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From the Everglades to Kilimanjaro, climate change is destroying world wonders

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 19:47

Number of natural world heritage sites at serious risk from global warming has doubled in three years, says the IUCN, including the Great Barrier Reef and spectacular karst caves in Europe

From the Everglades in the US to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, climate change is destroying the many of the greatest wonders of the natural world.

A new report on Monday from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reveals that the number of natural world heritage sites being damaged and at risk from global warming has almost doubled to 62 in the past three years.

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Fossil fuel emissions hit record high after unexpected growth: Global Carbon Budget 2017

The Conversation - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:52
After three years in which global carbon emissions scarcely rose, 2017 has seen them climb by 2%, as the long-anticipated peak in global emissions remains elusive. Pep Canadell, CSIRO Scientist, and Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Corinne Le Quéré, Professor, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia Glen Peters, Research Director, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Robbie Andrew, Senior Researcher, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Rob Jackson, Chair, Department of Earth System Science, and Chair of the Global Carbon Project, globalcarbonproject.org, Stanford University Vanessa Haverd, Senior research scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Fossil fuel burning set to hit record high in 2017, scientists warn

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:30

The rise would end three years of flat carbon emissions – a ‘huge leap backward’ say some scientists, while others say the longer term trend is more hopeful

The burning of fossil fuels around the world is set to hit a record high in 2017, climate scientists have warned, following three years of flat growth that raised hopes that a peak in global emissions had been reached.

The expected jump in the carbon emissions that drive global warming is a “giant leap backwards for humankind”, according to some scientists. However, other experts said they were not alarmed, saying fluctuations in emissions are to be expected and that big polluters such as China are acting to cut emissions.

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First CO2 rise in four years puts pressure on Paris targets

BBC - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:30
Uptick in coal use in China sees global CO2 emissions projected to rise after years of little or no growth.
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Draft Savanna Fire Management methods released for consultation

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2017-11-13 15:52
The two draft savanna fire management methods have been released for public consultation. Consultation period closes 27 November 2017.
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Country diary: starlings dot the lighthouse roof like currants on a bun

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 15:30

St Mary’s Island, Northumberland Children with fluorescent nets peer into plastic buckets; their cries of excitement echoed by the piping of seabirds

Heading south on the coastal path, we leave Old Hartley village, drawn magnetically by St Mary’s Island with its tall white lighthouse. The sea is a muted grey, with two vast container ships at rest near its meeting with a paler sky.

The footpath skirts a tufty hillock where a kestrel hovers over rough grass, fenced off from the path by chestnut paling. I catch the medicinal scent of mugwort, its glaucous leaves curling and turning winter brown. The scrubby clifftops are a tangle of rose briars and brambles, safe thickets for stonechat and wren. Amongst the windblown tussocks are seedheads of wild carrot, yarrow and knapweed, with late flowers of red clover.

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Know your NEM: Queensland poll – what are the odds?

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 14:17
Queensland energy politics has something for everyone – including a new coal plant – but bookmakers are backing the state Labor. Meanwhile, on the NEM...
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Wind turbine collapse under investigation at Antarctic research centre

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 14:09
One of two wind turbines that help to power Australia's Mawson research station in Antarctica has partially collapsed.
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Sugar vs solar, round 2: 60MW Qld project stalls after opposition from cane farmers

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:42
ESCO Pacific's proposed 60MW Mirani Solar Farm has failed to win approval from the local council, after strong opposition from local sugar can growers.
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Climate change spurs Medibank fossil fuel divestment

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:41
Medibank’s announcement it will divest tens of millions of dollars from fossil fuels due to the ‘health effects of climate change’ has been welcomed by environmental finance group Market Forces.
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South Australia’s new power plant ready before summer

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:39
South Australia now has access to an additional 276 MW of electricity generation, with the state’s new power plant installed in time for the warmer summer months.
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Wind farm researchers found to have no human ethics approval

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 12:13
A new research paper into the health impacts of wind farms has raised serious concerns over academic credibility.
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Medibank drops fossil-fuel investments worth tens of millions of dollars

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:26

Australia’s largest private health insurer says it ‘acknowledges the science of climate change and the impacts on human health’

Australia’s largest private health insurer, Medibank, will shed tens of millions of dollars in fossil-fuel investments because of the effects of climate change on human health.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange before its annual general meeting in Melbourne on Monday, its chair, Elizabeth Alexander, said the company would move to low-carbon investments “in line with our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our customers”.

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Qld Labor ups ante on renewables – more ambition, new technology

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:24
Labor commits to "at least" 50% renewables by 2030, and promises $50m for first large scale solar tower and storage plant. Premier hails technologies that can power Queensland 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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CWP proposes 250MW solar thermal + storage near Townsville

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:23
CWP Renewables proposes 250MW solar tower and storage project near Townsville, while SolarReserve looking at six different projects in Queensland.
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100% global renewable electricity more cost-effective than current system

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:14
Making a global transition to 100% renewable electricity grid has long been a dream of many, and new research shows it is a viable reality.
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National Energy Guarantee’s bizarre approach to reliability

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 10:15
The more we look at the NEG, the more bizarre it gets. And it seems disrespectful, or even arrogant, of the ESB to think an overnight thought bubble is going to be superior to carefully developed process in overseas markets.
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Impact Investment Group appoints new CEO: Daniel Madhavan

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 09:12
Leading Australian impact fund manager Impact Investment Group is proud to announce the appointment of Daniel Madhavan as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
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'Successful failures' – the problem with food banks

The Conversation - Mon, 2017-11-13 04:56
Foodbanks were originally established as a temporary measure to alleviate food insecurity. But have they become an excuse for governments not to deal properly with the problem? Nick Rose, Lecturer, William Angliss Institute Susan Booth, Casual Academic, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Rocket blasts off for ISS one day late

BBC - Mon, 2017-11-13 03:18
A small plane entering the airspace had delayed Saturday's launch from Virginia in the US.
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