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SENG National Newsletter - Issue 3 July 2013

Newsletters National - Tue, 2013-08-06 01:35
SENG National Newsletter - Issue 3 July 2013
Categories: Newsletters National

Seven facts you need to know about the Arctic methane timebomb | Nafeez Ahmed

The Guardian - Mon, 2013-08-05 15:01
Dismissals of catastrophic methane danger ignore robust science in favour of outdated mythology of climate safety

Debate over the plausibility of a catastrophic release of methane in coming decades due to thawing Arctic permafrost has escalated after a new Nature paper warned that exactly this scenario could trigger costs equivalent to the annual GDP of the global economy.

Scientists of different persuasions remain fundamentally divided over whether such a scenario is even plausible. Carolyn Rupple of the US Geological Survey (USGS) Gas Hydrates Project told NBC News the scenario is "nearly impossible." Ed Dlugokencky, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) said there has been "no detectable change in Arctic methane emissions over the past two decades." NASA's Gavin Schmidt said that ice core records from previously warm Arctic periods show no indication of such a scenario having ever occurred. Methane hydrate expert Prof David Archer reiterated that "the mechanisms for release operate on time scales of centuries and longer." These arguments were finally distilled in a lengthy, seemingly compelling essay posted on Skeptical Science last Thursday, concluding with utter finality:

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Categories: Around The Web

Revealed: how UK water companies are polluting Britain's rivers and beaches

The Guardian - Sun, 2013-08-04 06:00
Utilities face 'pitiful' fines despite huge profits, with sewage spills cited as causing particular distress

The most persistent and frequent polluters of England's rivers and beaches are the nation's 10 biggest water companies, an Observer investigation has revealed.

The companies, which are responsible for treating waste water and delivering clean supplies, have been punished for more than 1,000 incidents in the past nine years, but fined a total of only £3.5m.

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Categories: Around The Web

Climate study predicts a watery future for New York, Boston and Miami

The Guardian - Tue, 2013-07-30 10:17
Study shows that 1,700 places in the United States are at greater risk of rising sea levels than previously thought

More than 1,700 American cities and towns – including Boston, New York, and Miami – are at greater risk from rising sea levels than previously feared, a new study has found.

By 2100, the future of at least part of these 1,700 locations will be "locked in" by greenhouse gas emissions built up in the atmosphere, the analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday found.

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Categories: Around The Web

Request for Tender in relation to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Long-Term Intervention Monitoring Project

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2013-07-24 14:10
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office has released a tender for the Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project.
Categories: Around The Web

Environmental watering in the Loddon River, Campaspe River and lower Broken Creek

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2013-07-24 14:07
Environmental water is being provided to the Loddon and Campaspe Rivers and lower Broken Creek for the overarching purpose of improving and maintaining the ecological health and resilience of these systems.
Categories: Around The Web

A guide to British ladybirds – in pictures

The Guardian - Mon, 2013-07-22 16:00
The UK Ladybird Survey has found 26 species that are readily recognisable as ladybirds. Here are some of the common ones, the colourful ones – and alien invaders Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Andrew Neil - these are your climate errors on BBC Sunday Politics | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Wed, 2013-07-17 15:32
Andrew Neil made several errors in discussing our 97% climate consensus paper and global warming on his show

On last week's BBC show Sunday Politics, Andrew Neil hosted UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey for a discussion about climate science and policy. Neil subsequently requested that people provide him with examples of the factual errors in this interview. Given that he began the show with several errors about the paper I co-authored finding a 97 percent consensus in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are causing global warming (the inspiration for the name of our blog), I would be happy to oblige.

Claims #1–4

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Categories: Around The Web

SEng Victoria Newsletter - July 2013

Newsletters VIC - Mon, 2013-07-15 04:20
SEng Victoria Newsletter - July 2013
Categories: Newsletters VIC

How well can you identify UK trees from their leaves – quiz

The Guardian - Fri, 2013-07-12 22:53
Eight out of 10 people in Britain are unable to identify an ash leaf when shown an image of one, according to a survey commissioned by the Woodland Trust. Can you do better?

What tree is this?

Ash

Beech

Elder

What tree is this?

Ash

Sycamore

Maidenhair

What tree is this?

Oak

Elder

Beech

What tree is this?

Ash

Sycamore

Maidenhair

What tree is this?

Silver birch

Horse chestnut

Oak

What tree is this?

Elder

Ash

Maidenhair

What tree is this?

Silver birch

Beech

Oak

What tree is this?

Silver birch

Oak

Elder

2 and above.

Oh dear. Older people are more likely to have better knowledge of trees. 23% of those aged 55 and over can recognise an ash leaf, compared with 10% of 18-24s, and 68% of people older than 55 can recognise an oak leaf, compared with 39% of 18-24s, according to the Wildlife Trust

5 and above.

Not bad, but not great. Older people are more likely to have better knowledge of trees. 23% of those aged 55 and over can recognise an ash leaf, compared with 10% of 18-24s, and 68% of people older than 55 can recognise an oak leaf, compared with 39% of 18-24s, according to the Wildlife Trust

7 and above.

Well done. Older people are more likely to have better knowledge of trees. 23% of those aged 55 and over can recognise an ash leaf, compared with 10% of 18-24s, and 68% of people older than 55 can recognise an oak leaf, compared with 39% of 18-24s, according to the Wildlife Trust

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Categories: Around The Web

Wake up to the danger of slug pesticides

The Guardian - Wed, 2013-07-10 20:29
Metaldehyde in slug poison and fertilisers is showing up in drinking water, while natural garden predators are dying out

Last month, it was revealed that levels of a toxic pesticide more than 100 times the EU limit were present in a source of English drinking water. The discovery of record levels of metaldehyde – a chemical used in slug pesticides – was reported by Natural England and the Environment Agency at the River Stour, which supplies water to homes in Essex and Suffolk. There's currently no treatment method available to extract this chemical from drinking water – once it's there, we're drinking it.

This isn't a sudden unexpected situation. The same problem occurred in many areas across Britain last autumn – when slug numbers exploded after the wet spring and summer, conditions that we're seeing emerge again. The problem was identified in autumn 2007, when new analytical techniques allowed testing for metaldehyde, and since then a voluntary stewardship programme with guidelines for the use of the chemical has been instituted. Yet this clearly isn't working.

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Categories: Around The Web

Desert solar power partners Desertec Foundation and Dii split up

The Guardian - Fri, 2013-07-05 20:16
Relationship breaks down between the two main advocates of a European energy revolution driven by desert solar power

The two main advocates of a European renewable energy revolution driven by a vast grid of desert solar power have split, each accusing the other of poor communication.

Both the Desertec Foundation and the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) say their plans to generate power from deserts across the world remains uncompromised despite the decision, which was made by the Foundation at an extraordinary board meeting last week.

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Whales flee from military sonar leading to mass strandings, research shows

The Guardian - Wed, 2013-07-03 15:00
Studies are missing link in puzzle that has connected naval exercises to unusual mass strandings of whales and dolphins

Whales flee from the loud military sonar used by navies to hunt submarines, new research has proven for the first time. The studies provide a missing link in the puzzle that has connected naval exercises around the world to unusual mass strandings of whales and dolphins.

Beaked whales, the most common casualty of the strandings, were shown to be highly sensitive to sonar. But the research also revealed unexpectedly that blue whales, the largest animals on Earth and whose population has plummeted by 95% in the last century, also abandoned feeding and swam rapidly away from sonar noise.

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Categories: Around The Web

Double the fun! We have two events for you this month

Newsletters QLD - Tue, 2013-07-02 06:46
Double the fun! We have two events for you this month
Categories: Newsletters QLD

Humans – the real threat to life on Earth

The Guardian - Sun, 2013-06-30 09:05
If population levels continue to rise at the current rate, our grandchildren will see the Earth plunged into an unprecedented environmental crisis, argues computational scientist Stephen Emmott in this extract from his book Ten Billion

Earth is home to millions of species. Just one dominates it. Us. Our cleverness, our inventiveness and our activities have modified almost every part of our planet. In fact, we are having a profound impact on it. Indeed, our cleverness, our inventiveness and our activities are now the drivers of every global problem we face. And every one of these problems is accelerating as we continue to grow towards a global population of 10 billion. In fact, I believe we can rightly call the situation we're in right now an emergency – an unprecedented planetary emergency.

We humans emerged as a species about 200,000 years ago. In geological time, that is really incredibly recent. Just 10,000 years ago, there were one million of us. By 1800, just over 200 years ago, there were 1 billion of us. By 1960, 50 years ago, there were 3 billion of us. There are now over 7 billion of us. By 2050, your children, or your children's children, will be living on a planet with at least 9 billion other people. Some time towards the end of this century, there will be at least 10 billion of us. Possibly more.

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Categories: Around The Web

How a giant tree's death sparked the conservation movement 160 years ago | Leo Hickman

The Guardian - Thu, 2013-06-27 22:00
160 years ago a giant sequoia in California was cut down, becoming the inspiration for the national park system

Today marks the 160th anniversary of a seminal, but largely forgotten moment in the history of the conservation movement.

On Monday, 27 June, 1853, a giant sequoia – one of the natural world's most awe-inspiring sights - was brought to the ground by a band of gold-rush speculators in Calaveras county, California. It had taken the men three weeks to cut through the base of the 300ft-tall, 1,244-year-old tree, but finally it fell to the forest floor.

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Categories: Around The Web

SENG South Aust Upcoming July event

Newsletters S.A. - Fri, 2013-06-21 13:07
SENG South Aust Upcoming July event
Categories: Newsletters S.A.

Local, self-sufficient, optimistic: are Transition Towns the way forward?

The Guardian - Sat, 2013-06-15 17:00
Locally grown food, community-owned power stations, local currencies … can small-scale actions make a difference? Yes, according to the Transition network – in fact, it's our only hope

Late last year, Rob Hopkins went to a conference. Most of the delegates were chief executive officers at local authorities, but it was not a public event. Speaking in confidence, three-quarters of these officials admitted that – despite what they say publicly – they could not foresee a return to growth in the near future.

"One said: 'If we ever get out of this recession, nothing will be as it was in the past,'" Hopkins recalls. "Another said: 'Every generation has had things better than its parents. Not any more.' But the one that stunned me said: 'No civilisation has lasted for ever. There is a very real chance of collapse.'"

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Categories: Around The Web

Fishing ban proposed near Rockall after rare scientific finds

The Guardian - Sat, 2013-06-15 04:56
Unique gas vent found in seabed and two new species of shellfish uncovered during survey near Scottish islet

Fishing is expected to be banned near the Atlantic islet of Rockall after a rare methane gas vent in the seabed and two new shellfish species were discovered by British scientists.

The methane, which leaks through a so-called "cold seep" vent in the ocean floor, was found last year by scientists working with the government agency Marine Scotland. It is the first of its kind to be found near UK waters and only the third in the north-east Atlantic.

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Categories: Around The Web

RSPB accused of hypocrisy for killing hundreds of birds on its reserves

The Guardian - Fri, 2013-06-14 02:38
Countryside Alliance says charity's actions look 'extraordinarily hypocritical' in light of its recent comments on other culls

The RSPB has admitted killing hundreds of birds on its reserves, prompting an accusation of "extraordinary hypocrisy" from the Countryside Alliance.

The RSPB recently criticised the licenced destruction of buzzard eggs and nests to protect a pheasant shoot and said a cull of lesser black-backed gulls should be halted. But on Thursday the charity revealed it too had destroyed lesser black backed gulls and other birds that were harming native species.

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Categories: Around The Web

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