Around The Web

AEMO says AGL plans more than enough to replace Liddell

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2018-03-23 09:00
AEMO report says AGL's plans to replace Liddell with new dispatchable technology more than enough to address any shortfall. Not that you'd know that if you relied on mainstream media headlines.
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Sustainable shopping: if you really, truly need a new phone, buy one with replaceable parts

The Conversation - Fri, 2018-03-23 05:09
The most sustainable phone is the one you already own. But if you're in the market for a new handset, consider choosing one with replaceable parts to avoid having to replace the whole thing again. Miles Park, Senior Lecturer, Industrial Design, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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It’s time we listened to people like Mark Boyle | Letters

The Guardian - Fri, 2018-03-23 04:16
If we are to reduce our consumption levels, says Linda Marriott, we must walk the walk, not just talk the talk

Bravo, Mark Boyle – your world sounds very beguiling to an oldie like me (I left a troubled world behind. Now let me tell you how to fix it, 20 March). However, I’ve lost count of the number of times in my life that I have heard this siren song, but no one with any influence ever seems to listen or even wake up. But, as Mark says, we can try small remedies ourselves should we be lucky enough to have a garden. It reminds me of an old Canadian friend who was convinced he could protect his family from the coming apocalypse by buying a farm, until he realised he’d have to have a gun – and use it – to stop those less fortunate from taking what he had. Or the 1970s German bumper sticker that translated as “everyone wants to go back to Eden but no one wants to go on foot”.
Linda Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Origin of 'six-inch mummy' confirmed

BBC - Fri, 2018-03-23 04:03
Scientists investigate an unusual, small, mummified skeleton from Chile to establish is medical history.
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'Dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico will take decades to recover from farm pollution

The Guardian - Fri, 2018-03-23 04:00

A new study says that even in the ‘unrealistic’ event of a total halt to the flow of agricultural chemicals the damage will persist for 30 years

The enormous “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico will take decades to recover even if the flow of farming chemicals that is causing the damage is completely halted, new research has warned.

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Coalition accuses green groups of misleading public on forestry agreements

The Guardian - Fri, 2018-03-23 03:00

Anne Ruston says National Parks Association “engaged in a campaign to mislead the Australian people” after groups make public submissions on RFAs

The government has accused green groups of deliberately misleading the Australian people by raising concerns about the roll over of long term logging agreements.

Related: NSW Labor refuses to approve forestry agreements based on 'out-of-date' science

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Plastic patch in Pacific Ocean growing rapidly, study shows

BBC - Fri, 2018-03-23 00:12
It is estimated some 80,000 tonnes of plastic is circulating in a patch between Hawaii and California.
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'Great Pacific garbage patch' sprawling with far more debris than thought

The Guardian - Fri, 2018-03-23 00:00

The patch of detritus is more than twice the size of France and is at least four times larger than previously estimated

An enormous area of rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean is teeming with far more debris than previously thought, heightening alarm that the world’s oceans are being increasingly choked by trillions of pieces of plastic.

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World Water Day: Deadly plight of Brazil's river defenders goes unheard

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-03-22 21:55

At a high-level talking shop for the global water industry in Brazil, river defenders and community activists - who are often murdered or criminalised for trying to protect their resources - have set up an alternative forum to share their stories


While presidents, royalty and corporate dignitaries gave speeches at a global conference in Brasil’s federal capital this week on the need to protect water sources, river defender Ageu Lobo Pereira was running for his life through the Amazon forest.

The head of the riverine communities of Montanha e Mangbal had been tipped off that assassins were preparing an ambush. They wanted to end his resistance to mines, deforestation and dams that threaten the Tapajós river.

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Guyanese campaigners mount legal challenge against three oil giants

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-03-22 21:48

Crowdfunded case claims offshore oil licences were granted illegally by the Guyanese government

Three major oil companies preparing to drill off the shores of Guyana, where a string of discoveries have sparked a rush for crude, are being challenged by a group of citizens who say their dash for oil is illegal.

Lawyers acting for the Guyanese campaigners are to lodge the latest challenge in a court in Guyana this week. They are funding the battle against oil giants Exxon Mobil, Hess Corporation and Nexen, a subsidiary of Chinese national oil, through the crowdfunding site CrowdJustice.

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Curiosity rover: 2,000 days on Mars

BBC - Thu, 2018-03-22 19:07
The Nasa robot this week celebrates 2,000 martian days investigating the surface of the Red Planet.
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Anger over Sheffield's plan to fell healthy trees

BBC - Thu, 2018-03-22 18:38
Sheffield City Council's plan to fell thousands of healthy trees prompts angry protests.
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Country diary: concrete threat to badger lifted for now

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-03-22 15:30

Tempsford, Bedfordshire: To us the entrance hole to the sett it is unfathomably small, for in our imaginations we big up the badger into a creature with the dimensions of a stripy bear

On a disused airfield where planes once lifted off on secret night missions to occupied Europe, animals roam the runways under cover of darkness. At one corner, badgers have mined a thicket of thorns with pickaxe claws and shovels for feet. Their sett is lodged among the bushes, its tunnels and chambers shored up and secured by pillars and rafters of roots. It has spread to the point where the mouth of the newest hole gapes out over the open airfield. A portal between day and night, a D-shape on its side, it slumbers in the sun, while, deep inside, curled-up animals dream of dusk, their babies still a couple of months away from emergence. The hole breathes out no sounds, no smells, nothing.

The entrance hole to the sett would represent a canyon to a rabbit, but to us it is unfathomably small, for in our imaginations we big up the badger into a creature with the dimensions of a stripy bear.

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Fishing is a global business and vital to feed the world – archive, 1960

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-03-22 15:00

22 March 1960: A problem with which mankind is faced at the moment is how to adapt local fishing to local needs

Every development in the fishing industry to-day points to the fact that it is becoming world business.

Among the latest proposals for expansion is the employment of two former aircraft carriers which are to be converted into mother ships operating with fleets of trawlers working at sea. Fish factory ships are becoming more popular. Their crews not only catch fish in the trawl; they fillet it, process it, make fishmeal and liver oil, and finally deliver the fillets in deep frozen packages.

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Even if you were the last rhino on Earth – why populations can't be saved by a single breeding pair

The Conversation - Thu, 2018-03-22 14:17
The death of the last male northern white rhino in the world raises an interesting question: when does a species pass the point of no return? Corey Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Big batteries, massive pay day: Tesla shareholders approve $2.6bn Musk bonus plan

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-03-22 14:10
Tesla shareholder vote approves 10-year, $2.6bn compensation package for CEO Elon Musk – a record individual executive equity award, but Ts & Cs apply.
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System Frequency: What is it doing? Why does it matter?

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-03-22 13:18
The east coast power system of Australia has the worst frequency regulation in the developed world. So what to do?
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Selectronic celebrates 200,000th Serial numbered solar inverter with the Hon Tony Smith MP

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-03-22 12:53
Selectronic celebrated a milestone event in achieving serial number 200,000 of its product range, at an event held on Tuesday 20th March at its production facility in Chirnside Park, Victoria.
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NSW, the sleeping giant of rooftop solar, is about to awake

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-03-22 12:51
NSW is expected to overtake Queensland as biggest market for rooftop solar and will have 50 per cent more capacity than any other state by the mid-2030s.
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Norton Rose Fulbright partners Simon Currie and Vincent Dwyer to establish new energy advisory business

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-03-22 12:39
The new business will provide strategic consulting and guidance, and transaction advisory services. The business will also be a start-up and growth company accelerator for the energy sector.
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