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The world’s nations are meeting in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd annual “conference of the parties” (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which aims to prevent dangerous global warming. This year, Fiji plays president and meeting the Paris climate goals are top of the agenda

• The COP23 climate change summit in Bonn and why it matters

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The animals have demonstrated the ability to recognise familiar human faces, according to a study.

We are binning nearly half of the fresh spuds we buy. But stashing some in the freezer can save time and make for extra-crunchy roasties

Proof, as if more proof were needed, that Britain is heading to hell in a handcart, comes with the news that we waste nearly half the potatoes we buy, throwing a shameful 2.7m potential roasties or jackets in the bin every day.

The blame could be laid at the door of supermarkets, who insist on selling spuds in vast, plastic-wrapped quantities; decant them into a cool, dark place unless using immediately. And don’t be put off if they start sprouting in the gloom; simply cut off any unnerving proboscises or green patches, before cooking.

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Not far from the UN climate talks taking place in Bonn, activists frustrated with slow progress by governments are turning up the heat at the Hambach opencast mine, highlighting Germany’s failure to live up to its green pledges

A giant black mark on Germany’s environmental record is scarred on the land an hour’s drive from the venue of this year’s UN climate talks in Bonn.

Stretching 85 kilometres wide and 400 metres deep, the opencast coalmine near Hambach forest is the biggest hole in Europe and one of the biggest single sources of carbon on the continent.

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Single-Column Responsive Email Template Vic-Tas Chapter Newsletter November 2017 SENG Vic-Tas chapter AGM Level 31, 600 Bourke Street Melbourne, 5.30pm Thursday 23rd November All SENG Vic-Tas members are warmly invited to attend the chapter AGM. We also invite expressions of interest (following the meeting) from members interested in joining the chapter committee. Our Guest speakers will be Bronwyn Wauchope and Carol Ride from Psychologists for a Safe Climate. Their topic will be 'Bridging the climate awareness chasm - psychological perspectives'. Meeting agenda will include: Chair's Report National Board Report Office Bearer Elections Guest Speakers (as above) 2017 National Conference The SENG 2017 National Conference 'Engineering Sustainable Cities' was held on 18th October 2017. The conference was a great success, attracting over 90 registrations, five keynote addresses and 18 technical presentations in two streams. Video recordings of the presentations are now available on the Conference Website . Past SENG Events Want to look back at past SENG events? Presentations from most of our events are available on our website LinkedIn SENG is on LinkedIn. Visit the group here Other useful links Alternative Technology Association Environment Victoria The Conversation Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. Melbourne Energy Institute Climate Council Beyond Zero Emissions Future Melbourne Network If you can't view this email click here to view online Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter S

Irreplaceable cultural resources in New Mexico are among those areas targeted for expedited drilling – and conservationists say it’s ‘like losing pages and chapters of that history book’

In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, it is still possible to wander the maze of rooms of an ancestral Puebloan village erected roughly 1,000 years ago.

Visitors use the same staircases and duck through the same T-shaped doorways as residents did at the time. A jigsaw puzzle of rocks form walls that stand several feet thick and multiple stories tall. Where rooftops are gone, windows now let in glimpses of sky. It’s a simultaneous experience of vast space and marvelous connection.

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Doctors are calling New Delhi's air pollution levels a medical emergency.

Until recently the battle to avert catastrophic climate change – floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations – seemed to be lost. But with the tipping point just years away, the tide is finally turning, thanks to innovations ranging from cheap renewables to lab-grown meat and electric airplanes

‘Everybody gets paralysed by bad news because they feel helpless,” says Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who delivered the landmark Paris climate change agreement. “It is so in our personal lives, in our national lives and in our planetary life.”

But it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not need to be all bad news: a series of fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillion-dollar investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming. From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just now hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.

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The federal government is considering watering-down laws against importing illegal timber, but this flies in the face of international evidence. Beatriz Garcia, Lecturer, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Figures show nearly 3 million potatoes a day are wasted, at a cost of £230m a year

Nearly half of the edible fresh potatoes bought by UK householders each day are thrown away - nearly 2.7 million of them per day, and at a “staggering” annual cost of £230m, figures show.

The humble spud is the second most wasted food in the UK, behind bread, according to new official figures released on Wednesday. The new research was offered in support of a government campaign to encourage consumers to reduce their domestic food waste.

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So you've installed rooftop solar – but is it performing as well as you expected? A new APVI web-based survey aims to help improve the quality of PV system components, installations and system designs.

Flinders Island's Hybrid Energy Hub is already taking the previously diesel powered Tasmanian island to levels of 80% renewables, and should manage to supply 100 per cent of demand before the year is out.

Luxury price tags have not stopped Tesla from dominating the US electric vehicle market so far, but is all that about to change?

WA government owned utility Synergy looking to bring in outside investors to bankroll investments in new wind and solar farms and meet RET obligations.

From the Apollo spacesuits to the Mars rovers, women behind the scenes have stitched vital spaceflight components.

Latest analysis from Lazard points to continuing falls in cost of wind and solar, and a growing divide between renewables and fossil fuels. And the cost of storage is falling too.

The first living creature to be sent into orbit around the Earth was a Soviet stray dog called Laika. She was a pioneer of the space race.

University researchers trained sheep to recognise famous people, including Barack Obama and Fiona Bruce.

Consumers paying more on their electric bills is that’s exactly what might happen if the US Department of Energy gets its way with a recent request that bails out uneconomic coal plants.

Coal and Allied Pty Ltd will commit over $2 million as part of an enforceable undertaking entered into following a contravention of Australia’s national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.