 'another project'
• As the Coalition and Labor inch closer on emissions, are Australia’s climate wars ending?

(AU SMH) Climate Wars To Die Down In Federal Election As Major Parties Dodge Risks

Sydney Morning Herald - Mike Foley

A new paradigm has emerged in the climate wars that will likely see a ceasefire between Labor and the government during the upcoming federal election campaign, as both major parties seek to balance pro-mining sector messages with their upgraded climate action policies.

The Adani coal project in the Bowen Basin was a lightning rod for the storm over climate change in the 2019 election, where the government held all its seats in Queensland’s coal country on the back of a polarising campaign promising strong support for fossil-fuel projects.

The Adani coal project was used by the federal government in 2019 as a to wedge the Labor Party between urban and regional voters. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Greens will ramp up a new Adani-style campaign centring on major gas projects such as the Beetaloo Basin, in the Northern Territory, and Scarborough, which is offshore of Western Australia. But it’s unlikely either will capture the public imagination like Adani.

Ahead of the 2019 election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison derided Labor leader Bill Shorten’s policy to promote electric vehicles and lambasted him for promoting the local job opportunities in the Adani coal mine to regional Queensland while advocating for ambitious action on climate change in metropolitan electorates.

A cautious opposition is determined to avoid a repeat of 2019. Labor leader Anthony Albanese says his party will back coal and gas projects as long as there is demand for their products.

Essential Media pollster Peter Lewis, who has close links to unions and Labor, said a repeat of an Adani-style campaign was unlikely because that issue was distinctive for offering “hope for jobs in local communities that were losing hope”.

Renewables

Coal use to peak in 2026 as renewables surge past forecasts

“Labor has adopted a smart strategy, in my opinion, to take the heat out of climate issues by refusing to engage the government in debates around specific coal and gas projects,” Mr Lewis said.

The government faces a challenge from the Climate 200 group of philanthropists, which is backing independent candidates who champion strong environmental policies in government-held seats, such as North Sydney, Kooyong, Goldstein and Wentworth.

Mr Lewis said the independents would “act as a handbrake” on a repeat of the 2019 campaign, where the government mounted a scare campaign over what it called Labor’s “economy-wrecking” climate policies.

“The dynamics this time are different to 2019. Then, Labor was effectively wedged between its inner-city voters and rural base. This time, it is the Coalition feeling the wedge from the community independents challenging Liberal seats like those held by Josh Frydenberg, Tim Wilson,” Mr Lewis said.

“I think the government is more susceptible to the claims of double-dealing, with (Nationals leader) Barnaby Joyce deeply unpopular with urban voters.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt has called out Labor over a failure to rule out support for the Beetaloo Basin, which is being explored by private companies drawing on federal grants, describing the potential emissions from the gas there as a “climate bomb”.

“If you thought Adani was bad, Beetaloo is terrible,” Mr Bandt said in October.

Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said her party would challenge both major parties’ support for fossil fuels.

Energy

Renewables tipped to overtake fossil fuels by 2030

“The Greens are really clear about this: we need to see a change of government but you’re going to have to have the Greens in there to hold Labor to account on climate and the environment. Labor’s wanting to walk both sides of the fence and we need the Greens in there to be the honest arbiters.”

Former Greens leader Bob Brown led a convoy of campaigners through Queensland in 2019, calling for the Adani project to be cancelled. Mr Brown has rejected Labor’s accusations that he prevented the opposition winning crucial regional seats in that state, but credited his efforts with the election of Greens senator Larissa Waters.

However, Labor’s environment movement is backing the opposition’s approach, arguing that Mr Brown’s divisive campaign was damaging to the green cause.

Labor Environment Action Network co-convenor Felicity Wade said: “It was good for the Greens, bad for the planet. Adani proceeded and a climate-denying government was returned. They will try a repeat with Beetaloo.

“Middle Australia is not yet convinced that fossil fuels have to go; the first step must be the positive one of delivering the new industries of a renewable energy superpower.

Bob Brown credited his Stop Adani convoy with the election of Greens Queensland Senator Larissa Waters in 2019. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Environmental protection

Can lawsuits, boardroom takeovers and protests save the planet?

“But the environment movement has got wiser about tactics that divide Australians and empower the deniers. This time, they won’t be handing the Greens an easy way to undermine those trying to build a national consensus on climate action.”

The federal government last year committed for the first time to reach net zero emissions by 2050, a significant advancement, even if it remains welded to a relatively low mid-term target to reduce carbon emissions by just 28 per cent by 2030.

Labor has kept its commitment to net zero by 2050, and slightly downgraded the 2030 target from the 2019 campaign from 45 per cent by 2030 to 43 per cent.

Links

• Liberal Party Climate Change Policy: Protecting Our Environment
• ALP Climate Change Policy: Climate Change, Energy And The Environment (pdf)
• Nationals Party Climate Change Policy: Protecting our local way of life for future generations
• Greens Party Climate Change Policy: Climate Change and Energy
• Climate 200 (Independents)
• Climate change—reducing Australia’s emissions

(AU ENS) Australia Links Increasing Megafires To Climate Change

Environment News Service

Megafire attacks Narrowneck in the Blue Mountains, Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia, October 21, 2013 (Photo by Gary Hayes)

CANBERRA – Climate change has driven a measurable increase in Australia’s forest fire activity over the last 30 years, finds new research conducted by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

The study identified a lengthening of the fire season towards autumn and winter, along with an increase in fire activity in cooler and warmer regions such as the alpine forests in Tasmania and the tropical rainforests of Queensland.

Australia’s mean temperature has increased by 1.4 degrees Celsius since 1910, with a rapid increase in extreme heat events, while rainfall has declined in the southern and eastern regions of the continent.

The CSIRO research, published in the journal “Nature Communications,” is the first of its kind and combines analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire activity, including climate, fuel accumulation, ignition and management techniques such as prescribed burning.

A small forest fire grows on a dry, windy evening in Seddon, South Australia, August 12, 2021 (Photo courtesy New Matilda)

Scientists were able to identify increases driven by the changing climate as distinct from increases due to natural variability based on 32 years of satellite data and 90 years of ground-based datasets from climate and weather observations, plus simulated fuel loads for Australian forests.

CSIRO scientist Dr. Pep Canadell said the research is one of the most extensive studies of its kind performed to date, and is important for understanding how continued changes to the climate might impact future fire activity.

Dr. Canadell is chief research scientist in the CSIRO Climate Science Centre and executive director of the Global Carbon Project, an international consortium of scientists under the umbrella of Future Earth and a scientific partner of the World Climate Research Programme.

“While all eight drivers of fire activity played varying roles in influencing forest fires, climate was the overwhelming factor driving fire-activity,” Dr. Canadell said.

The research results show the frequency of forest megafire years – when more than one million hectares burned – has jumped since the year 2000. Megafire years are likely to continue under future projected climate change,” Dr. Canadell said.

Globally, fire activity is decreasing, yet the extent of forest fires in Australia is increasing.

The CSIRO study looked at the 30 years from 1988 through 2019. The average annual area of forest burned in Australia increased 350 percent in the first 15 years of that period, and it jumped to a startling 800 percent increase from 2001 through 2019.

“In Australia, fire frequency has increased rapidly in some areas and there are now regions in the southeast and south with fire intervals shorter than 20 years. This is significant because it means some types of vegetation won’t reach maturity and this could put ecosystems at risk,” Dr. Canadell explained.

“Understanding these trends will help to inform emergency management, health, infrastructure, natural resource management and conservation,” he said.

But environmental advocates point out that Australia is not doing as much as most other nations to prevent and manage climate change.

On the annual Climate Change Performance Index released November 9, Australia dropped four places to 58th out of 64 places overall, ahead of only Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.

The Index ranked Australia last on climate policy, in 64th place.

Australia received very low ratings for its performance across the index’s four categories: emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy.

The report, released at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network, ranked Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and Morocco as the five highest-ranked nations on the index, with the first three places left empty to illustrate that no country is doing enough.

“Although renewable energy is booming in Australia, all the work has been done by state and territory governments and the private sector, which is why Australia is rock bottom on the table of national climate policies,” said Australian Conservation Foundation climate and energy program manager Gavan McFadzean.

“While 130 countries have lifted their near term climate ambition, Australia has not, relegating us to the bottom of the pack with the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iran,” he said.

“The Australian government’s refusal to budge on 2030 targets has been widely criticized in Glasgow and is out of step with public opinion at home, with a major poll this year showing a majority of Australians, in every federal seat, wants stronger climate action this decade,” McFadzean said.

Comments about Australia by the Climate Change Performance Index, CCPI, are critical of the country’s lack of ambition.

“Australia’s federal climate policies are based on its Technology Investment Roadmap, TIR, aimed at supporting technologies intended to help reduce emissions by 2040, yet with continuation of fossil fuel-based energy consumption,” CCPI said in its analysis.

In October 2021, the Australian government, led by Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison, confirmed its long-term emissions reduction plan aiming for net zero by 2050, but announced no new policies or plans.

The Morrison Government does not have any policies on phasing out coal or gas, but carbon capture, utilization and storage as well as hydrogen are being promoted as low emissions technologies.

Even though the renewable electricity sector is growing, the experts believe that Australia has failed to take advantage of its potential, and other countries have outpaced it.

Now, after a decade of bitter opposition to development of a Queensland coal mine, the Indian conglomerate Adani is ready to ship coal to India from the North Queensland Export Terminal.

Environmental advocates warn the burning of Adani coal will worsen climate change with CO2 emissions, and there are fears that coal mining, handling and transport will damage the Great Barrier Reef, already suffering the coral bleaching brought on by climate change.

Links

• Multi-decadal increase of forest burned area in Australia is linked to climate change
• Bushfires in Australia - Wikipedia
• New research links Australia's forest fires to climate change
• Global Carbon Project
• Future Earth
• World Climate Research Programme
• Climate Change Performance Index

(Common Dreams) The Climate Emergency Is 'Now': Over 400 Weather Stations Set New Heat Records In 2021

Common Dreams - Brett Wilkins

Ten countries set or matched national monthly high temperature marks last year.

A thermometer shows a temperature of 130° Fahrenheit (54° Celsius) at the Furnace Creek Visitor's Center at Death Valley National Park in California on June 17, 2021. (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Last year saw record-breaking high temperatures recorded at more than 400 weather stations around the world, with meteorologists voicing alarm over what climate scientists say is the shape of things to come, according to a report published Friday.

The Guardian reports that 10 countries—Canada, Dominica, Italy, Morocco, Oman, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States—set or matched their national monthly high temperature records last year.

"Climate change is real and it's now," tweeted Catherine McKenna, founder of Climate and Nature Solutions and a former Canadian environment and climate change minister.

McKenna noted the numerous Canadian temperature records that were shattered last year, including in Lytton, British Columbia, where the mercury soared to 49.6°C, or 121.3°F, in late June.

Ten national temperature records were broken or equalled in 2021, including Lytton, BC where the temperature reached 49.6 degrees.

Climate change is real and it's now. https://t.co/u6Q1IGrHN2

— Catherine McKenna (@cathmckenna) January 7, 2022

According to The Guardian:

A few continental and planetary records fell too: Africa had its warmest June and September ever. August brought 48.8°C (119.8°F) in Syracuse, Italy, the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe. July had already brought 54.4°C (130°F) in Furnace Creek in the U.S. Death Valley—the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth.

"You can certainly see the effect of climate change in our weather in Kenya, and globally," Patricia Nying'uro of the Kenyan Meteorological Department and co-founder of Climate Without Borders—an international group of broadcast meteorologists and weather presenters—told the paper.

"We're just putting together the data for 2021, but we think we will have seen an annual temperature which is 2.1°C higher than normal for some parts of the country," she added. "The shifts are very noticeable, from one extreme to another in a very short space of time."

Ten national temperature records were broken or equalled in 2021,
including the highest ever reliably measured on Earth

Guardian graphic. Source: Maximiliano Herrero

Meteorologists around the world said the event that made the biggest impression on them last year was the heatwave that hit western North America in June and July, killing hundreds of people in Canada and the United States and setting records from Alaska and the Yukon Territory to California.

"Of course 2021 was full of extreme events," Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks extreme weather around the world, told The Guardian. "But if I have to name one, I'll name what struck every single climatologist and meteorologist in the world... the mother of all heatwaves."

"The magnitude of this event surpassed anything I have seen after a life of researching extreme events in all modern world climatic history in the past couple of centuries," he said.

Climate scientists say such record-breaking heatwaves are likely to become increasingly frequent in the coming decades.

"We must expect extreme event records to be broken - not just by small margins, but quite often by very large ones" says climate scientist Professor Rowan Sutton.

We face a huge challenge to improve preparedness, build resilience and adapt society.https://t.co/hJCcqmSaVb

— National Centre for Atmospheric Science (@AtmosScience) July 27, 2021

"We must expect extreme event records to be broken," Rowan Sutton of the National Center for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading in England warned last July, "not just by small margins but quite often by very large ones."

Links

• 'This Is the Climate Emergency': Dozens of Sudden Deaths Reported as Canada Heat Hits Record 121°F 
• ‘Record-shattering’ heat becoming much more likely, says climate study
  
• Extreme temperatures kill 5 million people a year with heat-related deaths rising, study finds
• World ‘must step up preparations for extreme heat’
• Climate crisis: recent European droughts 'worst in 2,000 years'
• Climate crisis: record ocean heat in 2020 supercharged extreme weather
• Climate change made Siberian heatwave 600 times more likely – study
  
• Climate Without Borders

(AU SMH) Collaroy Beach A ‘Hellscape’ As Sand In Front Of Seawall Washed Away: Residents

Sydney Morning Herald - Laura Chung

Northern beaches residents have been worried about how their beloved beach would fare when large swells and high tides hit the controversial Collaroy seawall. They were concerned the sand directly in front of the seawall would be washed away, eroding their beach, and, on Tuesday, that’s exactly what happened.

The erosion event at Collaroy Beach is far from an isolated occurrence. Other beaches along the eastern coastline have also experienced heavy erosion and scientists fear climate change will only make these events more frequent and more intense.

King tides and the after-effects of ex-tropical cyclone Seth have caused erosion at Collaroy Beach. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Patrick Allan has continued an almost 100-year-old family tradition of living in Collaroy, spending years surfing the waves, but he’s planning on leaving the small seaside suburb. The building of the seawall was the final nail in the coffin.

“I’ve watched council do everything, dump truck loads of asbestos and everything here over the years, but now they’ve let this private development application come through which is going to kill this beach,” he said. “The full effects of the seawall won’t be known until they finish.”

“This is my home, but the beach and the whole area have changed.”

The coastal strip was pummelled during a massive storm in 2016. Homes were damaged and a swimming pool was pulled into the ocean, costing homeowners and local government almost $25 million to fix. Another two big storms further eroded the sand dune in July 2020.

Collaroy resident Patrick Allan has lived in the suburb his whole life but is moving away with the seawall the final nail in the coffin. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Since then, residents, council and the state government have been working to protect the properties and beach from storm surges, with current work including building a seven-metre-tall concrete wall.

Once completed, at least three-quarters of the wall will be covered by sand. The project stretches 1.3 kilometres from Collaroy to South Narrabeen, encompassing 49 private properties dotted with 11 public land areas, which include a car park and a surf club.

But not everyone is happy with the project. Earlier this year, residents lined the beach in a bid to encourage the council to invest in alternative measures to protect the beach, including a nourishment plan that would artificially replace the sand. The local community group has been protesting against a seawall for almost 30 years.

Senior lecturer at the University of NSW Water Research Laboratory Mitchell Harley said annual king tides had combined with ex-tropical cyclone Seth to create north-easterly waves that had resulted in coastal erosion along Collaroy and other beaches along the east coast.

The sand in front of the controversial Collaroy sea wall has washed away. Vision: Brook Mitchell

“Collaroy normally gets waves from the south and has a big headland that protects the beach from waves, but the combination of large tides and unusually north-east waves make beaches that would normally be protected, exposed,” he said.

He said more research would be needed to determine the extent the seawall played in Tuesday’s erosion event, but that north-easterly waves were certainly a key driver in drawing sand off the beach.

University of Sydney coastal geomorphologist Professor Andrew Short said coastal erosion events were likely to become more frequent as climate change increased the likelihood of tropical cyclones and east coast lows.

“They are predicted to be more likely and more intense. It’s a double whammy,” he said.

“Most communities are built on the southern end of beaches but they will be more exposed to the impacts of erosion because of easterly storms. Governments and coastal managers need to be aware and plan for those coming changes.”

President of the northern beaches branch of the Surfrider Foundation, Brendan Donohue, surveys the damage on Tuesday. Credit: Brook Mitchell

President of the northern beaches branch of the Surfrider Foundation, Brendan Donohoe, said Tuesday’s conditions had been treacherous to beachgoers, leaving Collaroy Beach a “hellscape”.

Planning

Collaroy residents decry seawall as communities brace for erosion

“It was a public beach, now it’s a public hazard,” he said.

“If we get another big swell over the next few weeks, unless the council mechanically moves sand in, this beach will be impassable.”

He added that, while Tuesday’s conditions had been moderate, there were real concerns about how the coastline would fare during larger erosion events.

Mr Donohoe and other concerned residents will attend a council development application meeting opposing plans to build the next section of the seawall in the coming months.

Weather

Sea temperatures inch towards record high but marine ecosystems could suffer

A Northern Beaches Council spokesperson said the recent weather had caused minor erosion at Collaroy and Narrabeen, along with other locations in the area.   

“This level of erosion is not uncommon during large swell and tide events of this nature and is not a direct result of the seawall under construction. The beach will recover once conditions ease,” the spokesperson said.

“The rocks exposed from the recent high tides and large swell are part of the temporary rock bund that is protecting the seawall being built during construction which will ultimately be removed once construction is complete.

The scene after the storm damaged properties at Collaroy in 2016. Credit: Peter Rae

“The bund extends approximately 10 metres seaward and has been inspected and is intact. No other construction material has been observed washing into the sea. The area will continue to be monitored for safety and access.”

The beach was closed on Wednesday due to powerful surf conditions.

Links

• (AU The Guardian) A 7m Wall Has Gone Up On A Sydney Beach: Are We Destroying Public Space To Save Private Property?
• (AU) Thousands Of Kilometres Of Australia's Beaches At Risk From Rising Seas
• Scientists looked at sea levels 125,000 years in the past. The results are terrifying
• (AU) Unwelcome Sea Change: New Research Finds Coastal Flooding May Cost Up To 20% Of Global Economy By 2100
• Sea temperatures inch towards record high but marine ecosystems could suffer
• Surge in NSW coal mine expansions would drive up national emissions

(AU Saturday Paper) How The Climate Crisis And Masculinity Intersect

Saturday Paper - Max Opray

The response to climate change is increasingly gendered, with inaction tied to a phenomenon called ‘petro-masculinity’.

Participants in a global day of action on climate change in Melbourne last year. Credit: William West / AFP

Growing up in the central Queensland coalmining town of Clermont, Daniel Bleakley never imagined he’d end up gluing himself to buildings and going on hunger strikes to protest about climate change.

“It was a rugby league town with a hypermasculine culture,” he tells The Saturday Paper. “A lot of my friends used to ride bulls in rodeos, get into fights at the pub. It was a tough cowboy culture out there, which impacts anyone who lives in those communities.”

Electric vehicles were not macho enough. Salad was dismissed as rabbit food – real men ate meat. Environmentalists were tree huggers and hippies.

“I wonder now if that culture happened organically, or if it had been seeded,” Bleakley reflects. “A lot of vested interests benefit from it.”

“Masculinity is about a sense of invulnerability and a capacity to control – until we recognise our embeddedness in nature and our human vulnerability we will not act to address the climate crisis.”

It was only when he got the chance to study in Germany at the age of 18 that Bleakley got to view the culture in which he grew up from the outside. “I made new friends in Germany who were talking a lot about climate change,” he says. “Living in Queensland I was not exposed to those same conversations.”

That experience set Bleakley on a path that would see him move to Melbourne and join Extinction Rebellion protests. In Clermont, though, his new life was not well received. Bleakley lost a lot of his old hometown friends because of his views.

Research shows that men on average buy more high-emissions products, eat more emissions-intensive food such as meat, vote for parties with weaker climate policies, and actively avoid green life choices, which they dismiss as effeminate.

American academic Dr Cara Daggett coined the term “petro-masculinity” to describe the confluence of climate denial and misogyny, in which fossil fuels become an expression of identity. In a 2018 study, she wrote: “It is no coincidence that white, conservative American men … appear to be among the most vociferous climate deniers.”

This plays out in politics, too, from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro boasting of the destruction of the Amazon, to Vladimir Putin declaring activist Greta Thunberg fails to understand the “modern world is complicated and complex” as he accelerates Russian gas exports, to Scott Morrison holding up coal in parliament.

“Political leaders who espouse hyper forms of masculinity fail to recognise our human vulnerability to global warming,” Deakin University masculinity expert Professor Bob Pease tells The Saturday Paper.

Even when espousing solutions, male leaders are more likely to promote a technological fix rather than fundamental reforms to reduce humanity’s impact, he says.

“Masculinity is about a sense of invulnerability and a capacity to control – until we recognise our embeddedness in nature and our human vulnerability we will not act to address the climate crisis.”

One possible fix is simply to elect more women. In Australia, female independent candidates are challenging Coalition seats with calls for climate action. Climate 200 has raised millions to help support independents at the coming election. Of the 16 campaigns the organisation is “talking to or watching closely”, 14 are for female candidates.

Convener Simon Holmes à Court attributes this to a groundswell of discontent from women about not only climate change but the handling of sexual assault allegations and corruption. “They’re all passionate about climate, one of the number one or two issues on their platform,” he says, “but it goes deeper than just that, to a general frustration with the state of politics.”

Holmes à Court recalls that in seminars for independents run by former MP Cathy McGowan, roughly four out of five people in attendance were women. “It’s in line really with any community organising – go to any school fundraiser, sports club, the real work is 80 per cent done by women.”

Zara Bending, an associate at Macquarie University’s Centre for Environmental Law and a director of the Jane Goodall Institute Australia, sees a lot more women involved in environmental action groups, particularly at the volunteer level. In her experience men with political power dismiss women raising the alarm about climate change as “hysterical”.

Bending believes more women in power will help, but that men still need to contribute more on green issues to counter the development of another gendered workload left principally to women to address.

She attributes the gender gap to sustainability generally being marketed to women, as well as ingrained cultural perceptions. “It’s this idea of women as mothers and caregivers in the home, and the parallels of this environmental image of Gaia the earth goddess – the notion of caring for the planet is an extended metaphor for our home.”

To encourage more male engagement with green issues, Bending backs the elevation of positive male role models, such as the “infectious enthusiasm” of Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis, and to influencing children at a younger age in initiatives such as the Jane Goodall Institute’s rewilding school workshops and the Youth Climate Council.

A 2016 University of Notre Dame study found that people generally view green products as feminine but that men can have their minds changed by branding that appeals to traditional masculine traits such as power and strength.

It won’t be a simple task to shift attitudes, however. A survey by non-profit No Meat May indicated 73 per cent of Australian men would rather die a decade younger than stop eating meat.

Co-founder Ryan Alexander launched a campaign to dispel masculine stereotypes about diet after noticing that at least 80 per cent of people who signed up to his program to abstain from meat for a month were female. In contrast, the people who heckled his organisation online were almost all men.

“We’re highlighting vegan and vegetarian men who are quite masculine, like this guy Forest Nash who has never eaten meat in his life, is built like a shithouse, goes to the gym, all that,” he says. “The climate crisis is the biggest issue of our time – if men are going to step up to the plate and do their bit, then we just have to engage with this stuff.”

Not everyone is convinced. Bob Pease believes that efforts to appeal to masculinity are ultimately counterproductive. “In response to the notion that ‘real men eat meat’, some vegans argue that ‘real men are vegans’,” he says.

“But in my view, this is a dead end. If traditional masculinity is fuelling men’s environmental destructiveness … we have to encourage men to loosen their connection to that form of masculinity and embrace empathy, caring, compassion and concern for nature as part of what it means to be an ethical human being.”

Alexander agrees that a more profound interrogation of masculinity is important but feels environmental movements have to take both approaches at once given the urgent time frame. 

“I’m a big fan of digging to the roots of the problem – rebuilding masculinity into something not fragile but based on taking care of the planet and others around you,” he says. “But we have time challenges with climate change. Sometimes, we just have to meet people where they’re at, and talk to them in their language.”

It is an approach tried by Bleakley, now an electric vehicle researcher with The Australia Institute in Canberra. In 2021, for the first time in years, he returned to Clermont to catch up with his family – including his brother Tim, a haul truck driver at a nearby coalmine.

Tim asked if he could drive his brother’s Tesla to work and show it off to the guys at the mine. Bleakley agreed but decided he wouldn’t go along as he felt that the other miners would be uncomfortable with his presence, so he asked Tim to film the drive.

The resulting video of a bearded coalminer delightedly slung back by the vehicle’s intense acceleration went viral online, prompting the brothers to produce a series on coalminers trying out Teslas.

Bleakley suggests the drives resonated with his home town in a way his other climate activism didn’t, as it was less about telling people what to do and more about sharing an experience with them. It also served as a way to engage with men who bond over car culture, and to dispel myths that electric vehicles lack power.

“A few guys who’ve been in the series are real car nuts,” he says. “There’s a guy called Gougie. In Claremont he always had the fastest car in town and was always working on his big V8 … so to see him enjoy that Tesla, well – that was really special.”

Links

• The Fossil Fuel Debate's Most Bizarre Byproduct - Mother Jones
• Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire
• Threatened masculinity as an obstacle to sustainable change
• Climate change and gender - Wikipedia
• Women in climate change
• Women climate change policy makers and activists

(AU ABC) Global Warming Drives Wet Tropics Possum Species From Their Mountain Homes

ABC Far North - Mark Rigby

The Herbert River ringtail possum is being driven from parts of its mountain home. (ABC Far North: Mark Rigby)

Key Points Global warming is driving high-altitude possums from the lower parts of their range in the Wet Tropics Researchers and rangers are teaming up to document the effects of climate change on species Scientists fear longer, hotter summers could see some disappear completely from the mountains

In the dead of night on the dark and often misty mountain peaks of far-north Queensland, researchers and rangers search for possum species that are disappearing from their natural habitat.

Climate change is driving them from parts of their mountain homes.

Among them is one of Queensland's most recognisable animals — the Herbert River ringtail possum, the logo of the state's Parks and Wildlife Service worn on the uniforms of its rangers.

At 600 metres above sea level, the edge of the possums' natural range, researchers are making stark discoveries.

"Right now, we just don't see any; in certain locations we haven't seen a single individual for a decade," said James Cook University (JCU) PhD student Alejandro de la Fuente.

"The possums that are dying are not being replaced by newborns, and that basically leads to a long-term decline in the net number of ringtail possums in that location."

"Herbie" was adopted as the QPWS logo in 1976. (ABC Far North: Mark Rigby)

'Islands in the landscape'

JCU professor Stephen Williams has been researching and monitoring the effects of climate change on mountain ecosystems for more than 20 years.

"As the summers get hotter and hotter, it's essentially pushing [the possums] up the mountain, and at the lower elevations the heat's getting too much for them and they've disappeared," he said.

"Unfortunately, the predictions we made about climate change almost 20 years ago are now coming true."

Researchers have joined forces with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers and the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) to monitor populations of the Herbert River ringtail and other high-altitude species suffering the impact of a warming climate.

Roger James, ranger in charge of the QPWS Tinaroo base, said lemuroid and green ringtail possums faced the same dire situation as their not-so-distant cousin.

Global warming has hit the lemuroid ringtail possum population particularly hard. (ABC Far North: Mark Rigby)

"The problem is these mountain peaks are like islands in the landscape," he said. "When you're at the top of the mountain there are no other mountain tops around, so if you want to go to another mountain peak you have to go down and across the farmlands and the possums just don't do that.

"They're stuck on these islands on these mountain tops, and that's the critical thing."

'Nowhere else to go'

QPWS natural resource management ranger Ben Solowiej said rangers' presence in Queensland's national parks put them in a valuable position to contribute to monitoring the state's endemic species.

"We have the ability to provide staff to undertake the surveys and provide the logistical support," he said.

"In the past 18 months, taking out the wet season which would be about six months of that, we've managed to contribute over 110 survey nights, whereas in the past that might have taken years to achieve."

The location, time and weather at each possum sighting is recorded. (ABC Far North: Mark Rigby)

While the concentration of possums at elevations higher than 1,000 metres above sea level is increasing, there is no cause for celebration.

As the climate warms, researchers fear the possums will continue to disappear.

"After the mountain tops, they have literally nowhere else to go up in elevation, and it's really difficult to do conservation in an area that's already protected," Mr de la Fuente said.

What can be done to stop
the decline of our birds?

Scientists are calling on governments Worldwide to do more to protect the habitats and food sources of birds, as new research shows a third of Australia's most threatened birds have become more endangered. Read more

Well-protected animals disappearing

The teams monitoring the possums are finding no shortage of other Wet Tropics species suffering a similar fate.

Mr James and his fellow rangers at Tinaroo are witnessing the disappearance of mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates that usually inhabit the mountain peaks.

"The golden bowerbird, an iconic bird species for the Wet Tropics, is being monitored because, if the effects of climate change are going to pan out as predicted, it's likely to be one of the first endemic species to disappear off the top of the mountain," Mr James said.

"The spotted-tail quoll population on the Lamb Range is down to just a handful of individuals."

Ben Solowiej, Alejandro de la Fuente and Roger James discuss their plans for the night's monitoring trip. (ABC Far North: Mark Rigby)

Professor Williams said the disappearance of endemic species from World Heritage-protected areas was testament to the impact of climate change.

"It's really critical right now as we've already seen a 50-per-cent decline in the total population of some species," he said.

"All of these species that we would have considered to be completely safe because they're in a well-protected, well-managed World Heritage area are disappearing in front of our eyes."

Links

• Rare truffle-eating marsupial crucial to Queensland's ecosystem declines by 70 per cent
• Push on to save one of country's smallest endangered marsupials
• 'The country's just silent': What can be done to stop the decline of our bir
• (AU SMH) Global Warming Pushing Emperor Penguins To Brink Of Extinction By 2100
• (USA Salon) Humans Are Causing Mass Extinction At A Rate Not Seen Since The Last Major Extinction Event
• More Than One Way For Animals To Survive Climate Change
• Predator-Proof Fence: 10km Barrier To Be Built Across Wilsons Promontory To Protect Native Wildlife