Megan Evans
@megcevans
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environmental policy, governance, finance • Senior Lecturer @UNSWCanberra • she/her • likes dogs • • @megcevans .bsky.social
Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country
Joined December 2009
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Pinned Tweet
Very grateful to have spoken at
@FestOfDanger
#FODI
My talk (avail via podcast soon) highlighted the predicament Australia's
#carbon
market is in () and questioned whether "better than nothing" is sufficient. We can and must do better.
#ACCUs
#climate
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The NSW government now allows 25m of vegetation to be cleared along fence lines - without approval. The image below illustrates why this is a disaster for
#biodiversity
👇Read more in
@ConversationEDU
👉
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🚨New paper! 🚨
Email me for PDF (megan.evans
@unsw
.edu.au)
.
@rini_rants
and I interrogate the value and purpose of global maps in
#conservation
👉
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It's not every day you get to summarise your PhD research (&
@AusJPA
paper ) in
@AuSenate
. Here's my take yesterday's announced audit on
#EPBCAct
#offsets
.
I’ve just announced our government will conduct a full audit of environmental offsets to crackdown on developers who are shirking their responsibilities to protect nature.
Approval holders should consider themselves on notice – deliver on your obligations for nature, or face
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Me: I need to be very careful and Professional when speaking to journalists
Also me:
Come for the story, stay for this quote from
@megcevans
:
“We’ve had increasing threats to biodiversity over the last decade and reduced funding,” says Evans. “A bit of revegetation isn’t going to change that – it’s like sprinkling glitter on a big pile of poo.”
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I JUST SUBMITTED A PAPER I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS 🎉🤯🎉🤯
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Classic Nature with an absolutely unrealistic example right at the start of an a̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶u̶n̶p̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ advice column for ECRs
p.s DON'T DO THIS
Why early-career researchers should step up to the peer-review plate
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Happy (and relieved!) to share that I've been promoted to Senior Lecturer.
Huge thanks to the wonderful
@UNSWCanberra
,
@PSResearchG
& School of Business for their support - very grateful to be part of this community.
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🚨New paper! 🚨
My paper in
@EnvConsJournal
critically examines the science of
#biodiversity
#conservation
For
@LucHoffmannInst
#BiodiversityRevisited
Email me for PDF (megan.evans
@unsw
.edu.au)
Here's a 🧵👇 (1/n)
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Wasted nearly an entire term of government trying to push through a
#NatureRepairMarket
literally noone asked for and
#EPBCAct
reform pushed to next year (term). What a joke.
#auspol
No first year government has done more for the environment than we have.
No government has ever invested more money in nature conservation than we are.
Doubling funding for our National Parks, doubling the number of renewable energy projects being approved, tripling the size
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I'm really honoured to be awarded an ACT Tall Poppy Science Award for 2021
Thank-you to
@aipolsci
and to
@EuanRitchie1
for the nomination!
#YTP2021
#UNSWCBR
Dr Megan Evans (
@megcevans
) from
@UNSWCanberra
! Megan is understanding and informing how governments and businesses can more effectively protect the
#environment
#YTP2021
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"What is occurring is a fraud on the environment, a fraud on taxpayers and a fraud on unwitting consumers,” Macintosh said
#offsets
#naturebasedsolutions
#naturalclimatesolutions
#climatefinance
#naturerisk
#climaterisk
#carbonmarket
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Since we're in a universe where the govt is pushing a
#SafeguardMechanism
that allows unlimited offsets & insists their integrity is "fine" (), may I present to you where forests are being "regenerated" - including in the Nullarbor (Latin for "no trees")
Here is discussion about the avoided deforestation method (now revoked, based on Chubb recommendation).
@dcceew
says "the integrity is fine" for existing ACCUs from that method.
@CERegulator
says Chubb "did not raise broad concerns about [it] as a method"
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The ANU-UNSW research team has analysed the recently released CEA (carbon estimation area) for HIR
#carbon
projects. The results are unsurprisingly bad. 🧵Full papers and interactive data linked below:
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New data confirms that Australia's carbon credit scheme has been handing out carbon credits for carbon sequestration projects that haven't sequestered any carbon. In other words,
@BernardKeane
reports, tens of millions of carbon credits are worthless.
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The Australian Government is trying to sneak through a Bill that would give the offshore gas industry preferential treatment in meeting environmental regulations - prior to the
#EPBCAct
being reformed.
Is this...
#naturepositive
? 🧵👇
@tanya_plibersek
The offshore oil and gas industry should not be exempt from complying with national environmental law, that's why we are calling for the scrapping of an amendment which would carve out the offshore oil and gas industry from needing to comply with the EPBC Act.
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I realise this is a giant humblebrag but I loved this PhD examiner report and I'm in need of a boost today.
#graduation
next week 🎓
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If you like
#zeroextinction
, you should put a law around it,
@tanya_plibersek
Stop the
#breadcrumbing
, fix the
#EPBCAct
and invest billions to stop
#biodiversity
loss:
@EuanRitchie1
, me and
@YungEnChee1
in
@ConversationEDU
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I am SUPER stoked to be joining
@UNSWCanberra
as a Lecturer with the School of Business &
@PSResearchG
in early 2020. I'll be progressing my work on
#naturalcapital
&
#biodiversity
finance, policy & governance. PhD opportunities too 🎉
#unswcanberra
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Last month I was invited to speak in a panel with 3 (already confirmed) men. Expenses paid.
I accepted on condition the panel be moderated by a woman or non-binary person, preferably BIPOC. My invite was rescinded 🙃
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Goodness me, honoured to be named
@aipolsci
Young Tall Poppy of the Year for the ACT
#YTP2021
Huge kudos to fellow awardees
@StephMcLenn
&
@brett_scholz
And thank-you
@EuanRitchie1
for the nomination 🎉
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Not for charity or awareness but I always enjoy seeing people's reaction to my
@manwhohasitall
bag 🙃
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Today I ended my intro to
#ClimateChange
lecture (for my 3rd year Business & Sustainable Development students) with this clip from
@AlanKohler
's finance report. Not sure what they thought (hard to tell!) but I hope it cut through.
#ClimateRisk
Brilliant Finance report on
@abcnews
in
#Australia
tonight by
@AlanKohler
Alan runs through latest global inflation, mortgage rates… and then shows us the latest Antarctic record-low sea ice levels, concluding “that’s not finance yet, but it soon will be.”
#ClimateEmergency
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Wait till the minister finds out what happened when Wall St crashed.
Maybe just skip the bullshit and invest public money and regulate properly like government is meant to do.
Totally deluded
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It’s only
#NaturePositive
if it delivers measurable net positive outcomes against a fixed historical baseline. Otherwise, it’s just
#toxicnaturepositivity
.
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Can I just highlight how important and brave
@teamswiftparrot
's critique is here. Many others - inc more senior & secure - would (& do) toe the line and "welcome" the announcement in hope for some crumbs. Thank-you Dr Dejan Stojanovic
#truthtopower
What a disgrace and embarrassment.
“Despite mountains of evidence that logging in Tasmania is the key threat to swift parrots, this government is trying to scapegoat a tiny possum for its inability to stand up to the forest industry,” -
@teamswiftparrot
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The federal budget has shown that the government's "
#naturepositive
" commitment is largely
#greenwash
We explain why, and what needs to be done instead, in
@ConversationEDU
🧵👇
@BrenWintle
@HugePossum
@Biodivcouncil
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Here's a bigger view: Henbury Station (referred to in
@SatPaper
article below) is in blue, HIR projects in pink (collectively an area bigger than Japan 🗾). Pretty much all pretending to grow forests in the desert just by removing livestock.
#carbonoffsets
Long read out in the
@SatPaper
today, digging into the how and why did this all happen
The great carbon offset scam
#climatepolicy
#carboncredits
#carbonoffsets
#safeguardmechanism
Some key points below 🧵:
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@amayoco
@DaniRabaiotti
What's the bet the parents encouraged her to get tertiary education in the first place
"You can do anything!"
"No not like that"
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Hi
@tanya_plibersek
, Greg Hunt called, he wants his War on Feral Cats (2015) back.
Do we really have to do this again?
Feral cats represent one of the biggest threats to our native wildlife. Every single night cats kill about 6 million animals.
That’s why we’re taking action to reduce the number of feral cats.
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Long read out in the
@SatPaper
today, digging into the how and why did this all happen
The great carbon offset scam
#climatepolicy
#carboncredits
#carbonoffsets
#safeguardmechanism
Some key points below 🧵:
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Recovery plans are not just plans for management - they are statutory documents with legal teeth in
#EPBCAct
decision making (Minister must not make decision inconsistent with recovery plan). Terrible decision and outcome. What a legacy for Ley.
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Senior academics: if you're reporting on your student's work, can you at least tell us their name? Being an ECR is tough enough
#iccb2017
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🚨NEW PAPER🚨 out in
@AusJPA
on Australia's
#biodiversityoffset
policy administration - highly relevant to
#NatureRepairMarket
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Our new piece in
@NatureEcoEvo
is online & free to read with this link -->
#sciencepolicy
#conservationevidence
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Our new
#OpenAccess
paper in
@PalCommsOA
: An introduction to achieving policy
#impact
for early career researchers
#ecrchat
#phdchat
#OA
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Friendly reminder that the
#SafeguardMechanism
doesn't work properly until
#EPBCAct
reforms are passed, which the Australian government has today confirmed it doesn't plan to do this term. 👍
#progress
@Bowenchris
We’re creating Australia’s first national Environment Protection Agency. It will be independent and transparent. It will have strong new powers to better protect the environment and deliver faster environmental decisions.
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Bit of a bomb let off by the NSW Audit Office on
#biodiversityoffsets
today 👀
#biodiversitymarket
#biodiversitycredits
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Two of the most mind-blowing things from
#SafeguardMechanism
@AuSenate
inquiry this week were the govt saying:
1️⃣ the integrity of all existing
#ACCUs
is "fine"
2️⃣the Chubb review rec's only apply to *new projects* "going forward" - which is not what they said 4 weeks ago🧵
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Australia’s central climate policy pays people to grow trees that already existed. Taxpayers – and the environment – deserve better via
@ConversationEDU
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A thread🧵on my new
#OpenAccess
paper out in
@AusJPA
:
#BiodiversityOffset
policies are hugely popular, but there's rarely evidence to show whether they work or not - why is that?
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🚨NEW PAPER🚨 out in
@AusJPA
on Australia's
#biodiversityoffset
policy administration - highly relevant to
#NatureRepairMarket
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As have others, I want to draw out this quote from
@jamesecology
's letter:
"...if you treat nine out of ten people well but bully one, you are a bully."
People who have good experiences with academics need to understand this, and believe victims. 👇
1/13 One quarter of young academics have been bullied. I am one of them. I am sharing this letter and chain of tweets to ensure future student and staff safety. I wish I didn’t have to.
My statement
@AcademicChatter
#PhDChat
@ThesisWhisperer
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I'm so tired
Part of new national park planned for western Sydney set aside for highway
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Grateful to
@arc_gov_au
for funding my project on
#impactinvesting
for
#biodiversity
#conservation
&
#naturalcapital
And thanks to
@PolicyFuturesUQ
@HASSUQ
for their support. Congrats to fellow new DECRAs, and commiserations to the many great researchers who missed out this time
#UQ
's commitment to leading research has again been recognised with 19 researchers awarded
@arc_gov_au
Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRAs).
Sending a big congrats to all - here's the full list.
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There’s an enormous price to pay if carbon credit projects don’t actually offset the emissions of the companies that buy them, Megan Evans from
@UNSWCanberra
warns.
“It makes climate change worse,” she said.
@renew_economy
on our latest research
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Important new piece providing guidance for publishing social science in
@ConBiology
(also helpful for handling editors)
#consocsci
#envsocsci
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The amount of energy one expends being present, engaged and pleasant in a day of meetings whilst being depressed is...a lot. Virtual hugs for anyone else in this boat
#MentalHealthAwareness
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The broader point missing is also that a
#biodiversity
credit simply represents a biodiversity loss - you only make money selling a credit to someone who needs it to offset a loss.
Offsets/credits do not recover biodiversity - at best they maintain decline.
Biodiversity credits are even more fraught than carbon credits. They rely on arbitrary & subjective economic valuation of ecosystems. Then the complexity of those ecosystems is simplified to the point that they can be divided into tradable units.
#auspol
#climate
#biodiversity
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Last week
@tanya_plibersek
referred to an internal audit of environmental offset compliance when announcing the establishment of a national EPA
The audit apparently found that 1 in 7 developments could be in breach of their
#offset
conditions 🧵
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Hi twitter! I'm compiling an international list of
#sciencepolicy
internship, mentoring & other opportunities for ECRs interested in broadening their skills & horizons (e.g ) Pls share tips and RT!
#ECRchat
#phdchat
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Would have been super if
@abc730
spoke to independent experts on
#biodiversity
markets. Note the proposed
#NatureRepairMarket
would issue biodiversity
#certificates
, not
#credits
, as I've explained twice on
@abcnews
( and here )
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Hope the ground parrots are happy with the $67 they just each received 🤦♀️what an embarrassment for all involved
In honour of The King’s
#Coronation
on behalf of the people of 🇦🇺, the Australian Government will make a contribution of $10,000 to WA charity Friends of the Western Ground Parrot towards the conservation of the rare and critically endangered bird, as only 150 parrots remain.
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"...this paper reads to us like a proposal for a new model of colonialism"
An Open Letter to the Lead Authors of ‘Protecting 30% of the Planet for Nature: Costs, Benefits and Implications.’
#colonialconservation
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Big names in the "fourth estate" falling over themselves to centre the powerful - Canberra Times, the Australian, Channel 7, and more. Over it.
#JusticeforWalker
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I'm reviewing a paper that is, yet again, unfortunately an example of senior academics (ecology, biology) supervising a PhD (law, policy) that is completely outside of their expertise. Just huge fundamental flaws.
Academics, for the sake of everyone, please don't do this.
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"We will need to find billions of dollars... in the budget"
Some suggestions below!
(Orange is funded, blue is unfunded - source: )
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Ran out the door to meet a student wearing my dick owl socks and
@manwhohasitall
bag and now wondering whether I should occasionally dress "professionally"
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Who went into the laundry today, broke into the 13kg dog food bag, and accidently trapped himself in there by closing the door with tail wags/butt wiggles?
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You can have a thesis! And you can have a thesis! Everyone can have a thesis!
#phinished
#reallyphinised
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My dog (Duke) busted his ACL and has to be largely confined for 6 weeks post-surgery. Here is a thread of emotional manipulation tactics he's deployed to regain access to couch & walks in the last week: 🧵👇
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Umm thanks
@UQscience
! My first award! (since year 11 chemistry)
Huge thanks
@martine_maron
& fellow finalists
@MattHHolden
@john_m_dwyer
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Yeah nah. I do not have a "spring" in my step, because
@Greens
have absolutely sh*t the bed on this - hard cap isn't one in practice, net zero gas just means lots of offsets bought, and Bowen's press release only refers to new HIR projects, not existing. Congrats to all involved.
To everyone who is despairing about the future and wants real climate action, today you should have a spring in your step.
It shows we can take on the coal and gas corporations and win.
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Critics of our analyses argue that publicly available satellite imagery, plus the CEA data, is insufficient to judge the integrity of
#carbon
#offsets
.
Yet the
@CERegulator
has repeatedly used the EXACT SAME DATA to *defend* the integrity of HIR projects - what gives? 🧵
1/
The ANU-UNSW research team has analysed the recently released CEA (carbon estimation area) for HIR
#carbon
projects. The results are unsurprisingly bad. 🧵Full papers and interactive data linked below:
1/
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.
@martine_maron
& I explain in
@ConversationEDU
why
#offsets
should be explicitly ruled out of the proposed national
#biodiversity
market:
1️⃣ Like-for-like req's not clear or assured
2️⃣ Offsets are rarely a good story
3️⃣ Zero-sum game for biodiversity
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Can't help but wonder what the next iteration of "good" (vs bad) carbon offsets will be. Super high integrity? Ultra integrity. Impervious integrity? We-really-think-they-work-this-time integrity offsets
The
#CoreCarbonPrinciples
(CCPs) will raise ambition, increase investment for urgently-needed climate solutions, and establish a pathway for continual improvement.
Learn more about the 10 CCPs ⬇️
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Hello
@UNESCO
? I'd like to report a murder
#reefindanger
#coralbleaching
#GreatBarrierReef
#FossilFuels
#ClimateChange
It’s great to be in Gladstone with Prime Minister
@AlboMP
to celebrate
@APLNG
’s 1000th cargo.
Congratulations to Australia Pacific LNG’s partners -
@conocophillips
@originenergy
and Sinopec - & the thousands of employees who made it happen.
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If you are wondering how the Australian Government will attempt to reconcile the new
#FutureGasStrategy
with net zero, allow me to give you a hint 🧵
#offsets
#netzero
#IFLM
#ACCUs
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Universities love to make academics jump through hoops to prove that sending an email to potential research participants isn't "coercion" (human ethics applications), but also protect and re-hire serial bullies and harrassers.
Make it make sense.
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Here's the
@CERegulator
in
#senateestimates
tonight explaining how it commissioned an independent literature review, and provided a list of literature the author - Dr Rod Fensham - should include in said review.
#auspol
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🚨New paper! 🚨 We developed an approach to ensure
#biodiversityoffsets
that rely on protection of existing habitat 🌳 don't unintentionally worsen biodiversity loss 📉 Here's how 👉
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The dirty secret of carbon farming is that selling ACCUs doesn't help to decarbonise agriculture. Selling carbon credits largely helps to faciliate fossil fuel expansion (under current
#SafeguardMechanism
- which need to change).
Farmers are reducing their climate emissions but its challenging - they will need carbon offsets. But the fossil fuel industry is gobbling up all the carbon credits to offset new coal & gas mines & the
@AlboMP
government is OK with that.
@AusConservation
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It's almost as if we can't rely solely on individualism to solve collective and systemic problems
Responsibility begins at home. This morning Ryan, Louis and I went for a walk to Sandy shops, and it was disturbing how much rubbish we picked up on the way home. If everyone takes responsibility we will have a better neighbourhood, community, State and nation …
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Just 3 out of 13 people in the newly announced Nature Finance Council have any expertise in environmental science.
There are over 25 million people in Australia. Yet it’s the SAME handful of people consistently being appointed to government agencies, committees and corporate and philanthropic boards.
#climate
#biodiversity
#auspol
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Have a beer & chat with me during
#SCBO2018
poster session this avo about
#policy
#impact
: based on upcoming paper in
@PalCommsOA
with
@ChrisCvitanovic
#sciencepolicy
#conservationpolicy
@SCBOceania
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nothing has made me wish to wear shiny fabric and busy patterns more than the Speaker Requirements for this conference🙄
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People calling out the current Safeguard Mechanism Bill as a false solution that will do nothing to reduce emissions are being gaslit as "unreasonable"/"unrealistic" when we're just telling the truth. lt will fail, and it won't take long to find out.
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Bit weird to brag about introducing a "world first, legal definition" of
#naturepositive
when that definition is totally inconsistent with the international definition. Easy to achieve "nature positive" when there's no target or baseline year.
#greenwash
We’re delivering stronger environment protection powers, faster environment approvals, more environment information and greater transparency.
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We have released two new reports on the issue of
#carboncredit
#ACCU
integrity in Australia, including an analysis of the Chubb review's findings () and implications for the Safeguard Mechanism
#SGM
()
A brief🧵
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Yeah nah.
I installed solar last week and can't wait to cut the gas entirely.
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I cried in front of a colleague today but they were kind enough to give me a hug and tell me everything will be ok.
10/10 would highly recommend
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Flight attendant: *glances at boarding pass, looks up, smiles*
"Seat 30A, thank-you Dr Evans"
Me: calmly, "Thank-you"
Me internally:
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@annaspargoryan
Rebuilt myself after a divorce, started dating for first time in ~18 years (and found someone lovely), learning what it's like to live *not* in survival mode 🌱
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Our new
#OpenAccess
piece provides some useful guidance on research philosophy, methodology and methods for folks interested in
#socialscience
#ConSocSci
@MethodsEcolEvol
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WHY is it SO DAMNED DIFFICULT to navigate University financial systems
I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH $ I HAVE LEFT TO PAY STAFF TO DO RESEARCH
#nicheacademiatweet
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So yeah, we are just in the most absurd, worst timeline. Can't believe I went to uni and got 4 degrees to have to argue with *very serious people* that you can't grow permanent even aged native forest in the desert.
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