Around The Web

Western Australia government launches plan to unlock lithium-ion battery value chain, including vast reserves of lithium and other high value metals.

The post W.A. unveils plan to lead global lithium-ion battery boom appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Vena gets generation licence for the second big solar farm in South Australia, with commissioning to begin in a few weeks.

The post South Australia’s second big solar farm gets generation licence, to start production appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Koalas displaced by housing development are finding a new home on a Queensland cattle station; production ramps up at a remote oyster farm off Arnhem Land; performers run away from the circus to become avocado farmers; and an urban farm does a roaring trade in farmgate produce.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize, the prestigious global award based in the United Arab Emirates, is now accepting entries of projects and solutions that promote sustainable development.

The post Prestigious international prize calls for sustainable development projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore today announced that the City of Sydney has been selected to host a major international climate conference in 2020.

The post City of Sydney to host major 2020 women’s climate summit appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The spotted handfish is critically endangered and found only in a small area of Tasmania.

Protected countryside is more than 15 miles away from almost half of the most deprived areas

From Exmoor to Northumberland, the country’s poorest people are being denied access to England’s most beautiful countryside and missing out on the mental and physical health benefits that can result, research has found.

Almost half of the country’s most socially deprived areas are more than 15 miles by road from 10 national parks and 46 areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), according to a submission to a government review into how national assets are being managed.

Continue reading...

The full story of the Brumadinho dam disaster could take many months to emerge, the BBC's David Shukman says.

This retiring violet tucked away in the Australian bush holds the key to future generations of medically-engineered plants. Bronwyn Smithies, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Edward Kalani Gilding, Postdoctoral Research Officer, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Despite our recycling efforts, almost every piece of plastic we've ever produced is still with us. Is it time to rethink our relationship with plastic?

The Ourimbah Landcare Group, on the NSW Central Coast, is reversing years of damage from farming and foreign vegetation, while creating strong bonds of friendship.

The assignment will prepare an analytical report on priority areas/sectors at national and sub-national level on the basis of alignment with national and sub-national policies and GCF’s investment framework and strategic impact areas.

Due to continuing success in our Climate, Resilience & Sustainability (CRS) Team, we are looking to recruit a Senior Consultant to provide support to continue this exciting period of growth of the CRS Team.

In spite of the commentary you have heard about renewables failing during the power crisis, the opposite was true.

The post How did wind and solar perform in the recent heat-wave? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Imagine yourself organizing a town hall meeting on solar power. Or building a community coalition to keep local waters clean. Imagine building the organizational power—the funds, the membership, the activist base and more—that it takes to keep all of this critical work going for the long haul.

After 12% drop in generation, experts say existing nuclear plants are likely to close early

Britain’s nuclear power stations recorded a 12% decline in their contributions to the country’s energy system over the past month, as outages raised concerns over how long the ageing plants will be able to keep operating.

Related: What role does nuclear power play in UK and what are alternatives?

Continue reading...

Why has it taken so long just to move past the bare minimum needed to support what is now an expanding sector?

Last September, Sylvia Wilson became the second person in the country to drive around Australia in an electric car.

The entire 20,396 kilometre trip took the 70-year-old 110 days in her Tesla S75 and cost just $150.90.

Continue reading...

The journalist and author has claimed climate change will soon render the world uninhabitable, leading his supporters to say he’s telling the terrifying truth and critics to brand him a reckless alarmist. Why is he so worried?

David Wallace-Wells’s apocalyptic depiction of a world made uninhabitable by climate chaos caused an outcry when it was published in New York magazine in 2017. Based on the worst-case scenarios foreseen by science, his article portrayed a world of drought, plague and famine, in which acidified oceans drown coastal homelands, dormant diseases are released from ancient ice, conflicts surge, economies collapse, human cognitive abilities decline and heat stress becomes more intolerable in New York City than in present-day Bahrain. Critics called this irresponsibly alarmist. Supporters said it was a long-overdue antidote to climate complacency. Whatever your view, it was among the best-read climate articles in US history. Now he is back with a book-length follow-up.

Related: ‘The devastation of human life is in view’: what a burning world tells us about climate change

Continue reading...

Some put lack of action down to fundamental differences between the two countries

It started with a solo protest outside Sweden’s parliament by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and has snowballed across the globe.

Schoolchildren demanding action on climate change have played truant and taken to the streets in Australia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and, in their greatest numbers, in Belgium, where 35,000 made their voices heard in Brussels a week ago and a further 12,500 marched on Thursday.

Continue reading...