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Animal husbandry is contaminating China’s water and has been linked to turning lakes bright green, a phenomenon known as eutrophication

The farm, located at the end of a narrow dirt path, announces its presence with a piercing stench. At first, the caretaker of the collective facility in Kunming says the farm recycles all the animal waste into manure fertiliser. But later, he sheepishly points behind the pigsty.

There, hordes of flies swarm above a festering field of grey-black dung. A few times a month, Cai shovels the steaming excrement produced by some 100 swine owned by local families into a nearby creek, where a mile downstream, villagers fish on the rocky shores of a small lake.

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The WA government has announced plans to reclassify dingoes as no different to wild dogs - paving the way for them to be culled at will. But dingoes are unique and deserve to be recognised as such. Bradley Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Lily van Eeden, PhD Candidate in Human-Wildlife Conflict, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

31 August 1889: No satisfactory reason has been given as to why fewer of these graceful and beautiful birds have been sighted this year

Editorial
As the time approaches when the swallows prepare for their southward migrations attention is again called to the undoubted fact that in Lancashire, as in other parts of the kingdom, these graceful and beautiful birds have been seen this year in fewer numbers than for a long time past. Here and there they have settled, but all over the country the remark is heard that in hundreds of houses the eaves have been tenantless this year. No very satisfactory reason for this unwonted neglect has yet been given. The birds have been known to avoid certain districts when the cholera was raging there, but there has this year happily been no such grim cause for their avoidance of us; and it is not improbable that they knew by instinct that their accustomed sources of food supply would not be so abundant this summer.

Related: A tide is turning for the swallows

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The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has decided to sell 20 GL of temporary water (regulated allocations) held in the Goulburn, using a competitive tender process.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has decided to sell 20 GL of temporary water (regulated allocations) held in the Goulburn, using a competitive tender process.

Australian physicist says technology could make signing up for energy accounts as easy as a mobile phone subscription

An Australian physicist is leading a push to pioneer a new type of low-cost solar energy he believes could make signing up for energy accounts as straightforward as taking up a mobile phone plan.

In May last year, the University of Newcastle professor Paul Dastoor used organic printed solar cells to power screens and displays at an exhibition in Melbourne.

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Tuilaepa Sailele berates leaders who fail to take issue seriously, singling out Australia, India, China and the US

The prime minister of Samoa has called climate change an “existential threat ... for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.

In a searing speech delivered on Thursday night during a visit to Sydney, Tuilaepa Sailele berated leaders who fail to take climate change seriously, singling out Australia, as well as India, China and the US, which he said were the “three countries that are responsible for all this disaster”.

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Police and wildlife experts say some drones are being flown dangerously close to breeding birds and animals.

We unveil our new website focusing on electric vehicle news, analysis, road trips and reviews.

The post Introducing RenewEconomy’s new electric vehicle website: TheDriven.io appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A "micro-fracture" from a possible collision with a rock fragment sets off alerts on the ISS.

Why all new cars will be electric by 2025, and why your next purchase could be your last. An interview with Tony Seba.

The post The Driven Podcast: By 2025, all new cars will be electric appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Wealthy nations’ drastic increase in construction sand consumption contributes to erosion of estuaries

The secretive trade of coastal sand to wealthy countries such as China is seriously damaging the wildlife of poorer nations whose resources are being plundered, according to a new study.

Sand and gravel are the most extracted groups of materials worldwide after water, with sand used in the concrete and asphalt of global cities. China consumed more sand between 2011 and 2013 than the US did during the entire 20th century. India has more than tripled its annual use of construction sand since 2000.

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

The US EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) on Wednesday posted draft recommendations for gauging carbon emissions from biomass used in power stations, a potential wrinkle in the agency’s guidance issued earlier this year that matched that of the EU ETS in declaring these GHGs as carbon neutral.

North American carbon prices rose on both coasts this week as RGGI prices stayed well-supported ahead of next week’s auction, while California allowances kept on their upward trend seen throughout August.

Widespread wildfires have taken lives and destroyed habitats as well as causing air pollution

Wildfires are spanning the northern hemisphere. Local impacts have been severe; notably the loss of habitat and life, including the tragic deaths in Greece. Smoke has caused air pollution problems in nearby cities, exposing millions of people. Moorland fires affected air pollution in Manchester. Cities on the west coast of the US and Canada, including Seattle and Vancouver, issued pollution alerts as forest fire smoke turned day into night. During a national league soccer game in Oregon players had breaks every 15 minutes and oxygen was provided for them. But the smoke spreads further. Smoke from Siberian forest fires crossed the Arctic to reach North America in July . Weather models and satellite pictures showed that smoke from North American forest fires crossed the Atlantic in the high atmosphere and reached Europe in mid-August, causing purple skies in southern Ireland.

A study in 2011 estimated that between 260,000 and 600,000 early deaths were attributable to air pollution from landscape fires each year. The annual toll normally varies with the La Niña/El Niño cycle that causes yearly variations in global weather. The effects of this year’s fires have yet to be estimated.

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Insect crop damage could result in the loss of two loaves out of every 12 by the century's end.

What drives companies to be green? Women, it turns out, are the key. New research shows that firms with a more balanced mix of women and men in the boardroom receive fewer environmental lawsuits. Chelsea Liu, Senior Lecturer, Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Japan's space agency has set dates for its plan to explore the surface of an asteroid with robots.

The technique was used to restore a protein that people with the condition are unable to make.