Koalas at risk of death once seven-day temperatures rise beyond 27C
Nutritional and climate refugia for koalas

"Extreme heat is a major factor in the number of deaths and hospitalisations of Australians every year....An analysis of 11,862 koala rescue admissions to NSW animal hospitals found the marsupials were more likely to die when the seven-day average maximum temperature was greater than 27 degrees Celsius."

"Dr Mella said water stations could be left out as well as shade structures built for koalas in hot regions like north-west NSW. We do that for cattle and we do that for animals that we use for our needs, so we really should be doing it for wildlife as well."

When koalas rests low to the ground in the shade trying to beat the heat they are usually chased and injured by dogs and car. >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026-05-27/koala-deaths-linked-to-a-few-extra-degrees-of-heat/106722276
#Koalas #refugia #FossilFuels #heatwaves #drought #climate #cars #sprawl #dogs #NSW #MassMortalities #widllife #extinctions #DomesticAnimals #HeatRelatedRisks #biodiversity

‘We don’t hear the frogs, we don’t see the birds’:
government repeatedly delayed water to NSW wetlands, documents reveal

"The New South Wales government has routinely delayed environmental flows to critical wetlands in the state’s north-west in favour of farming, despite admitting it could harm the breeding cycles of frogs and endangered birds and damage local ecosystems."

“I was furious when I saw the impact that delaying the delivery of environmental water is having on the wetlands and the thousands of waterbirds and other animals that rely upon healthy wetland ecosystems to survive." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/02/nsw-government-delayed-water-wetlands-documents-reveal

#biodiversity #ecosystems #conservation #Ramsar #wetlands #GwydirWetlands #NSW #EnvironmentalFlows #birds #frogs #turtles #waterbirds #MassMortalities #irrigation #governance

Restrictions after drop in Menindee Lakes water level are ineffective, expert warns. Loophole keeping things pumping

"The NSW government last week introduced a temporary water embargo aimed at preserving water in the Darling River system and preventing ecological events such as fish kills and turtle deaths."

"The government has dragged its heels." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-02/murray-darling-water-restriction-loophole/106616196
#biodiversity #wildlife #MassMortalities #water #rivers #MDB #cotton #irrigation

State of the Global Climate 2025

The World Meteorological Organization "State of Climate report confirms

2015-2025 hottest 11 years on record

Earth’s energy imbalance is highest in sixty five-year record.

The ocean has been absorbing about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades.

Extreme weather impacts millions and costs billions."
>>
https://wmo.int/publication-series/state-of-global-climate/state-of-global-climate-2025
#FossilFuels #climate #GHG #ExtremeWeather #Extremes #heatwaves #ocean #MassMortalities #cryosphere #atmosphere #WMO #ClimateDisruption #bushfires #floods #droughts #heatwaves #instability #war #pollution

Life After Cars
The harms of car culture

"Heralded as a world-changing invention, automobiles promised a dream of freedom and independence. Instead, they’ve delivered pollution, noise, expense, sprawling isolated cities, climate catastrophe, and hundreds of thousands of deaths per year."
>>
https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2025/08/01/life-after-cars/

Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile (book)
"Instead of unbounded freedom, the never-ending proliferation of automobiles has delivered a host of costs, among them the demolition of our neighborhoods, towns, and cities to make way for car infrastructure; an epidemic of violent death; countless hours lost in traffic; isolation from our fellow human beings; and the ongoing destruction of the natural world."
>>
https://www.lifeaftercars.com/
#cars #vehicles #EVs #roads #pollution #RoadTrauma #MassMortalities #violence #climate #FossilFuels #sprawl #destruction #harm #biodiversity #book

Fossil fuels are heating the oceans, killing fish and corals

"Authorities investigate after thousands of leatherjacket fish wash up on NSW and Queensland beaches Mass fish kill of juvenile leatherjackets along NSW south coast, from Lake Conjola to Narooma, and on Sunshine Coast." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/21/mass-fish-kill-leatherjacket-wash-up-on-nsw-queensland-beaches

Ningaloo and Great Barrier Reef hit by ‘profoundly distressing’ simultaneous coral bleaching events >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/23/ningaloo-and-great-barrier-reef-hit-by-profoundly-distressing-simultaneous-coral-bleaching-events
#FossilFuels #ocean #MarineLife #biodiversity #GBR #reef #runoff #pollution #eutrophication #MassMortalities

From water pollution to blue gold

Water "“blighted by mats of algae, mountains of foam, scum, and dead fish floating on the surface. Pollution from water companies and agricultural runoff are driving the contamination, which affects all parts of the country, causing toxic algal blooms, mass die-offs of fish, and risks to human health."

"A country that once let raw sewage and industrial wastewater flow directly into its water. Today, it is 98%, and the country has a reputation for pristine swimming waters, sometimes referred to as its “blue gold” – and it’s all thanks to a complex network of sewage plants."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/17/from-sewage-and-scum-to-swimming-in-blue-gold-how-switzerland-transformed-its-waterways-aoe
#water #pollution #micropollutants #ecosystem #health #swimming #Australia #sewage #floods #runoff #ImperviousSurfaces #roads #MassMortalities #SepticTanks #sprawl #biodiversity #rivers #civilisation