Feed aggregator
Best laid plans: The Murray-Darling Basin in crisis
Mexican senate approves bill to bolster emissions trading plans
Recycling crisis: federal government to push states for solution
Josh Frydenberg will seek agreement at meeting of environment ministers for a national stocktake of recycling
• Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
The Turnbull government will ask the states to work towards a national fix on recycling in the wake of an import ban imposed by China on recycled waste, which has triggered a crisis in Australia.
Environment ministers will meet on Friday to discuss practical responses to the Chinese ban, with the commonwealth seeking agreement from state counterparts for a national stocktake as the precursor to boosting domestic capacity to recycle.
Continue reading...California’s ARB says supply glut will not hamper 2030 emissions goals
Fentanyl: A national emergency
Last chance to study and name Australia’s vanishing species, scientists warn MPs
Australian Academy of Science launches 10-year plan to document hundreds of thousands of unknown species
With an estimated 70% of Australian organisms still undocumented and funding for species discovery declining, the national science academy will head to parliament on Friday to argue that a rapid reversal is needed to avoid extinctions and reveal unimagined health and biosecurity solutions.
The Australian Academy of Science and its New Zealand counterpart, the Royal Society Te Apārangi, are launching a 10-year plan to study and name unknown species, warning that a sound understanding of biodiversity is critical in the face of a global extinction crisis.
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: spring is often the worst time in UK for air pollution
Ammonia from farms mixes with factory emissions and traffic exhaust to create high levels of air pollution
Runners in this year’s London Marathon escaped breathing badly polluted air as westerly winds cleared springtime smog just before the race start. Images of spring include blossom and fresh green growth, but it is often our most polluted time of year, and air pollution frequently reaches the top level on the UK government’s 10-point scale.
In spring 2014 Paris instigated odd/even number plate bans and David Cameron memorably tweeted that he was cancelling his run due to air pollution. That year, spring particle pollution caused an estimated 600 early deaths across England and Wales.
Continue reading...'Bare minimum' rehabilitation plan for mine – video
Aerial footage supplied by the Lock the Gate Alliance shows the site of the former Ebenezer coalmine near Ipswich – which will remain a cratered landscape after the Queensland government accepted a rehabilitation plan from the site's current owner
Continue reading...It's funny to name species after celebrities, but there's a serious side too
China's recycling 'ban' throws Australia into a very messy waste crisis
ETS emissions ticks higher at Finnish utility Fortum
'If I were the president, I'd get rid of you': Scott Pruitt lacerated at ethics hearing
EPA administrator blames media and his job’s learning curve as lawmakers grill him over lavish spending and ethical controversies
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has blamed the media and the “learning process” of his job for the flurry of ethical controversies that have engulfed his tenure, during a lacerating congressional hearing.
Pruitt said opponents of Donald Trump, and the media, had sought to “derail the president’s agenda and priorities” by highlighting the questionable use of taxpayer funds for first-class flights, office furniture and 24-hour personal security, as well as his use of a Washington apartment owned by an energy lobbyist’s wife.
Continue reading...A readymade garbage dump: Queensland allows 'bare minimum' mine rehab
Site of former Ebenezer coalmine near Ipswich will remain a cratered landscape after authorities apparently lose key environmental documents
• Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
The Queensland government accepted a “bare minimum” rehabilitation plan for a decommissioned coalmine near Ipswich after apparently losing key documents relating to the site’s environmental conditions.
The site of the former Ebenezer mine will remain scarred by massive voids and a waste dam. Rather than fill them – a course of action demanded by environmentalists and local community groups – the owner wants to keep the cratered landscape in the hope of selling the site as a readymade garbage dump.
Continue reading...New Jersey expects RGGI revenues to start flowing in mid-2020
EUA prices could dip towards €11 if investor interest cools -analysts
Productivity Commission backs agriculture in NZ ETS, urges ramped-up carbon price
Space agencies intent on mission to return Mars rocks to Earth
Environmental Advisor, Ontario Power Generation – Oshawa
The missing maths: the human cost of fossil fuels | Ploy Achakulwisut
We should account for the costs of disease and death from fossil fuel pollution in climate change policies
While the climate policy world is littered with numbers, three of them have dominated recent discourse: 2, 1000, and 66.
At the 2015 U.N. climate summit in Paris, world leaders agreed to limit global warming below 2°C to avoid catastrophic impacts of human-caused climate change. The science consequently dictates that, for a 50% chance of staying below 2°C, around 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (or 300 billion tonnes of carbon) can be emitted between now and 2050, and close to zero thereafter. We’re currently emitting 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. However, the potential greenhouse gas emissions contained in known, extractable fossil fuel reserves are around three times higher than this carbon budget, meaning that 66% must be kept in the ground.
Continue reading...Democratic senators scrutinize Koch brothers' 'infiltration' of Trump team
Senators say Koch-linked figures are driving environmental policy, as résumés obtained by the Guardian and Documented show ties between staffers and network
Democratic senators are demanding information about what they call the Koch brothers’ “infiltration” of the Trump administration, charging that Koch-linked personnel have secured key federal jobs and are determining US environmental and public health policy.
The senators – including Sheldon Whitehouse, Edward Markey, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tom Udall, Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren – sent letters to eight government bodies and the White House requesting “information related to efforts by Charles and David Koch, Koch Industries, and the numerous groups they fund to influence decisions”.
Continue reading...