Feed aggregator

Scientists find a spectacular forest of bamboo coral, rare carnivorous sponges, and species never before seen in the region

Continue reading...

Tongue-ties are used in Australian horse racing but are banned in most other horse sports. Samantha Franklin, Associate Professor in Veterinary Physiology, University of Adelaide Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

New Zealand fuel supplier Z Energy has bought nearly 60,000 voluntary carbon credits at prices higher than in the nation’s mandatory ETS to offset its operational emissions.

Deniers have conservative media outlets and control the Republican Party; climate alarmists are largely ignored

Those who debunk climate change misinformation often face a dilemma. We’re flooded with such a constant deluge of climate myths, where should we focus our efforts? Climate misinformation is propagated via congressional climate hearings, conservative media outlets, denial blogs, and even from some genuine climate alarmists.

Specifically, there has recently been a debate as to whether Skeptical Science – a website with a database of climate myths and scientific debunkings, to which I’m a primary contributor – would be more useful and effective if it called out misinformation from ‘alarmists,’ and if it eliminated or revised its Climate Misinformers page.

Continue reading...

Global fish production is at record levels thanks to fish farming, says the UN FAO, but much is wasted and many species are worryingly overfished

One in three fish caught around the world never makes it to the plate, either being thrown back overboard or rotting before it can be eaten, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Its biannual report on the state of the world’s fisheries, released on Monday, also shows that total fish production has reached a record high thanks to more fish farming, particularly in China, with over half the fish eaten in the world now coming from aquaculture.

Continue reading...

13 July 1918 Teasel is coming into bloom, the enchanters nightshade is plentiful, while foliage is full enough

Surrey
Frogs made a quite audible croaking in the evening and a few hours earlier, while the sun was strong, toads came from the edge of the great pond, leapt about, and lay on the short, sere grass. Swifts and swallows flew very low, circling round the cattle assembled in the shade of oaks, skimming just above a few wagtails which were about the hoofs. A peacock in the distance hardly ceased screaming. Then, as the light faded, clouds rolled in from the west, folding everything, but suddenly disappeared as if lifted into the sky to let the stars shine. But a long, grey streak followed, and spread, and in the morning there was rain. Thrushes sang for an hour, but after that we had no song.

Teasel is coming into bloom; there was purple to-day above the big leaf-cups, which held water almost enough to drink from. The enchanters nightshade is plentiful, and a stray gentian blooms on the heath. But a wild cherry which was great in flower has little or no fruit, and acorns, abundant last season, are scarce this. Foliage is full enough; you hear the doves call, but cannot distinguish them. Bees are busy among the scented blossom of the limes, now beginning to drop and to dust over a surface which shines with oil dripping from sycamore leaves.

Continue reading...

Still waiting on ISP and ACCC report. Meanwhile, wind and solar PV smooth out seasonal volatility.

Knepp, West Sussex: A 3,500-acre estate has been transformed from intensively farmed land to a rich natural environment, luring back a bird we are close to losing

It’s 4.30am and the sky is already light above Knepp, the Sussex estate whose 3,500 acres have been transformed from intensively farmed agricultural land to one of the richest natural environments in the country. I’m with Penny Green, the estate’s resident ecologist, and here to see turtle doves, birds whose mellifluous purring once played a starring role in the soundscape of British summers, but whose numbers have fallen by 93% since 1994.

Continue reading...

A banned chemical used to make household insulation is implicated in damage to the ozone layer.

It's Australia’s ranking near the bottom of a global league table on energy efficiency that should be keeping us awake at night.

Anyone who has had an experience on the sea-side with a couple of chips and a flock of seagulls can imagine what happened when the diesel generators spotted an opportunity to make money in South Australia on Monday.

Is climate change an existential risk to Australian society and the world community? It's not a difficult question, but one that climate minister Frydenberg has failed to answer.

LNP's call for more coal-fired power stations, and government ownership of the railway line to the Adani coal project were largely symbolic, as were resolutions to "protect Christmas" and save the "Lord's Prayer". But they underline why a NEG won't end the climate and energy policy wars.

A farmers' market goes plastic free in July; drovers hit the road as the big dry bites; Lorna Driscoll is a veteran water diviner; and Tathra's bushland rises from the ashes.

We should be repurposing old industrial or electricity generation sites for more sustainable activities.

New program to design standards that will enable consumers to compare performance of household battery storage between different brands and manufacturers.

Hundreds of thousands more charge points could be installed under plans from the transport secretary.

The Palaszczuk Government is looking for an energy partner to deliver solar energy right into the homes of low income Logan families living in public housing.

Spot price for energy efficiency certificates rises despite increase in supply.

While the NT accounts for only one percent of the total population, it is about a sixth of Australia's total land mass and with world class solar resource.