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Greens unveil policy promising to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, cut tax and rego costs for EVs, and to fund charging infrastructure.

New geological research from Utah suggests the end-Permian extinction was mainly caused by burning coal, ignited by magma

Earth has so far gone through five mass extinction events – scientists are worried we’re on course to trigger a sixth – and the deadliest one happened 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian geologic period. In this event, coined “the Great Dying,” over 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species went extinct. It took about 10 million years for life on Earth to recover from this catastrophic event.

Scientists have proposed a number of possible culprits responsible for this mass extinction, including an asteroid impact, mercury poisoning, a collapse of the ozone layer, and acid rain. Heavy volcanic activity in Siberia was suspected to play a key role in the end-Permian event.

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Wild birds may catch and spread diseases as they gather to feed in gardens, say scientists.

Chew Valley, Somerset: these unruly fields are what we call ‘ancient countryside’ and its pattern may go back to neolithic times

When we first visited Folly Farm some 30 years ago this 250-acre plot was up for sale. Gates were hanging from their hinges, the hedges were rampant and the pastures were waist-deep in flowers; the 20th century did not appear to have happened yet, nor even the 19th.

These unruly fields were carved from the land, not drawn by a ruler – the first farmers did not go in for squared-off corners as they hacked into the wildwood. The landscape historian Oliver Rackham called this “ancient countryside” (as opposed to the regular fields of “planned countryside” formed by the enclosures) and its pattern may go back as far as the neolithic period.

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A new rechargeable 'proton battery' - made chiefly from carbon and water - promises to outperform conventional lithium-ion batteries, while also being more environmentally friendly. John Andrews, Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Photographer Murdo Macleod visits New Zealand’s South Island where conservationists are seeking to protect the endangered yellow-eyed penguin from predation, disease and habitat destruction

At the end of the day, having avoided being bitten on the flipper by a barracouta or chewed by a shark, a shy yellow-eyed penguin prepares to come ashore and make its bed in the bush. Emerging from the surf, he scans the apparently empty sandy strip with his beady eye for signs of danger. Though he is a swift swimmer, he is fettered by his stumpy legs when ashore. But he grows confident as he comes close to the dense brush.

Then the unexpected happens: eight dark figures spring from three different locations and sprint toward the hoiho – or “little shouter” as the yellow-eyed penguin is known in Māori. He has been bushwhacked like this before and offers only token resistance. “Oh no, not again!” he may have thought.

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Some previously rare illnesses are becoming epidemics in some bird populations, scientists say

Garden bird feeders are contributing to the spread of serious diseases among wild birds, scientists have warned, causing previously rare illnesses to become epidemics in some populations.

Poor garden feeder hygiene, droppings accumulations and stale food are promoting the transmission of illnesses between garden birds as the animals repeatedly congregate in the same location, coming into contact with species they would not usually interact with in the wild.

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Following his shocking photographs of dead albatross chicks and the diet of plastic that killed them, Chris Jordan’s new film is a call to action to repair our broken relationship with planet Earth

We are living in a plastic age and the solutions may seem glaringly obvious, so why aren’t all 7.6 billion of us already doing things differently? Shocking statistics don’t guarantee effective change. So what’s the alternative? American photographer and filmmaker Chris Jordan believes the focus should be on forcing people to have a stronger emotional engagement with the problems plastic causes. His famous photographs of dead albatross chicks and the colourful plastic they have ingested serve as a blunt reminder that the planet is in a state of emergency.

While making his feature-length film Albatross, Jordan considered Picasso’s approach: “The role of the artist is to respect you, help you connect more deeply, and then leave it up to you to decide how to behave.”

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16 March 1918: lighted by early sunshine, the great willows show the first extended view of spring

Surrey, March 14
Great willows, tall and broad almost as beeches, stand about the lane which leads from the river bank up to the scarred downs. Lighted by early sunshine they show the first extended view of spring. Long, delicate branches droop yards. All are golden-green; they fill the eye with new colour as they wave in a strong wind, while larks soar toward the sky and a chaffinch sings lightly on the straggling bramble. This, too, is speckled with young shoots; the quicks are budded on their southern side; lords and ladies away in the spinney have leaves that lap across hazel roots where the woodman has been at work; even the moss upon felled ash trees is fresher. Flowers are more abundant on the primroses; these last keep their bloom a long time. A clump marked in a quiet corner of the wood in mid-February still bears the same flowers – intervening frosts have scarcely touched the edge of their petals.

Related: 100 years ago: Rabbits burrow into willow tree

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Rooftop solar reaches 2GW mark in Queensland, but latest monthly installations sees NSW pipping sunshine state as biggest market in February.

Digestion of plastic into much smaller fragments ‘doesn’t necessarily help pollution’, Australian researchers say

A world-first study by Australian researchers has found that krill can digest certain forms of microplastic into smaller – but no less pervasive – fragments.

The study, published in Nature Communications journal on Friday, found that Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, can break down 31.5 micron polyethylene balls into fragments less than one micron in diameter.

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Monash University is delighted to announce that Ms Chloe Munro AO has accepted the role of Professorial Fellow at Monash University.

More than one-third of SA wholesale electricity costs over summer came from price spikes in less than 1% of the time. They pushed overall costs up by 50%.

Right wing politicians and media pushing trumped up figures to call for reduction in rooftop solar incentives in a campaign reminiscent of the "$100 lamb roast."

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What happens to a town that has been abandoned for seven years after a nuclear meltdown? Greenpeace took former residents and a 360-degree camera into the radiation zone north of Fukushima to mark the anniversary of the disaster. The Fukushima Daiichi plant was damaged by a tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake on the afternoon of 11 March 2011. The tsunami killed almost 19,000 people along the north-east coast of Japan and forced more than 150,000 others living near the plant to flee radiation. Some of the evacuated neighbourhoods are still deemed too dangerous for former residents to go back.

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If COAG gets behind AEMO's Integrated System Plan, instead of the NEG, Australia may yet manage the transition to a low-carbon economy in a way we can be proud of.

Brisbane based EV fast charger manufacturer Tritium sets up office in Netherlands, to capture greater share of booming European EV market.

Carnegie Clean Energy negotiates plans for 10MW solar farm, with up to 10MWh battery storage, in an industrial estate in south-western W.A.

Join a feral fox hunt in Western Australia; a monster saltwater croc goes to school; we head off on a camel beach safari; and volunteers harvest the hops at Van Dieman Brewing.

Green groups welcome proposed changes to land-clearing law but there are still reasons to doubt they are enough to halt the crisis

Last week, the Queensland government tabled a highly anticipated bill seeking to implement its promise to “end broadscale clearing in Queensland”.

Queensland is responsible for more tree clearing than the rest of the country combined, so making good on that promise would go a long way to halting Australia’s growing land clearing crisis.

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