Around The Web

European court of justice can impose multimillion euro fines if the UK and five other countries do not address the problem

The UK and five other nations have been referred to Europe’s highest court for failing to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.

The European court of justice has the power to impose multimillion euro fines if the countries do not address the problem swiftly. The nations - the UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania - had been given a final warning by the European commission in January. Toxic air results in hundreds of thousands of early deaths across Europe each year.

Continue reading...

The very first stars to shine in the Universe left a tell-tale trace in a far-distant galaxy.

The very first stars to shine in the Universe left a tell-tale trace in a far-distant galaxy.

Three insecticides blamed for bee colony collapses will be restricted to greenhouses.

Three insecticides blamed for bee colony collapses will be restricted to greenhouses.

EU carbon prices broke new ground above €15 after Thursday’s auction attracted sturdy interest and cleared at the highest level since 2011.

New Zealand’s coalition government on Thursday announced its 2018 budget, which included plans for a NZ$100-million ($69 mln) Green Investment Fund as well as additional funding to establish the Climate Change Commission advisory, carry out ETS amendments and prepare for internationally-linked carbon markets.

South Korean CO2 allowances have closed up three days in a row as demand remains strong with the June 30 compliance deadline for 2017 emissions approaching.

Every autumn Victoria copes with smoke haze from planned burns that reduce bushfire risk, but a large part of that pollution actually comes from industrial logging activity. Chris Taylor, Researcher, University of Melbourne David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Magpies know meanings of different noisy miner calls and are able to eavesdrop to find out if predators are nearby

• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon

Australian magpies can understand what other birds are saying to each other, a new study has found.

The research, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, says the wily magpie has learned the meanings of different noisy miner calls and essentially eavesdrops to find out which predators are near.

Continue reading...

A new study has found that the Australian magpie has learned to understand what noisy miner birds are saying to each other. The research, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, says the wily magpie can tell the difference between different calls and essentially eavesdrops to learn which predators are near

Continue reading...

Photographer Klaus Thymann has been exploring the underwater cave system of the Yucatán peninsula, diving 1km underwater to where salt and freshwater meet. By mapping areas that have been untouched by modern civilisation, he hopes to raise awareness of the natural and human heritage of this unique ecosystem that will hopefully result in greater protection. He talks to Eric Hilaire about making his journey into a film, Flows, featuring music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke

I am about to climb down a 10-metre rope ladder into a manhole-sized gap in the floor of the Mexican jungle on the Yucatán peninsula, to dive an underwater cave system, exploring paths where no one has ever been in modern history.

You may be familiar with cenotes, or sink holes, the beautiful wells filled with tempting blue water, but this hole does not look like that. Why would anyone want to head down there is a good question but we are exploring places where no one has been since the Mayans. This place doesn’t exist on any maps. My objective is to explore places with the view to bringing about environmental awareness, hopefully resulting in protection.

Continue reading...

Russia captured the dolphins in 2014 and says the trained mammals refused both to interact with their coaches, and to eat

Ukraine is home to some of the more adventurous military blue-sky thinking, mostly hangovers from the Soviet era. As well as a 160-metre high, 500-metre long radar that was supposed to be able to warn of nuclear attack, it also has a secret programme that trains sea mammals to carry out military tasks. Ukraine has a dolphin army at the Crimean military dolphin centre, trained and ready for deployment.

Or at least it did, but after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the dolphins were captured. Ukraine demanded their return, but Russian forces refused. Some believed the Russians were planning to retrain the dolphins as Russian soldiers, with a source telling Russian agency RIA Novosti that engineers were “developing new aquarium technologies for new programmes to more efficiently use dolphins underwater”.

Continue reading...

Adani pins hopes for beleaguered Carmichael coal mine on the Asia–Pacific market. But the Australian government’s own resources forecaster is less confident.

Romaldkirk, Teesdale: Lithe and lethal, the stoat emerged into a patch of bare ground, sniffed the air, then vanished into a dense patch of wild garlic

The warm weather arrived, and with it willow warblers. Soon their song would merge into the background sounds of summer but this was the first of the year, so we stopped to listen.

The warbler was delivering its liquid cadences, exultant, then dying away to a subdued ending, from a hawthorn on the embankment of the disused railway line that now forms part of the Tees Railway Path. Its perch, just a bare twig a week ago, was rapidly coming into leaf. The ground at the bottom of the slope was clothed in lush new growth of meadowsweet, nettles, thistles and ground elder foliage, a knee-high mosaic of leaf shapes.

Continue reading...

Queensland transmission company signs connection deal for first stage of 500MW solar project, and sees 30GW pipeline of renewables in the state.

Carnegie Clean Energy says Delamere Air Weapons Range solar and storage microgrid is nearly complete, and ready to cut the facility’s diesel use by 61%.

Melbourne company Entura leads project to take six of Cook Islands’ 12 inhabited islands from diesel to 100% solar and battery storage.

ACT takes next step in trial of gas-free suburban living, with a proposed repeal of planning laws that have made gas connection mandatory to all new housing divisions in the Territory.

Mackay Council awards tender to install solar PV on 21 local government facilities, saving nearly 10 times its outlay over 20 years. But the bid price stuns rivals.