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Family and friends delight in telling me tall tales about rodents and now my unfortunate phobia has been passed on to my children

While I couldn’t spontaneously name them, I feel sure there were good qualities I wanted to pass on to my children. But all I’ve managed to transmit is a violent fear of rodents, and even that, to only one of them. I didn’t realise how successful I’d been until a couple of years ago, when we saw a mouse in my son’s bedroom. I screamed; he screamed. I jumped on the bed; he jumped on a chair – but it was a revolving one, so he started spinning round, screaming, and I screamed more. Mr Z ran in expecting an intruder, though I notice he didn’t bring anything to use as a weapon. As much as I reviled it, I felt a bit sorry for the mouse. It was all so ultra.

Consequent to this very noisy, melodramatic phobia, it pleases my associates to tell me stories about mice and rats, which, generally speaking, aren’t true. My brother-in-law told me that, if they have a rat problem on a building site, they contain all the rats in a zone where the only food source is each other, until finally they have one giant rat, and they shoot it in the head. It stalks my dreams, this mutant rat cannibal, even though it makes no sense. On holiday, my friend told me there was a rat in the kitchen, and while I could recognise this at 50 paces as the title of a popular song, I nevertheless believed that there was also a real rat, in the kitchen.

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A biofuel in place of traditional shipping oil has cut emissions by 83% as part of an $18 million trial to abate the shipping sector’s carbon footprint.

A state-owned insurance major in China has launched the country's first forest biodiversity insurance that provides compensation for environmental damage, targeting a region in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city.

A new 15MW offshore wind turbine prototype built by Danish manufacturer Vestas has set a new world record for most power output generated over 24 hours.

The post Vestas 15MW turbine breaks 24-hour wind power generation record appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Middle-aged people in equatorial regions have lived through the most perceptible warming in their lifetimes. But many others may experience unrecognisable changes in their local climate later in life. Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne Ed Hawkins, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading Hunter Douglas, PhD Candidate, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Luke Harrington, Senior Lecturer in Climate Change, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Lack of funding and staff limit climate sector’s impact on conservation and net zero efforts, say workers

Staff shortages, a lack of specialist personnel and low pay are major barriers to achieving net zero, according to workers in the UK environment sector.

The trade union Prospect, many members of which work in the climate and environment sector, received more than 500 responses to a survey on workplace trends.

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Candidates include an oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and a walnut in a car park in Perth

Urban trees that provide vital food and shelter for wildlife in towns and cities take a starring role on the Woodland Trust tree of the year shortlist.

They include a holm oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and another oak in Surrey that Queen Elizabeth I reputedly had a picnic under.

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Australia has laid out the next steps in its process of deciding whether or not to implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as part of its efforts to combat carbon leakage.

MIT researchers say supercapacitor breakthrough means that concrete foundations to a house, or a roadway, could play host to a revolution in energy storage.

The post Concrete foundations could host breakthrough for supercapacitor energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Senate committee has rejected nuclear power for Australia. A dissenting report by Coalition Senators puts forward some spurious arguments in favour of SMRs.

The post Senate inquiry nixes nukes. Here’s why appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Given all the evidence that shows gas is dangerous, hazardous and expensive, why would anyone consciously choose gas for their new home?

The post The traps laid by the fossil gas industry for uninformed households appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Bowen rejects Coalition and Murdoch media attacks on CSIRO and AEMO, and accusations they had produced "Labor reports", even though they were first published under Coalition.

The post Bowen says Coalition attack on CSIRO and AEMO is wrong and “unbecoming” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Horizon Power has completed a third new centralised solar and battery project, located in Sandstone, designed to increase renewable energy and cut down on diesel use in regional towns.

The post Horizon slashes diesel use with solar and battery microgrids for remote towns appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The US is providing $US1.2 billion in funding for direct air capture, but the decision is being described as an expensive gimmick to facilitate more fossil fuel extraction.

The post Biden’s billion-dollar bid to suck carbon from the slammed as boost to fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Federal energy minister says imported steel and cement could face a tariff to ensure Australian producers seeking to cut carbon emissions are not disadvantaged.

The post Australia weighs up green imports tariffs for steel, cement appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AGL says it is "going as fast as it can" to decarbonise. But what hope is there of quitting coal if the big gentailers, the best entities for the job, don’t build new solar or wind?

The post The decarbonisation efforts of Australia’s big gentailers are a disgrace appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Vancouver-headquartered carbon credit financier on Monday announced a multi-year carbon credit purchase agreement with the Canadian subsidiary of a large energy company, marking the firm’s first foray into developing credits for the country’s various compliance-based environmental markets.

The Mexican cap-and-trade system will not begin its operational phase until some time next year due to the complex process of establishing final regulations, a government official said Monday.

Indonesia's mangrove forests are being felled to make charcoal - locals say they have to make a living.