Around The Web

Mars goes 100% renewables in Australia, sourcing all its electricity needs from Kiamal solar farm and renewables "firming" contract.

Victoria gives planning approval for 40MW wind farm near Horsham to be developed by German company.

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

The technology would be used to develop cats that only produce male offspring but scientists acknowledge there are risks in developing genetically modified cats.

A new investigation by Background Briefing and 7.30 has found Macquarie took big risks with its clients' money and earnt a lot of fees in the process.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has pinpointed early 2020 for the state to re-enter RGGI auctions and for emitter compliance obligations to begin should its ongoing negotiations proceed on schedule, according to new documents released on Wednesday.

Conservation fences create a few hundred square kilometres of safety for vulnerable native animals surrounded by 7.6 million lethal square kilometres. Michael Bode, Associate Professor of Mathematics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

EU carbon prices dropped 2.8% on Wednesday as a stronger auction provided only temporary relief amid wider financial market upheaval stemming from Italy’s political turmoil.

Benjamin Mancroft says Labour allowed its prejudice that all hunting people were toffs to blind it to the realities of managing foxes. Plus letters from Andrew Barker, Karen Lloyd, Ian Coghill and Philip Merricks

There is growing anecdotal evidence that the fox population in lowland rural Britain is in sharp decline (Is Britain’s fox population in decline?, Shortcuts, G2, 23 May). This is not because they are short of food, and thus in need of feeding on roadkill by Chris Packham or anybody else.

Professor Stephens of Durham University is right that “fox populations appear to have dropped specifically within the past 15 or 20 years”, ie since the enactment of the ban on fox-hunting in 2004. Nor is he wrong when he suggests that “people who were enthusiastic about hunting would often encourage fox populations”. More accurately, this means that they provided habitat (which benefited all wildlife), observed a closed season to allow foxes to breed and rear their cubs in peace, and practised a method of culling that encouraged survival of the fittest and removed the surplus numbers required to maintain a level population. The existence of hunts also acted as a deterrent to those wishing to shoot foxes indiscriminately and all year round with rifles which have significantly increased in accuracy and range over the past 15 years.

Continue reading...

Scientists have isolated the two different forms of water molecule for the first time.

The team caught 333 minkes, many of which were pregnant females, in its Antarctic "field survey".

A bill that would guide the scheduled closure of California’s last remaining nuclear plant was approved by the state senate on Tuesday, including measures to prevent against a rise in emissions resulting from the shut down.

There are several ways to embrace nature – no matter the size of your plot

Rewilding excites people with its images of wolves and ambition to return entire landscapes to nature as humans withdraw after centuries of domination. But the grandeur of rewilding can also make the concept seem remote or irrelevant to people living ever more urban lives.

To declare we are rewilding our garden, or window box, is probably a contradiction in terms and risks cheapening this important conservation concept. But there are principles of rewilding – stepping back and allowing natural processes to occur, and encouraging wild plants and insects – which we can all embrace. The most relevant rewilding idea for us urban beings? Let go, and reduce our micromanagement of whatever small patch of earth we own, rent or enjoy and influence.

Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world

Continue reading...

Archaeologists find a man who, fleeing the initial Vesuvius eruption, was hit by a giant boulder.

China’s greenhouse gas emissions has increased 4% y/y so far in 2018, according to an analysis by green group Greenpeace, with the growth largely fuelled by a government stimulus programme.

Pakistan’s most populous city is in the grips of a heatwave as temperatures soar to 45C. The sweltering conditions have come during Ramadan, the holy month in which millions of Muslims refrain from food and drink from dawn until dusk. Sixty-five people have been killed in Karachi by the recent spell of hot weather, with the country expected to sizzle into June

Continue reading...

For farmers planting crops they hope will bear fruit in 25 years – including avocado trees – climate change must be reckoned with now

Chris Sayer pushed his way through avocado branches and grasped a denuded limb. It was stained black, as if someone had ladled tar over its bark. In February, the temperature had dropped below freezing for three hours, killing the limb. The thick leaves had shriveled and fallen away, exposing the green avocados, which then burned in the sun. Sayer estimated he’d lost one out of every 20 avocados on his farm in Ventura, just 50 miles north of Los Angeles, but he counts himself lucky.

Continue reading...

Korea carbon allowances fell nearly 10% on Wednesday as the government announcement that it will auction 5.5 million permits on June 1 tempered the aggressive demand seen over the past three weeks.

South Korea is considering dropping its plan to achieve nearly a third of its Paris target through buying international carbon credits, instead making deeper emission reductions at home.