Summary. New South Wales passed a law to create the Great Koala National Park. The park aims to protect koalas and other threatened species, and its long-term funding through carbon credits has drawn criticism.

• Key points.
• The park is due to open before the end of 2026 and will cover 475,000 hectares (1.2 million acres), including 178,000 hectares (440,000 acres) of state forests.
• The state government set aside AU$140 million ($98.5 million) to establish it. Long-term funding will rely on Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), credits sold to polluting industries to offset emissions.
• Parliament voted down multiple attempts to amend the carbon credit scheme. The Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti people will continue to guide management, and eight Aboriginal rangers will be employed.

"This park will protect our precious Australian wildlife and boost tourism for the region for generations." (Chris Minns, NSW premier, in a Facebook post)

Oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz briefly returned to pre-war levels by late September, then Iran escalated attacks and volumes fell back. The episode covers why fuel and shipping costs remain high even as crude flows recover.

• Crude oil exports through Hormuz briefly hit pre-war levels by late September, then Iran's heaviest attacks of the war pulled them back.
• Shipping a barrel from the Persian Gulf to Northeast Asia now costs $20 to $30, about 10 times the normal $2 to $3.
• Refined products are still below half pre-war levels, and LNG (liquefied natural gas) shipments are also well below pre-war levels.
• Diesel crack spreads (the gap between crude and diesel prices) are five to six times their historical norm, driven by the Iran war and Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries.

"the loss is over two billion barrels." (Rory Johnston)

Nate Hagens interviews Robin Wall Kimmerer, plant ecologist and Citizen Potawatomi author of Braiding Sweetgrass, about what plants and Indigenous knowledge can teach a civilization in crisis. She presents plants as teachers...the Three Sisters model cooperation, and mosses show that lasting success comes from staying small and living within natural limits ... and argues the polycrisis stems from human exceptionalism, offering instead a kinship worldview, the Honorable Harvest ethic of restraint and reciprocity, and abundance as “enoughness.” Invoking the Potawatomi Seventh Fire prophecy, she calls this an “age of remembering” and urges listeners to answer despair with action in community, because “it matters where I stand.”

cross-posted from: https://dboft.com/post/14389/nate-hagens-and-indy-johar

In this conversation with Nate Hagens, Indy Johar argues that money is a claim on a future that’s being withdrawn. Climate, food, AI and conflict are now feeding each other in ways no market prices. His message to wealth holders isn’t “be kind” but “be smart” put some of your capital toward financing stability itself, the way you’d buy fire insurance. He also asks what it means to be human once machines can work and think, and points, tentatively, toward consciousness, our ability to know what we don’t know, and courage. Watch it to see the whole system at once, and to swap passive hope for ....agency.

Anyone watch/listen yet?

Heading out to the garden to listen to the Indy Johar interview again. Second time through. The first time I was just experiencing it ... like being at a concert, where you feel it before you can say what it is. This time I want it to land intellectually: break it into pieces, test, and challenge what I think I understood. We'll see if that actually happens. Incredible interview.

Anyone watch/listen yet?

Hi all. I've been building my own little fediverse setup at dboft.com to fit how I like to read, and I'm grateful for all the work and community that makes something like this possible. Looking forward to being here with you all!