Around The Web

The Santos project would be exempt from complete fire bans and allowed to flare gas, even in catastrophic fire weather

Firefighters with decades of experience working around the bushfire-prone Pilliga forest say Santos’s controversial Narrabri gas project will create an unacceptable fire risk to workers at the site, as well as to surrounding properties.

Those firefighters, who have also opposed the project on other environmental grounds, say fires in the area can be so fast and ferocious that in some weather conditions the project site would need to be evacuated, since if a fire did start there would likely not be enough time to evacuate workers.

Continue reading...

Sundrop Farms and Nectar Farms have turned to wind, solar and battery storage to underpin their push for controlled "vertical farms".

The public is being asked to report damage to garden plants from visiting wild deer.

But there are opportunities to cash in on the "ocean economy", a major report for the UK government says.

There are calls for strong action, including criminal prosecution, following a fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car

The Assistant Minister has approved the inclusion of Coastal Swamp Oak Forest of New South Wales and South East Queensland in the Endangered category on the list of threatened ecological communities, under the Environment Protection and...

The Assistant Minister has approved the inclusion of Coastal Swamp Oak Forest of New South Wales and South East Queensland in the Endangered category on the list of threatened ecological communities, under the Environment Protection and...

Dinosaurs may have evolved horns and frills to attract a mate, according to a new study.

Peers vote for the UK to remain in Euratom until a post-Brexit replacement deal is in place.

It's a scientific blitz of massive proportions, covering millions of hectares of bush across the Northern Territory and Western Australia in the first cross border survey of the species.

Australia Institute says commonwealth paid far more than initial price for Condamine-Balonne river system buyback

“Monty Pythonesque” is how the Australia Institute has described the federal government’s decision to pay $80m for a water buyback in the Condamine-Balonne river system in Queensland last year.

The Guardian reported this month that the company selling the water to the commonwealth, Eastern Australian Agriculture, had immediately recorded a $52m gain on the sale of its water in July 2017. The company itself had valued the water rights much lower in its accounts.

Continue reading...

The world's last male northern white rhino has died leaving only two females left to save the subspecies from extinction.

The short answer is no. An individual of one species cannot, during its lifetime, turn into another species. But your question helps us think about life, evolution and what it means to be human. Mark Elgar, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

From falcons that hunt by the light of skyscrapers, to bears that sit in wait at weirs, animals are using human structures to help them catch a meal. Bill Bateman, Senior Lecturer, Curtin University Trish Fleming, Associate Professor, Murdoch University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The scientist's remains will be also be interred close to Charles Darwin's grave at Westminster Abbey.

Documents reveal government plans to extend RFAs without fresh environmental or scientific reviews

Federal and state ministers have discussed legal concerns that imminent extensions to logging agreements might be invalid as they are based on old scientific assessments.

Commonwealth and state concerns about the “legal and political risks” to the RFA extensions that are about to be agreed are highlighted in a collection of 10 documents – including briefing notes and “contentious issues briefs” – prepared for the New South Wales primary industries minister, Niall Blair, and the state’s lands and forestry minister, Paul Toole, and obtained by Guardian Australia.

Continue reading...

The tragic death of Sudan the rhino should act as a warning of the need to act to prevent mass extinctions around the world, say conservationists

Conservationists have warned that the death of the last male northern white rhinoceros in Kenya is a sign that unsustainable human activity is driving a new era of mass extinctions around the globe.

Sudan, the “gentle giant” who lived in the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya, was put down on Monday after the pain from a degenerative illness became too great.

Continue reading...

A telescope to study planets beyond our Solar System is selected by the European Space Agency.

Environment secretary says UK control of fishing waters delayed, not abandoned, by Brexit deal

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has issued a coded warning to rebellious Tories to keep their “eyes on the prize” as he said he understood the fishing industry’s grave disappointment at Theresa May’s agreement to keep EU fishing policies during the Brexit transition period.

Scottish Conservative MPs are due to meet the prime minister in Downing Street on Tuesday following an outcry from the industry over the deal struck with Brussels.

Continue reading...

The last male northern white rhino has died, leaving only two females to save the species from total extinction.

Sudan, the ‘gentle giant’ who lived on the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya, was put down on Monday after the pain from a degenerative illness became too great. He is survived only by his daughter and granddaughter

• Last male northern white rhino is put down

Continue reading...