Our Wide Brown Land

Our fragile environment is under attack. Protections have been eroded, funding slashed and immediate dangers overlooked. Thanks to our readers, we’ve raised $150,000 to support this series shining the spotlight on Australia’s neglected environmental issues. Follow it here

By Guardian Australia

Guardian Australia
Environment
Scientist says rightwing thinktank misrepresented her Great Barrier Reef study
The Guardian - Graham Readfearn
A coral scientist whose work is attacked in a mini-documentary from the Institute of Public Affairs says the rightwing thinktank has misrepresented her study. The IPA says its YouTube film, Beige Reef,
1 day ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Thank you, Guardian, for your climate pledge
The Guardian - Letters
University student Courtney Lucas on facing up to the climate crisis and listening to young people As a millennial, a university student and a human, I thank you, Guardian, for your 2019 environmental
1 day ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Queensland Farmers' Federation boss's denial of science sparks call to suspend reef grants
The Guardian - Ben Smee
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation’s newly elected president once called Great Barrier Reef science “unsubstantiated scaremongering”, which has prompted calls for the suspension of the organisation’s foundation
2 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Wrong turn: why Australia's vehicle emissions are rising
The Guardian - Royce Kurmelovs
Australia has no ongoing emissions testing program of its own. Robin Smit It’s high-school science. Rubbish in, rubbish out Tony Weber “An electric ute would be great,” Rhys Jones says from the driver’s
3 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Sweden's central bank dumps Australian bonds over high emissions
The Guardian - Reuters
Sweden’s central bank said on Wednesday it had sold off bonds from Western Australia and Queensland, and the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta, because it felt that greenhouse gas emissions in both
4 days ago
Guardian Australia
Birds
Black-throated finch wins 2019 bird of the year with tawny frogmouth second
The Guardian - Naaman Zhou
The black-throated finch has been voted Australian bird of the year for 2019, beating the tawny frogmouth in a landslide. The highly endangered finch, which is under threat from the expansion of the Adani
4 days ago
Guardian Australia
Birds
Australian bird of the year 2019: vote now for your favourite #BirdOfTheYear
The Guardian - Andy Ball and Sean Dooley
The 2017 Guardian/Birdlife Australia poll was a fight to death between the ibis and magpie. In this year’s vote, will attention stay focused on the common urban birds or will it turn to one of the threatened
5 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Bin chickens carve a warm spot in Australia's heart even as they raid and thieve
The Guardian - Sean Dooley
We recently took our children to Sydney for the first time. They loved it: the Manly ferry, the Opera House, hanging out on Bondi beach hoping to see some idiot tourist get pulled from the surf by the
5 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Coalition inaction on climate change and health is risking Australian lives, global report finds
The Guardian - Melissa Davey
The federal government’s lack of engagement on health and climate change has left Australians at significant risk of illness through heat, fire and extreme weather events, and urgent national action is
5 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Greta Thunberg to hitch a ride to Europe with Australian YouTube influencers
The Guardian - Naaman Zhou
Greta Thunberg will hitch a ride with two Australian sailing YouTubers on her low-emissions voyage from America to the UN climate change conference in Madrid. The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist initially
6 days ago
Guardian Australia
Climate Change
Climate change made extreme heat before 2018 Queensland bushfires 'four times more likely'
The Guardian - Graham Readfearn
Extreme temperatures that helped drive historic 2018 bushfires in north Queensland were four times more likely to have happened because of human-caused climate change, according to a study to be published
6 days ago
Guardian Australia
Environment
Adani mine could snuff out black-throated finch’s last chances of survival
The Guardian - Ben Smee and Lisa Cox
We know what we need to do to stop [the bird] going extinct – that is to stop destroying its habitat Brendan Wintle Just making a plan doesn’t really solve anything ... It’s like me having a career plan
November 12
Guardian Australia
Environment
Norway's Equinor must modify environmental plan to drill in Great Australian Bight
The Guardian - Guardian staff and agencies
Norwegian energy company Equinor has been ordered to modify and resubmit an environmental plan to drill an oil exploration well in the Great Australian Bight. The company has exploration rights on a site
November 11
Guardian Australia
Environment
Australia's climate response among the worst in the G20, report finds
The Guardian - Graham Readfearn
Australia’s response to climate change is one of the worst in the G20 with a lack of policy, reliance on fossil fuels and rising emissions leaving the country exposed “economically, politically and environmentally”,
November 11
Guardian Australia
Environment
Inside Market Forces, the small climate group Scott Morrison wants to put out of business
The Guardian - Adam Morton Environment editor
Taking some of the power ... away from companies, governments and institutions and putting it back in the hands of individuals ... is tackling the inequity at the heart of the system. Julien Vincent When
November 10
Guardian Australia
Environment
Waste export ban revealed by environment ministers but 'devil in the details'
The Guardian - Lisa Cox
A ban on the export of waste glass, plastic, paper and tyres will be phased in from mid next year after environment ministers agreed to a timetable for changes in the way Australia deals with recyclable
November 9
Guardian Australia
Birds
Bird of the year 2019: galah misses out as top 10 announced for run-off vote – as it happened
The Guardian - Naaman Zhou
The final votes have been counted and the results are in for the final run-off between the top 10 birds of 2019 And with that, we’ll be wrapping up the liveblog for today – but voting is now fully underway
November 8
Guardian Australia
Environment
Scott Morrison's waste export ban doomed to fail, environment ministers warned
The Guardian - Adam Morton and Graham Readfearn
Environment ministers have been told Scott Morrison’s promise to introduce a waste export ban is doomed to fail unless they change tack and back it with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and requirement
November 7
Guardian Australia
Environment
Drought to become more frequent and severe due to climate change – government report
The Guardian - Amy Remeikis
Drought conditions are likely to become more frequent, severe and longer due to climate change Stephen Day Drought is not a natural disaster and must be accepted as an enduring feature of the Australian
November 7
Guardian Australia
Renewable Energy
Renewables meet 50% of electricity demand on Australia's power grid for first time
The Guardian - Graham Readfearn
Australia’s main electricity grid was briefly powered by 50% renewable energy this week in a new milestone that experts say will become increasingly normal. Data on the sources of power in the National
November 7
Guardian Australia
Environment
Bird of the year: Anthony Albanese, Josh Frydenberg, Larissa Waters, Barnaby Joyce and others cast their vote
The Guardian - Anthony Albanese, Larissa Waters, Josh Frydenberg, Tanya Plibersek, Barnaby Joyce, Sussan Ley
Your vote is powerful. The spotlight from this plucky little bird winning Australian bird of the year could make the difference between its survival and its extinction. The black-throated finch has already
November 7
Guardian Australia
Australian Greens
Scott Ludlam pleads not guilty over Sydney Extinction Rebellion protest
Australia News - Naaman Zhou
Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam has pleaded not guilty, after he was arrested during Extinction Rebellion climate change protests in Sydney in October. Ludlam had been charged with not complying with
November 6
Guardian Australia
Environment
Great Barrier Reef: scientists find high levels of pesticides and blast chemical regulator
The Guardian - Ben Smee
Leading marine scientists have detailed a litany of “serious deficiencies” by Australia’s chemical regulator that have failed to prevent the ongoing pollution of the Great Barrier Reef catchment, where
November 6
Guardian Australia
Environment
Coalition to unveil $1.5bn of drought relief in a bid to stem anger in the bush
The Guardian - Sarah Martin Chief political correspondent
Drought relief worth more than $1.5bn that puts “money in the pockets of farmers” will be unveiled by the Coalition on Thursday, as the government moves to stem anger in the bush about its response to
November 6
Guardian Australia
Environment
Dubbo mayor says critics of town's water policy are 'carrying on like pork chops’
The Guardian - Australian Associated Press
Dubbo mayor Ben Shields says criticism of his town’s water policy is coming from a “bunch of external people carrying on like pork chops”. The western New South Wales town has been attacked by leaders
November 6
Guardian Australia
Drought
The One in a Hundred: a deeply personal perspective on surviving the drought – video
The Guardian - Suzanne Kim
The price of grain is rising, dam levels have fallen, there's no more feed. Everywhere is dust, crops have been wiped. Australia is in the grip of the worst drought in 100 years, worse than many can remember.
November 4
Guardian Australia
Environment
A new home could save the mountain pygmy possum from global heating, scientists say
The Guardian - Lisa Cox
Researchers studying fossil records say they have come up with an innovative approach to try to save the mountain pygmy possum, an Australian species under serious threat due to global heating. Scientists
November 4
Guardian Australia
Environment
Tourism industry says lethal shark control measures threaten Great Barrier Reef
The Guardian - Ben Smee
Peak bodies representing the Queensland tourism industry have resisted calls for changes to Great Barrier Reef protection legislation to allow for lethal shark control measures. The strong statement, by
November 3
Guardian Australia
Environment
Why I'm voting No 1 regent honeyeater in the Australian bird of the year poll
The Guardian - Andrew Stafford
A few months ago, the bird-watching community in south-east Queensland went into a twitching frenzy. Two regent honeyeaters, a critically endangered species, had been discovered feeding on ironbark blossoms
November 3