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Engineering climate change
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'Chronic inaction': call for planning overhaul as population growth threatens biodiversity
Melbourne bird species decreased in proportion to density of human occupation
The outskirts of Melbourne are a maze of newly-paved culs-de-sac. Freestanding homes twist in on each other, filling the footprint of their small street blocks.
On the other side of the road, short wooden stakes have been tied with fluorescent tape to mark out the next development.
Continue reading...Margaret Atwood: women will bear brunt of dystopian climate future
Booker prize-winning author predicts climate reality will not be far from scenarios imagined in her post-apocalyptic fiction
Climate change will bring a dystopian future reminiscent of one of her “speculative fictions”, with women bearing the brunt of brutal repression, hunger and war, the Booker prize-winning author Margaret Atwood is to warn.
“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” she will tell an audience at the British Library this week. “Women will be directly and adversely affected by climate change.”
Continue reading...Mind your beeswax: global price surge leaves bearded Australians in a tangle
Australia is one of the few countries in the world where hives are free of the debilitating varroa mite
The soaring price of Australian beeswax could be bad news for local beard owners – and good news for scammers – as demand for high-quality beeswax heats up.
New uses for the wax – from cosmetics to food wraps – and the comparative health of Australia’s bees have driven the export price of Australian beeswax up in the global marketplace.
Continue reading...Rise of the ultra-cyclists: a new breed of riders go the distance
With no spectators, no bags of freebies and no medals, the 400km London-Wales-London ride provides a welcome antidote to overblown sportives
“Cycling far?” asks a woman in the bakery as a group of us queues for coffee and sausage rolls, as well as an all-important receipt to prove we passed through Tewkesbury.
Increasing numbers of cyclists are getting bored with 100-mile sportives and looking for something else
Continue reading...Reprieve for Abbott's booby after Christmas Island mining expansion ruled out
Coalition says proposed phosphate exploration would have had unacceptable impact on wildlife, including endangered sea bird
The Turnbull government has knocked back a controversial phosphate exploration proposal on Christmas Island “because it is likely to have significant and unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environment law”.
Phosphate Resources Limited – the owners of a phosphate mine on Christmas Island – had proposed to clear 6.83ha of land and undertake exploration drilling along 44 survey lines in an effort to determine the extent of the additional phosphate resources on Christmas Island.
Continue reading...Wind Commissioner should oversee solar, batteries too, report says
German coal exit talks reveal difficult task ahead
Country diary: summer's lagging in the woods
Comins Coch, Ceredigion: Meadow grasses and flowers have grown in abundance, but the trees have been slow to green
In the pasture beside the lane, dandelions have already set seed, their spherical heads intact and waiting for the right gust of wind to break the seeds free and disperse them across the village like invading paratroopers. The meadow grasses and wild flowers have grown rapidly in confused abundance, but the crown of the oak tree across the field remains more defined by the framework of branches than by new foliage. Possibly the sudden drop in temperature that preceded the late snow selectively stalled development.
Further uphill the old meadow was marked by fresh molehills among the rushes and the lady’s smock, showing where these stolid hunters have been clearing and extending their shallow runs. The activity of their favoured prey, earthworms, is triggered by rising temperature and an attractive level of soil moisture – conditions that have apparently been satisfied.
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