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Country diary: wildflowers struggle in the heartless heat
Folly Farm, Somerset: Even sun-loving insects have been suffering as their food plants wither and nectar sources dry up
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Open letter to energy ministers: Release NEG modelling in full
Timor Leste a Mecca for whales but they face threats
One third of all cetacean species are found in the waters off Timor Leste, but measures are needed to protect them
Olive Andrews believes Timor Leste could be one of the best destinations in the world for whale watching. Andrews - a research scientist with a particular interest in cetaceans - drew this conclusion when she joined a survey team assessing the coastal waters north of Timor Leste in October 2016. “I’ve never seen such a biomass of cetaceans in such a small geography,” she says. “We encountered 2287 cetaceans from 11 species, including superpods of up to 600 individuals.”
There are 90 distinct species of cetacean - and at least 30 of them occur in Timor Leste. These include both local populations like melon headed whales and spinner dolphins, and migratory species like humpbacks and pygmy blue whales. Managed properly, whale tourism could generate significant income for Timor Leste, one of the world’s youngest - and poorest - nations.
AEMO’s Zibelman admits “hiccup” in new solar and wind connections
Australia renewables boom rolls on, but NEG shadow looms
The Black-Allan Line
US wind continues record growth despite Trump’s coal fetish
Spanish solar thermal group models 85% renewable energy plan
Butler lambasts “pathetic” emissions target, “silly” pursuit of coal
Spider mower blitzes vegetation underneath PV panels
Manitoba releases draft framework for regulating large emitters under carbon tax
Livestock treatment may offer solution to antibiotics crisis, say scientists
Dosing animals with antibodies from their own immune systems could prevent illness and reduce the need for antibiotics
Using animals’ own immune systems may provide a way to reduce the overuse of antibiotics in farming, replacing the drugs with cheap farm byproducts and cutting the growing risk of resistance to common medicines, new research has suggested.
Natural antibodies, produced by the immune system without previous infection, in animals and humans, can protect the body against harmful bacteria. They are present in some usually unconsidered farm byproducts, such as the whey left over from milk production, and they could be administered to animals easily in feed.
Continue reading...Largest king penguin colony shrinks 90% in 30 years
The National Energy Guarantee is a flagship policy. So why hasn't the modelling been made public?
EU Market: EUAs hold above €17 as summer auction cuts near
California LCFS credits surpass $190 on eve of data release
Massachusetts GHG, energy goals bolstered with signing of international hydroelectric contract
Extreme weather could push UK food prices up this year, say farmers
Crops are wilting in parched fields, lowering the yields of kitchen staples including meat, wheat, potatoes, onions and milk
Staple foods from bread to potatoes, onions, milk and meat may be in shorter supply than usual this year and prices to consumers may have to rise, farmers have said, as they count the cost of the two-month drought and heatwave across the UK.
There will be little respite from the hot weather in many areas of the country, even as thunderstorms and heavy rains spread from the east, as farmers have seen their crops wilt, their fields parched and livestock struggle in the extreme conditions.
Continue reading...Australia's energy future
'This one has heat stress': the shocking reality of live animal exports
The global demand for meat means more animals are moved around the world than ever before. Activists say the conditions they endure are intolerable – and we are all turning a blind eye
At the Kapikule border crossing between Turkey and Bulgaria, Lesley Moffat charges forward, clipboard in hand, marching alongside the parked lorries loaded with live cows and sheep waiting in this no man’s land to be exported from the EU. Sometimes, the animals are left on the lorries for days, stuck inside metallic freight containers barely shielded from the blinding sun as truckers, bureaucrats, importers and exporters haggle over paperwork and fees.
The cows struggle to bring their heads close to the fresh air. Their containers are filled with urine and manure, levels of ammonia steadily rising inside the trailers as journeys wear on. Moffat – the founder of the Dutch-based charity Eyes on Animals – sticks her hand through the grating of one lorry to check the animals’ water supply. “Look at this,” she says, grabbing at the hay stuck into the water trough and pointing to the dung clogging it. “It gets full of dirty straw and shit, and they can never drink from it,” she says. “The drivers need to give them water in buckets.”
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