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Scientists are investigating this rare evolutionary trait, thought to have evolved to improve offspring's chances of survival

Just like humans, killer whales experience menopause – and the rare evolutionary trait improves their offspring's chances of survival, according to experts.

Killer whales are one of only three species able to continue living long after they have stopped reproducing. This allows mothers to spend the rest of their life looking after their offspring.

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In the Perth and Peel regions, targeted research projects will be funded to facilitate evidence based decision making throughout the Perth and Peel strategic assessment process, focusing on sustainability and protecting matters of national environmental significance.

Agency 2013 application on ecological sustainability - comments open until 10 October 2013

Strategic assessment of the Perth and Peel regions

The Sustainable procurement guide describes a number of ways to assist purchasers, such as using the value for money assessment and understanding the supply chain. It provides measures that can be used in any procurement within the requirements of...

The National Sustainability Council has used the launch of its first public report to challenge Australians from all walks of life to become involved in a national conversation about the kind of Australia we want for ourselves and future generations.

The Lower Hunter strategic assessment will assess broad environmental, social and economic sustainability aspects within the local government areas of Newcastle, Maitland, Cessnock, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens.

The Lower Hunter strategic assessment will assess broad environmental, social and economic sustainability aspects within the local government areas of Newcastle, Maitland, Cessnock, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens.

As warnings of global climate change grow ever more dire, John Vidal offers 10 tips on how to prepare for an apocalyptic future

Britain is expected to get more extremes of heat and rainfall, so prepare for more severe floods, longer droughts and more powerful storms. No one knows quite what the effect over time will be of a slowing Gulf stream, or the melting of arctic sea ice, but climate scientists confidently expect temperatures to rise up to 4C by 2100. That could mean big shifts in rainfall patterns and a more unpredictable climate. So clear your drains, fix your roof and move to Wales – or at least to somewhere with good water supply. The worst that could happen? Your grandchildren will inherit inexorably rising temperatures that render much of the Earth uninhabitable. Their problem? Yes, but yours, too.

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SEng Victoria Newsletter - October 2013

Announcement of the reappointment of Professor Carmen Lawrence.

Round two of the Strategic Water Purchase Initiative in Victoria has commenced with a budget of up $5 million . Round two will close at 5.00 pm AEDT on 6 December 2013, unless the limit of the budget has been reached before this date.

Does Nature have rights?

Australia’s Native Vegetation Framework will guide native vegetation management across the Australian landscape. Australia's Native Vegetation Framework

100 percent of the global warming over the past 60 years is human-caused, according to the IPCC's latest report

The fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states with 95 percent confidence that humans are the main cause of the current global warming. Many media outlets have reported that this is an increase from the 90 percent certainty in the fourth IPCC report, but actually the change is much more significant than that. In fact, if you look closely, the IPCC says that humans have most likely caused all of the global warming over the past 60 years.

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SENG SA Chapter News and Events

Russians drop armed guards on to the deck and round up the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, which is protesting against Gazprom drilling

Armed Russian military have stormed a Greenpeace ship protesting against oil exploitation in remote Arctic waters.

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Six machines to exploit fast currents in Pentland Firth will be installed as first part of much larger planned tidal scheme

Six vast underwater turbines are to be lowered into the tidal currents of the Pentland firth in the first phase of one of the largest tidal energy schemes in Europe.

Permission to install the six squat machines, which look like underwater propellers, has been granted by Scottish ministers as a demonstration project to prove they work, with more than 50 of the machines eventually due to be installed on the seabed off Caithness.

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Climate contrarians appear to be running damage control in the media before the next IPCC report is published

The fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is due out on September 27th, and is expected to reaffirm with growing confidence that humans are driving global warming and climate change. In anticipation of the widespread news coverage of this esteemed report, climate contrarians appear to be in damage control mode, trying to build up skeptical spin in media climate stories. Just in the past week we've seen:

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Environment movement is in 'deep denial' over the right ways to tackle climate change, says Canadian author

Canadian author Naomi Klein is so well known for her blade-sharp commentary that it's easy to forget that she is, above all, a first-rate reporter. I got a glimpse into her priorities as I was working on this interview. Klein told me she was worried that some of the things she had said would make it hard for her to land an interview with a president of the one of the Big Green groups (read below and you'll see why). She was more interested in nabbing the story than being the story; her reporting trumped any opinion-making.

Such focus is a hallmark of Klein's career. She doesn't do much of the chattering class's news cycle blathering. She works steadily, carefully, quietly. It can be surprising to remember that Klein's immense global influence rests on a relatively small body of work; she has published three books, one of which is an anthology of magazine pieces.

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