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Wolves once hunted these Helsfell slopes

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-10-17 14:30

Kendal, Lake District A skeleton unearthed by a Victorian archaeologist should give us clues as to when wolves last roamed the Lakeland fells

From my study window I watch jackdaws making their chattering sorties above the rooftops and over Kendal Fell. Across the road a footpath leads up the fell, less well known now as Helsfell, and on through two small areas of woodland. What I can’t see, and hadn’t known until recently, though I walk the area most days, is that deep in the far wood is a cave of significant archaeological importance.

In the 1880s an amateur archaeologist, John Beecham, spent five summers excavating it. He discovered the bones of bear, wild cat, polecat, wild boar and iron age oxen – Bos longifrons, the first domesticated cattle – and the complete skeleton of a wolf. All undated, the collection became dispersed, but the wolf still resides in Kendal Museum, which is having it restored with the help of Arts Council funding].

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Historic climate deal reached on potent refrigerant gases

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 14:06
The Kigali Amendment on hydrofluorocarbons tacitly recognises that the hippies were right all along, but lamentably none of the current players have been gracious enough to say so.
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Federal resources minister hoorays Adani coal (and solar) jobs

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 14:01
Federal resources minister Matt Canavan hoorays Adani job search for coal mine, although it it also looking for someone to further its solar plans.
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Tesla and Panasonic to collaborate on PV cell and module production in Buffalo, New York

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 13:47
Tesla and Panasonic have entered into a non-binding letter of intent under which they will begin collaborating on the manufacturing and production of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules in Buffalo, New York.
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Australia takes centre stage on global green climate funds

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 13:33
An Australian is to take charge of the troubled $100 billion Green Climate Fund, in a move that indicates Australia is not completely out of touch on climate change and renewable energy. But is it developing one language on climate for the international stage, and another for the toxic and partisan domestic market?
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Antarctic marine reserves deal within reach as Russia thaws environmental stance

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-10-17 13:10

After five years of failed negotiations, conservations are hopeful Russia is prepared to make a deal to protect the Ross Sea and East Antarctica

An international agreement to protect some of Antarctica’s unique and pristine marine ecosystems could be reached within a fortnight, with scientists and conversationists hopeful of a breakthrough after five years of failed negotiations.

Delegates from 24 nations and the European Union gathered in Hobart on Monday to commence two weeks of talks at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

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Know your NEM: D-day for Australia’s dirtiest power plant

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 13:08
Big week for NEM as Hazelwood decision looms. Meanwhile, electricity prices in NSW jump as coal generator goes off-line.
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Australian fisherman fends off great white shark with a broom – video

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-10-17 12:51

Dan Hoey, an angler from Port Fairy, a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, was out fishing with his brother and a client when he noticed a great white shark circling his boat. Video captured by Hoey’s chartered fishing business, Salty Dog Charters, shows him fending off the shark with a household broom

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Who has the best tap water?

ABC Environment - Mon, 2016-10-17 12:06
This week the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) stages the Best Tap Water in Australia competition in Marysville, Victoria. The winner could take out the global contest.
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Tritium launches a Veefil range of fast chargers for electric vehicles

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:37
Tritium has announced it will showcase three new chargers on its stand (A5-309) at eCarTec in Munich (18-20 October).
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Discover Australia’s ‘Green House’ on the Airbnb Sustainability Tour

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:29
For the first time, the public will be able to explore beneath the sails of the world’s most famous house to find out how this pioneering green building is making itself more environmentally friendly.
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Visions clash at World Energy Congress in Istanbul

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:26
World Energy Council gives out clear message on move away from fossil fuels, but the fossil fuel industry wasn't listening.
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Coal CEO calls Tesla a “fraud,” doesn’t mention subsidies for failing coal

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:24
Unpacking the unruly exchange between Elon Musk and the head of a struggling US coal company.
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CEFC adds Townsville-based Tracy Lines to QLD team

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:21
Tracey Lines has joined the CEFC to help accelerate the development of clean energy investment opportunities in north Queensland.
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Powering the future: hundreds to bring ideas to Melbourne

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:04
Neighbours building power stations together, renters having access to clean energy and families taking control of their electricity supply is the future of Australia’s power industry.
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Photo of the Day: Biggest wind turbine blades arrive in Australia

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 11:00
The first of the massive – biggest in Australia – wind turbine blades arrive for NSW 175MW White Rock wind farm.
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Ceremony to mark start of Attenborough polar ship construction

BBC - Mon, 2016-10-17 09:04
Construction of the UK's new £200m polar research ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, formally begins on Monday at the Cammell Laird yard on Merseyside.
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Use of strongest antibiotics rises to record levels on European farms

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-10-17 09:01

Medicines classified as ‘critically important in human medicine’ appear to be in frequent use, says European Medicines Agency

Use of some of the strongest antibiotics available to treat life-threatening infections has risen to record levels on European farms, new data shows.

The report reinforces concerns about the overuse of antibiotics on farms, following revelations from the Guardian of the presence of the superbug MRSA in UK-produced meat, in imported meat for sale in UK supermarkets, and on British farms.

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ACT’s 100% renewable energy target safe after Liberals’ election fail

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2016-10-17 07:37
ACT Labor government returned, possibly with help of Greens, leaving no doubt about future of 100% renewable energy target.
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Taking shelter from the blinding sheets of rain: Country diary 100 years ago

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-10-17 07:30

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 17 October 1916

Grey clouds, like wisps of smoke, raced yesterday across a sullen, leady sky, and the roaring woods scattered their bronzed leaves for the savage wind to play with. Then the scud came, rain wind-driven in blinding sheets, forcing the cattle under the lee of the hedge and rattling on the thatched stack like hail. But soon all changed; the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and the sun found a gap through which it could shine cheerfully; the sheep in the stubbing shook themselves, showering rainbow-tinted drops from their heavy fleeces, and a few larks, rising some fifty feet or so above their chirruping comrades, sang joyfully. In the wood the bracken is yellow or brown, withering fast, but red campions still flower abundantly and there are blossoms on the brambles; these will never fruit, and many of the still red berries cannot ripen unless the sun has more continuous power.

The wind-lashed mere was flecked with white-capped waves, which broke in light spray even against the low-sunk bodies of the grebes and in actual foam against the bluff breasts of the sooty coots. In the shelter of the western wood were four herons, two on the swaying branches, two on mooring stumps, half opening their great wings occasionally when a fiercer gust than usual disturbed their balance; but a score of martins – young birds, too – continued their incessant fly-hunt, skimming this way or that, indifferent to wind or rain, and ready to nip at any gnat or small fly which ventured from its leafy shelter in the fitful gleams of sunshine.

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