Feed aggregator

Boomerang Bags is an Australian solution to plastic pollution that's gone global.

The Arnavon Islands are the largest rookery for the critically endangered hawksbill turtle in the South Pacific.

Natimuk pre-schoolers go bush for outdoor kinder; Miriwoong man David Newry goes searching for native bananas; an Irish lass swaps Belfast for an outback pub; and we go to an alpaca handling school.

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

Continue reading...

No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by climate change

It was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel.

The vault is on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen and contains almost a million packets of seeds, each a variety of an important food crop. When it was opened in 2008, the deep permafrost through which the vault was sunk was expected to provide “failsafe” protection against “the challenge of natural or man-made disasters”.

Continue reading...

The conflict between humans and elephants for space and resources is driving the rapid decline of elephant populations. Join us on Wednesday 24 May from 1-2.30pm BST to discuss how elephants and humans can live together

This week an elderly man was killed by a wild elephant in central India as he picked tendu leaves in the Surajpur forest. A few days earlier, a father and his son were injured after two elephants wandered into their house in Tamil Nadu. As human populations grow and communities live in closer proximity to elephants, one of the world’s most unique and beautiful animals can become the most dangerous.

But human development is also contributing to the severe decline in elephant populations. Across Asia and Africa, elephants’ natural habitats are being destroyed by rapid urbanisation and industrial and agricultural expansion.

Continue reading...

Tasmanian devils, a Saimaa ringed seal and a white wolf are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Continue reading...

Locals say sheep on Agios Efstratios are starving as so much plant life is being devoured by swarms.

Shutting down wind farms when birds pass over is one of the methods being tested to save migrating species.

People have to grasp how climate change impacts them, and we need to value environmentally sound behavior

We know humans are causing climate change. That is a fact that has been known for well over 100 years. We also know that there will be significant social and economic costs from the effects. In fact, the effects are already appearing in the form of more extreme weather, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and so on.

So why haven’t humans done much about the problem? Answering that question may be more challenging than the basic science of a changing climate. Fortunately, a new review just out in Science helps us with this question. Lead author, Dr. Elise Amel, a colleague of mine, completed the review with colleagues Drs. Christie Manning, Britain Scott, and Susan Koger. Rather than focusing solely on the problems with communicating the science of climate change, this work takes a wider view on the hurdles that get in the way of meaningful action.

Continue reading...

The vast reserves of methane hydrates under the bottom of the sea could be key to future energy needs.

Zafer Kizilkaya's conservation work saved a whole Turkish community and despite resistance his fish model is being widely adopted. He has just been awarded the 2017 Whitley Gold Award.

The company reported a leak from a well off the coast of Western Australia to Nopsema last year, and says there was no lasting impact on the environment

Woodside Petroleum has confirmed it was behind an oil spill off the coast of Western Australia that was kept secret by the regulator for more than a year.

The company said on Friday that it reported a leak from a well in the Cossack field on the North West Shelf to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) in April 2016.

Continue reading...

Government may justify delisting the threatened species or order a cull despite its treaty obligations, senator says

A scientific study of great white shark numbers could be used by the government to justify delisting the species as threatened or ordering a cull despite international treaty obligations, the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has warned.

Whish-Wilson, who is chairing a committee inquiring into shark mitigation and deterrence, has accused the Liberals of politicising recent deaths in Western Australia, including that of 17-year old Laeticia Brouwer through their calls to end protection of great whites.

Continue reading...

Milldale, Derbyshire The adult whirred downstream. The juvenile, sat still for a bit, gaped, grew restless, then launched itself into the stream

The grassy east bank of the river Dove below the packhorse bridge at Milldale, in the Peak District, is popular with picnickers and we had to drift downstream to find a little space. Once prone, bagel in hand, I half dozed, half watched insects forming clouds over the river, catching sunlight like chaff.

But then I snapped awake as I realised I was being watched. A rich brown eye glistened as it fixed on mine from no more than three metres away – a juvenile dipper clamped to a broken branch jammed in the rocks, deep in shadow, breaking the flow of water.

Continue reading...

We deserve better leaders. If the incumbency is not prepared to act on Adani, the community need to take matters into their own hands.

WIRSOL opens office in Sydney and plans to expand its activities.

In what's being called a "breakthrough moment", AEMO and ARENA team up to provide 100MW demand response capacity to meet next summer's critical peaks. The program will focus on technologies like solar and storage in a way previously ignored by policy makers.

France's new energy minister says nuclear industry business model belongs to the past. His appointment expected to hasten transition away towards renewables.

Queensland enjoys favourable sunshine hours that support both domestic and large-scale solar assets - but what about wind?