Around The Web

Bureau of Meteorology says average temperature was 1.14C above average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017

Last year was Australia’s third-warmest year on record, with every state and territory recording above average temperatures in 2018.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement, the nation’s average temperature last year was 1.14C above the average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017.

Continue reading...

Lower California Carbon Offset (CCO) prices are expected to persist following the WCI cap-and-trade programme's Nov. 2018 compliance deadline, while entities are starting to offer credits with direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs), market sources told Carbon Pulse.

European carbon prices fell on Wednesday, resuming the downward path they have carved so far in 2019 despite reduced supply.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) submitted draft legislation on Tuesday to move the state to a carbon-free electric grid by 2045, incorporating the use of renewable energy credits (RECs) and investments in energy transformation projects as compliance strategies.

2018 was Australia’s third warmest year on record, as the NSW drought dragged into another year. Karl Braganza, Climate Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Rare paint particles found in the teeth of a medieval nun indicate that she was an unknown illustrator of sacred texts.

A telescope picks up bursts of radio waves from a distant galaxy, shedding light on an astrophysical puzzle.

Wilpena was one of five koalas to arrive from Australia as part of a conservation programme.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been cut to a skeleton staff, meaning work to ensure clean air and water is left undone

The US government shutdown has stymied environmental testing and inspections, prompting warnings that Americans’ health is being put at increasing risk as the shutdown drags on.

More than 13,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are not at work, with just 794 people deemed essential staff currently undertaking the agency’s duties.

Continue reading...

Closure of agriculture department offices could not have come at a worse time for farmers awaiting emergency federal aid

Just as American farmers thought Donald Trump had rescued them from the economic consequences of his trade war with China, along came the government shutdown.

Related: American farmers fear being caught up in Trump's trade wars

Continue reading...

Menindee resident Dick Arnold and grazier Rob McBride show their dismay at the hundreds of thousands of native fish that have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident. 'This is nothing to do with drought, this is a manmade disaster'

Continue reading...

About 200 trees were DNA-tested to find and preserve unrecorded varieties unique to Wales.

EU and US states are to introduce laws helping people to mend appliances that break down.

With sales of vegan foods on the rise, check the environmental impact of plant-based milks.

Ants have something similar to blood, but it's called haemolymph. Some insects use it in unusual ways. When threatened by a predator, blister beetles can squirt haemolymph from their knees. Tanya Latty, Senior Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) signed an executive order Tuesday announcing the US state’s first ever GHG targets, coming ahead of an updated climate plan that may reveal further information on a possible cap-and-trade strategy.

Maintenance and sanitation problems also reported 18 days after government shutdown furloughed the vast majority of park staff

For 17 days, a host of volunteers and a skeleton staff kept the trash cans and toilets from overflowing at Joshua Tree national park.

But on Tuesday, 18 days after the federal government shutdown furloughed the vast majority of national park staff, officials announced that vandalism of the park’s distinctive namesake plants and other maintenance and sanitation problems will require closure starting Thursday.

Continue reading...

The NSW Government is blaming drought and blue-algae bloom but locals say it's due to the poor management of the river system.

New Hampshire state legislators are drafting a bill to install the post-2020 RGGI Model Rule, while an additional measure could funnel auction revenue back into energy efficiency projects, multiple sources told Carbon Pulse.