Around The Web

Being outdoors may make you healthier, using nature therapy to benefit people with disabilities, how to prioritise your health when you’ve got your dream job.

Marvel at some of the highly commended images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

People who took out large loans say the thousands of pounds in savings they were promised have not materialised.

Humber drive aims to shrink carbon footprint of UK’s most polluting industrial zone

Energy companies have ignited multibillion-pound plans for the UK’s first carbon-neutral “industrial cluster” in the Humber.

An alliance of companies including National Grid, Drax and Norway’s state energy company, Equinor, are leading a campaign to shrink the carbon footprint of Britain’s most polluting industrial zone.

Continue reading...

More than 90% of the land cleared was not referred to the federal government for assessment

More than 7.7m hectares of habitat have been cleared since the introduction of Australia’s national environment act, according to new research that finds 93% of land cleared was not referred to the federal government for assessment.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Queensland and two NGOs – the Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF Australia – warns that Australia’s high extinction rate will increase “without a fundamental change” in how environment laws are enforced.

Continue reading...

Jet Charge founder says electric cars will be an energy asset first, and a mobility asset second, and will largely displace residential storage.

The post Why electric vehicles could kill the market for household batteries appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale joins RN Breakfast to discuss the recent bushfires in NSW and Queensland, saying the link to climate change is clear.

Minister for Natural Disaster and Emergency Services David Littleproud speaks on the more than 100 bushfires that burned over the weekend in NSW and Queensland.

A controversial report into the Barwon-Darling river system has warned the system is heading for collapse unless more is done to protect low-flow water from extraction and drought.

Activists say stinking sludge is linked to nitrates in fertilisers from intensive farming

André Ollivro stepped carefully down the grassy banks of an estuary in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, not far from his beachfront cabin. The pungent smell of rotting eggs wafting from decomposing seaweed made him stop and put on his gas mask. It was a strange sight in what is usually a tourist hotspot.

“You can’t be too careful,” said the 74-year-old former gas technician, who is leading the fight against what has come to be known as France’s coastal “killer slime”.

Continue reading...

Canada's Catherine McKenna says she has been the target of increasing abuse and threats.

Phenomenon could be as damaging as ‘the blob’ that caused algae blooms and killed sea lions several years ago

The ocean off the western coast of North America is five degrees Fahrenheit hotter than usual after warming at an unusually rapid rate, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

It has been dubbed the “north-east Pacific marine heatwave of 2019”.

Continue reading...

Energy minister Angus Taylor says investment in renewable energy is not slowing down. This bold claim flies in the face of the evidence.

The post Australia has met its renewable energy target. But don’t pop the champagne appeared first on RenewEconomy.

After the showboating, how does the Tesla Model 3 stack up as the regular form of transport, sharing the roads with mere mortals and the diesel and petrol mob?

The post appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If you were one of the millions watching BBC Parliament this week, here are some stories you may have missed.

Evidence suggests there may now be more of a future in enjoying whales in the wild than eating them.

Baroness Brown warns country’s world-class resources must be better used to cope with global heating

Britain has one of the world’s best capabilities for dealing with the climate crisis but is failing to make use of it. That is the stark view of leading expert Baroness Brown, a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change. “We have the ingredients to do good things in response to climate change but are not making use of them,” she warned last week.

Brown, who chairs the CCC’s adaptation sub-committee, said little progress had been made in planning to protect farmland and wildlife from intense storms and changing weather systems, or tackle health threats from rising heat – with grim short-term political consequences.

Continue reading...

Extermination gathers pace, even though new evidence suggests it fails to tackle rise in cases of bovine TB

Up to 50,000 badgers could be killed this year under the government’s controversial culling scheme – nearly double the number of last year and three-quarters of the total killed since the cull began six years ago, campaigners claim.

The increase is caused by a predicted expansion in licensed culling zones – areas where farmers can exterminate badgers, which are blamed for spreading TB in cattle.

Continue reading...

Naturalist Stephen Moss was 13 when he first saw the RSPB reserve in Minsmere, Suffolk. Now he fears plans for Sizewell C could wipe it out

Minsmere and I go back a long way. I can still remember the thrill of my first visit, in 1973, when I was just 13 years old. Later, I made my very first wildlife programme there, with Bill Oddie. And most recently, I presented live programmes from the reserve on the BBC’s red button for Springwatch.

So naturally I am worried that this unique place could be ruined by the proposed building of Sizewell C nuclear power station, a few hundred metres down the coast. And I’m not the only one. My colleague Chris Packham, who like me first went there as a teenager, has called on EDF Energy to ensure that it safeguards Minsmere and its wildlife, now and in the future.

Continue reading...

Consumer awareness of electric vehicles in Australia has reached a tipping point, with the number of people currently researching to buy EVs now tripling.

The post Number of Australians ready to buy electric vehicles has tripled appeared first on RenewEconomy.