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‘Sin taxes’ to reverse the rapid global growth in meat eating are likely in five to 10 years, according to a report for investors managing over $4tn

“Sin taxes” on meat to reduce its huge impact on climate change and human health look inevitable, according to analysts for investors managing over $4tn of assets.

The global livestock industry causes 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and meat consumption is rising around the world, but dangerous climate change cannot be avoided unless this is radically curbed. Furthermore, many people already eat far too much meat, seriously damaging their health and incurring huge costs. Livestock also drive other problems, such as water pollution and antibiotic resistance.

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Welburn, North Yorkshire With a tiny paintbrush and tweezers I salvage a skeleton: the tiny skull, the whisker-fine finger bones

I found it at the top of the field in July, after the barley harvest. A little body, wings folded and face scrunched. It was snagged on a scaffold of stubble like a miniature sky burial, overlooking a vista it must have known well until the previous night, when, somehow, all its knowing became nothing. Reflexively, I picked it up. In my hand, with its sky-tickling energy surrendered to gravity and its ultrasound din silenced, its dead weight might not have been there at all.

We were leaving on holiday next morning and in the frenzy of packing I almost forgot it. I should have taken measurements and got past a generic identification Myotis (mouse-eared bats). Instead, I hurriedly sealed the little corpse in a margarine tub with a perforated lid, along with a splash of water to prevent mummification, and left it on a shady sill in the garden.

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Bitcoin has been viewed as a liberating path out of the corporate monetary system. But the process of 'mining' the cryptocurrency is a massive energy drain - and potential environmental disaster. John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As the result of the bird of the year poll is made public, Taronga keepers Brendan Host, Lille Madden, Ashleigh Page, Mark Domenici, Leanne Golebiowski and Michael Shiels select their favourites

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Consumers should be doing a lot better out of the closure of Liddell - and the inevitable closure of other coal generators. But they need governments to act to encourage the efficient use of energy.

AEMO boss Audrey Zibelman says energy transition as unstoppable as the internet, because economics and technology have changed. Some baseload may be needed in the future, but it doesn't need to be coal.

Solar Analytics evolves from a solar monitoring platform to a holistic Smart Home Energy Management System with the announcement of a $1.9 million grant from the Australian Federal Government.

The Flinders Island community can look forward to a secure and cleaner energy future thanks to its new Hybrid Energy Hub.

Construction begins on first 60MW of proposed 1200MW Kennedy Energy Park, the world-leading wind, solar, and battery storage project in north Queensland.

CCA review of Coalition's Emissions Reduction Fund fuels concerns the scheme is an expensive, inefficient and risky way to cut carbon.

AGL's plans for Liddell are vague and lacking, most likely because the company is waiting to see what the Coalition aims to do with Snowy Hydro.

Fishing nets and lack of food blamed for pushing number of the world’s most endangered marine animal to just 450

Officials with the US federal government say it is time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.

North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there are only about 450 of the whales left and 17 of them have died so far in 2017.

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Scientists re-measure the tallest mountains in the Antarctic territory claimed by Britain.

The white ibis provoked strong feelings on Twitter throughout the three-week campaign, and the result was never going to please everyone

The three-week campaign to select Australia’s bird of the year has been bitterly fought out on social media, and Monday’s result provoked another round of celebration and recriminations.

Swooping in with an incredible 19,926 votes, of a total of almost 150,000, the Australian magpie took the title, having quietly gained ground over the white ibis (19,083), which had a commanding early lead.

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Teenage refugees go bush to tell their stories; country kids polish up their team sports skills; crowdfunding helps save a native fish; and meet Kempsey's stamp lady, Lyn Saul.

Eco-friendly policies place country second to Germany but England lags far behind other countries according to new research

Wales ranks second in the world for recycling household waste but England lags far behind other European countries, according to new research.

Policies brought in by the Welsh government and a target to be zero waste by 2050 have driven the country up the league table to come in just under Germany. With recycling rates of 63.8% for municipal solid waste, which includes household plastic and other packaging, Wales is set to become the world leader for recycling by next year, according to a report from the environmental analysts Eunomia.

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They were the only three species to get more than 10,000 votes out of the 150,000 received before the poll closed on Saturday

The Australian magpie has been crowned Australian bird of the year for 2017, upsetting the early favourite, the white ibis, and getting 13.3% of the vote.

The magpie got 19,926 votes, followed by the Australian white ibis with 19,083 votes and the laughing kookaburra with 10,953 votes.

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They’re feared for their fierce protection of sovereignty and dive-bombing trespassers, but all is forgiven listening to a pair magpies warbling in a gumtree

Anodyne eastern suburbs Melbourne seemed less dangerous than any other place in the world when I was a primary school kid.

There was the creek with its tadpoles, turtles and occasional foxes. There was, inevitably, a local haunted house. And there was the path.

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It fell short of victory by a few hundred votes. For a bin chicken, that’s something to celebrate

What happened? Am I missing something, do people actually “like” ibis? I know they didn’t win, but hell, they came second – that’s a win for the bin chicken, surely?!

I like ibis, and I’ve occasionally met people who admit to liking ibis, but overwhelmingly I hear and read comments from people expressing that they do not like ibis. Despite this, the Australian white ibis has become an icon – to individuals, music, documentaries and government. It’s revered by our modern society like its cousin the Sacred Ibis was in ancient Egypt as the god Thoth. Of course, in this instance my interpretation of the word “revered” includes being the butt of many, many jokes and even more memes.

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15 December 1917 Larks ran along the edge of the river backwater pecking off the gnats and insects

SURREY
A quick break this morning of white frost set the birds vigorously at search over the fields. Larks ran along the edge of the river backwater pecking off the gnats and insects that came out so soon as a slight warmth from the sun set a watery sparkle on blades of grass. These small flying things, which now crawl, appear as magnified a little in the pale yellow light. Moving slowly, they drop from a thin stalk, a bird runs, and at once you understand that his work has been done. A flock of young chaffinches come and perch on the hedge-top, a few rising into the air and returning as though uncertain where exactly they would find a meal. Presently all go straight to the manure pound some distance away.

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