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Japan’s first non-fossil power auction might fuel offset trade
China to include environment and profitability in coal investment restrictions
Is help finally at hand for suicide crisis on America’s farms?
Farmers take their lives at a rate higher than any other occupation, and at twice the rate of military veterans. Two bills to help farmers were included in the federal farm bill
In early May, Kansas farmer John Blaske is waiting for the rain to stop so he can begin planting. From the front door of his farmhouse, a green yard decorated with bird feeders slopes down to a series of fields where the corn will be planted. Beyond the fields, there’s a tree line and a small bridge with a creek running below. It’s peaceful here, and mostly quiet, except for the sound of the occasional car or tractor, or the cows calling from the paddock.
The waiting makes him restless, he tells me. And it’s not just the rain. He’s also waiting desperately for the opportunity to talk to fellow agrarians or to legislators about the stress, depression and suicidal ideation he experiences as a farmer.
Continue reading...Global warming made Hurricane Harvey more destructive | John Abraham
Hot oceans fueled Hurricane Harvey, generating more intense rainfall
Last summer, the United states was pummeled with three severe hurricanes in rapid succession. It was a truly awesome display of the power of weather and the country is still reeling from the effects. In the climate community, there has been years of research into the effect that human-caused global warming has on these storms – both their frequency and their power.
The prevailing view is that in a warming world, there will likely be fewer such storms, but the storms that form will be more severe. Some research, however, concludes that there will be both more storms and more severe ones. More generally, because there is more heat, there is more activity, which can be manifested in several ways.
Continue reading...Shenzhen council pays ETS companies for saved CO2 permits
SK Market: KAUs rise to 5.5-mth highs on strong demand
England at risk of water shortages due to overuse and leaks, report warns
Wasted water from leaking pipes and overuse in homes is causing damage to rivers and wildlife and putting increasing pressure on overstretched supplies, warns the Environment Agency
People need to use less water and companies must curb leaks to prevent future water shortages and damage to rivers and wildlife, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned.
Many sources of water supplies are already overstretched and, with climate change and a growing population, much of England could see significant supply shortages by the 2050s – particularly in the south-east.
Continue reading...SA Liberals vow to continue energy transition, go big in batteries
NTCRS co-regulatory arrangements annual reports for 2016-17
NTCRS co-regulatory arrangements annual reports for 2016-17
Country diary: a Welsh garden at its psychedelic best
Bodnant Garden, Gwynedd: Rhododendrons and azaleas flash white, pink, red, orange and blue as the oaks awaken from a long winter dream
These oak leaves open like bloody beef. Not the “rich brown-umber hue the oaks unfold/ When Spring’s young sunshine bathes their trunks in gold” that John Clare described in his poem Wood Pictures in Spring. These are the emerging leaves of a Quercus robur “Atropurpurea” (they will mature to a deep red-purple), a form of English or common oak, growing in a Welsh wood on the ravine of a stream flowing into the Vale of Conwy.
Continue reading...For $6 extra, AEMO keeps lights on and defies renewable skeptics
Yarranlea Solar Farm under construction in Queensland
Illegal online sales of endangered wildlife rife in Europe
Exclusive: Study finds 12,000 items worth $4m, including ivory, live orangutans and a huge number of reptiles and birds for the pet trade
The online sale of endangered and threatened wildlife is rife across Europe, a new investigation has revealed, ranging from live cheetahs, orangutans and bears to ivory, polar bear skins and many live reptiles and birds.
Researchers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) spent six weeks tracking adverts on 100 online marketplaces in four countries, the UK, Germany, France and Russia. They found more than 5,000 adverts offering to sell almost 12,000 items, worth $4m (£3m) in total. All the specimens were species in which trade is restricted or banned by the global Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.
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