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Climate change is increasing flood risks in Europe | John Abraham

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 21:00

A new study finds strong agreement that flood risks in central and western Europe are rising due to global warming.

As humans continue to emit greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, the world continues to warm. We see that warming everywhere – in the atmosphere, in the oceans, with rising sea levels, and melting ice. But while we know conclusively that humans are causing the warming, an equally important question is, “so what?” Really, we want to know the consequences of warming so that we can make informed decisions about what to do about it. We really have only three choices: mitigate, adapt, or ignore and suffer the consequences.

A very new study was just published that helps answer this question of “so what?” The research was conducted by lead author Lorenzo Alfieri (European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Italy), Richard Betts (University of Exeter and Met Office, UK), and their colleagues.

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World-first genetic analysis reveals Aussie white shark numbers

The Conversation - Thu, 2018-02-08 20:02
New research has used genetic analysis in a world-first effort to accurately estimate Australian and New Zealand white shark numbers. Rich Hillary, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Russ Bradford, Project leader and researcher, CSIRO Toby Patterson, Senior research scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Scotland's red squirrel numbers stabilise

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-08 18:19
Researchers find that the population has increased in the north east and stopped shrinking nationwide.
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Tasmanian "rain man" awarded for recording over 50 years of weather data

ABC Environment - Thu, 2018-02-08 17:25
Peter Jones was awarded a Rainfall Excellence Award by the Bureau of Meteorology for his work collecting precipitation in Tasmania for over 50 years.
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Country diary: a peacock butterfly wakes into living room summer

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 15:30

Sandy, Bedfordshire: It should have been hibernating, but there it was, bashing its head against a cold window. Something had to be done

It is a curious fact that the most beautiful parts of a butterfly are also the least palatable. When I lifted a log from the woodpile, the eye of a peacock in an insect wing beneath looked back. It was a sail without a ship, a cover without a book. The wing was still fired with fresh colours, as lustrous as a birthday balloon and just as nutritious. The thick body that had been provisioned with sweetness to sit out the winter in darkness had gone.

The day before, another peacock, inadvertently transported indoors in the log basket, was hours away from cremation when it woke into living room summer. I did not see it fly up to the sunlit window but heard a loud thrumming from behind the blind. There it was, improbably animated out of season, bashing its head incessantly against a cold window. How could it understand that the golden orb beyond was a false god, offering only frost and ice?

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Huge levels of antibiotic use in US farming revealed

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 15:01

Concerns raised over weakened regulations on imports in potential post-Brexit trade deals

Livestock raised for food in the US are dosed with five times as much antibiotic medicine as farm animals in the UK, new data has shown, raising questions about rules on meat imports under post-Brexit trade deals.

The difference in rates of dosage rises to at least nine times as much in the case of cattle raised for beef, and may be as high as 16 times the rate of dosage per cow in the UK. There is currently a ban on imports of American beef throughout Europe, owing mainly to the free use of growth hormones in the US.

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Tesla turns to Model Y, as Model 3 slowly exits “production hell”

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 14:42
Elon Musk hails a "phenomenal year" for Tesla, but it is still draining cash as it looks to its next EV model, and extracts itself from production hell on the last.
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Australia rooftop solar boom continues with best January ever

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 14:37
Australian homes and businesses continue to install solar at a cracking pace in January, adding another 111MW to the 2017 total of more than 1.25GW.
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OpenNEM: An open platform for National Electricity Market data

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 14:35
Energy Transition Hub is pleased to launch the OpenNEM project with the ‘alpha’ release of our website and our new widget in RenewEconomy.
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Tamil Nadu is India’s model for low-cost renewables

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:54
The Indian state of Tamil Nadu capable of doubling its wind energy capacity by 2027 and increasing its solar capacity six-fold.
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South Australia should aim for 100% renewables by 2025, not 50%

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:45
South Australia can show the rest of the nation how to build a 100 per cent renewable energy system to makes people's lives better.
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SolarReserve still falling short at flagship solar tower project

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:37
SolarReserve's flagship solar tower and storage project is still falling short of design targets. Does it deserve public money?
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Musk says storage orders surge on success of Tesla big battery

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:27
Never mind the Roadster in space, Elon Musk says the Tesla big battery in South Australia has exceeded performance targets "significantly," a success that has put a rocket under sales of the company’s commercial-scale Powerpacks.
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Germany to set end date for coal power in 2019

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:04
A commission will decide the timeline for phasing out coal, under a coalition deal agreed between social democrats and Angela Merkel’s conservatives
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Coal giant AGL cashes in on higher electricity prices

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 13:02
Results from Australia's biggest coal generator, AGL, shows how coal and gas companies have profited from the surge in electricity and gas prices.
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Fake nests fight real threat of extinction for the shy albatross – video

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 12:56

Tasmanian scientists are trialling  a new tactic to help the shy albatross fight extinction: constructing artificial nests. Over one hundred specially built mudbrick and aerated concrete artificial nests were airlifted on to Bass Strait’s Albatross Island in July 2017 as a trial program. So far the results are looking promising with the breeding success of pairs on artificial nests 20% higher than those on natural nests. Conservationists hope the nests will boost the population of the threatened seabird, which is vulnerable to climate change.

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“Future is storage:” SA govt pumps for four more hydro projects

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-08 11:56
South Australia government provides funding for feasibility studies into four large pumped hydro projects in the wind and solar-rich upper Spencer Gulf.
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What's going on in a toddler's brain?

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-08 10:39
Scientists want to find out more about how very young children develop a sense of self.
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EPA head Scott Pruitt says global warming may help 'humans flourish'

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 04:28

EPA administrator says ‘There are assumptions made that because the climate is warming that necessarily is a bad thing’

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has suggested that global warming may be beneficial to humans, in his latest departure from mainstream climate science.

Pruitt, who has previously erred by denying that carbon dioxide is a key driver of climate change, has again caused consternation among scientists by suggesting that warming temperatures could benefit civilization.

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Climate change: Tourism is Australia's least prepared industry, report says

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-08 03:00

Beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks all considered threatened by climate change

Tourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to an advocacy group report.

The report by the Climate Council, based on 200 source documents and articles, says while tourism is growing at an extraordinary pace – an 8% jump in visitors last financial year – not enough is being done to prepare for damage to the country’s greatest drawcards.

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