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British tourists film moment crocodile lunged out of Australian creek at them

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-28 16:21

Woman treated in hospital after saltwater crocodile leaps from water in Far North Queensland and injures her

A crocodile attack that left a British tourist with a leg wound has been captured on camera in Australia. In the footage, posted to Facebook by Ally Bullifent, a crocodile can be seen jumping out of the water towards the women as they scream.

The attack took place on Monday as the woman walked along the edge of a creek in Cape Tribulation, far north Queensland.

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Stella McCartney calls for overhaul of 'incredibly wasteful' fashion industry

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-28 16:01

UK fashion designer backs Ellen MacArthur foundation campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050

Clothes must be designed differently, worn for longer and recycled as much as possible to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.

Fashion designer Stella McCartney condemned her industry as “incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment” as she joined forces with round-the-world sailor and environmental campaigner Dame Ellen MacArthur to call for a systemic change to the way clothing is produced and used.

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Country diary: ringing the changes in the bird population

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-28 15:30

Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent Checked and weighed by surer hands than mine, I felt the hollow-boned weightlessness of a blue tit in the cup of my palm

There’s something extraordinary about holding a bird in the palm of your hand. For me, out bird-ringing with volunteers from the British Trust for Ornithology one brisk November morning, it was a blue tit. It had been checked and weighed by surer hands than mine and then placed delicately in the cup of my palm. A familiar bird transformed by such proximity. I felt the hollow-boned weightlessness of it, the fast-fluttering life that sat there for a moment, looking around with black-bead eyes. Its feathers were iridescent in the low slant of the winter sun. Then it was gone, up into the trees, and it was as if I’d lost something precious.

We were at Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent just after dawn. It was a blustery day and the pines soughed and sighed, the resident ravens cronking overhead. High in the canopy were hawfinches and crossbills, birds that twitchers come from miles to see. We had set mist nets near the pinetum’s eastern edge, up above the lily pond. These nets are so fine as to appear transparent to the birds, who fly into soft pockets and are gently dandled until they can be extracted, ringed and measured.

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Graphic Japanese whaling footage released after five-year legal battle – video

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-28 15:15

WARNING: this footage may distress some readers.

Footage released by activist group Sea Shepherd shows Japanese fishermen harpooning whales in the Southern ocean before dragging them, still alive, along the side of the vessel. The publication of the video follows a five-year legal battle with the Australian government to make the images public. The footage was filmed in 2008 by Australian customs officials and requests from Sea Shepherd in 2012 for the film were denied by the government amid fears it would damage international relations. Sea Shepherd’s managing director, Jeff Hansen, said: ‘The Australian government has chosen to side with the poachers instead of defending the whales of the Southern ocean.’

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Vestas Names Peter Cowling as Country Head and VP, Sales for Australia and New Zealand

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 13:58
Vestas Australia, the only global energy company dedicated exclusively to wind energy - today announced the appointment of Peter Cowling as Country Head /VP, Sales Australia and New Zealand.
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All hail new weather radar technology, which can spot hailstones lurking in thunderstorms

The Conversation - Tue, 2017-11-28 13:44
New "dual-pol" weather radars promise to spot large hailstones forming inside thunderstorms, giving people a heads-up when it's about to hail. Joshua Soderholm, Research scientist, The University of Queensland Alain Protat, Principal Research Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Hamish McGowan, Professor, The University of Queensland Matthew Mason, Lecturer in Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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First Solar takes Lyon to court, as solar + storage assets put to market

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 13:37
Ambitious solar and storage developer Lyon Group embroiled in an escalating court battle with US solar giant First Solar, just as it seeks to complete sale of some of its biggest projects.
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AEMC confirms 5-minute settlement to begin in 2021

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 13:19
Big win for battery storage in change to market settlement periods that will be introduced .... in four years time.
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Bird pulled from brink of extinction facing poisoning threat

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-28 12:19
The red kite is still at risk from poisoning despite the success of conservation schemes, say scientists.
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Discover Australia’s National Heritage List with new map

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2017-11-28 11:58
Australia has more than 100 places on its National Heritage List. Find out where they are with this new map.
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Carnegie brings in indigenous investors to 10MW solar farm

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 11:41
Carnegie Clean Energy set to build 10MW Northam Solar Farm, after selection of indigenous co-equity investors in the merchant project.
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NT backs 50% renewables plan, to boost home solar and batteries

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 09:42
NT govt supports plant to take Territory to 50% renewables by 2030, including funding for household solar and battery storage, and a plan for reverse solar auctions.
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Tesla big battery is great news, but can it make money?

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 09:38
ARENA says battery storage will struggle to make ends meet because of undeveloped nature of some key markets in Australia.
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Know your NEM: Why AEMC needs a fresh view of policy mess

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 09:16
AEMC chief John Pierce has had a long run at AEMC chief, perhaps long enough. And why sale of Loy Yang B is good for competition.
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NAB, Origin help Aussies make the switch and save with solar

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 09:15
Homeowners will be able to make a positive impact on their finances as well as the environment, through a new solar initiative launched this week by NAB and Origin.
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Climate and energy – appeasement does not work

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-28 09:07
The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing.
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'I am not buying things': why some people see 'dumpster diving' as the ethical way to eat

The Conversation - Tue, 2017-11-28 05:09
Young people are taking to bins to protest food waste. Chamila Perera, Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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In defence of dowsing to detect water | Letters

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-28 05:04
Guardian readers share their stories on the success of dowsing

Re your article “Water firms admit they still use ‘medieval’ dowsing rods” (22 November): in the 1950s, our family lived on a farm in an isolated part of northern Somerset. The farmer submitted an application for planning permission to build two new houses in a field, including details of water supply and drainage (there were no mains services at all). He had already walked over the field with his L-shaped birch twig, and we watched as the point of the L creaked downwards in his hands as he walked over a spot he had marked on the ground. A man from the water board arrived and looked at the site with geological maps. After half an hour he said “it’s anyone’s guess”, went back to his van and brought back his own birch twig. When he walked across the mark, the point of the L creaked upwards in his hands. He said that was the right place to dig a well, which the farmer and my father dug, and it never dried up.

I believe that when dowsers were tested many years ago, they were taken to a field under which was an underground reservoir. None of them located water. The farmer in Somerset told us that his own technique of dowsing only locates running water, so the reservoir would not have been indicated by this method.

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How bats keep an ear on their prey

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-28 04:15
A structure that allows sound information to be processed extremely fast has been identified in bats' brains.
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EU settles dispute over major weedkiller glyphosate

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-28 04:15
The EU will renew glyphosate's licence for five years, despite some health concerns.
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