Around The Web

A great grey owl, a robin in the snow and a festive reindeer are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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New Chinese restrictions on imported waste could see millions of tonnes of cardboard being sent back, as the UK struggles to prepare for rapid rule changes

Imminent restrictions by the Chinese on importing cardboard from the rest of the world are likely to cause chaos in the UK in the coming weeks, according to a leading recycling expert.

From 1 January, China will impose much stricter quality restrictions on imported cardboard as well as banning the importation of all plastic waste and mixed paper rubbish from all over the world. The move is part of president Xi Jinping’s drive to create a “beautiful China” with a clean environment.

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After the Guardian and EHRP published a piece about the record number of farmers who are killing themselves, there were hundreds of responses

• Why are America’s farmers killing themselves in record numbers?

On 6 December, The Guardian and EHRP published our piece Why are America’s farmers killing themselves in record numbers? We hoped for a reaction, but the feedback we received was beyond any expectations we might have had.

Today when I spoke with farm psychologist Dr Mike Rosmann, who featured heavily in the piece, he was wading through a slew of new messages and responding to an email from a farmer in Europe. Since the story was published, Rosmann says “the faucet has turned on”. He has received hundreds of comments and requests, online and by phone, many of which he says are from farmers reaching out for support.

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A genetic study shows the decline of one of the rarest mammals on Earth began during the last Ice Age.

Its been another fantastic year for the ASBN! Have a quick whirlwind of the 2017 ASBN Experience!

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Great Hucklow, Derbyshire At the derelict mine all is not quiet as the sound of birds cuts through the muffling snow and the ruins speak of a riotous noisy past

The broad track down to Silence Mine was muffled with snow, the more slender boughs of its modest avenue bowed under inches of it, sporadic puffs of wind pushing drifts into the air. Perched halfway up Hucklow Edge, among the ruined mine structures, I could look across the broad, walled pastures above Foolow, dazzling in the bright sunshine, the sky a milky blue, a creamy knot of sheep standing to attention in a distant field.

Sunlight pierced a thick stand of hawthorn just behind me, the haws blood-red against the brilliant white. Just below, the choked pit shaft, as so often in Derbyshire, had been plugged with an ash, the snow around it dotted with rabbit prints.

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Australia's national obsession with prescribed burning won't be enough to manage the growing risk of devastating bushfires. James Furlaud, PhD Student in Fire Ecology, University of Tasmania David Bowman, Professor, Environmental Change Biology, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The government's handshake deal with gas suppliers may have stopped the market plunging off a cliff, but it's not doing much more. David Blowers, Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

World-first solar train - running with its own solar and battery storage - to be launched in Byron Bay on Saturday.

Westpac says at least 20 big companies are tendering for wind and solar plants as they look to bypass soaring grid costs and look for self-generation.

Audit office slams Australia's CCS funding programs, saying $450 million spent, and nothing achieved: Not a single tonne of CO2 saved, no technology ready for deployment, from a scheme that has been a governance catastrophe.

The solar, wind, battery, and electric car “miracles” have gone mainstream.

CEFC notches up 1 gigawatt of big solar investment across Australia, after committing another $207m to two new projects in Victoria and Queensland.

As Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion, it beggars belief that the ACCC continues to pander to the gas cartel.

A 420MW unit at Liddell coal generator is out of action and won't be available for most of summer; a 700MW unit at Mt Piper also failed, and two other big coal units tripped in the first week of the summer heatwave.

If you missed the annual Geminid meteor shower, cameras captured the celestial display over China.

Concerns over air pollution, food security and the loss of forests are driving the Chinese response to climate change, according to Charles Bedford from The Nature Conservancy.

Every December Australia's air travel peaks, as we travel to family and friends (or flee on holiday). Many buy carbon offsets for these flights – but what do they actually do to our carbon emissions? Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Director, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University Brendan Mackey, Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Neonicotinoids have increasingly been linked to problems in bee populations.

Nasa finds a distant star circled by eight planets, equal to the complement in our own Solar System.