Next time you plate up your favourite seafood, there’s a fair chance it could have been illegally fished. At risk of quashing your appetite, estimates suggest one in five fish caught every year is fished illegally or from unreported or unregulated sources. There’s also no real guarantee that the seafood you’re buying is what the … Continue reading Catching fishy imports to tackle seafood fraud
Category: Sustainability
The great carbon capture and storage debate: can Santos make it work?
When Sylvia Little fried her eggs at her Adelaide home one November morning in 1969, she became Santos’s first customer for natural gas from Moomba, 800 kilometres north in the Strzelecki Desert. Today, in subterranean reservoirs depleted by millions like Mrs Little since, the company plans to bury millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. It … Continue reading The great carbon capture and storage debate: can Santos make it work?
Neighbourhood watch: what are the other countries in our region doing about carbon?
While the Australian government continues to wrangle with their internal divisions over whether or not to set a target of net zero emissions target for 2050, our nation neighbours to the north are unveiling new policies and goals to tackle their emissions. Malaysia has unveiled ambitious climate-reduction targets, Singapore is considering raising the price … Continue reading Neighbourhood watch: what are the other countries in our region doing about carbon?
Talking time is over: business and industry plan for climate action
With the Glasgow climate summit just a few weeks away, a group of Australian business and industry leaders have come together to form the Climate Ready Australia 2030 (CRA2030) alliance with a goal to create a detailed plan on how to quickly transition to a net zero future. “I think all the debate to date … Continue reading Talking time is over: business and industry plan for climate action
Plastic versus bioplastic | Cosmos Weekly Taster
This article on bioplastic first appeared in Cosmos Weekly on 8 October 2021. For more stories like this, subscribe to Cosmos Weekly. I have a confession – I’ve started buying compostable baking paper. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know if it’s any better for the environment. I just saw it in the … Continue reading Plastic versus bioplastic | Cosmos Weekly Taster
The Hydrogen solution
Recent news about state hydrogen stategies brings this potential fuel solution back into the foreground. But what is hydrogen and why does it matter? Hydrogen is set to accelerate as a fuel source over the next decade, but we need to watch where it’s used, according to a Cosmos Briefing on the 11th of March … Continue reading The Hydrogen solution
Plastic versus bioplastic
I have a confession – I’ve started buying compostable baking paper. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know if it’s any better for the environment. I just saw it in the shops and got sold by the vague promises on the packaging of helping the environment. The label doesn’t even tell me … Continue reading Plastic versus bioplastic
Lost in translation: linguistic diversity could save biodiversity
The extinction crisis is one of the greatest challenges currently facing our planet. According to new research, tapping into the information held in studies published in languages other than English could be key to the fight against species and biodiversity loss. The study, published in PLOS Biology, reviewed over 400,000 papers published in 16 other … Continue reading Lost in translation: linguistic diversity could save biodiversity
Cities of the future
How does where you live affect your health? Those of us who live in cities probably don’t notice the thought – or lack of thought – that has gone into city planning, but a growing body of research is paying close attention, striving to make cities healthier and more sustainable. This is a particularly urgent … Continue reading Cities of the future
Satellite mapping is preparing Australian cities for a warming earth | Cosmos Weekly Taster
This article on Satellite mapping for future cities first appeared in Cosmos Weekly on 17 September 2021. For more stories like this, subscribe to Cosmos Weekly. Imagine you’re an urban planner, worried about your city’s resilience in the face of the growing threat of climate change. You’ve seen research that shows urban environments – particularly neighbourhoods without … Continue reading Satellite mapping is preparing Australian cities for a warming earth | Cosmos Weekly Taster
Measuring the mountain tap
As the world increasingly comes to grips with the realities of climate change, American scientists are setting up a first-of-its-kind research project to examine in detail how climate change will affect rain, snow, streamflow, and groundwater recharge in regions dependent on mountain snow and rain to provide water to farms and cities. The project, called … Continue reading Measuring the mountain tap
Middle-earth region achieves 100% renewable energy
Happy Hobbit Day from Cosmos! The Shire has become Middle-earth’s first region to run entirely on sustainably renewable energy for a year. Five years ago, advocates in the Shire set up a hydroelectric generator harnessing the rivers that run through the region. The scheme was the brainchild of a well-respected gardener. “I travelled a lot … Continue reading Middle-earth region achieves 100% renewable energy