If you’re on a Tuesday bus and need an escape from the man eating oysters out of a paper bag right next to you, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of today’s biggest headlines.
Sorry btw, I won’t ever do that again.
Darwin Has Been Hit By an Earthquake
Some Northern Territory residents had a rude awakening today. This is because a quake rumbled Darwin at about 3.15 am.
“The house started shaking, then she really started shaking to the point you could hear the windows start to rattle and creak,” said Darwin resident, Trevor Power.
This quake is the result of a massive magnitude 7.5 earthquake impacting the Tanimbar region of Indonesia. Said earthquake only happened 97 km underground.
Fortunately, Australia is currently not at risk of being hit by a tsunami that often follows earthquakes.
The Results of the Carbon Credit Scheme Review
An independent review into Australia’s carbon offset scheme has asserted it’s not broken, nor is it being used to plant fake trees. This review came about because Professor Andrew Macintosh, the creator of this scheme, alleged that it doesn’t work.
Carbon offsetting is the act of businesses investing in activities like planting trees instead of reducing their own carbon emissions. In theory, carbon offsetting should be a transitional program used by companies as they attempt to become net zero.
Chris Bowen, our Minister for Climate Change, was pleased with the independent review’s findings. Moreover, this review had a number of recommendations, which Bowen said the government will implement.
Bowen said, “As Australia drives towards net zero, it’s vital that our carbon credits are fit for purpose, that they are verifiable, that there’s increased reduction in emissions, and that they are able to be used for our international commitments.”
However, the likes of Macintosh and Greenpeace aren’t happy with the review’s conclusions.
“Big-polluting corporations, including coal and gas companies, buy carbon offsets to avoid and delay actually reducing or removing harmful greenhouse gas emissions in their own operations,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s Glenn Walker.
“Until this sham is removed from the system or fundamentally overhauled, emissions won’t actually be going down.”
Related: Huge — ACT Will Cut Its Emissions By a Whopping 30%
Related: Big Batteries Are Coming to Aus But Would They Solve the Energy Crisis?
Rare Corpse Flower Blooms in Adelaide
In some rad, yet stinky, news, the Adelaide Botanic Gardens has grown a rare Titan Arum from a leaf cutting. Titan Arum, also known as a corpse flower, takes around 10 years to blossom for the first time. Oh, they also smell like death and literal rotting flesh.
“Some people commented last night it doesn’t look real, it looks man-made, it’s just so incredible,” said the garden’s horticultural curator, Matt Coulter. “Other than the smell it is actually an incredibly beautiful plant.”
“If people want to smell it, today is the day to come, by tomorrow, the smell would have actually stopped, it only smells for two days. Tomorrow it’ll still be looking okay, but it’s on its decline, so basically, it’s a 24-to-48-hour period that it’ll look its best.”
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