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EU Market: EUAs plunge towards €15 in volatile month-end trade

Carbon Pulse - Thu, 2018-05-31 20:33
EU carbon prices slid by almost 5% in early trade on Thursday to continue the previous session’s downward slide, as traders unwound a chunk of May's stellar gains ahead of month-end.
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Engineering climate change

ABC Environment - Thu, 2018-05-31 20:05
The science toolkit to cool the planet from geo-engineering to growing seaweed and protecting nature for human health.
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Cooling the planet

ABC Environment - Thu, 2018-05-31 20:05
Is it time for radical action to combat climate change?
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Plastic fragment found stuck in dead harp seal's stomach

BBC - Thu, 2018-05-31 19:22
The fragment found inside the harp seal found on Skye may have caused a range of health problems, scientists say.
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Top BHP Billiton energy analyst leaves to set up power demand response firm

Carbon Pulse - Thu, 2018-05-31 19:07
A Singapore-based energy and carbon research and analysis manager has left mining major BHP Billiton to co-found a European demand response company aiming to allow households to earn money from turning off their electric devices.
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Queensland’s biggest solar farm starts generating to grid

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 18:42
Sun Metals solar farm - which led the way for corporate Australia to source their own renewable energy needs - switched on in Queensland.
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NZ Market: NZUs dip below NZ$21 as compliance deadline poses few problems

Carbon Pulse - Thu, 2018-05-31 18:12
New Zealand carbon allowances dropped below the NZ$21 mark on Thursday, the deadline for emitters to surrender permits for their 2017 output, as the historic surplus of millions of NZUs meant few participants had any issues meeting their targets.
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'Chronic inaction': call for planning overhaul as population growth threatens biodiversity

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 18:12

Melbourne bird species decreased in proportion to density of human occupation

The outskirts of Melbourne are a maze of newly-paved culs-de-sac. Freestanding homes twist in on each other, filling the footprint of their small street blocks.

On the other side of the road, short wooden stakes have been tied with fluorescent tape to mark out the next development.

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Margaret Atwood: women will bear brunt of dystopian climate future

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 17:39

Booker prize-winning author predicts climate reality will not be far from scenarios imagined in her post-apocalyptic fiction

Climate change will bring a dystopian future reminiscent of one of her “speculative fictions”, with women bearing the brunt of brutal repression, hunger and war, the Booker prize-winning author Margaret Atwood is to warn.

“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” she will tell an audience at the British Library this week. “Women will be directly and adversely affected by climate change.”

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Mind your beeswax: global price surge leaves bearded Australians in a tangle

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 17:24

Australia is one of the few countries in the world where hives are free of the debilitating varroa mite

The soaring price of Australian beeswax could be bad news for local beard owners – and good news for scammers – as demand for high-quality beeswax heats up.

New uses for the wax – from cosmetics to food wraps – and the comparative health of Australia’s bees have driven the export price of Australian beeswax up in the global marketplace.

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Rise of the ultra-cyclists: a new breed of riders go the distance

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 16:30

With no spectators, no bags of freebies and no medals, the 400km London-Wales-London ride provides a welcome antidote to overblown sportives

“Cycling far?” asks a woman in the bakery as a group of us queues for coffee and sausage rolls, as well as an all-important receipt to prove we passed through Tewkesbury.

Increasing numbers of cyclists are getting bored with 100-mile sportives and looking for something else

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Reprieve for Abbott's booby after Christmas Island mining expansion ruled out

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 15:05

Coalition says proposed phosphate exploration would have had unacceptable impact on wildlife, including endangered sea bird

The Turnbull government has knocked back a controversial phosphate exploration proposal on Christmas Island “because it is likely to have significant and unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environment law”.

Phosphate Resources Limited – the owners of a phosphate mine on Christmas Island – had proposed to clear 6.83ha of land and undertake exploration drilling along 44 survey lines in an effort to determine the extent of the additional phosphate resources on Christmas Island.

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Wind Commissioner should oversee solar, batteries too, report says

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 14:43
Climate Change Authority recommends office of National Wind Farm Commissioner be extended by three years, and broadened to oversee large-scale solar and battery storage development.
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German coal exit talks reveal difficult task ahead

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 14:38
Germany struggles to get coal exit task force on track, with government postponing official launch of phase-out commission for third time.
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Country diary: summer's lagging in the woods

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-31 14:30

Comins Coch, Ceredigion: Meadow grasses and flowers have grown in abundance, but the trees have been slow to green

In the pasture beside the lane, dandelions have already set seed, their spherical heads intact and waiting for the right gust of wind to break the seeds free and disperse them across the village like invading paratroopers. The meadow grasses and wild flowers have grown rapidly in confused abundance, but the crown of the oak tree across the field remains more defined by the framework of branches than by new foliage. Possibly the sudden drop in temperature that preceded the late snow selectively stalled development.

Further uphill the old meadow was marked by fresh molehills among the rushes and the lady’s smock, showing where these stolid hunters have been clearing and extending their shallow runs. The activity of their favoured prey, earthworms, is triggered by rising temperature and an attractive level of soil moisture – conditions that have apparently been satisfied.

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ICE lobby strikes out against car emissions standards

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 14:15
Car industry kicks back against emissions standards proposed for light vehicles, underscores uphill battle of shift to EVs.
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Baker McKenzie acts for Mars to match 100% of its electricity use with renewable energy by 2020

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 13:44
Baker McKenzie has successfully assisted its longstanding client, Mars Australia in signing a 20 year PPA with Total Eren to generate the equivalent of 100% of Mars’ electricity from renewable energy by 2020.
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Victorian dairy producer signs 10-year wind farm PPA

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 13:39
Gippsland dairy producer Burra Foods signs 10-year PPA with Flow Power to source electricity from Ararat Wind farm – a deal that’s expected to cut its electricity costs by 20%.
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Why so many people are so desperate for Tesla and Musk to fail

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-31 13:32
Attacks against Elon Musk and Tesla becoming more intense, and nasty – from short-sellers, ideologues, climate deniers, and incumbent industries. They all have a lot to lose.
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Winter is coming, and it's looking mighty mild

The Conversation - Thu, 2018-05-31 13:32
Winter is here, and many farmers are still waiting on their 'autumn break' of heavy rain. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be a dry, warm winter – although the snow season will likely be good. Jonathan Pollock, Climatologist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Andrew B. Watkins, Manager of Long-range Forecast Services, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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