Feed aggregator

It’s estimated around 700,000 people die each year because of drug-resistant infections & the death-toll is expected to rise to around 10 million per year by 2050 unless more is done. So how prepared are we for future pandemics?

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk addresses an audience in Los Angeles as he unveils his company’s newest energy product - solar roof tiles. Musk outlined the benefits of an “integrated future” which would allow consumers to charge electric vehicles with renewable solar power, showcasing the tiles on homes once used as the set for US drama Desperate Housewives

• Tesla boss Elon Musk unveils solar roof tiles

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Musk showcases new energy products to illustrate benefits of merging his firm with solar installer SolarCity

The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has unveiled new energy products aimed at illustrating the benefits of combining his firm, which makes electric cars and batteries, with solar installer SolarCity.

The billionaire entrepreneur showed off solar roof tiles that eliminate the need for traditional panels and a longer-lasting home battery, which Tesla calls the Powerwall, aimed at realising his vision of selling a fossil fuel-free lifestyle to consumers.

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Strathnairn, Highlands I counted 18 of them coming in to feed on the mixed grain we spread out on two ground-level bird tables below the apple trees

I was up at first light the other day, listening for the ritual morning call of birds flying low across the field from the river Nairn. Their croaking sounded like moorhens, but I knew that these would be the mandarin ducks coming in to feed in the garden. These are the birds that bred in this part of the strath earlier this year – only about 15 pairs have been recorded in the whole of the Highlands.

The females, as usual, led the way, the males close behind. Aix galericulata have one of the highest wing/weight ratios of the ducks, and their relatively long wings and tail give them great manoeuvrability. When the flock reached the paddock, you could see these remarkable wings come into their own, as the birds twisted and turned around the tall beech and sycamore trees.

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As conditions worsen, geoengineering will become more necessary. Hugh Hunt argues there are many preliminary experiments which need to be run before geoengineering can be considered seriously.

Jodi Rowley is a frog detective from the Australian Museum and she’s sewing together a patchwork of clues to try to find the peppered tree frog in the New England Tablelands.

Where is the place that's home to the world’s oldest living plant, one of the world’s tallest trees AND home the same zircon that’s found on the moon?

A decade after the groundbreaking Planet Earth, the BBC’s six-part sequel looks set to be even more spectacular. Here are some of its stars

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At least three birds were found this week and brought to Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, showing no energy to rejoin their ‘snowstorm’ of birds

After a long migration, a few snow geese in British Columbia, Canada, just needed a little break.

At least three birds were found on the ground this week and were brought to Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, according to the Coast Reporter. Irene Davy from the centre said she knows of at least three or four more that may also be brought in for care.

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Supporters of coal projects want transparency and proper use of charity status – but only when they support their arguments

You might have noticed that all of a sudden, Australians are supposed to be appalled by foreign interests getting in the way of us digging up as much coal as we want, thanks very much.

Last weekend the Australian newspaper started running stories based on a “revelation” from the inbox of John Podesta, the chairman of Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton’s election campaign.

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Australian Howard Bamsey has been selected to head the $100 Billion Green Climate Fund.

Victoria's famous river red gum wetlands get a good soaking; Bec Bovell is Cygnet's mushroom lady; we go behind the scenes at the Weengallon ladies day; and Stan Heausler calls last drinks at the Grove Hill Hotel.

International Maritime Organisation agrees sulphur emissions cap but is condemned for delaying measures to cut greenhouse gases

The world’s leading shipping organisation has been condemned by environmental campaigners and MEPs for its failure to urgently tackle the industry’s impact on climate change, after it agreed only to a partial reduction in harmful emissions from ships.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), meeting in London, agreed to cap emissions of sulphur from ships, which are a cause of air and sea pollution, but on greenhouse gases agreed only to some further monitoring and a fresh round of negotiations. Potential measures to reduce greenhouse gases have been delayed to 2023, which campaigners said was too late.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Prince of Wales says soil health is of ‘critical importance’ as he joins initiative to keep carbon locked in the world’s soils

Prince Charles urged governments, individuals and businesses to take greater care of the world’s soils as part of an initiative aimed at keeping carbon locked in soil, rather than escaping into the atmosphere and causing global warming.

The “4 per 1000” project is a pledge to reduce the amount of carbon leaked from soils by 0.4% a year, which would be enough to halt the rise of carbon dioxide levels in the air. Nearly 180 countries have signed up to the initiative that was set up by the French government as part of its efforts to make the Paris agreement on climate change, signed last year, a success.

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An elusive shoebill, a Yellowstone grizzly and spawning red snappers are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Cap on sulphur content of marine fuels worldwide will save millions of lives in the coming decades, say campaigners. BusinessGreen reports

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed on Thursday to set a cap on the sulphur content of marine fuels, in a move that campaigners predict will save millions of lives in the coming decades.

At a meeting of the IMO’s environment protection committee this week shipping officials agreed to cap the sulphur content of marine fuels sold around the world at 0.5% by 2020, finally making good on a 2008 agreement to cap sulphur levels by 2020 or 2025.

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A landmark international agreement will create the world’s largest marine park in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, an environment home to most of the world’s penguins and whales. More than 1.5m sq km of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal which was brokered in Australia between 24 countries and the European Union

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Common agricultural policy money given to estates in England, including one owned by the Duke of Westminster, Britain’s richest landowner

England’s vast grouse shooting estates receive millions of pounds in public subsidies according to an investigation by Friends of the Earth.

Thirty of the estates received £4m of taxpayer’s money between them in 2014, the year examined by the pressure group, including one owned by the Duke of Westminster, the richest landowner in Britain with land holdings estimated to be worth £9bn

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Australian government 'Grow your own' campaign billboard, 1943. NAA C2829/2

During the devastating floods that hit Queensland in 2011, Brisbane and regional centres came perilously close to running out of fresh food. With the central Rocklea produce market underwater, panic-buying soon set in and supermarket shelves emptied fast.

Such events expose the vulnerability of our urban food systems. Climate change and resource depletion present more slow-burning challenges, but the fact remains that urban food policy is at risk of complacency.

Gardening is certainly good for you, but does it have a role to play in increasing urban food security and resilience? Perhaps history can tell us the answer.

While Australian research has focused on recent urban agriculture initiatives, a real-world experiment in gardening for food security took place in Australia more than 70 years ago, during the Second World War.

Winning the war with home-grown food

Britain, facing serious food shortages, began using the slogan “Dig for Victory” in 1939. In Australia, low-key efforts at encouraging home food production began two years later.

A 1941 survey of Melbourne households revealed that 48% of them already produced food of some kind. In spacious middle-ring suburbs the proportion was as high as 88%, whereas in the dense inner cities it was less than 15%. Food production was most common among middle-class and skilled working-class households, and less so among the poor and marginalised.

By 1943, significant food shortfalls were expected in Australia. The government responded with a range of measures, including a large-scale “Grow Your Own” campaign.

Movies, radio broadcasts, public demonstrations, competitions, posters, newspaper ads and brochures all urged home gardeners to grow their own vegetables. It was hoped this would reduce the strain on the commercial food supply, as well as offering substitutes for rationed food items, providing insurance against commercial food supply failures, and easing the demand on items such as fuel and rubber. Municipal councils and schools also ran vegetable production programmes.

A ‘Grow Your Own’ campaign advertisement from around 1943. PROV, VPRS 10163/P2

While there are no reliable statistics on the campaign’s effectiveness, anecdotal evidence suggests that home food production increased – but not without hitting obstacles along the way.

Wartime disruptions led to shortages of pesticides, seeds, rubber and fertilisers. Livestock and fowl can play an important role in nutrient cycling in sustainable food production, but cows and goats had been excluded from many urban areas in the decades before the war. As a result, competition for local manure was fierce; some gardeners would wait with bucket and shovel for horses on grocery rounds to pass by.

Artificial fertilisers were also expensive and hard to come by. Even the use of blood and bone as an organic fertiliser was restricted, as it was diverted for commercial poultry and pig feed. Alternatives included composting of waste, although this required time and skill, and its nutritional value for plants was limited.

Labour, too, was in short supply. Many able-bodied people had joined the armed forces and others were working long hours in war jobs. This left relatively few urban residents with the time and energy to devote to a vegetable garden. The Women’s Land Army was involved in some urban cultivation, and the YWCA established a “Garden Army” of women who established and tended community gardens on private or public land.

Lessons from the past

What lessons can we learn from this history about the capacity for suburban food production to boost urban food supply in a time of prolonged scarcity?

The most important is that home and community food gardens can contribute meaningfully to resilient urban food systems, but as our urban form is changing we need to explicitly plan for this contribution.

For example, vegetable gardens need space – public or private – that is reasonably open and not crowded by trees. This is one reason why the spacious middle-ring suburbs of Melbourne were more productive than the inner city in 1941.

Sustainable urban food production also requires skill, knowledge and time. Much food gardening today relies heavily on purchased seedlings, manures and pesticides. Resilient food gardens need to have a range of strategies for sourcing essential inputs locally, for example through seed saving networks, composting, local livestock and fowl, and on-site rainwater collection and storage. They also need people with the time and skills to manage these systems.

Vegetable gardening needs skill and knowledge PROV, VPRS 10163/P2

This history also provides inspiration in the form of stories of self-provisioning by everyday people, such as the 56-year-old woman running a habadashery and confectionery store who in 1941 produced all the vegetables and eggs she and her sister required at their Essendon home.

The low-density form of much of Australia’s urban landscape provides considerable potential for sustainable and resilient food production. But our cities still need to invest in developing the skills and systems to sustain this kind of farming.

This is especially critical for low-income areas where resource scarcity will bite hardest. It is also a task that looks ever more challenging as farms are pushed further from the city, while standard homes on shrinking lot sizes and poorly designed infill development eat up urban garden space.

We may not yet be at the stage of needing a nationwide “Grow Your Own” campaign on the scale seen during wartime. But if we want to increase our cities’ resilience and sustainability, we would be foolish to ignore its lessons.

Andrea Gaynor receives funding from the Australian Research Council.