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."
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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

Stressed Norfolk pines at beach car parks
to be woodchipped

"Norfolk pines were planted after much of the Gold Coast region was cleared of its original tree cover and many were now in difficult growth areas like car parks and other paved areas. Have a look the trees that are next to car parks; they look worse than those that are in stands [groups]...Maybe the best way is to completely avoid roads and car parks." >>
“https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-21/norfolk-pines-damaged-by-alfred-gold-coast-destroyed/105077320
#trees #cars #carparks #harm #ImperviousSurfaces

Sea foam - You wouldn’t go swimming in sewage

"Research shows people should not go in the sea when it is foaming. These bacterial smoothies can contain more harmful pathogens than a sewage treatment plant – and you wouldn’t go swimming in sewage."

"If the water is polluted with floating fats and grease as well as asphaltene, motor oil and hydrocarbons, these spores soon form bacterial colonies or biofilms that go forth and multiply."

"Reducing stormwater pollution will reduce the growth of sea foams. As long as humanity continues to produce pollution, the problem will increase. It will also worsen as the world warms, because sea foams like it hot."
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https://theconversation.com/dozens-of-surfers-fell-ill-after-swimming-in-seas-that-turned-into-a-bacterial-smoothie-of-sea-foam-what-was-in-it-252506
#pollution #ocean #coast #sewage #floods #runoff #surfing #swimming #MarineLife #FossilFuels #ImperviousSurfaces #Sawtell #NSW #beach

On the edge
stuck in commute

"Dropping new suburbs on to the edges of cities is a “trap” that comes at a cost.Quick and cheap urban sprawl is no sign of a livable, efficient city. The ripple effects are far-reaching and intertwined, from environmental and health impacts to dependence on cars, lost family time, detachment from friends and entertainment and isolation because of poor public infrastructure."

"Commute, shower, sleep, eat and commute again..
Commute, shower, sleep, eat and commute again."
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/09/forced-to-move-by-the-australian-housing-crisis-three-hour-commutes-and-never-mind-seeing-your-family
#sprawl #SoilSealing #housing #insecurity #injustice #CarDependency #commuting #suburbia #MobilityDesign #cars #roads #traffic #soil #ImperviousSurfaces #QualityofLife

Survival in a climate-changed world

"Heatwave to turn parts of Australia into ‘one of the hottest places in the world’ this week. Some of the east coast and the north will bake in a furnace of potentially life-threatening heat, the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/04/heatwave-to-turn-parts-of-australia-into-one-of-the-hottest-places-in-the-world-this-week

"We will see more extreme weather events as long as we burn fossil fuels." Friederike Otto, climatologist and co-founder of World Weather Attribution

"Local governments and emergency services are the essential mediator between the weather services and the people in harm’s way. They need to be strengthened and not dismantled, as had been the case with the Valencia Emergency Unit.Investing in people and emergency services will save lives. But governments also cannot build back the same way. Almost everywhere in Europe where people live, rivers are canalised, and all surfaces are sealed with concrete and asphalt to make a comfortable city for cars. If we want to start caring about people instead, we need to give rivers space again, so that they have somewhere else to go, rather than into people’s homes. Urban sprawl across Europe is creating ever more sealed surfaces and exposing an increasing number of people to devastating floods."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/04/spain-deaths-europe-realities-extreme-weather-flooding
#ExtremeHeat #FossilFuels #survival #ClimateBreakdown #governance #NSW #sprawl #rivers #floods #roads #cars #ImperviousSurfaces #unsustainability

Parking

"Every driver feels they deserve “rockstar” parking, ideally right at their destination, secure and free – and they’re aggrieved if they can’t have it. Behind the wheel, we assume a universal impatience, intolerance and entitlement. It simmers above the unspoken anxiety of not being able to park."

"Since the 1950s, cities have been defined by their valiant efforts to cater to these base instincts. We have paved them with carparks, relinquishing wetlands, parklands and foreshores. We have foregone housing and public amenities, all to ensure optimal storage of high-emissions private property."

'The great paradox is that while parking is both objectively abundant and an exorbitant tax on everyone, no driver is satisfied. So we build more parking, and download more apps, and our cities become less liveable."

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https://theconversation.com/parking-apps-are-sweeping-australias-cities-heres-what-you-may-not-know-about-them-221016
#cars #FreeParking #parking #AutoDependence #spraw #ImperviousSurfaces #runoff #PrivateStorage #PublicLand #So50s #mindsets

Sediment runoff from the land is killing the Great Barrier Reef

"Cyclone Jasper had hit at the end of the sugar cane crushing season when paddocks had been freshly applied with fertilisers and pesticides."
"What we are seeing from these massive flood plumes really calls on Queensland and the commonwealth to increase their efforts around catchments, especially on tree clearing. We still clear about 100,000 hectares around the catchments of the reef every year, and it’s legal. That means the laws are not fit for purpose.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/30/great-barrier-reef-cyclone-damage-health-marine-life

On making marine ghost towns>>
https://theconversation.com/sediment-runoff-from-the-land-is-killing-nzs-seas-its-time-to-take-action-221966
#GreatBarrierReef #ocean #marine #Storm_runoff #RunOff #rain #pesticides #plantations #LandClearing #floods #pollution #roads #ImperviousSurfaces #concrete #corals #biodiversity #WorldHeritageArea

Sediment runoff is making marine ghost towns

"Land clearance for agriculture and forestry since human occupation has resulted in a ten-fold increase in sediment runoff ... When people remove trees, build roads and overstock paddocks, sand, mud and silt flow into the sea."
“ki uta ki tai” a NZ environmental management policy, from the mountaintops to the deep ocean.

https://theconversation.com/sediment-runoff-from-the-land-is-killing-nzs-seas-its-time-to-take-action-221966
#ocean #marine #Storm_runoff #RunOff #rain #floods #pollution #roads #ImperviousSurfaces #concrete #corals #biodiversity