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Allendale, Northumberland: The dazzling monkey flower is having a bumper year in the upper reaches of the Tyne river system

The dry grass prickles my sandalled feet as I cross the biscuit-coloured field towards the East Allen. The green and cool haugh has burned up in the heat, its smell become Mediterranean, an earthy mix of dried clay and hay, bitter and sweet at the same time. The shrunken river threads its way between boulder islands, finding passage between rocks that are normally submerged. This year the monkey flowers are able to grow tall, untrammelled by the fast flow of water, unbattered by wind or flood. The Allen has become a river of gold.

Monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, was first recorded in the wild in Britain in 1824, having escaped from gardens. This non-native species comes from the west coast of North America, where it grows in wet places from sea level to high-altitude meadows. It is now well established along our water courses, around lakes and in damp pastures, setting abundant seed and rooting easily from fragments that get carried downriver. The more floods we have, the more it is likely to increase, so its spread may affect the richness of our riparian plant communities. It is certainly having a bumper year in the upper reaches of the Tyne river system.

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Days after ACCC calls for rooftop solar scheme to be abolished, new report identifies why more rooftop solar should be encouraged to reduce peak demand on hot days and boost system security.

Tesla says unprecedented chaos in South Australia's electricity market on Monday highlights need for quick shift to 5-minute settlement. Coalition predictably blames renewables, while ACCC waves its hands and says price gouging is perfectly legal.

BMW Group has confirmed Australian arrival of MINI Countryman plug-in hybrid EV in second quarter of 2019.

Mini has released some preliminary sketches for what promises to be the first fully electric production model for the quintessentially British brand.

California's greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to 1990 levels, well ahead of the state's 2020 target date.

Ireland becomes world’s first nation to legislate to divest completely from fossil fuels, after passage of bill compelling €8.9bn Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to withdraw all money invested in oil, gas and coal.

Wind, hydro and solar combined to supply 45.8% of Spain's electricity demand in first six months of 2018.

Next Kraftwerke has teamed up with sustainable energy company Eneco Belgium and battery supplier Alfen to integrate a 2-megawatt battery to its Virtual Power Plant Next Pool.

National Grid says rapid rise of EVs will help the UK shift towards more renewable and low-carbon electricity generation.

Australia’s exported greenhouse emissions are higher per person than even Saudi Arabia’s.

Heavy rains that hit western Japan last week have resulted in landslides and flooding – the worst the country has experienced in 36 years. The death toll has risen to 200, with most of those in the Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures

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MPs demand legislation to ensure the government delivers on post-Brexit air pollution promises

Mountain goat, red deer, cereal grains and a toxic fern: What our ancestors ate 5,000 years ago.

EDO NSW is a community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law and policy. Our mission is to help the community protect the environment through the law. We have a fantastic maternity leave-backfill opportunity in our Litigation Team to use your legal skills to develop and support our climate change litigation.

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

US carbon prices moved in opposite directions this week, but the change in values and volumes was minimal in both markets as new WCI data was published and the holiday season neared its peak.

How do you help a country get over plastic? By creating awareness and minor inconveniences and by providing lots of reminders. Kim Borg, Doctoral Candidate & Research Officer at BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Difficult to coordinate, yes. But it could ameliorate Australia’s waste and recycling woes

In June, a wide-ranging Senate inquiry into the state of Australia’s recycling system recommended a national container deposit scheme (CDS) be rolled out across the country.

Of all 18 inquiry recommendations, a national scheme is one that is at least part way there, all states except Tasmania and Victoria with an existing scheme or one soon to be implemented.

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Average credit prices in California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) continued to set new highs in June, as market participants await more information on credit figures from Q1 2018 and regulator ARB’s rulemaking package.