Around The Web

The European Commission has cautioned stakeholders over their suggestion that the EU carbon market is being manipulated, as participants called for more transparency.

With only 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, according to a UN report, a group of activists called Extinction Rebellion ​have launched a campaign of civil disobedience across London in an attempt to provoke action

• Today in Focus podcast: George Monbiot says climate crisis requires civil disobedience
  

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Consulting engineer known for his work on nuclear safety who was never afraid to take on such a powerful industry

John Large’s working life was split into two halves, the first spent designing civil and military nuclear reactors and the second trying to make sure the industry was kept safe from accidents, nuclear waste and security threats. In this later role as a consulting engineer John was a dangerous opponent for the secretive nuclear establishment because his inside knowledge gave him the ability to ask difficult questions and expose weaknesses. He was never afraid to speak truth to power, although it took courage to take on such a powerful industry.

Despite his chosen role as an outsider, John’s abilities meant he had an astonishing list of clients ranging from the Russian Federation, the British government, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Greenpeace International. He was invited by the IAEA to China, North Korea and Iran, and by others to the US and Japan, to give advice on their nuclear programmes and the risks they posed.

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Latest legal skirmish in a long battle between activists and the company building the pipeline, which is also behind Keystone XL

Landowners in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin have filed suit against the company building the controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline for trespassing and property damage, claiming that it did not obtain legal authority before running stretches of the nearly completed pipeline through their property.

It’s the latest legal skirmish in a long battle between Louisiana activists and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which is also behind the the more well-known Keystone XL pipeline, and one that advocates hope might shutter the nearly completed 160-mile stretch of pipe before it goes live.

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California’s 2019 cap-and-trade price floor should rise to $15.62 after year-over-year inflation increased slightly to 2.5% during October, data showed on Wednesday.

Mountain gorilla: Conservation efforts appear to be paying off for large, charismatic animals.

Jack Harries was at protest by Extinction Rebellion aiming to bring London to a standstill

The social media influencer Jack Harries has said young people have a duty to protest against environmental destruction, as he took part in a day of protest in London that led to at least 14 arrests.

The 25-year-old, whose YouTube channel has 4 million subscribers, spoke to the Guardian as he helped hold a 68-metre banner over the side of Westminster Bridge with the words: “Climate change: we’re fucked”.

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A large area of warm rock is melting the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet at the South Pole.

Fresh division among environmentalists over nuclear energy, the single largest source of low-carbon electricity

Looming climate breakdown is opening fresh divisions among environmentalists over nuclear energy, with a major advocacy group calling for struggling nuclear plants to be propped up to avoid losing their low-carbon power.

Nuclear is the single largest source of low-carbon electricity in the US. But a third of nuclear plants are unprofitable or scheduled to close, risking a rise in greenhouse gas emissions if they are replaced by coal or natural gas, a major Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) report has found.

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Kazakhstan is rich with oil, gas and coal but Nursultan Nazarbayev, its president for life, has committed the country to a dramatic shift from fossil fuels to green energy. Is this huge nation, which is beset by rural poverty, major infrastructure challenges and environmental crises, able to realise his vision? Phoebe Greenwood travels to  the Kazakh capital, Astana, and the Aral Sea region

Many thanks to Kunzberg spatial communications for the use of music from the Future Astana Expo installation

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German utility RWE advanced its EUA hedging over Q3, albeit at a slower rate than the previous quarter, the company said Wednesday, providing a mixed signal for carbon.

‘The two things I love most are novels and birds, and they’re both in trouble,’ says The Corrections author, one of the world’s most famous birdwatchers

Birdwatching was once an activity that elicited a sense of mild shame in Jonathan Franzen. The author stalked New York parks with binoculars in hand, rather than on a strap, carefully hiding from view the word “birds” on his field guide. Debonair friends in London recoiled in horror when told of his pastime. Franzen was furtive, almost embarrassed. Now, he is one of the most famous birdwatchers in the world.

“I totally let my freak flag fly now,” Franzen says as he scans for birds at a community garden near his home in Santa Cruz, California. His phone has an app that deciphers bird sounds. He travels the world to see recondite species. He has written about birds in essays, op-eds and novels.

“I was so socially unsuccessful in my youth and such a pariah in junior high that I really didn’t want to look like a dork,” says Franzen, the 59-year-old author whose best known works include The Corrections and Freedom. “I got over that. The success started to make me think: ‘Hey, it’s not me who’s got the problem.’”

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Thailand is expecting to put in place over the next eight months a number of the elements that will make up its national carbon market, but the lengthy process of imposing a national climate change act means the programme won’t launch until after 2020.

New Zealand carbon allowances on Wednesday fell below the NZ$25 fixed price option for the first time since Aug. 29 as bids retreated to NZ$24.90 ($16.89).

Trees grow thicker bark and animals burrow for protection. We can use similar techniques to save human lives

California wildfires rarely killed civilians in the 20th century. The Griffith Park fire killed 29 in 1933, while 25 died in Oakland in 1991. Now, for the fourth time in just over a year, California wildfires have become deadly. Within the span of 13 months, nearly 100 civilians have died in wildfires in California, and that devastating number is likely to grow based on the missing persons tally from the town of Paradise.

The increasing number of fatalities is occurring globally in so-called Mediterranean climates – regions with mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Portugal, Spain, Greece, Chile, Australia, and South Africa have all seen civilian wildfire fatalities in recent years, and communities globally are asking themselves the same question: what can we do? How do we stem the soaring number of wildfire fatalities?

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The federal government is shrugging off calls from oil and gas producer Woodside for the introduction of a carbon tax.

Welfare improvements are harder on large, intensive farms, concludes a Europe-wide investigation into animal welfare

Farm animal abuses are widespread in the European Union, with pig tail docking, long-distance transport and slaughterhouse stunning all areas of immediate concern, according to a report out this week.

Intensive farms are particularly problematic, the report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) reveals, with economic interests often trumping welfare rules. “Our audit and other reports show it’s difficult to introduce improvements on intensive farms and enforce laws,” Janusz Wojciechowski, the ECA member responsible for the report, told the Guardian.

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Coal, oil and gas subsidies risking rise in global temperatures to 3.2C, well beyond agreed Paris goal

Climate action is way off course in all but one of the world’s 20 biggest economies, according to a report that shows politicians are paying more heed to the fossil fuel industry than to advice from scientists.

Among the G20 nations 15 reported a rise in emissions last year, according to the most comprehensive stock-take to date of progress towards the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

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Taylor says any more action on climate would be "insane", and contradicts IEA report and digs in on need for more baseload, and Snowy 2.0.

The post Energy minister Taylor digs in on baseload, pumps up Snowy 2.0 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

When water turns from a gas into a liquid, it forms droplets. Whether those droplets are dew or rain depends on where the droplet forms. Dylan Korczynskyj, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.