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Construction begins on Acciona's 157.5MW Mortlake South wind farm, including Victoria's first underground transmission line, in response to community concerns.

The post Construction begins on Mortlake South wind farm, transmission lines to be buried appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fruit ripening is all about plants getting animals to eat the seeds that are inside their fruits. This helps the plants get their seeds to somewhere new where they can grow into a new plant. Paul Holford, Professor of Agricultural Biotechnology, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Electric vehicles may already be killing demand for petrol and diesel cars in Australia - and they haven't even arrived yet.

The post Plunging sales suggests end is nigh for fossil fuel cars in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A new petition is urging state and federal governments to rein in Australia's rampant land clearing, which worsens the risk of bushfires and threatens to undo the work of the Emissions Reduction Fund. Martine Maron, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland Andrea Griffin, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Newcastle April Reside, Researcher, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Zoo officials warn that barriers are "there for a good reason" after a woman is injured.

Swansea council can issue £100 fines for incorrect disposal of items such as plastic and glass in general refuse

A pair of council officers in hi-vis jackets scrutinise a clipboard before approaching a bungalow on a windswept estate on the western outskirts of Swansea. They are looking for residents who have sneaked recyclables into black bin bags destined for landfill sites or incineration plants.

Recycling promotion officer Scott Matthews shakes two bulging, partly ripped bags and listens to the telltale clinks and clanks: “There’s glass and cans in these. There is food too. And there is no recycling out whatsoever.”

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Former archbishop of Canterbury uses video message to support non-violent civil disobedience

The former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has backed pupils who have been taking part in school strikes to protest over climate change and who are planning to join a “climate rebellion” next month, warning that the ecological crisis means “the future of the human race is now at stake”.

Williams, whose stark comments come amid a growing wave of protests over the scale of the ecological crisis, said non-violent civil disobedience should have “wide and deep” support from the public.

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Producer Monsanto is facing thousands of lawsuits from customers who now have cancer. But not all experts are convinced of a link…

As a third-generation cotton farmer in Bakersfield, California, John Barton estimates that he sprayed thousands of gallons of the herbicide Roundup over the course of his 30-year working life.

“My family were farming 1,000 acres of cotton, so we’d be out in the fields spraying it, and we’d get our pants wet, our shoes wet, our socks wet, and if the wind changed it would blow in our face,” Barton tells me. “We did that spring, summer and fall for most of my life. There was really no regulation at the time that we were spraying Roundup; no one was offered any protection. But I didn’t think anything of it, as they kept telling us how safe it was.”

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Joe Cunningham intervened in a House committee hearing on the environmental impact of seismic air-gun testing. The Democrat reached for the 120-decibel device after the official claimed the practise, used to locate underwater oil deposits, would have no effect on marine animals. Cunningham said seismic air guns were 16,000 times louder than his air-horn

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Hyke gin is part of effort to drive down UK’s annual £20bn food waste bill

A major British fruit supplier and a craft spirits producer have teamed up to find a way to prevent an estimated 166m surplus supermarket grapes from going to waste every year – by turning them into gin.

The new Hyke gin – the first in the UK to be made from grapes grown to be eaten fresh – goes on sale at 300 Tesco branches later this month.

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The canyon, which turns 100 this year, sees 6 million annual visitors. An Arizona travel writer reveals how to get off the beaten track

The Grand Canyon is already a pretty famous hole in the ground in Arizona. Now, with Grand Canyon national park celebrating its centennial in 2019, it’s receiving an additional jolt of publicity. Six million people visit each year, and if you happen to be there on a holiday weekend, it feels like you’re stuck behind all of them.

Yet here’s the thing – Grand Canyon is big, an immense tear in the earth’s fabric 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep. So it’s not hard to find privacy if you know where to look. Here are some tips to get you started.

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The zinc bromide battery uses two ubiquitous elements and poses no risk of combustion.

One project in Bristol is linking scientists with takeaways to solve their plastic container problem.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

California regulators ARB should take steps by year-end to provide clarity about the number of allowances and offsets banked in the WCI market, the US state's legislative officials wrote in a letter.

IGCC, which represents big funds, says ‘small-scale’ package is unlikely to offer a durable policy framework

Scott Morrison’s recent pivot on climate policy is unlikely to have a positive impact on Australia’s emissions profile because it fails to grapple with the underlying drivers of increased pollution, according to a new analysis by the Investor Group on Climate Change.

The IGCC, a group that represents institutional investors such as super funds, with total funds under management of about $2tn, has told its members Morrison’s “climate solutions package” won’t change the current trajectory of rising emissions because it is “small scale and unlikely to be a durable policy framework through time”.

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A summary of legislative action on carbon pricing and clean energy bills at the US state level taken this week, including carbon tax proposals in Hawaii and Maryland and 100% carbon-free electricity bills in Minnesota and New Mexico.

The New Hampshire Senate approved a bill Thursday that would install the northeast US RGGI cap-and-trade programme's post-2020 Model Rule, moving the proposal to the lower legislative chamber, a state official confirmed.

Tough choices ahead for agriculture and the 'invisible drought' that's difficult to monitor underground.

EUAs settled just above €23 for a modest loss on Friday after a choppy session that saw carbon briefly extend this week's one-month high as traders eyed next week's looming UK Brexit votes and ETS compliance deadline.