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#climatecrisis

104 posts74 participants4 posts today
Droppie [infosec] 🐨:archlinux: :kde: :firefox_nightly: :thunderbird: :vegan:​<p><a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/03/31/2025-election-murdoch-media-news-corp-no-longer-matters/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">crikey.com.au/2025/03/31/2025-</span><span class="invisible">election-murdoch-media-news-corp-no-longer-matters/</span></a></p><p><strong>QUOTE BEGINS</strong></p><p>After decades of media moguls acting as political kingmakers, we finally have an election where the Murdoch family just won’t have much of a say. </p><p>This election is going to be different. For the first time in almost a century, it looks like the Murdochs just don’t matter — in shaping how people vote, at least.</p><p>The power they once wielded to shape public opinion, and to inspire fear in political leaders, through the combined bludgeon of their tabloids and the sharp sabre thrusts of their upmarket broadsheets, has evaporated in the age of fragmented media. </p><p>Instead, the Murdoch media has been captured by its audience. It’s been dumbed down by the basest components of its own comments sections, where users insist the News Corp piper give them the tune they’re paying for. The business imperative of paywalls and subscriptions (and the limited range of Sky News) means the company is talking to a cloistered audience that is unlikely to shift its votes from its current right-wing party of choice.</p><p>To the extent its power endures, it’s to keep the conservative parties aligned with the prejudices of the company’s dyspeptic commenters with the carrot of access and the stick of criticism.</p><p>In a recent rare interview with Vanity Fair, Gawker founder Nick Denton (who more or less created the insider-outsider gossipy approach that shapes the digital news reporting on the new oligarchy) said: “Once you’ve been captured by your audience, it’s very hard to pull back. What are you going to do? You’re going to fire your audience?”</p><p>Denton was talking about Musk (“Musk did not take over Twitter, Twitter took over Musk … he’s being brought down to the level of the nut gallery that he’s playing to on Twitter.”). But it’s true, too, of the Murdochs.</p><p>Most infamously, Fox’s pandering to the Trumpian stolen election narrative has already cost the company more than US$787 million in settling a defamation writ with Dominion Voting Systems. The company faces a further claim for US$2.7 billion from Smartmatic, with the voting technology company alleging that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch directed Fox to embrace a “disinformation campaign to win back its audience” after Joe Biden won the 2020 election.</p><p>And that’s before you count the legal cases that involve the Murdochs personally, including the Fox shareholders who are suing the directors in Delaware over the Dominion settlement, and the intra-family dust-up in Reno, Nevada, over post-Rupert control of the trust that owns the voting shares in Fox and News Corp. </p><p>The second Trump administration demonstrates the power shift in billionaire rankings from media moguls like the Murdochs to the big tech broligarchy, with Trump passing over Rupert Murdoch’s recommendation for vice president (fellow billionaire Doug Burgum) for the Silicon Valley choice of JD Vance (as discussed in the recent valuable conversation between CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and The New Yorker’s Clare Malone about access-reporting challenges under Trump 2.0.)</p><p>Even within their narrow audience, the News Corp mastheads are struggling. In the UK, the once dominant The Sun has been out-outraged by the Daily Mail and out-politicked by GB News. According to the company’s report to its US regulator, take-up of The Sun’s digital “offering” in December was half what it had been the year before. In the US, the New York Post reported a 27% slump in its year-on-year numbers.</p><p>That’s a lot of people no longer getting their news refracted through the Murdoch lens.</p><p>In the real world — where ordinary people live and vote — the Murdochs just don’t matter. In the more surreal world of political institutions, political parties and the political press corps, it’s proving hard to break with traditions that go back at least to 1921 when Sir Keith Murdoch began turning his editorship of the Melbourne Herald to the family hobby of making (and breaking) prime ministers</p><p>It’s bad news for Australia’s Liberals, with the Murdoch media commitment to puffing Trump (particularly among its conservative opinion-setting commentariat on Sky News and The Australian) keeping the US president’s shenanigans in the news in a manner that threatens to act to the detriment of Trump-adjacent parties. </p><p>It also demands that the Liberals tie themselves tightly to the Trumpian elements of the right’s agenda, like the promised DOGE-style gutting of the public sector and the Musk-ite obsession with working from home.</p><p>It’s tricky, too, for Labor, with the party keen to maintain its studious pointing-at-while-looking-the-other-way response to the Trumpian burley that washes into Australia’s electoral waters. Expect a couple of members of Labor’s frontbench to be quietly given the nod to break ranks and turn up the rhetorical heat on Trump (why, hello, Ed Husic).</p><p>And yet there’s progress — particularly in the legacy media. The ABC, for example, seems to be tip-toeing cautiously away from the Murdoch press, perhaps privately recognising Crikey’s advice from a couple of years back to just ignore the American bully. </p><p>The national broadcaster seems to have gone back to what it does best, leveraging its local spread and its current affairs depth to set its own news agenda (like the recent Four Corners report on child care), although it still struggles to pit policy and life outside Canberra against its reporters’ insistence on focusing on the weeds of the politics of politics.</p><p>The bluster of those News Corp pundits who were once on high rotation on the ABC’s talk radio and TV panel shows seem to have largely blown themselves out. The only semi-regular News Corp guests on the broadcaster’s flagship Insiders seem to be the least News Corp-like of their reporters: the tabloids’ national political editor Clare Armstrong, and news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden.</p><p>News.com.au is the last of the US company’s mass media products in the Australian market. Maiden’s commentary on Insiders this weekend gave us a glimpse of how that frees the site’s reporting from the usual News Corp constraints, with her astute explanation of her broader audience’s reaction to the Dutton job cuts (The Australian commentariat may love ‘em. Looks like the public hates ‘em).</p><p>As for the rest of what the company has to say, should we care? Should anyone?</p><p><strong>QUOTE ENDS</strong></p><p><a href="https://infosec.space/tags/AusPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AusPol</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WomensRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WomensRights</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ShitParty1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShitParty1</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ShitParty2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShitParty2</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/FsckOffDutton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FsckOffDutton</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WhyIsLabor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WhyIsLabor</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/VoteGreens" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VoteGreens</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ProgIndies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ProgIndies</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/OzElection2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OzElection2025</span></a></p>
Ken S<p>Yay, … one of the biggest assumptions of Climate change has now been redefined as ‘Its a lot more complex than we thought’</p><p>The cloudporn presuming that clouds reduces warming was just that…!<br>😭<br><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/03/30/climate-change/clouds-climate-uncertainty/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">japantimes.co.jp/environment/2</span><span class="invisible">025/03/30/climate-change/clouds-climate-uncertainty/</span></a> <br><a href="https://aus.social/tags/AusPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AusPol</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/GlobalWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GlobalWarming</span></a></p>
Climate crisis | The Guardian<p>Extreme weather across Australia brings drought, heatwaves and severe floods <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/31/australia-weather-forecast-queensland-nsw-adelaide-perth-bom" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/environment/20</span><span class="invisible">25/mar/31/australia-weather-forecast-queensland-nsw-adelaide-perth-bom</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Australiaweather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Australiaweather</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Extremeweather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Extremeweather</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Australianews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Australianews</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Climatecrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Climatecrisis</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Environment</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Flooding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Flooding</span></a></p>
Conspiracy of Cartographers<p>Now in Washington State, we’re getting close to the end of the North American tour. The <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Petrofuture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Petrofuture</span></a> map of Tacoma. 

Melted ice caps on a vintage Mobil gas station map.

More:
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<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/climateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climateChange</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/cartography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cartography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/climateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/greenWashing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>greenWashing</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WashingtonState" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WashingtonState</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/worldBuilding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>worldBuilding</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/pugetSound" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pugetSound</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Tacoma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tacoma</span></a></p>
Lifestyle | The Guardian US<p>Australia’s best photos of the month – March 2025 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2025/mar/31/australias-best-photos-of-the-month-march-2025" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/artanddesign/g</span><span class="invisible">allery/2025/mar/31/australias-best-photos-of-the-month-march-2025</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/IndigenousAustralians" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousAustralians</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Melbournefestival" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Melbournefestival</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Australiaweather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Australiaweather</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Domesticviolence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Domesticviolence</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Sydneyfestival" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sydneyfestival</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Extremeweather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Extremeweather</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Climatecrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Climatecrisis</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Australianews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Australianews</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Lifeandstyle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lifeandstyle</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Environment</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Recycling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Recycling</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Worldnews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Worldnews</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Swimming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Swimming</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Flooding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Flooding</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Protest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Protest</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Themoon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Themoon</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Surfing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Surfing</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Ramadan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ramadan</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Culture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Culture</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Fitness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fitness</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Sydney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sydney</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Oceans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Oceans</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Music" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Music</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Islam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Islam</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Space" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Space</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Waste" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Waste</span></a> <a href="https://halo.nu/tags/Sport" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sport</span></a></p>
Eric Bender<p>As hurricane and wildfire seasons loom, the Trump administration works to disable the Federal Emergency Management Administration:</p><p>Musk Targeted FEMA. Storm-Battered Communities Are Paying a Price.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/musk-fema-immigrations-doge-freeze-aid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.704.uLxo.Jzj8-vF3mPOr&amp;smid=url-share" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/poli</span><span class="invisible">tics/musk-fema-immigrations-doge-freeze-aid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.704.uLxo.Jzj8-vF3mPOr&amp;smid=url-share</span></a> (shared)</p><p><a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/disaster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>disaster</span></a> <a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/hurricane" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hurricane</span></a> <a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/wildfire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wildfire</span></a> <a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/climatechange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climatechange</span></a> <a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/climatecrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climatecrisis</span></a> <a href="https://sciencemastodon.com/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a></p>
Cassian [main]<p>UK petition: Make private flyers pay for their Carbon emissions</p><p>Sign here: <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/707608" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">petition.parliament.uk/petitio</span><span class="invisible">ns/707608</span></a></p><p>Graph to track signatures: <a href="https://petition-track.uk/check-petition/707608" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">petition-track.uk/check-petiti</span><span class="invisible">on/707608</span></a></p><p>Deadline: 10 September 2025</p><p>You can sign if you are:<br>- A British citizen living anywhere, or<br>- Anyone living in the UK regardless of citizenship.</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PrivateJets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PrivateJets</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>environment</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/climate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climate</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/TaxTheRich" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TaxTheRich</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/UK" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UK</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/petition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>petition</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CarbonTax" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CarbonTax</span></a></p>
Aure Free Press :verified:<p>A pro-science rally in Vancouver, Washington on Saturday pushed back against recent federal actions, coinciding with nationwide (and some cities in Europe) protests targeting Tesla dealerships, including in the Pacific Northwest.</p><p>The "Rally for Science" at Esther Short Park drew dozens of participants carrying signs and chanting in support of science and education<br><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/AureFreePress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AureFreePress</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/News" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>News</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/press" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>press</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/headline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>headline</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/GlobalWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GlobalWarming</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/climatechange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climatechange</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/climatecrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climatecrisis</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://katu.com/news/local/protests-targeting-the-federal-government-erupt-across-the-pacific-northwest" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">katu.com/news/local/protests-t</span><span class="invisible">argeting-the-federal-government-erupt-across-the-pacific-northwest</span></a></p>
Fight the Right<p>Most powerful tidal turbine ever starts generating</p><p><a href="https://volewica.blogspot.com/2021/07/most-powerful-tidal-turbine-ever-starts.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">volewica.blogspot.com/2021/07/</span><span class="invisible">most-powerful-tidal-turbine-ever-starts.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a></p>
Droppie [infosec] 🐨:archlinux: :kde: :firefox_nightly: :thunderbird: :vegan:​<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-ve-spent-my-life-fighting-nuclear-here-s-what-dutton-isn-t-telling-you-about-his-reactors-20250327-p5ln3e.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-</span><span class="invisible">ve-spent-my-life-fighting-nuclear-here-s-what-dutton-isn-t-telling-you-about-his-reactors-20250327-p5ln3e.html</span></a></p><p><u><strong>Quote</strong></u></p><p>Today’s voter has it tough, especially younger Australians who get much of their information from apps. It’s daunting to sort fact from fiction in the Wild West world of online media, where hidden agendas and speculative opinion are rife. All the more so when a party’s policy only truly makes sense if viewed through a wider lens.</p><p>Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s promise to build seven small-scale nuclear reactors, ostensibly to help meet future energy needs while keeping carbon emissions at bay, therefore needs to be seen for what it really is: a staggeringly bad idea, a stunt and a con. It is a backdoor attempt to pander to the fossil-fuel lobby – and under the electoral spotlight, more people will figure that out.</p><p>Younger voters understandably won’t know that a generation their age once packed the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with Midnight Oil, INXS and other friends to “Stop the Drop”. They won’t remember our Nuclear Disarmament Party campaign, which won Senate seats in Western Australia and NSW in the ’80s. They can’t know what it was like to grow up during the Cold War era or live through horrific meltdowns at the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants, which were also “completely safe” until the day that they weren’t. But generations Y and Z can still smell a rotten idea when they give it a good sniff.</p><p>At first blush, nuclear energy is causing less concern to younger voters, who haven’t yet taken a closer look. When they do, they will find that most experts and qualified observers view the proposal as expensive, difficult to implement, prone to significant uncertainty and full of rubbery figures.</p><p>One example is the fanciful assumption that nuclear plants could be built in 12 years. Twenty years would be more likely – if they are built at all. Cost overruns and safety issues are equally certain. And the carbon consequences of prolonging our old coal-fired power generators are dire.</p><p>This deceptive proposal has all the Trumpian hallmarks: a quasi policy announcement intended to serve sectional interests – in this case, fossil-fuel conglomerates – while simultaneously serving up a cartoon enemy as ideological whipping boy, namely renewable energy.</p><p>Australia has abundant sunlight, plenty of wind, plus lots of pumped hydro resources that can all be converted by increasingly efficient technologies. Stored batteries are ramping up, too. The butterfly has emerged from the chrysalis and taken to the skies – the renewable energy transition is well under way. Construction costs will keep coming down. Supply will keep going up. The future is already here.</p><p>By wrenching the country off this course, Dutton’s plan would leave old, dirty, coal-fired power stations staggering on at increasing risk of breakdown, putting off the day of reckoning when we finally stop polluting and heating our world and get on with using affordable, reliable energy that does not cause more climate chaos.</p><p>What possible reason is there for Australia to embark on building a completely new, expensive energy infrastructure we don’t need and which, incidentally, is already illegal in states where the reactors are meant to go?</p><p>Nuclear energy features eye-watering costs, which history repeatedly shows blow out. It features risks associated with managing radioactive waste for tens of thousands of years. It is also a massive safety risk from both accidents and attacks.</p><p>To cap the charade, this policy comes from the parties that supposedly champion free enterprise and want to reduce government spending, yet the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to fund the Coalition’s nuclear plan are to be borne by all of us, the taxpayer. Go figure!</p><p>The trend line is unarguable: renewable energy is cleaner, greener and getting cheaper every year. It will supersede fossil fuels in the blink of an evolutionary eye. Nuclear is a last-gasp delaying tactic.</p><p>Over 4 million Australian homes and businesses have solar panels on their roofs. South Australia routinely produces 75 per cent and sometimes up to 100 per cent of its power from renewables and is racing towards net zero, with the other states in hot pursuit. Most electricity added to global supply comes from clean energy.</p><p>When the Climate Change Authority, headed by former NSW Liberal government treasurer Matt Kean, released a report showing Dutton’s policy would result in a 2 billion-tonne blowout in dirty emissions, the Coalition’s response was to play the man and not the ball, and threaten Kean.</p><p>When a group of eminent former defence chiefs raised the spectre of nuclear plants scattered across the country vulnerable to the risk of terrorism and accidents, the Coalition response was virtual silence.</p><p>When farmers, scientists and community groups questioned the impact on precious groundwater of thirsty nuclear reactors running 24/7, the Coalition response was a shrug.</p><p>Compare this with Dutton’s proud promise that if elected, within 50 days he would approve the massive Browse Basin gas development in WA.</p><p>Due to its size, the Browse project is known as a “carbon bomb”, given it will release more than 4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and blow Australia’s modest greenhouse emissions targets to smithereens.</p><p>In these circumstances, the Coalition promise of boosting fossil fuels with “boutique” nuclear reactors coming on stream at some mythical future date to satisfy energy needs and reduce costs is an utter chimera.</p><p>It is best understood as a delaying tactic, an Aussie version of US President Donald Trump’s “drill baby drill”, buying more time for multinational carbon producers to keep making super profits and heating the planet at our expense.</p><p>And there is another effect of the policy: it buttresses claims that Australia should become a site for the storage of large quantities of radioactive nuclear waste generated by other countries.</p><p>Periodically, there are calls for Australia’s outback, with its stable geology and low population density, to be the site for disposal of the world’s radioactive waste. It’s an idea that has been rejected before, but don’t expect it to go away soon.</p><p>Recently, a senior US official chided Australia for not being sufficiently enthusiastic about uranium mining. In the transactional Trumpworld we now inhabit, new AI facilities envisaged by Amazon, Meta, Google and the like are expected to draw vast amounts of power, often touted as coming from nuclear.</p><p>Given the US still doesn’t have a licensed, permanent nuclear waste site after 50 years of furious debate and unsuccessful political negotiation, storage and disposal of new streams of radioactive waste will be crucial.</p><p>If the US president can posit buying Greenland and incorporating Canada as the 51st state, impose tariffs on America’s trading partners at will, and promise to end the war in Ukraine in a day, who is to say earmarking Australia as an international nuclear waste dump is a fanciful scenario? Can anyone imagine “Temu Trump” saying no?</p><p>As for polls showing younger Australians are less concerned about nuclear energy … not so fast. I’m confident that equipped with relevant facts, and mindful of the scale of the climate crisis they have inherited, they’ll see Dutton’s nuclear con job in a whole new light by the time we get to polling day.</p><ul><li>Peter Garrett is a former Labor minister for the environment and a member of Midnight Oil. </li></ul><p><u><strong>Unquote</strong></u></p><p><a href="https://infosec.space/tags/AusPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AusPol</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Greens" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Greens</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/VoteGreens" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VoteGreens</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ProgIndies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ProgIndies</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WeAreTotallyFscked" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WeAreTotallyFscked</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WeAreSelfishCruelBastards" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WeAreSelfishCruelBastards</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Misanthropy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Misanthropy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/FsckOffDutton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FsckOffDutton</span></a>! <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ShitParty1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShitParty1</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ShitParty2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShitParty2</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ComeOnTanya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ComeOnTanya</span></a>! <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WhyIsLabor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WhyIsLabor</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/NatsAreNuts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NatsAreNuts</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/FuckRacists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FuckRacists</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/TuckFrump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TuckFrump</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/OzElection2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OzElection2025</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/NonLinear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NonLinear</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/TippingPoints" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TippingPoints</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/PositiveFeedbackLoops" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PositiveFeedbackLoops</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/FossilFools" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FossilFools</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/RenewableEnergy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RenewableEnergy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/ChangeTheSystem" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChangeTheSystem</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/StateCapture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StateCapture</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/RightToProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RightToProtest</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Biodiversity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Biodiversity</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/WeAreTotallyFscked" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WeAreTotallyFscked</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Misanthropy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Misanthropy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Karma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Karma</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/NativeForests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativeForests</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/StopLoggingNativeForests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopLoggingNativeForests</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/FsckCapitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FsckCapitalism</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/CognitiveDissonance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CognitiveDissonance</span></a></p>
Nonilex<p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Climate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Climate</span></a> workarounds?</p><p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Stellantis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stellantis</span></a> to buy “credits”from a <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Tesla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tesla</span></a> “pool”to meet <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/EuropeanUnion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EuropeanUnion</span></a>'s <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/CO2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CO2</span></a> reduction requirements, despite Brussels giving carmakers 3 yrs to comply, the group's Europe head said on Sat.</p><p>Carmakers facing tougher <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EU</span></a> emissions rules this year agreed to pool their <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/emissions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>emissions</span></a> &amp; avoid hefty fines by having firms w/lower electric vehicle (EV) sales buy <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/carbon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>carbon</span></a> credits from segment leaders including Tesla &amp; Polestar.</p><p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/FossilFuels" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FossilFuels</span></a> <br><a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/stellantis-buy-co2-credits-tesla-pool-also-2025-exec-says-2025-03-29/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">reuters.com/sustainability/cli</span><span class="invisible">mate-energy/stellantis-buy-co2-credits-tesla-pool-also-2025-exec-says-2025-03-29/</span></a></p>
Fight the Right<p>De-carbonising electricity generation</p><p><a href="https://volewica.blogspot.com/2022/04/de-carbonising-electricity-generation.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">volewica.blogspot.com/2022/04/</span><span class="invisible">de-carbonising-electricity-generation.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a></p>
Public
MJ Muse

Three dead in South Texas after more than foot of rain falls in Rio Grande Valley

The top official in Hidalgo County issued a disaster declaration after more than a foot of rain fell, causing widespread damage. One death was also reported across the border in Mexico.
#ClimateCrisis #TexasFloods
nbcnews.com/weather/floods/thr

NBC News · Three dead in South Texas after more than foot of rain falls in Rio Grande ValleyBy Phil Helsel
Public
Fight the Right

Brisbane city council blocks plans for fridge-sized community batteries "due to loss of green space"

Local (right-wing) councillor says federal Labor should not be ‘plonking giant batteries in public parks’ though no other council has refused development applications in the state

theguardian.com/australia-news

The Guardian · Brisbane city council blocks plans for fridge-sized community batteries due to loss of green spaceBy Andrew Messenger
#ClimateCrisis
Public
Barbara Monaco

Scientists have discovered that world wide reserves of water in soil are declining at a rapid rate, putting agriculture at dire risk. The earth's rotation has developed a wobble due to imbalance in water distribution.
#climatecrisis

phys.org/news/2025-03-earth-st

phys.orgEarth's storage of water in soil, lakes and rivers is dwindling. And it's especially bad for farmingUniversity of Melbourne hydrology professor Dongryeol Ryu and his collaborator Ki-Weon Seo were on a train to visit Ryu's family when they found something startling. Stopped at a station for technical issues, Seo had pulled out his computer to pass the time with some work when a result popped up in their data that Ryu could hardly believe: It suggested a "remarkable" amount of Earth's water stored on land had been depleted.
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