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Climate science deniers and conservative media have a new hero
Hazelwood, 12 months on, and the fear-mongers have been proved wrong
Labor vows 'full scientific assessment' of logging agreements
Assessment to include climate science and threatened species impacts, ministers say
Federal Labor is promising to revisit and fix any logging agreements with state governments that are not based on “proper, independent and full scientific assessments”.
In a pledge that could have implications for the rollover of nine agreements due to expire in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia over the next three years, the shadow minister for agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon, and shadow minister for environment and water, Tony Burke said; “Labor will always support proper, independent and full scientific assessments of RFA [regional forestry agreement] outcomes as part of the agreed framework.
Continue reading...BMW unveils all-electric Mini, with plans to build them in China
Solar battery installs to reach 33,000 in 2018 as economics improve
The BOM outlook for the weather over the next three months is 'neutral' – here's what that really means
Sustainable shopping: save the world, one chocolate at a time
Ghostly galaxy may be missing dark matter
Top marine scientists defend attack on Great Barrier Reef research
Researchers from Australia’s leading marine science agency respond to criticism by two academics that doubts much of their work
Scientists at Australia’s leading marine science agency say an attack on the integrity of their research into threats to the Great Barrier Reef was flawed and based on “misinterpretation” and “selective use of data”.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) researchers were responding to accusations made in November 2017 in a journal Marine Pollution Bulletin that claimed much of their work “should be viewed with some doubt”.
Tasmanian forest agreement delivers $1.3bn losses in ‘giant fraud’ on taxpayers | John Lawrence
Forestry Tasmania’s total cash losses were $454m over 20 years, with a write-down of $751m in value of forest estate
The first Tasmanian regional forest agreement, signed between the state and the commonwealth in 1997, was supposed to start an era in which forestry was both ecologically and economically sustainable.
In fact the last 20 years have been a financial disaster for forest management in Tasmania.
Continue reading...Our wildlife can be saved – but only with political will | Letters
Michael McCarthy is quite wrong when he says most people are unaware of the destruction of Britain’s wildlife (We’ve lost half our wildlife. But the damage can be reversed, 26 March). Even if you never visit the countryside, if you have any kind of garden you will be painfully aware of it. Twenty years ago my bird feeder nearly always had numerous birds on it (eight at a time was the record, I seem to remember). Now the peanuts wither and go black in the feeder. Then, we had many species; now, one pair of blackbirds, one pair of robins and a couple of greedy pigeons. Twenty years ago I saw a mother hedgehog parading through the garden trailing several babies. Now, I haven’t seen a hedgehog for at least a decade.
Up until a couple of years ago the frogs in my garden pond had their riotous mating ceremony around St Valentine’s Day, followed quickly by masses of spawn and then by innumerable tadpoles. Now the date has become variable but results in very little spawn, which after a couple of weeks collapses into featureless slime. The number of pond species has steeply declined and if you put (say) daphnia into a jar of pondwater, they all die instantly. The problem is, what do I do about it apart from writing letters to the Guardian? The government is quite obviously either totally uninterested or completely in the grip of the big chemical firms and the farming lobby. I am delighted to be told that the problem is reversible, and I’m sure it is, but not without a political revolution, of which I see absolutely no sign.
Jeremy Cushing
Exeter
Cumbrian coal must stay in the ground where it belongs | Letters
What fantastic news that the government has rejected plans for an opencast coal mine in Northumberland (Javid rejects plan for opencast coalmine, 24 March).
This should put the nail firmly in the coffin of the plan for the first deep coalmine in the UK in 30 years. This would be at the proposed Woodhouse Colliery, which is north of Kendal (not south as wrongly located in your article) and under the Irish Sea off the beautiful coastline of St Bees.
Continue reading...The Beast of Clashindarroch – Scottish wildcat or Mr Whiskers?
It may be one of the largest wildcats ever recorded, but it still looks much like a very large tabby
Name: The Beast of Clashindarroch.
Age: Unknown.
Continue reading...Share your views on drink deposit schemes
If you live in the UK we’d like to hear what you think about bottle and can deposit schemes near you
The government has unveiled a deposit return scheme (DRS) covering glass, metal and plastic drinks containers in England. By returning bottles and cans consumers will receive a small cash sum, however retailers are responsible for recycling the items.
Tech trials to find Antarctica's 'missing' iron meteorites
On dangerous ground: land degradation is turning soils into deserts
Meet the people volunteering to defend nature in their local communities
As spring arrives and campaigners in Sheffield win a temporary pause in tree felling, here’s a gallery of Friends of the Earth volunteers defending nature in local communities
Continue reading...Labor and Greens keep up the fight against Coalition's marine park plans
Parties plan to introduce separate motions for individual affected regions
Labor and the Greens have launched a fresh attempt to disallow controversial new marine park management plans proposed by the Turnbull government last week, bowling up individual motions to boost the chances of scuttling at least part of the proposal.
A first attempt to disallow the management plans failed on Tuesday night when the government brought on a vote after a procedural skirmish – deploying an unusual chamber tactic, effectively inviting the Senate to vote down the Coalition’s regulations.
Continue reading...Vanishing Glaciers by Project Pressure - in pictures
Project Pressure is a charity that has been working with renowned artists in a pioneering project to document the world’s vanishing glaciers. This week it brought its touring photographic exhibition to the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, Hong Kong, where visitors can experience the different types of glaciers found on each continent and take a video journey to see how glaciers are retreating
Continue reading...EU leaders should be telling us to eat less meat, say campaigners
A green coalition demands a review of health and environmental impacts of intensive animal farming ahead of budget talks next month
The EU is facing calls to overhaul its industrial farming sector by promoting more plant-based diets in the next common agricultural policy (CAP), as budget negotiations approach a crunch point.
Policy moves could face strong opposition from top officials who reportedly see “no evidence whatsoever” of large-scale linkages between livestock farming and greenhouse gas emissions.
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