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First Nations have the knowledge and leadership to scale-up climate action

9 September 2024

Tomorrow, First Nations-led organisations and climate advocates from across Australia join a gathering of 260+ public and private sector leaders from every corner of society at the third Better Futures Forum (10-11 September), including:

  • Uncle Ray Minniecon, Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation Australia Co-Chair
  • Caleb Adams, sustainable investment specialist and proud Wulli Wulli man
  • Tishiko King, ocean and climate activist and proud Kulkalaig woman
  • Christian Hampson, urban designer and proud Woiwurrung and Maneroo Aboriginal man
  • Rikki Dank, Gudanji For Country Director and Nimiringki (decision maker) from the Karanjini Rrumburriya clan of the Gudanji nation
  • A Talanoa to discuss climate effects on Pacific nations moderated by ‘Alopi Latukefu and Thelma Raman with Pacific Island representatives.

For 65,000 years Australia’s First Nations peoples have taken care of Country. They have the knowledge and leadership to help Australia and the global community scale-up climate action.

They join delegates from finance to faith, cities and states, businesses large and small, agriculture, resources and energy sectors, health and social services, unions, think tanks, charities, and higher education – to collectively demonstrate how communities, from the ground up, are acting faster and with greater climate ambition than the Australian Government.

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First Nations, footballers, Councils, the SA government are all moving faster than the Australian government

Find out what’s possible at day 1 of the Better Futures Forum 2024
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra

Tuesday 10 September

Australian communities, industries and subnational programs are driving the renewable-powered, net-zero future – acting faster and with more ambition than the federal government.

Keynotes: Building better, equitable futures for Australia

  • Reece Whitby, WA Minister for Energy, Environment, and Climate Action
  • Brendan French, CEO, Energy Consumers Australia 
  • Michele O’Neil, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions
  • Christian Hampson, CEO and First Nations Design Lead, Yerrabingin
[Read more…] about First Nations, footballers, Councils, the SA government are all moving faster than the Australian government

Australian communities are leading the way in renewable energy

Minister Bowen, it’s time to set ambitious climate targets that Australians can be proud of.

Achieving net zero emissions by 2035 is a target that Australians could take pride in, and a goal that will help secure a safe climate and prosperous future for all.

Photo by Hasmukh Chand

That’s the key message delivered in a letter to Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, from members of the Better Futures Australia alliance, which represents over seven million Australians.

Australian families are world leaders in adopting solar, with Australian innovation driving the development of cutting-edge solar and battery technologies globally.

Now, it’s time for Australia to lead with decisive action on climate.

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Councils lead the charge on climate ambition, pledging net zero targets by 2030: national report

Now it’s time for the Australian government to catch up

  • The 2024 Australian Local Government Climate Review reveals the vast majority (89%) of 110 surveyed councils (representing 38% of Australia’s population) hold themselves accountable to net zero emission targets ‘generally no later than 2030’.
  • More than two thirds (68%) have taken the next step to set or plan community-wide emissions targets.
  • These local efforts are substantial. Councils’ targets alone are projected to ‘cover 29% of Australia’s current emissions targets’, highlighting their crucial – but largely unsung – role in driving national climate ambition to align with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Councils across Australia have taken climate action into their own hands since the late 1990s, driving grassroots change and community-focused mitigation and adaptation strategies that hold vital lessons in the global race to stem global warming.

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Galaxies are much much bigger than we thought

Embargo: 7 pm AEDT, Friday 6 September 2024
(10 am, London time, 05:00 US Eastern Time)

The inside story of a galaxy’s long reach into space

Visualisation of the gas shroud of starburst galaxy IRAS 08339+6517, credit Cristy Roberts ANU/ASTRO 3D

A shroud of gas stretches up to a million light years around every galaxy and is its first interaction with the wider Universe beyond. For the first time scientists have photographed this halo of matter and examined it pixel by pixel.

If this galaxy is typical, then the study, published today in Nature Astronomy, indicates that our galaxy is already interacting with its closest neighbour, Andromeda.

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Charities lead the way on climate action as 80% of global citizens call on governments to do more

On UN International Day of Charity (5 September), Better Futures Australia celebrates the tireless work of charities in catalysing climate action.

Join them at the third Better Futures Forum
10-11 September: National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

More and more Aussies are giving to trusted charities in the climate space, while others are rolling up their sleeves and starting their own.

They include AFL players kicking eco-goals with Footy for Climate, GPs driving Doctors for the Environment Australia, and First Nations renewable energy champions behind Original Power, building Australia’s first Indigenous-owned, grid-connected solar farm in the Northern Territory.

Meet them and many more at Australia’s largest multi-sectoral gathering on climate, the Better Futures Forum (10-11 September) at Canberra’s National Film and Sound Archive.

[Read more…] about Charities lead the way on climate action as 80% of global citizens call on governments to do more

A galactic conspiracy disproven

Stars and dark matter are not interacting in ‘impossible ways’

A longstanding ‘conspiracy’ in astronomy – that stars and dark matter are interacting in inexplicable ways – has been overturned by an international team of astronomers, in a paper today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). 

The authors are based in Australia, the UK, Austria, and Germany, and used the Very Large Telescope in Chile.

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The Milky Way is Australia’s #1 ‘most amazing thing’ to see in the night sky

National dark sky poll reveals: There’s no place like our ‘galactic’ home, if only we could all see it

Media contacts: Shelley Thomas, shelley@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0416 377 444; or Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Amazing [adjective]; causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing
– Oxford English Dictionary

For anyone who has gazed up and felt transfixed by its cosmic beauty, the Milky Way is truly ‘amazing’, as reflected in ABC’s National Science Week poll, revealed today.

Our ‘home galaxy’ scooped top spot, attracting 22.9% of votes in response to the question ‘What’s the most amazing thing you’ve seen in the night sky?’. But did you pick it, and can you see it from your own backyard?

While we live inside the Milky Way, packed with more than 100 billion stars, an astonishing third of humanity can’t see it due to light pollution.

“For as long as I can remember Australia has been called the ‘Lucky Country’… and we’ve only just started to realise that we have the best gateway to the Milky Way,” says Marnie Ogg, who founded the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance to conserve our night sky and combat light pollution.

In cause for double celebration, she says public recognition of the importance of ‘Stargazing in a dark sky location’ – coming close second in the national poll, with 19.9% of the votes – sends a clear message to communities and policy makers: “Turn off the lights!”

Light pollution occurs when ‘sky glow’ from artificial lighting is so powerful that it out-glows the stars, with negative knock-ons to our health and the survival of creatures and culture.

“Knowing Dark Sky Places are important to so many people makes me more determined to preserve and expand these precious environments,” Marnie says, adding that Australia currently has six internationally designated Dark Sky Places, with dozens more in the pipeline.

“Why can’t we become a Dark Sky Nation? I’d like to see all National Parks around the country immediately sign up to become Dark Sky Places, and I’ve also got this secret plan to sign up all the big outback stations across Australia.”

Check out full results of the ABC poll which started on 5 August with a focus on 22 ‘amazing things’, condensed to Top 10 contenders in the final round. Spoiler alert: Aurora came third; followed by Saturn’s rings; The Moon; Comet; Moonbow; Meteor shower; Meteor; and Lunar eclipse.

For Australian National University astrophysicist and cosmologist, Dr Brad Tucker, picking favourites is tricky: “I do love Saturn’s rings, but it’s great to see the Milky Way and stargazing in Dark Sky Places rank so highly because it shows Australians feel a connection to the night sky as our window to the Universe and, for First Nations peoples, to Sky Country and stories written in the stars.”

Growing up in California, Brad didn’t know it was even possible to look up and see the Milky Way. In the US and Europe, 99 per cent of people miss the experience of a dark night sky, with an estimated 80 per cent of the world’s population living under sky glow.

“We may not think what we do at home matters, but it does,” he says. “If everyone in Sydney turned off one 10W LED bulb at night, we’d save over 10 Megawatts of energy every hour.”

ABC’s dark sky project is the online initiative for National Science Week 2024, undertaken by ABC Science with funding through the Australian Government’s Inspiring Australia strategy.

In addition to the national poll, the ABC and ANU joined forces to launch a separate online survey of the Milky Way’s visibility. This survey is ongoing. It invites all Australians to become real-life guardians of the Galaxy, by looking up and using an interactive visual guide to determine how much of the Milky Way is currently blocked by light pollution across metro, regional, rural, coastal and remote locations.

“We will use that data to look at what people value in the night sky, how they value the view of darkness, and how we can push initiatives for better lighting, which will reduce light pollution, light the ground better, and save money,” Brad says.

[Read more…] about The Milky Way is Australia’s #1 ‘most amazing thing’ to see in the night sky

Plants in space; FarmBots; a Poo Palace; saving turtles with a smartphone; and swamp life with ‘Ginger’ the dinosaur

Sunday 18 August

Highlights from the final day of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

VIC: Art meets science in a high-tech exhibition inspired by science fiction

NSW: Meet ‘Ginger’ the life-sized Australovenator dinosaur at Science in the Swamp – Centennial Park, Sydney

VIC: Breakfast in a petri dish: inside the lab of ‘The Man Who Invented Vegemite’ – Beaufort

SA: How to grow a Martian garden – Roseworthy

NT: 9-metre whale puppet tells ‘The Whale’s Tale’ – Darwin

QLD: Are robots rolling onto farms? – Royal Queensland Show, Brisbane

WA: Dark matter on the on the move – Broome

Read on for more on these, including direct event contact details.

[Read more…] about Plants in space; FarmBots; a Poo Palace; saving turtles with a smartphone; and swamp life with ‘Ginger’ the dinosaur

The Poo Palace; fun with rocket scientists; your brain on AI; sharks in Dubbo; and bird-spotters wanted

Saturday 17 August

Highlights from day 8 of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

NSW: Dr Karl and a T.rex autopsy at Sydney Science Trail

NSW: The Indigenous night sky, bush food, and technology – Redfern

QLD: ‘We’re All Aliens, Baby’: science songs and astrophysicists at a live Planetarium concert – Brisbane

WA: Unbreakable bones, black holes, Shark Bay, and fantastic rays and where to find them – Crawley

SA: Treewilding: our relationship with forests – Tusmore

ACT: Shop with reptiles and robots – shopping centres around Canberra

TAS: Tracking cats, robot cars, drones, fossils, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas – Hobart

NT: Volunteer beach-side bird-spotters wanted! – Brinkin

NSW: Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle

VIC: Raising rarity: saving Victoria’s most threatened plants – Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne

WA: Unbreakable bones, black holes, Shark Bay, and fantastic rays and where to find them

QLD: Play with rocket scientists –Toowoomba

NSW: Your brain on AI at the Opera House – Sydney

Read on for more on these, including direct event contact details.

[Read more…] about The Poo Palace; fun with rocket scientists; your brain on AI; sharks in Dubbo; and bird-spotters wanted