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Stream of consciousness in a marshy wonderland
Buxton, Derbyshire One summer we dammed the brook by the bridge where the dippers bred and swam with the tiddler trout
Hogshaw Brook, which runs below my late mother’s house, is part of the very first landscape in my story as a naturalist. Every night when I went to bed, I’d hear its ceaseless journey to join the river Wye. I remember one year how we dammed it by the bridge where the dippers bred, and its four-inch flow rose eventually up to the heaving chest of my nine-year-old self. We swam in it that summer, along with its tiddler brown trout and the caddis fly larvae that we loved to uncover beneath the cold stones.
Continue reading...New back-up rule means end of cheap wind power in South Australia
Clean energy target 'best deal that coal will get', says NSW energy minister
Don Harwin tells Committee for Economic Development of Australia the ‘self-indulgent climate culture war’ should end
The Liberal New South Wales energy minister has delivered a speech marking a sharp departure from his federal colleagues saying the coal-fired power industry should accept the clean energy target that will see the industry close in the coming decades as “the best deal that coal will get”.
He also ridiculed claims that expanding gas exploration in NSW was the key to fixing Australia’s gas crisis, saying such an idea was “curious”, and pointedly called for an end to the “self-indulgent climate culture war”.
Continue reading...Photon Energy plans 316MW solar farm for southern NSW
What will incumbents do next? “I expect them to go broke”
Solkiss to build world’s largest rotating solar plant in South Korea
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder renews local engagement commitment
Changes to Green Star set the scene for carbon zero buildings
Renewable Energy Market Report – steady as she goes
Chris Packham: learning to love slugs will help garden wildlife bloom
BBC Springwatch host urges gardeners to manage molluscs without killing them or risk losing hedgehogs and song thrushes
The naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham has advised the nation to encourage the ecosystem of their gardens by ceasing to kill slugs.
Extolling the virtues of tolerance, Packham said “draconian choices” like “I don’t want slugs and snails to eat my plants” puts the gardener at risk of losing other wildlife such as hedgehogs, slowworms and song thrushes.
Continue reading...Australia failing on biodiversity protection: report
Is Australia prepared for climate change?
Frog evolution linked to dinosaur asteroid strike
Court rejects EPA's attempt to halt Obama-era methane rule
Environmental Protection Agency had announced stay in rule that would require oil and gas companies to fix methane leaks in equipment
The Environmental Protection Agency cannot freeze the implementation of a rule requiring oil and gas companies to fix methane leaks in their equipment, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday in a setback for Donald Trump’s push to cut environmental regulations.
Related: Trump's planned EPA cuts will hit America's most vulnerable | Mustafa Santiago Ali
Continue reading...The most detailed scan of the wiring of the human brain
Admiral calls Britain's plan to control fishing waters ‘amazingly complacent’
Lord Alan West says vessels involved in fisheries enforcement are ‘very, very few’, with one recently diverted on long Caribbean tour
Britain’s plan to enforce its new control of fishing waters is “amazingly complacent”, according to a former first sea lord and Royal Navy admiral, who said the three vessels used were far too few.
The government announced on Sunday that it was “taking back control” of the waters between six and 12 nautical miles from the British coast, by leaving a treaty called the London Convention. But Admiral Lord Alan West said on Monday that Britain would be a “laughing stock” if it was unable to enforce the new rules.
Continue reading...Hamming it up? Supermarket label changes colour to help cure food waste
Sainsbury’s launches packaging that shows how long its own-brand ham has been open to stop slices being thrown away
A major UK supermarket is launching a new “smart” label on packets of its own-brand ham in a bid to reduce waste by telling consumers how fresh it is.
Ham is Sainsbury’s top-selling cooked meat product, but many buyers find it difficult to remember how long it has been open. Figures from Wrap, the government’s waste advisory body, reveal that British households throw away 1.9 million slices of ham a day – equivalent to 32,500kg – at a cost of more than £170m a year.
Wildlife on your doorstep: share your July photos
Whether basking in sunshine in the northern hemisphere or fighting cooler temperatures in the south, we’d like to see the wildlife you discover
After the June heatwaves in the northern hemisphere, July has got off to a slightly more uneven start, but there will still be plenty of sun rays around. As winter takes hold of the southern hemisphere, the temperatures will get even cooler. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d love to see your photos of the July wildlife near you.
You can share your July wildlife photos, videos and stories with us by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ buttons. Or if you’re out and about you can look for our assignments in the new Guardian app.
Continue reading...Elephant 2.0. - nature's invisible information architecture
What do you see when you look at an elephant? The world’s biggest land mammal – or a giant data store, sharing information in a living, breathing network?
Elephants have such sad expressive faces that is hard to imagine how anyone could harm them. They have drawn lips and sagging shoulders; a long, drooping demeanour; sad, knowing eyes capable of laying on the guilt. Yet, it would appear that guilt is not enough to save them. Eighty years ago there were perhaps 6 to 9 million African and Asian elephants. Today there are roughly half a million left. Day by day, they are getting closer to extinction.
Perhaps we need some new ideas. Perhaps it is time for a different perspective on why elephants need saving. Rather than their bodies, maybe it is their shared memories and experience that we might one day come to value. This is the argument that I’d like to put forward in this piece.
Continue reading...Local councillors and protesters blockade Lancashire fracking site
Group of 13 people lock themselves to objects to stop vehicles entering Cuadrilla site at Fylde, as part of month of action
Protesters have blockaded the entrance to a fracking site as part of a month of action to resist the controversial drilling process.
The group of 13 protesters, including three local councillors, arrived at the site on Preston New Road in Fylde, Lancashire, in the early hours of Monday morning and locked themselves to objects in an attempt to prevent vehicles entering the site.
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