Feed aggregator
What Frydenberg was told about why NEG was bad policy
Kidston solar + pumped hydro project wins another $5m from ARENA
Queensland’s new coal generator would burn more money than coal
Solar industry launches campaign against LNP in Queensland poll
Networks push to take regional consumers, communities off grid
GE Renewable Energy appoints Steve Oswald to lead its Wind business in Australia & New Zealand
Science Friction Season 3 starts November 18
Trump reverses ban on elephant importation
UN climate negotiations wind up in Germany
Regulate land-clearing in Great Barrier Reef catchments - Queensland Labor
Australia is a global top-ten deforester – and Queensland is leading the way
Lions next in line of fire as US rolls back curbs on African hunting trophies
The Trump administration’s lifting of restrictions on importing elephant body parts from Zimbabwe and Zambia is not the last gift to hunting interests
Hunting interests have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa. Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions.
As the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be eligible to adorn American homes.
Continue reading...Fears for Great Barrier Reef as deforestation surges in catchments
Calls grow for the federal government to step in as erosion from intensified land clearing in Queensland threatens coral
A deforestation surge in Queensland, which the latest government data suggests is about to accelerate dramatically, is heavily concentrated in catchments for the Great Barrier Reef, further undermining plans to improve reef water quality.
The finding has renewed calls for the federal government to use its powers to assess the impact of clearing there until the Queensland government is able to pass legislation to halt it itself.
Continue reading...UK government '10 years late' on air quality targets
Report from the National Audit Office finds overall improvement in air quality but does not expect to meet EU targets until 2021
The government will be more than a decade late in meeting EU targets on air quality, a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed.
The cost of health impacts from air pollution, including fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, is estimated at £20bn. Nearly 30,000 deaths were thought to be caused in 2008 by fine particulate matter pollution, some of it caused by diesel cars, according to the report. About 13% of fine particulate matter pollution is thought to come from diesel engines. This is in spite of improving air quality overall.
Continue reading...'Modern air is too clean': the rise of air pollution denial
US sceptics are questioning the science behind air pollution and mortality, a trend that is starting to appear in countries where the air is much more toxic
Despite report after report linking air pollution to deterioration of the lungs, heart and brain, Prof Robert Phalen believes the air is “too clean” for children.
After all, everybody needs a bit of immune-system-boosting dirt in their lungs.
Continue reading...UK and Canada lead global alliance against coal
Colombia zoo gives trafficked elephant root canal surgery
'Political watershed' as 19 countries pledge to phase out coal
New alliance launched at Bonn climate talks hopes to signal the end of the dirtiest fossil fuel that kills 800,000 people a year with air pollution
A new alliance of 19 nations committed to quickly phasing out coal has been launched at the UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany. It was greeted as a “political watershed”, signalling the end of the dirtiest fossil fuel that currently provides 40% of global electricity.
New pledges were made on Thursday by Mexico, New Zealand, Denmark and Angola for the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which is led by the UK and Canada.
Continue reading...US to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe
Campaigners fear move by Trump administration will damage global efforts to end the ivory trade
Donald Trump’s administration plans to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe into the US – a move campaigners fear could damage global momentum on ending the ivory trade.
In 2014, US big game hunters killing elephants in Zimbabwe were banned from bringing their trophies home, on the basis that the country had failed to show that it was taking elephant management seriously.
Continue reading...