Around The Web

Gentoo penguins, an albatross chick and spring crocuses are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Despite promises of revitalisation from Japan’s government, seven years on from the nuclear disaster the area is still desolate

This month, seven years after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi reactor meltdowns and explosions that blanketed hundreds of square kilometres of northeastern Japan with radioactive debris, government officials and politicians spoke in hopeful terms about Fukushima’s prosperous future. Nevertheless, perhaps the single most important element of Fukushima’s future remains unspoken: the exclusion zone seems destined to host a repository for Japan’s most hazardous nuclear waste.

No Japanese government official will admit this, at least not publicly. A secure repository for nuclear waste has remained a long-elusive goal on the archipelago. But, given that Japan possesses approximately 17,000 tonnes of spent fuel from nuclear power operations, such a development is vital. Most spent fuel rods are still stored precariously above ground, in pools, in a highly earthquake-prone nation.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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The photography of Art Wolfe covers the globe, capturing landscapes, wildlife, and cultures from every continent. Here he talks us through a selection of his favourite images

• Wolfe will be at The Photography Show on 17-18 March in Birmingham, UK
  

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From cute cars to smiley emergency vehicles, kids’ culture is awash with rosy images of driving, so a new Mr Men book about cycling is a welcome read. What are your favourite cycling-friendly children’s books?

“Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man,” is a maxim usually attributed to the Jesuits, but it’s not only religious institutions that use early years training to hook people for life. There’s a mainstream indoctrination that is considered perfectly normal: the promotion of motoring to children.

Car companies don’t have to pay for this brainwashing; we do it automatically. We sit toddlers on our laps and let them pretend-steer our cars while stationary. We buy babies’ bibs festooned with anthropomorphic trucks and nee-nah emergency vehicles. Pixar’s Cars movie is so popular because the fetishisation of driving is deeply embedded in our society. Motor vehicles are spoon-fed to children as benign, cuddly, and desirable. Passing your driving test remains the preeminent rite of passage into adulthood.

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Many people think items such as plastic bags and coffee cups can be recycled when they can’t. Here are the do’s and don’ts

British consumers are increasingly willing to recycle their household waste but are failing to grasp the basics, according to the latest research by the British Science Association. Failure to get it right means that a lot of recyclable waste is going to landfill, the BSA says.

The issue is further complicated by inconsistency among councils, which make their own rules and funding decisions on recycling collections.

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The "confident and curious" cub was born at Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig, Scotland.

Others include plastic soap dispenser tops and wrapping paper, study shows

British consumers are in the dark about exactly what household waste they can recycle, a new poll has revealed, with plastic soap dispenser tops, kitchen roll and wrapping paper topping the list of things they wrongly consider recyclable.

Research shows that Britons are more aware than ever of how recycling can help the environment. However, the majority are putting out contaminated recycling due to common misunderstandings, thereby doing more harm than good.

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Farlington Marshes, Hampshire Gazing into the reedbeds, scanning for bearded tits, felt a lot like looking at a magic eye puzzle

Spotting reedbed-dwelling birds is tricky at the best of times, but more so in winter as only one songbird is resident year-round – the bearded tit (Panurus biarmicus). Their common name is somewhat of a misnomer as they are neither bearded nor tits, though with their “ping pong ball on a lolly stick” body shape, they do bear a passing resemblance to long-tailed tits. They are also referred to as bearded parrotbills or bearded reedlings – given that they are entirely dependent on reedbed habitat for their survival, the latter seems most fitting.

At this time of year “beardies” tend to feed out of sight, fossicking through the soil in search of fallen seeds. Their tonal plumage makes it difficult to pick them out as they flit through the bleached stands of Phragmites australis, but eventually I caught sight of a flutter of movement deep in the vegetation. I raised my binoculars for a closer view, but the dense reed monoculture lacked any prominent features to use as a visual point of reference, so I immediately lost sight of my quarry.

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A version of Hyundai's Ioniq electric sedan has been rolled out across various Australian fleets, before the full suite of EVs arrives in Australia in late 2018.

First of three-part series examining the evolution of Australia’s electricity system to 2050, and the role of policy-makers along the way.

AusNet Services has, for the third time, taken part of a Melbourne street completely off grid – this time for 21 hours.

Electric vehicles can now travel across WA’s Kimberley region, thanks to three new charging stations servicing the 900km stretch of Northern Highway between Kununurra and Derby.

Despite what the Turnbull government says, coal has no place in Australia's future energy mix – for three basic reasons.

Queensland's new draft land-clearing laws aim to put the brakes on years of environmental destruction. But the bill contains several loopholes that are likely to stymie progress. Anita J Cosgrove, Senior Research Assistant in the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland April Reside, Researcher, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland James Watson, Professor, The University of Queensland Martine Maron, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As the fight against plastic pollution gains momentum, firms are tackling the issue in different ways.

In the first of our Future of Work series, we look at how new tech could change our working lives.

If the NEG could get one thing right, you might think it would be a signal for new investment in "dispatchable" capacity. But Tesla and Genex, the leading developers of battery storage and pumped hydro projects, say it could do the opposite.

Particle pollution increases as the wind slows down and chilly weather prompts the lighting of more wood fires

The last days of the “beast from the east” cold spell caused air pollution problems across large parts of the UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Within the UK particle pollution reached between five and 10 on the UK government’s 10-point scale over parts of south Wales and areas of England south of a Merseyside to Tyneside line, except the far south-west.

Pollution from industry, traffic and home wood and coal burning can stay in the air for a week or up to 10 days. This means that pollution emitted in one part of Europe can cause problems hundreds of miles away. If the wind slows down then particle pollution can build up over a whole region.

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Australia's contribution to plastic pollution is just a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of rubbish coming from the developing world.