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Tony Burke says if the Greens back the plan, the ‘largest removal’ of a conservation area will be locked in for a decade

Labor has blasted the Greens for not lining up immediately behind their commitment to disallow controversial new marine park management plans proposed by the Turnbull government this week.

The shadow environment minister, Tony Burke, told Guardian Australia the government had been intent for four years “on the largest removal of area from conservation in history”.

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Whatever shape the shift to renewables takes, energy storage will be the Swiss Army knife for electricity grids – a tool for any task.

Ground broken at 80MW Victoria wind farm – fruition of Melbourne project involving 14 universities, cultural institutions, corporations and Councils.

Computing giant says it now contracts enough renewables to "send Marty McFly back in time in a DeLorean" after sealing 315MW Virginia solar farm PPA.

The dream of carbon capture and storage (CCS) continues to keep coal industry and its political backers hopeful for the future. But at what cost?

Agreements between the Commonwealth and state governments that protect native forests are based on hopelessly out-of-date information. It's a huge mistake to renew them without assessment. David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Schneider Electric has launched new services to assist businesses in the adoption of low-cost renewable energy.

Students will be graded numerically on a scale from 9 to 1.

A new museum dedicated to IK Brunel reveals the man behind the carefully cultivated public image.

British scientists think DNA could be used to solve a global problem - where to store all our data.

VR has suffered from an image problem, so could very high resolution headsets be the answer?

AEMO report says AGL's plans to replace Liddell with new dispatchable technology more than enough to address any shortfall. Not that you'd know that if you relied on mainstream media headlines.

The most sustainable phone is the one you already own. But if you're in the market for a new handset, consider choosing one with replaceable parts to avoid having to replace the whole thing again. Miles Park, Senior Lecturer, Industrial Design, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

If we are to reduce our consumption levels, says Linda Marriott, we must walk the walk, not just talk the talk

Bravo, Mark Boyle – your world sounds very beguiling to an oldie like me (I left a troubled world behind. Now let me tell you how to fix it, 20 March). However, I’ve lost count of the number of times in my life that I have heard this siren song, but no one with any influence ever seems to listen or even wake up. But, as Mark says, we can try small remedies ourselves should we be lucky enough to have a garden. It reminds me of an old Canadian friend who was convinced he could protect his family from the coming apocalypse by buying a farm, until he realised he’d have to have a gun – and use it – to stop those less fortunate from taking what he had. Or the 1970s German bumper sticker that translated as “everyone wants to go back to Eden but no one wants to go on foot”.
Linda Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Scientists investigate an unusual, small, mummified skeleton from Chile to establish is medical history.

A new study says that even in the ‘unrealistic’ event of a total halt to the flow of agricultural chemicals the damage will persist for 30 years

The enormous “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico will take decades to recover even if the flow of farming chemicals that is causing the damage is completely halted, new research has warned.

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Anne Ruston says National Parks Association “engaged in a campaign to mislead the Australian people” after groups make public submissions on RFAs

The government has accused green groups of deliberately misleading the Australian people by raising concerns about the roll over of long term logging agreements.

Related: NSW Labor refuses to approve forestry agreements based on 'out-of-date' science

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It is estimated some 80,000 tonnes of plastic is circulating in a patch between Hawaii and California.

The patch of detritus is more than twice the size of France and is at least four times larger than previously estimated

An enormous area of rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean is teeming with far more debris than previously thought, heightening alarm that the world’s oceans are being increasingly choked by trillions of pieces of plastic.

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At a high-level talking shop for the global water industry in Brazil, river defenders and community activists - who are often murdered or criminalised for trying to protect their resources - have set up an alternative forum to share their stories

While presidents, royalty and corporate dignitaries gave speeches at a global conference in Brasil’s federal capital this week on the need to protect water sources, river defender Ageu Lobo Pereira was running for his life through the Amazon forest.

The head of the riverine communities of Montanha e Mangbal had been tipped off that assassins were preparing an ambush. They wanted to end his resistance to mines, deforestation and dams that threaten the Tapajós river.

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