Sprawl, cars and climate
Transport set to be Australia’s top-emitting sector by 2030, private cars (SUVs) still dominate.

“If you’re in suburbia or regional Australia and you’re trying to make a journey, often you’ll find public transport is just not a viable option and you have no choice but to drive."

"Experts have pointed towards an Australian love for US-style SUVs as a contributing factor to the rising death toll on roads nationwide, which has climbed every year since the pandemic, with NSW the highest of any state." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/07/sprawling-city-public-transit-work-sydney-right-track
#sprawl #cars #SUVs #DeathToll #transport #climate #PublicTransport #NSW #MobilityDesign

Housing development and agricultural expansion whittled the earless dragon grassland habitat down to 0.5% of its prior extent.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/04/victorian-grassland-earless-dragon-melbourne-zoo-endangered-species-second-extinction
#biodiversity #reptiles #NativeGrasslands #wildlife #conservation #sprawl

Platypuses need threatened species recognition in NSW, researcher says

"The species was only "hanging on, not thriving" in NSW and the Murray-Darling Basin."

"There's no state or national monitoring framework for platypuses...Dr Bino said platypuses had survived Australia's natural cycles for millions of years, but were now struggling to adapt to human-driven changes. We've been disrupting the natural flow regime and fragmenting and isolating platypus populations."

"Platypus are pretty much wiped out from the mainland in South Australia. They used to occur all along the Murray but that's no longer the case." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-27/platypuses-should-be-threatened-species-in-nsw-researcher-says/106520128
#platypuses #conservation #habitat #rivers #NSW #monotremes #MDB #ThreatenedSpecies #biodiversity #water #pollution #sprawl #ImperviousSurfaces #roads #runoff #drowning #WipeoutAU

Oh, and of course, I knew once #AmazonCorp announced plans to build a warehouse in #GorhamME, the #GorhamConnector would rear its ugly head again... And even though #JanetMills' brother #PeterMills is no longer in charge of #MDOT doesn't mean the new director won't be pushing this... Instead of a light rail system or rapid bus transit on the existing roads (and / or safer bike lanes. I knew friends who used to bike from Gorham to Portland, but it got too dangerous because of a lack of dedicated bike lanes and speeders).

#MDOT will launch new examination of traffic issues west of Portland

The state study will focus on Gorham, #ScarboroughME, #SouthPortlandME and #WestbrookME.

Robert Lowell, April 22, 2026

Excerpt: "The announcement of the new study comes just days before Amazon goes to the Gorham Planning Board on May 4, seeking approval for a warehouse and distribution center on Main Street (Route 25). Traffic will likely be one issue fueling concerns about the Amazon project.

"The study also comes in the aftermath of plans the Maine Turnpike Authority shelved last year for a four-lane toll road connector to Gorham. The connector was aimed at reducing commuter rush-hour traffic in the routes 22 and 114 commuter corridor [which the #Maine Legislature failed to make go away!]

"A connector would have linked the roundabout at South Street (Route 114) and the southerly end of Gorham’s Bernard Rines Bypass with the turnpike’s Exit 45 in South Portland. The connector proposal was met with a public outcry because it called for cutting a swath through #SmilingHillFarm in #WestbrookME."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/04/22/mdot-will-launch-new-examination-of-traffic-issues-west-of-portland/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/Rh3bH

#MainePol #InducedSprawl #Maine #RuralLife #SaveTheFarms #SaveRedBrook #MainersForSmarterTransportation #Maine #MaineNews #GorhamBypass #GorhamSpur #Maine #RapidTransit #SaveTheFarms #ProtectTheForest #InducedDemand #Sprawl #SaveRedBrook #ProtectTheWetlands #BrookTrout #SaveTheForest #Wildlife #HuskyLine #RapidBusTransit

Malnourished and sick kangaroos, isolated by urban sprawl on New South Wales's Mid North Coast

"...The kangaroos were chronically malnourished because they could not find enough to eat in an area bordered by ocean, the nearby Emerald Beach settlement, and the Pacific Highway. Our theory is that ongoing development … the M1 being upgraded and an increase in suburban dwellings, that this population is isolated." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-24/sick-kangaroos-coffs-coast-look-at-me-now-headland/106597450

First the thylacine, the others a bit later...

#biodiversity #wildlife #EasternGreyKangaroos #habitat #kangaroos #marsupials #CoffsCoast #CoffsHarbour #LookAtMeNowHeadland #EmeraldBeach #sprawl #tourism #PacificHighway #roads #harm #MidnorthCoast #StarvingWildlife

Image: Coastal sprawl - No place for endemic wildlife on the Mid North Coast of NSW

It is not a fuel crisis,
it is a fossil fuel crisis!

Oh dear, We forgot to transition our mobility system
Go e-anything now without the matching active mobility infrastructure.

This fuel crisis could last for a while. It’s time for a new approach to fuel use – end it. >>
https://theconversation.com/this-fuel-crisis-could-last-for-a-while-its-time-for-a-new-approach-to-fuel-use-end-it-280454

#MobilityDesign #FossilFuels #CarDependency #oil #war #CarMinds #HabitFormation #idling #speeding #EnergyTransition #infrastructure #machinery #ActiveMobility #sprawl #walkability #bikepaths #EMobility #ClimateCrisis

Is this an urban planning dilemma or an easy choice:

Do we support the easy option of earmarking more fields and hedgerows for development expansion or the bolder step of turning existing concrete and tarmac surfaces to homes that don't cost the earth?

There is still time. If you contact your local councillors to encourage them to vote *against* sprawl and *for* sustainable communities.

#carrickmines #glenamuck #dingleglen #housing #sprawl

Platypus decline: First south-east Queensland, then northern Queensland

"In communities in south-east Queensland, we're certainly starting to hear that narrative that they're not seeing them...Dr Brunt said a comparison of historical records of platypus sightings with a recent survey of their populations in south-east Queensland had shown a marked decrease in numbers."

"It is not something she wants to see repeated in north Queensland, and Dr Brunt is part of a push to have platypuses recognised as "vulnerable" under the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act." >>

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-15/platypus-marian-vulnerable-conservation-register/106562272
#Platypus #Biodiversity #EPBCAct #sprawl #suburbia #HabitatDestruction #extinction