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Experts identify areas where coral reefs are flourishing against the odds despite overfishing and environmental pressure

Surprising “bright spots” where coral reefs are flourishing against the odds despite overfishing and environmental pressure have given new hope to conservationists.

Experts believe they could shine a light on better ways to protect embattled coral reefs affected by climate change, overfishing and pollution.

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Jack Conway was working in a bog cutting turf when he came across a massive chunk of butter.

Millions of diamondback moths have migrated from their eastern European breeding grounds to descend on English crops. But are they really a ‘biblical plague’?

As if Brexit and football violence weren’t enough to make us miserable about Europe, it seems that the UK is now experiencing an invasion of “Euro-moths”. Tens of millions of small but potentially lethal diamondback moths are crossing the North Sea, come to devastate our cabbages and cauliflowers.

The first signs of the invasion came last Saturday night, when observers reported a two-mile long cloud of moths near the Herefordshire market town of Leominster. As one witness reported: “It was like driving through rain.”

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Figures show the numbers of licenced diesels rose by 29% from 2012-15, despite warnings over their contribution to illegal levels of air pollution

Diesel vehicles have taken a record share of the market on London roads in recent years, despite warnings blaming them for contributing to the capital’s illegal levels of air pollution.

Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, has been lobbying for a diesel scrappage scheme, a policy that was backed by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, as a way of tackling the illegal high nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels caused by diesels.

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President François Hollande calls on other European countries to follow France’s lead by the end of the year

President François Hollande on Wednesday finalised ratification of the Paris climate accord reached in December 2015, making France the first industrialised country to do so.

“Signing is good, ratifying is better,” Hollande quipped at the Élysée Palace ceremony, flanked by environment minister Ségolène Royal, foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and other top officials.

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Ineos company emails reveal huge amounts of treated wastewater are likely to be disposed of in the sea

A UK shale gas company is considering dumping waste water from fracking in the sea, emails from the company show.

Ineos, which owns the Grangemouth refinery and holds 21 shale licences, many in the north-west, North Yorkshire and the east Midlands, has said it wants to become the biggest player in the UK’s nascent shale gas industry.

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New sediment data suggests the dinosaurs were rapidly done in, strengthening asteroid impact theory

Boring is beautiful when you’re studying a calamity, especially one as spectacular as the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. That’s because exciting sediments, full of variations and gaps, make it hard to disentangle the extinction signal from the noise of natural variability.

So you could say that James Witts, of the University of Leeds in the UK, lucked-out with an especially boring batch of sediments in Seymour Island on the Antarctic Peninsula (the part on the map that points up to South America). His study, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, catches the extinction of marine life in one of the most detailed records ever published for the end-Cretaceous. As Witts describes it:

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Green groups warn of UK’s opposition to EU bans on harmful pesticides and promises by the Leave campaign to cut nature protection laws

Brexit would be bad for Britain’s bees, according to campaigners, who point to the UK government’s opposition to EU bans on harmful pesticides and the desire of figures in the Leave camp to cut nature protections.

Bees and other pollinators are vital to producing food but have been harmed by loss of habitat, disease and pesticides. The EU banned three neonicotinoid pesticides in 2013 in the face of strong opposition from UK ministers.

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Parliament approves radical proposal of accelerated emissions cuts and carbon offsetting to achieve climate goal 20 years earlier than planned

Norway’s parliament has approved a radical goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030, two decades earlier than planned.

On Tuesday night MPs voted for an accelerated programme of CO2 cuts and carbon trading to offset emissions from sectors such as Norway’s oil and gas industries, which are unlikely to be phased out in the near future.

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Deception is everywhere in nature, as plants and animals turn trickster in the hope of eating or avoiding being eaten. The evolutionary biologist Martin Stevens introduces some subtle strategies in the game of life

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Exceptionally high numbers of the diamondback moth, that attacks crops such as cabbages and cauliflowers, have been recorded arriving in the UK

Experts have warned of a potential explosion in numbers of an invasive “super-pest” moth that attacks crops such as cabbages and cauliflowers.

Rothamsted Research, in Hertfordshire, issued a warning that exceptionally high numbers of the diamondback moth are arriving in the UK, after reports from a network of moth traps around the country.

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Renowned biologist E.O. Wilson wants to set aside half of the planet as protected areas for nature. But is this possible? And, if so, how would it work?

As of today, the only place in the universe where we are certain life exists is on our little home, the third planet from the sun. But also as of today, species on Earth are winking out at rates likely not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs. If we don’t change our ways, we will witness a mass extinction event that will not only leave our world a far more boring and lonely place, but will undercut the very survival of our species .

So, what do we do?

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The 2016 Great British Bee Count has reached the halfway point with more than 189,000 bees recorded so far. The annual count, which runs until 30 June, aims to help people learn more about bees, a key pollinator species that faces multiple threats. Here are some of the species spotted so far

• Download the free app to help monitor the British bee population and get tips for bee-friendly planting.
  

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The Bombay night frog favours a mating position previously unseen in frogs, making a total of seven in the Kama Sutra for Frogs.

Research has identified what is believed to be the world's oldest live yeast from a beer bottle.

Modelling shows Australian RET of 50% by 2030, rather than current trajectory of 34%, would almost double number of jobs created

Boosting renewable energy in Australia from the current trajectory of 34% of total energy by 2030 to 50% would double the number of new jobs created, according to modelling by Ernst & Young and the Climate Council.

The results come following a similar report from The Australia Institute this week comparing the employment implications of renewable energy policies of the three main parties, showing Labor and Greens policies would cause job growth in the sector, while Coalition policies would see a decline.

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Winter is here! Despite many Australians opting not to heat their homes to the point of complete comfort, many of us nevertheless will soon receive a nasty surprise when the energy bills arrive.

With Australia’s historically cheap energy, old housing stock in many areas, mild climate and frequent emphasis on low building costs, many homes are little more than “glorified tents” when it comes to thermal performance.

Besides wanting smaller bills, many residents also want to improve comfort, lessen their environmental impact and boost their home’s value.

So here is list of 22 things you can do to improve your home’s energy performance – some cheap, some free, and some that can even make you some money up-front as well as cutting your bills. Of course, to reach the ultimate goal of a home heated and powered by 100% renewable electricity you may still wish to put some solar panels on your roof, but why not consider the following actions first?

1. Make sure you get the maximum discount on your energy bills. Although not available everywhere, in Victoria discounts of up to 38% are available on gas or electricity. Ring up your retailer and just ask, or threaten to switch, or better yet seek out a retailer that doesn’t treat their discounts like state secrets.

2. Monitor your power usage with the help of a “smart” electricity meter or in-home electricity display. This real-time (or near-real-time) information is more useful than the coarse monthly data commonly printed on energy bills. It can help identify appliances that have inadvertently been left on or those that draw excessive power when not in use.

3. Heat your water off-peak. If you have a resistive-electric hot water storage tank, make sure it heats up at night, when off-peak power rates apply. In some areas, “time of use” rates are available.

4. Get rid of your ‘garage fridge’. It can cost hundreds of dollars a year to run an inefficient 20-year-old fridge, especially if it’s in a garage that hits 50℃ in summer.

5. Ditch your super-hot plasma. If you have a 10-year-old television that gets so hot you can fry an egg on the screen, check out the newer models that can use one-tenth of the electricity.

6. Install a modern showerhead, such as those designed with double-impinging jet technology that use only 5 litres of water per minute. Old showerheads can pass up to 35 litres per minute. Why not grab a bucket and stopwatch and test yours?

7. Insulate any exposed hot water pipes, including the pressure-relief valve on your hot water tank. Make sure hot water pipes do not run uninsulated straight into the soil in your garden. Insulate electrically heated storage tanks where it is safe to do so.

8. Check your heaters and air conditioning. Gas heating systems should be checked at least every two years by a qualified person, not least to keep poisonous carbon monoxide gas at bay. All heating or cooling system filters should be cleaned regularly to improve energy efficiency and air quality.

9. Inspect your ducts. Poorly installed or degraded ductwork can lead to big energy losses, which can go unnoticed for decades. Ensure that small children or animals have not gone under your house and damaged your gas heating ducts. Check also that air returns are properly “boxed-in” and do not draw air in from the wall cavity instead of from the living space. However, cleaning the inside of your ducts is not critical for energy saving, and risks damaging them in the process.

10. Banish drafts, for instance by plastering over those ubiquitous wall vents – relics from the days when homes relied on unflued heaters or gas lights. Seal off unused chimneys and fill any other cracks, gaps or holes around doors, windows, skirting boards, floorboards and architraves. Remember to close air-conditioning ceiling vents in winter. Ventilation should be controlled by opening windows, not by having permanent holes in the walls.

Older houses can be full of drafts, including from wall vents which are a throwback to times when homes were full of indoor pollution. Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

11. Eliminate ceiling-mounted downlights wherever possible. A small number of modern wide-beam LEDs can adequately replace a larger quantity of narrow-beam halogen downlights. Aim to have as few holes cut into your ceiling as possible, because these holes let heat escape in winter and let it in during summer.

12. Install downlight covers over all downlights that protrude into accessible attic spaces. Not only does this reduce fire hazards and keep out insects, but it will also reduce air flow through the roof.

13. Replace all regularly used lights with LEDs. LEDs use a tenth of the energy of halogen or incandescent bulbs, so will pay for themselves in just a few months (even less in places where free replacement is on offer). Replace less regularly used bulbs with LEDs as and when they burn out, and vow never to buy a non-LED bulb again.

14. Insulate your attic…. If you don’t have roof insulation, buy some. If you do, check it meets the recommended “R value” for your climate. Ensure all vertical attic surfaces (walls, skylight tunnels) are also insulated, and include a layer of aluminium in your attic space. Thermal imaging can be used to identify existing flaws, such as gaps or sections of insulation inadvertently moved by tradespeople working in the attic.

15. …and your floors and walls too. In cooler Australian climate zones, floor and wall insulation can help keep heat in, making your home warmer and cheaper to operate.

16. Cover your windows from the inside… with drapes, curtains or blinds. This will keep in heat at night and on cold winter days, and keep out the sun in summer. Cheaper or do-it-yourself thermal window treatments such as plastic films or even bubble wrap can be applied in some situations (just don’t expect to win any design awards).

17. …and the outside. Trees, plants, external awnings, blinds or shade sails can all keep out the summer sun and stop windows getting hot. Remember that significant heat will reflect onto windows from sizzling decks, paved areas and walls (but not lawns). It’s better to keep out the sun in the first place rather than try to cool your house down.

18. Double glazing for windows cuts out noise, improves security and saves energy too. For many Australian climate zones, I recommend that homeowners never buy a window in future that isn’t double-glazed. Retrofit options options such as “secondary glazing” are also available.

19. Fit a pool cover if you have a swimming pool. Not only will this stop the water cooling down overnight in summer, but a cover can also minimise cleaning, chemical use and the running time for your filter pump. Consider upgrading to a more efficient pump if yours is more than a decade old, and ensure it does not run for more hours each day than required.

Remember to cover up when not sunbathing. Kgbo/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

20. Use reverse-cycle to heat your home…. If your home has reverse-cycle air conditioning (also known as a heat pump), this may be the cheapest way to heat, especially as gas prices rise. On heat mode, reverse-cycle units harvest free renewable ambient heat from the air outside your home and pump it up to the toasty temperature you need inside. Having installed high-efficiency reverse-cycle units, I can heat my own home for one-third of the cost of ducted gas heating.

21. …and your water. If your hot water system is nearing its use-by date, consider replacing it with a heat pump. This is an especially good option for homes that already have solar panels and low feed-in tariffs.

22. If you can eliminate all gas use in your home (for space heating, water heating and cooking), you can eliminate your gas bill with its nearly A$1 per day fixed supply charges.

And then there is solar…

In Australia these days, you won’t be paid much money for selling your electricity back to the grid. However, it might still pay to install solar if you can consume most of the energy yourself, by running your pool pumps, appliances, space heating and cooling devices, hot water system and even an electric car with solar electricity harvested during the day.

In future, as electricity storage batteries get cheaper, there may be even more economic reasons to have solar panels on your roof.

This article doesn’t list every possible behavioural trick or home improvement. Sadly, some homes will never be fantastic energy performers without significant modification. But hopefully there are a few things on this list that will work for you – even if it’s only a case of finally covering that drafty doorstep, or giving your creaking “beer fridge” a dignified retirement.

In addition to his role at the University of Melbourne, Tim has conducted over 400 home energy assessments/consultations working or volunteering with organisations such as the not-for-profit Moreland Energy Foundation - Positive Charge.

Agency application on ecological sustainability - call for public comments open from 15 June 2016 until 15 July 2016

Sangduen Chailert, the founder of Chiang Mai’s Elephant Nature Park (ENP), sings lullabies to the elephants under her care. She first discovered the technique six years ago when trying to relax a difficult elephant calf and the technique was so successful she maintained the practice. The ENP is a 280-acre park that looks after rescue elephants that have suffered abuse. For more about the sanctuary see the ENP’s website

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We see their spokespeople quoted in the papers and their ads on TV, but beyond that we know very little about how Australia’s lobby groups get what they want. This series shines a light on the strategies, political alignment and policy platforms of ten lobby groups that can influence this election.

Formed in the mid-1960s, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is one of Australia’s longest-running and most influential environmental lobby groups. The non-profit membership organisation campaigns against pollution and mining, and advocates for clean energy and strong environmental laws.

The ACF’s major focus this election is shaping up to be the Great Barrier Reef. The recent, catastrophic bleaching event has thrust the Great Barrier Reef front and centre into the election debate, and the ACF is putting pressure on all major political parties to address this issue.

It seems this pressure is working. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this week announced a A$1 billion commitment for the Great Barrier Reef; although the ACF has criticised the lack of reference to climate change in this announcement.

CC BY-SA

ACF membership costs A$10 and those who join are encouraged to give additional contributions. Almost 90% of the ACF’s income derives from donations and bequests. It also receives a small amount of funding from federal and state government, and a modest amount from membership fees.

While the ACF does not explicitly align itself with any particular political party, the greener a party’s credentials, the higher it ranks in the ACF’s estimation.

Screenshot of the ACF's election scorecard.

The ACF’s Environmental Scorecard ranks the three major parties on their environmental credentials. The Greens leads the way with a 77% score. Labor is on 53%, and the Coalition on only 11%.

The ACF has also endorsed the Greens’ climate change policies. But it hasn’t explicitly suggested that people vote for them.

The ACF has made some progress through collaboration with the private sector. Since 2004, it has been part of the Australian Climate Roundtable (previously the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change). This unlikely coalition includes the Australian Aluminium Council, Australian Industry Group, Business Council of Australia, and Energy Supply Association of Australia. The coalition has agreed to a set of principles underpinned by an agreement to try and meet the Paris Agreement’s 2℃ target.

This approach of working with businesses, rather than against them, has arguably been one of the reasons for the ACF’s success.

The ACF also has a strong history of working with other environmental groups. The Places You Love Alliance brings together the ACF with other groups including the Wilderness Society and WWF, to campaign for stronger environmental laws.

Screenshot of the Places You Love website.

In recent years, the ACF has retreated from an “insider” approach of lobbying politicians for policy change, towards a more grassroots approach, harnessing community support. This is the basis for the ACF’s drive to put the Great Barrier Reef on the election agenda through amassing public support, rather than lobbying parties directly.

The ACF’s approach is more conservative than some other more radical environmental groups, which may be another reason for its success.

Much of the ACF’s success in achieving environmental objectives over the decades has occurred before the courts. In the late 1970s through the 1980s, the ACF launched several high-profile challenges to development on environmental grounds.

In 1980, the High Court of Australia prohibited the ACF from challenging a decision about a new resort in central Queensland. The High Court stated that “a belief, however strongly felt, that the law generally, or a particular law, should be observed” does not allow a group to challenge a decision.

Despite this setback, tenacity paid off. In a 1989 case, the ACF challenged a decision to grant licences for the export of woodchips. The Federal Court found the ACF had a “special interest” in the subject matter, permitting it to challenge the decision. This case famously extended the ability of public interest groups to challenge decisions made by government.

Even today, the “ACF cases” are still referred to as the basis for standing when a group seeks to challenge a decision.

More recently, the ACF challenged the original Carmichael Mine approval under the EPBC Act. This challenge never made it to final judgment before the Federal Court, as Environment Minister Greg Hunt conceded an error in the decision-making process.

The ACF tries to amass public support rather than lobbying politicians directly. Nathan Paull/AAP

This concession sparked the so-called “lawfare” saga when the then Attorney General George Brandis launched an offensive against the rights of environmental groups to engage in “lawfare”. He described this as litigation brought by groups that:

have no legitimate interest other than to prosecute a political vendetta against development and bring massive developments … to a standstill.

Following Hunt’s concession, the decision was set aside, and a new approval for the Carmichael mine was granted in October 2015. The ACF has since launched a challenge to this revised decision, which was heard by the Federal Court in May. The decision is pending.

The ACF has campaigned hard for strong action on climate change, throwing its weight behind a carbon price in the past. The short-lived carbon price introduced by the Gillard government is counted as one of the ACF’s successes.

But interestingly, a carbon price hasn’t featured as prominently in the ACF’s election campaign lobbying in 2016.

Read the other articles in The Conversation’s Australian lobby groups series here.

Justine Bell-James has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility.