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Recycling crisis: why don't we have a national container deposit scheme?
Difficult to coordinate, yes. But it could ameliorate Australia’s waste and recycling woes
In June, a wide-ranging Senate inquiry into the state of Australia’s recycling system recommended a national container deposit scheme (CDS) be rolled out across the country.
Of all 18 inquiry recommendations, a national scheme is one that is at least part way there, all states except Tasmania and Victoria with an existing scheme or one soon to be implemented.
Continue reading...California LCFS Roundup: Prices extend record highs ahead of quarterly data release
EU Market: After touching fresh high, EUAs dip below €16 to end 8-day rally
A whale would have been a right catch for a Roman fisherman | Letters
The researchers first quoted in your article (Romans had whale industry, research suggests, 11 July) have made a very bold extrapolation from very small evidence. I would agree with Dr Erica Rowan, cited towards the end of the piece, that one might expect documentary evidence if the Romans actually had a whaling industry. Far more likely they merely exploited any drift whales (dead whales found floating or cast ashore).
Right whales (so called because they were the right whale to catch, being slow-swimming, floated once killed, and had a thick layer of blubber and a mouth full of baleen) certainly were exploited in the post-Roman period, and the Biscayan community had been rendered extinct by the Basque whalers by medieval times.
Continue reading...Source of cosmic 'ghost' particle revealed
Ireland becomes world's first country to divest from fossil fuels
Bill passed by parliament means more than €300m shares in coal, oil, peat and gas will be sold ‘as soon as practicable’
The Republic of Ireland will become the world’s first country to sell off its investments in fossil fuel companies, after a bill was passed with all-party support in the lower house of parliament.
The state’s €8bn national investment fund will be required to sell all investments in coal, oil, gas and peat “as soon as is practicable”, which is expected to mean within five years. Norway’s huge $1tn sovereign wealth fund has only partially divested from fossil fuels, targeting some coal companies, and is still considering its oil and gas holdings.
Continue reading...Whale killing: Iceland accused of slaughtering rare whale
Swarms of moon jellyfish like 'oil slick' off Ceredigion coast
Brexit white paper sheds little new light on UK’s future role in EU ETS
Can Norway help us solve the plastic crisis, one bottle at a time?
A bottle deposit hub on the outskirts of Oslo has had a stream of high-level international visitors. Can its success be replicated worldwide?
Tens of thousands of brightly coloured plastic drinks bottles tumble from the back of a truck on to a conveyor belt before disappearing slowly inside a warehouse on the outskirts of Oslo.
As a workman picks up a few Coke bottles that have escaped, Kjell Olav Maldum looks on. “It is a system that works,” he says as another truck rumbles past. “It could be used in the UK, I think lots of countries could learn from it.”
Continue reading...Rising ocean waters from global warming could cost trillions of dollars | John Abraham
We’ll need to mitigate and adapt to global warming to avoid massive costs from sea level rise
Ocean waters are rising because of global warming. They are rising for two reasons. First, and perhaps most obvious, ice is melting. There is a tremendous amount of ice locked away in Greenland, Antarctica, and in glaciers. As the world warms, that ice melts and the liquid water flows to the oceans.
The other reason why water is rising is that warmer water is less dense – it expands. This expansion causes the surface of the water to rise.
Continue reading...Sixty NZ businesses to take climate action, cut emissions
Federal Politics: ACCC, Timor-Leste and robocalls
Government responds to ACCC report amid speculation over energy policy
Australia’s regulators still can’t imagine a clean energy future
Three revolutions and the future of cars: An interview with Dr. Dan Sperling
If we cherry-pick data, use discredited projections, and ignore CO2 … then EVs are bad!
Country diary: soft sounds of sparrow seduction
Sandy, Bedfordshire: The house sparrows are busy caring for their young, but can still find time to mate dozens of times a day
Lolling in the shade under a hazel bush, I had become the inadvertent eavesdropper on a private conversation. Out of the canopy came a whispered “brrr” whirr of wings and then the soft sounds of sparrow seduction, a love song of tenderness that was scarcely imaginable from a bird known for its strident chirps.
Gentle, soothing, piteous peeps drifted down, an intimate dialogue that was both charming and disarming. I caught a glimpse through the sparrows’ bower and saw the female, mouth agape, wings a-flutter. The male rode her for a second or two only. House sparrows may mate up to 40 times a day, but it’s always a quickie.
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