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Australia's regions already have an energy crisis – and a climate of investment is the answer

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-05-12 09:26

Community energy groups are coming up with renewable energy schemes. Shouldn’t government extend a hand to help them?

Yackandandah, like most Australian towns, has had its ups and its downs. One of its biggest ups was the north-east Victorian gold rush. By the 1890s our town was full of miners toiling to extract what was left of its alluvial gold. The only thing holding these folks back was an energy crisis. The miners were unable to source the power needed to sluice and dredge or crush the ore. The solution was a water race from high up on the West Kiewa river, which wasn’t the brainchild of government, or even the mines department – but rather a local man.

John Wallace, a Yackandandah resident, recognised a problem that needed immediate action and set about solving it.

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Greenpeace activists target destructive fishing in Indian Ocean – in pictures

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-05-12 00:25

With some Indian Ocean tuna stocks on the brink of collapse, the expedition exposes harmful methods by the world’s largest tuna company, Thai Union, owner of John West

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Heathrow to ban night flights as part of plan for third runway

The Guardian - Wed, 2016-05-11 18:54

Airport will ban arrivals and departures before 5.30am, and support the launch of an independent noise authority

Heathrow has agreed to curb night flights if permission is granted for a third runway, as it announced measures it claimed met all the conditions set by the Airports Commission for its expansion plan.

As well as banning all arrivals and departures before 5.30am, the airport said it would support the introduction of an independent noise authority, and pledged not to add new capacity unless it can do so without delaying UK compliance with EU air quality limits.

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The impact of global warming on our health

ABC Environment - Wed, 2016-05-11 18:43
Are we underestimating the biomedical implications of global warming?
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Dyson could become next Tesla with its electric car, says expert

The Guardian - Wed, 2016-05-11 16:00

Filed patents show the British engineering firm may use solid-state batteries that could stretch electric car’s range to hundreds of miles and increase safety

Dyson could become the next Tesla motors as it develops a new electric car, according to a leading industry expert. Filed patents show the Dyson vehicle may use solid-state batteries, which would see the car’s range stretch to hundreds of miles and also be safer than current batteries.

In March, a government document revealed funding to help Dyson develop “a new battery electric vehicle”. The company declined to comment but in 2015 it said it planned to invest £1bn in battery technology and in October it bought solid-state battery company, Sakti3, for $90m, which founder Sir James Dyson said had “developed a breakthrough in battery technology”.

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Bird bath bullies

ABC Environment - Wed, 2016-05-11 14:06
A national citizen science project reveals which which bird species are dominating the backyard bird bath
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World's oldest known ground-edge stone axe fragments found in WA

ABC Science - Wed, 2016-05-11 11:10
WORLD'S OLDEST AXE: A fragment of the world's oldest known ground-edge axe has been found in the remote Kimberley region of northern Australia.

Fossil fuel register shows more than a third of Australia earmarked for coal or gas

The Guardian - Wed, 2016-05-11 06:27

Interactive map commissioned by Lock the Gate shows fossil fuel claims cover 37% of Australia’s landmass

More than a third of Australia’s landmass is earmarked for coal or gas, according to a new analysis and interactive map commissioned by the community group Lock the Gate.

No single register of fossil fuel exploration and extraction licences and applications exists so, commissioned by Lock the Gate, Energy Resources Insights gathered spatial information on land earmarked for fossil fuels from state and federal regulators.

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Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits

The Guardian - Tue, 2016-05-10 23:02

Six more islands have large swaths of land, and villages, washed into sea as coastline of Solomon Islands eroded and overwhelmed

Five tiny Pacific islands have disappeared due to rising seas and erosion, a discovery thought to be the first scientific confirmation of the impact of climate change on coastlines in the Pacific, according to Australian researchers.

Related: Sea levels set to 'rise far more rapidly than expected'

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Labor president Butler dismisses boats disunity and Greens deal

ABC Environment - Tue, 2016-05-10 18:42
The major parties have been taking turns, accusing each other of doing deals with the Greens.
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Why Australian cities need to change as they grow

ABC Environment - Tue, 2016-05-10 14:06
As the populations of our cities swell and temperatures rise, what are the best ways to deal with traffic congestion, water shortages, crime and sanitation?
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How long would it take a vampire to drain you of blood?

ABC Science - Tue, 2016-05-10 12:08
GREAT MOMENTS IN SCIENCE: If you're a sucker for a good vampire movie, be warned ... Dr Karl takes two big bites out of the legend.

Mercury makes rare transit across Sun's face

ABC Science - Tue, 2016-05-10 12:01
TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Sky watchers have had a rare opportunity to witness Mercury fly directly across the face of the Sun, a sight that unfolds about once every 10 years, as Earth and its smaller neighbouring planet came into perfect alignment.

Bubbles in Pilbara rock indicate Earth had much thinner atmosphere 2.7 bn years ago

ABC Science - Tue, 2016-05-10 11:44
THIN AIR: Air bubbles trapped in 2.7 billion-year-old lava flows in the Pilbara suggest the Earth's atmosphere weighed less than half that of today and was far thinner than previously thought.

Carrot genome reveals root of orange colour

ABC Science - Tue, 2016-05-10 11:21
CARROT COLOUR: The humble supermarket carrot owes its deep orange colour to a newly-found gene, according to an analysis of the full carrot genome.

Unlikely heroes: how lithium mining could change the Pilbara for the better

The Guardian - Tue, 2016-05-10 09:19

Currently the world’s biggest producer of lithium, Australia is well-placed to take advantage of the lithium-ion battery solar storage boom

Out Western Australia way unlikely new environmental heroes can be found toiling in the red ochre dust of the Pilbara.

Until recently companies such as Altura Mining, which has a long rap sheet of coal projects to its name, weren’t exactly contributing to the effort to curb global carbon emissions, but that is about to change.

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New plant species discovered in 2015 - in pictures

The Guardian - Tue, 2016-05-10 09:01

A giant insect-eating plant and a 100-tonne tree were among the 149 species of plants and fungi described for the first time by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew last year. More than 2,000 species new to science were discovered worldwide the same year, but a new report warns that one in five of the world’s plant species is threatened with extinction

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Who is the 'Ivory Queen'?

BBC - Mon, 2016-05-09 18:13
The woman accused of leading one of Africa's biggest smuggling rings
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How a giant air freshener could save our polluted cities

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-05-09 17:30

Air pollution kills 28,000 people every year in the UK. But the solution might lie in a hi-tech tower that sucks up harmful particles

High in the skies over London, the UK’s first air pollution monitoring squad have been using the latest sensors to chart the levels of ozone and nitrogen dioxide in our atmosphere. The team is highly trained, each equipped with a hi-tech backpack, and proficient in social media. Which all sounds relatively standard, apart from the fact that it is entirely made up of pigeons.

Using one of the UK’s best-known feathered friends as a publicity stunt for air pollution awareness was the brainchild of Plume Labs, which has created an app for monitoring pollution on the go. It follows on the heels of similar apps released in the past two years, ranging from UCLA’s AirForU to BreezoMeter, the brainchild of Israeli engineer Ran Korber, who was looking to buy a house for his family far away from polluted environments.

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Caretaker Conventions

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2016-05-09 16:55
On 8 May 2016 the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, announced a federal election would be held on 2 July 2016 and as such the Australian Government has assumed a caretaker role. Only updates which adhere to Caretaker...
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