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Climate change could boost wind power in Australia, reduce it in US, UK

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-12-13 10:17
Climate change could reduce amount of wind available for power production in UK and US, but increase winds in southern hemisphere countries like Australia.
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Woodside gas platform installs first battery micro-grid – to burn less gas

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-12-13 09:37
Woodside gas platform installs a 1MWh battery so it can use less gas in its generators.
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Nasa's New Horizons probe strikes distant gold

BBC - Wed, 2017-12-13 09:10
New observations suggest America's Pluto probe will see more than one object on its next flyby.
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Third round for new energy technology projects

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-12-13 08:23
The Andrews Labor Government today opened the third ro und of the New Energy Jobs Fund for new energy technology projects to encourage the up take of renewable energy and reduce emissions.
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Court upholds Obama-era ban on new Grand Canyon uranium mines

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-12-13 08:23

Celebration of the ruling by environmentalist has been tempered by expectations that the Trump administration will side with mining interests to end the ban

A powerful court ruled on Tuesday that an Obama-era ban on new uranium mines around the Grand Canyon should stay in place, though celebration on the environment side was tempered by expectations the government itself will now side with mining interests to end the ban. A separate, but linked, ruling on an older mine was a defeat for a Native American tribe.

The mining industry and a coalition of Republicans in Arizona and Utah had hoped for court support to tear down an order from the Obama administration in 2012 that protected a million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from mining development for 20 years. But they lost in the ninth circuit court of appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday.

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Weatherwatch: the 'halcyon days' of December hark back to the kingfisher

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-12-13 07:30

This shy little bird is linked to many bizarre beliefs about the weather

The ancients called them the “halcyon days” – a period of fine, settled weather, lasting roughly seven days, which began sometime in the first half of December. During this time, it was said that the kingfisher (also known as the halcyon) would lay its eggs on the surface of the sea.

The phrase, and the concept behind it, originated in ancient Greece, but during the Renaissance was popularised by several writers, including the poet Michael Drayton, who wrote of “the halcyon, whom the sea obeys…” and Shakespeare, where the halcyon features in a speech by Henry VI.

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The government is miscounting greenhouse emissions reductions

The Conversation - Wed, 2017-12-13 05:14
A review of the Emissions Reduction Fund has found it's performing well – but new research raises serious credibility issues. Tim Baxter, Researcher - Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Arctic permafrost thawing faster than ever, US climate study finds

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-12-13 05:04
  • Sea ice also melting at fastest past in 1,500 years, US government scientists find
  • ‘The Arctic is a very different place than it was even a decade ago’ – author

Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing faster than ever, according to a new US government report that also found Arctic seawater is warming and sea ice is melting at the fastest pace in 1,500 years.

The annual report released on Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed slightly less warming in many measurements than a record hot 2016. But scientists remain concerned because the far northern region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe and has reached a level of warming that’s unprecedented in modern times.

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Jupiter Great Red Spot has deep roots

BBC - Wed, 2017-12-13 03:22
Nasa's Juno probe begins to unlock the workings of the mighty storm that has raged on Jupiter for over 150 years.
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Interstellar asteroid checked for alien technology

BBC - Wed, 2017-12-13 02:51
A project searching for life in the cosmos will scan the first interstellar asteroid for signs of alien technology.
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'Face of climate change'?

BBC - Wed, 2017-12-13 02:34
Images of a starving Canadian bear go viral - but all may not be as it appears.
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Dracula ticks in amber tell ancient blood-sucking tale

BBC - Wed, 2017-12-13 02:20
Feathered dinosaurs were covered in ticks just like modern animals, according to fossil evidence.
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EU announces €9bn in funding for climate action

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-12-13 00:43

Funding will be focused on clean energy, and sustainable cities and agriculture

The European commission has announced funding of €9bn (£8bn) for action on climate change, one of a flurry of measures from governments, businesses and investors aimed at achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.

The EU funds will form part of the bloc’s External Investment Plan, and will be focused on sustainable cities, clean energy and sustainable agriculture. The announcement was made at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday, held to mark the second anniversary of the landmark 2015 pact.

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Calls for greater fossil fuel divestment at anniversary of Paris climate deal

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 21:04

Campaigners call for an end to fossil fuel finance and subsidies to avoid dangerous global warming at a meeting to mark two years since the signing of the landmark agreement

The Paris agreement on climate change, ratified by world governments a year ago, has failed to ensure major investors are moving away from fossil fuels with the urgency required to safeguard the planet, civil society groups have said.

Large companies, investors and national and local governments met in Paris on Tuesday to celebrate the second anniversary of the signing of the landmark 2015 agreement, which bound nearly all developed and developing countries for the first time to keep global temperatures below 2C, the threshold scientists regard as the limit of safety.

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How big oil is tightening its grip on Donald Trump's White House

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 21:00

The oil industry has stalled action on climate change from the inside and sold America on fossil fuels – and its influence goes back further than people realize

When Rick Perry was interrupted by climate-change protesters during his address to the National Petroleum Council in late September, the energy secretary was ready with a retort.

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Golden eagles released in Scotland with hope they will fly south

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 20:48

Conservationists launch project to restore bird numbers with view to reintroducing them in northern England and Lake District

Conservationists hope golden eagles will start reappearing over northern England and the Lake District as part of a project to release up to 10 eagles in southern Scotland.

The birds will start to be released at a secret location south of Edinburgh from next year in a £1.5m programme by conservationists and landowners to restore golden eagle numbers in the southern uplands, where they have struggled to survive.

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Climate change: Trump will bring US back into Paris deal - Macron

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 20:35
But the French leader says he will not agree to a demand that America's terms should be negotiated.
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UK to bring back beavers in first government flood reduction scheme of its kind

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 19:47

Beaver family will be released in the Forest of Dean to stop a village from flooding, with potential for further such schemes to follow

A valley in the Forest of Dean will echo to the sound of herbivorous munching next spring when a family of beavers are released into a fenced enclosure to stop a village from flooding, in the first ever such scheme funded by the government.

The plan for the village of Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, may soon be joined by other schemes. The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has indicated that the government may support other schemes to restore the beaver four centuries after it was driven to extinction in England and Wales.

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It's beloved, but Australia's magpie is an international bird of mystery | Leo Joseph

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 18:30

Our magpies are not the same as Europe’s, so why do they share a name? The bird of the year has a complicated back story

The Australian magpie has been crowned bird of the year but how much do we really know about it? Where do magpies fit in the evolutionary scheme of things? Why do we even call them magpies?

DNA sequencing technology has revolutionised biology. Our understanding of the evolutionary tree of bird life – that is how species and groups of birds are related to each other and how their evolution has unfolded on the planet’s changing continents – is no exception. We now have a much better understanding than we did just 30 years ago of where all the species of the world’s birds perch, so to speak, on that tree.

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Insurance giant Axa dumps investments in tar sands pipelines

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 18:00

Axa will also stop insuring US oil pipelines for business and ethical reasons, taking fossil fuel divestment to new level

One of the world’s biggest financial services companies is both dumping investments and ending insurance for controversial US oil pipelines, taking fossil fuel divestment to a new level.

Axa is also quadrupling its divestment from coal businesses and increasing its green investments fivefold by 2020. The moves were announced at the One Planet Summit in Paris, called by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to accelerate the use of global finance in fighting climate change.

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