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The warm winter and wet spring spawned a mollusc army. Now they’ve invaded my brassicas, I’m at war with my conscience

It’s the beginning of summer, yet as I type these words, I’m watching sheets of rain coming down at an angle as my chickens cower under their hen house. Aside from a few gloriously sunny days, it feels like the rain hasn’t stopped since the middle of last autumn. While most of my plants appreciate the moisture, the wetter than usual weather has led to some issues in my veg patch.

Our heavy clay soil is more compacted than ever and the slugs and snails now reign, busily mowing down the young plants I raised from seed and entrusted to the veg beds. They came for the lettuces first, which didn’t survive their first night in the soil. Then they came for the brassicas – the radishes, the kohlrabi and the red Russian kale – stripping their leaves back to the scrawny mid-rib, destroying the centre so there was no chance of them growing back. After I convinced myself that they wouldn’t go for strong flavours, they devoured the coriander and dill seedlings that I’d planted, too. All the crops that I’d hoped to be harvesting by now are nowhere to be seen.

Claire Ratinon is an organic food grower and writer

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It appears some people have learned absolutely nothing from 20 years of climate wars.

The post Dutton’s dumping of climate target would be a disaster for power prices, families and business appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Landowners with properties near new transmission lines and towers could be in line for payments of up to $40,000 under a new government proposal.

The post Government offers up to $40,000 to neighbours with views spoiled by new transmission lines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Federal government says opposition is saying ‘white is black’ following Peter Dutton’s comments to News Corp on Paris climate agreement

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The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has savaged the Coalition after a frontbencher insisted the opposition was “absolutely committed” to the Paris climate agreement a day after leader Peter Dutton foreshadowed he would scrap Labor’s target to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030.

Dutton told the Weekend Australian he would oppose the legislated 2030 target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election, declaring there was “no sense in ­signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.

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Tony Wolfe says he has been advocating for renewables for about 15 years, "because the writing's been on the wall that coal is going to end."

The post Winds of fortune: Coal workers eye “jobs for life” with offshore renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Peter Dutton's threat to pull out of the Paris agreement while the country waits two decades for nuclear would make Australia a "global laughing stock", activists say.

The post “Global laughing stock:” Dutton’s threat to tear up Paris climate target labeled a disaster appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A race for the lunar surface's resources is currently under way. What’s to stop a Wild West opening up?

A race for the lunar surface's resources is currently under way. What’s to stop a Wild West opening up?

Woman, 45, sustained ‘significant trauma’ and had part of arm amputated after one attack, and two teens were injured in another

Two separate shark attacks at Florida beaches wounded three swimmers, including two teenagers, prompting some popular vacation spots to temporarily close, according to authorities.

A shark bit a 45-year-old woman at about 1.20pm on Friday while she swam at Watersound beach, along the coast of Walton county, Florida, in the eastern part of the state.

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Ratings service Renoster has launched an open-access database containing detailed geospatial boundaries of 575 nature-based carbon projects, aiming to enhance the transparency and accountability of offsetting efforts globally.

Imogen May has withheld payments since 2019 and is thought to be one of thousands boycotting water charges

South West Water has taken a legal stake in a customer’s home after she withheld her bill payments in a protest over sewage dumping in rivers and the sea.

Thousands of water company customers are thought to be withholding payments but this is the first known case of a company enforcing a claim against a customer’s home.

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Opposition leader reportedly told News Corp he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election

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Peter Dutton has been accused of planning to break Australia’s commitment to the landmark Paris climate agreement after he said he would reject the country’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.

The opposition leader reportedly told the Weekend Australian that he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election but remain committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

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The photo taken by Bill Anders is one of the most famous images ever snapped in outer space.

How scientists are discovering secrets of Antarctic climate change in the bodies of giant humpback whales.

How scientists are discovering secrets of Antarctic climate change in the bodies of giant humpback whales.

Speculators were the only group buying California Carbon Allowances (CCAs), while traders reduced net length across the rest of North American carbon markets as prices in the secondary market retraced, according to weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Verified emissions in the UK ETS fell by 12.5% in 2023, the government announced late Friday, with the decrease in output driven by a steep fall in emissions from power generation, even as output from aviation rose for the third successive year.

The emissions from the war in Gaza are still higher than the annual GHG output of tens of countries, according to a study published Friday.

Environment Agency figures show an average of 40 warnings and alerts a day were issued during period

A record number of flood alerts and warnings were issued in Great Britain in the first four months of 2024, averaging 40 a day, according to analysis of Environment Agency figures.

Round Our Way, a not-for-profit organisation supporting people in the UK affected by the climate crisis, obtained data from the agency under the Freedom of Information Act on the number of warnings and alerts issued across the country since records began in 2006.

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A price between $150 and $200 per tonne should be the “ultimate” cost goal for the direct air capture (DAC) industry, according to the CEO of a large developer.