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The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a huge python, a baby Siamang and rewilded pigs

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National parks are a victim of their own success. They have too many tourists – and too little funding

National parks have been called America’s best idea, and for good reason. Unlike the castles and cathedrals of Europe, they belong to everyone. They are democracy writ large, where a people otherwise fiercely devoted to capitalism say: no, not here. Here the meadow does not become a mall. Here we safeguard the beauty and sanctity of nature. Not as a potted plant or a manicured garden, but as vast, wild, largely untrammeled nature. Our original home.

Mountains, canyons, glaciers, forests, rivers, bison, bears, birds and more. National parks provoke and inspire us. They give us stories, educate us, change us. “For my life to matter, for me to do the work I’m meant to do in the world,” the wildlife biologist and author Mary Beth Baptiste writes in her park-inspired memoir Altitude Adjustment, “I have to spend my days in mountains and forests like these, among people committed to their flourishing. And all they ask in return is a simple renunciation of everything I’ve ever known to be true.”

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Port remains open, but roads around UK’s busiest port obstructed by 40 campaigners

More than 40 climate protesters have blocked roads around the UK’s busiest port as part of a campaign to tackle fuel poverty and reduce climate emissions.

Campaigners from the group Insulate Britain blocked the A20 around Dover in Kent shortly after 8.15am on Friday.

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Ministers push "coalkeeper" and "solar stopper" reforms to one side in major win for supports of a rapid clean energy transition.

The post Energy ministers to rethink contentious rule changes, as Schott moves on appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scott Morrison will announce a deal, but not until the details, heavy with technology and trade offs and pay offs, are sorted with Joyce. Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

After several weeks of record-breaking increases, New Zealand carbon allowances have settled down at a level just below the all-time high, with traders waiting to see what happens next.

The price for Chinese Carbon Emissions Allowances (CEAs) came down slightly over the past week, but the overall market situation remained the same as none of the regulatory and administrative uncertainties hanging over the market have been addressed.

No need to scream ‘Apocalypse!’ Showing we can make homes warmer and save cash is an easier way to bring people on board

If anything was going to make me well up in public, I never imagined it would be the joys of insulation. Loft lagging does not generally make the heart sing. People do not normally get choked up over cavity wall filling. But it turns out they probably should.

A few weeks ago someone showed me a film about a regeneration project to retrofit a social housing estate in Padiham, near Burnley, with green energy measures – and frankly, it would have melted a heart of stone.

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CLP Group, one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in the Asia-Pacific, will phase-out its coal-fired power assets by 2040 and target net zero emissions by 2050, the company announced on Friday.

We discuss Sun Cable expansion, Hornsdale's regulatory hit, and social licence for renewables and transmission lines with RE Alliance's Andrew Bray.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Sun Cable, Hornsdale, and social licence appeared first on RenewEconomy.

As state energy ministers met to discuss the future of the grid, records tumbled again with renewables reaching a share of 61.7 per cent.

The post Records smashed again on Australia’s grid as renewables share reaches 61.7 pct appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Regardless of whether Morrison and Joyce can come to a deal, investors are already shifting trillions of dollars in preparation for net zero.

The post Morrison and Joyce need to follow the trillions shifting to zero emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Renewable energy associated technologies like robots that crawl along turbine blades will drive the global robotics market to a value of $A15.8 billion by 2050, a new report has found.

The post Robots for renewables: How wind and solar are powering another kind of boom appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The world’s largest floating offshore wind farm has begun producing and supplying power to the Scottish national grid.

The post World’s largest floating wind farm begins supplying power to Scotland grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In the Edward/Kolety-Wakool rivers, water for the environment is being delivered in partnership with Murray Irrigation Limited (MIL) to create safe-zones of fresh water for native fish, crayfish, and other aquatic animals.

Australia could risk losing access to international finance if it is perceived to lag on climate action, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Friday, but stopped short of committing to a 2050 net zero target.

Former PM Turnbull and mining billionaire Andrew Forrest launch new body to advocate for green only hydrogen sector, both slamming CCS as a failure.

The post Turnbull and Forrest push “green only” hydrogen, dismiss carbon capture appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Pool prices are consistently below zero in the middle of the day, a strong signal for battery storage, and for coal generators to learn to dance.

The post It’s spring on the NEM, when daytime prices go negative and coal plants learn to dance appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ESB solutions appear driven by fear of the "dunkelflaute" - wind and solar droughts. But we need to think differently about the modern grid.

The post The ESB’s Energy Market Mechanism: are we asking the right question? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AGL gets planning approval for a 50MW battery at Broken Hill, but its fate may still depend on network and storage choices by Transgrid.

The post AGL gets approval for 50MW battery at Broken Hill to support wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.