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Sellafield nuclear waste storage safety limit relaxed following accident
Amount of radioactive waste that can be kept in tanks allowed to breach legal limits to help cope with backlog caused by an accident in November 2013
Safety limits on the storage of some of the world’s most dangerous nuclear wastes at Sellafield in Cumbria have been relaxed after an accident knocked out a treatment plant.
The government’s safety watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), has permitted the private company that runs Sellafield to breach legal restrictions on the amount of hot, high-level radioactive waste that can be kept in tanks. The limits are likely to be exceeded by up to 350 tonnes between April 2014 and July 2016.
Continue reading...Don’t panic! How to escape a swarm of bees
Towns in southern England are being beset by noisy hordes of honeybees in search of new homes. Here’s what to do if you get caught by the buzz
“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams,” said Henry David Thoreau, who clearly knew what he was talking about. Swarms of honeybees have appeared in Salisbury, Marlborough and Chichester, and the growing fashion for amateur beekeeping may be to blame. So, are middle-class novices not looking after their hives properly, causing their bees to go rogue?
A swarm happens when a hive becomes overcrowded, a new queen appears and the old queen and a gang of around 20,000 go on the run. They head for temporary lodgings while scout bees look for somewhere safe to settle.
Continue reading...England's water voles in desperate decline
Invasive American mink is wiping out species once found abundant in English waterways, analysis by Canal and River Trust show
English waterways could lose one of their most charismatic and once widespread residents as water voles succumb to the invasive American mink, records released by the Canal and River Trust show.
Between 1970 and 1999, water voles were found on 269 of the 2,000 miles of waterways managed by the trust. But since the turn of the century, their range dropped by almost 50% to 141 miles.
Continue reading...India's Asiatic lion population rising
Census finds 27% increase in number of endangered lions found in their only habitat in the world – the Gir forest of Gujarat
Wildlife experts have welcomed census figures showing India’s population of endangered Asiatic lions has increased in the last five years in the western state of Gujarat.
Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel said officials counted 523 lions, up 27% from the last census conducted in 2010 in Gir sanctuary, the last habitat for the big cats globally.
Continue reading...The Joinery - Watch This Space.
The Joinery, the new community environment space located at the old bus station at 111 Franklin Street, is already starting to feel like home for the groups based there, but every good home needs a great outdoor space!
Adelaide Sustainable Building Network ran a one day design/build workshop to activate and beautify the area outside our Bowen Street entrance.
Over the last few months, working with lots of volunteers and groups, the vision for The Joinery’s outdoor space has gone from aspirational to feasible, and now we are ready to turn it into reality.
This practical, outcomes focused day will begin to creatively transform the outside space into a green oasis in the heart of the city.
Event Official Title: 'The Joinery Design Jam and Construction Workshop'
Special Acknowledgements:
Conservation Council - Craig Wilkins and Kathryn Warhurst
conservationsa.org.au/
Adelaide Sustainable Building Network - Ken Long and Kerry Reed
Can be found on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
Event Volunteer Organiser - Christy Spier
Adelaide City Council Placemaking Committee - Michael Fisher
Video Sponsors:
WAX Design - waxdesign.com.au
dsquared Consulting - dsquaredconsulting.com.au
Special Thanks All Participants (Big and Small) Collaborating to Make The Joinery a Great Urban Space!
Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM
Lowbidgee floodplain proves to be a migratory bird haven
New threatened ecological community listings
Starfish suffer mysterious and gruesome demise along west coast
The cause of the most deadly sea star epidemic in recorded history remains unclear, but experts believe it may be a poorly understood ‘wasting’ disease
It is a gruesome death. First the legs shrivel up, followed by lesions. Then the legs inch away and finally detach. The victim continues to deteriorate until it is nothing but a plot of sticky goo.
This is the thoroughly unpleasant way by which scores of sea stars, also known as starfish, have perished along the North American west coast in the most deadly epidemic to hit the iconic echinoderms in recorded history.
Continue reading...Will Tesla's home battery really transform our energy infrastructure?
Powerwall leads the way in solving the problem of energy storage, but the $3,000-plus price raises questions about its economic viability
“The goal is complete transformation of the entire energy infrastructure of the world,” Tesla founder Elon Musk told reporters as he launched the electric car company’s new home power storage battery on Thursday.
“This is actually within the power of humanity to do. It is not impossible.” Electricity storage is the “missing link” in weaning the economy off fossil fuels, said the entrepreneur with characteristic understatement.
Continue reading...Rachel Catt: Loft on Seventh - Bowden Village
Rachel Catt walks us through 'Loft on Seventh' at Bowden Village, South Australia's first 5 Star Green Star townhome projects. The notion of ‘elegant frugality’ is the idea of doing things economically but beautifully. This notion permeates through the Loft on Seventh terraces, picking up on the industrial forms and materials of the historically industrial area within which it sits and re-interpreting them in innovative ways, creating unexpected space and luxury.
Rachel Catt:
Rachel joined Williams Burton in early 2012 after returning from nearly five years in London working for the highly acclaimed architectural firm Allies and Morrison.
She played an integral role in the delivery of the both 'Loft on Seventh' and 'Gibson & 7th' developments for Systembuilt at the Bowden Life More Interesting site coordinated by Renewal SA.
Williams Burton Architecture + Interior Design - williamsburton.com.au/
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Tags: adelaide, Rachel Catt, AdelaideSBN, Williams Burton and Green Star
One in six of world's species faces extinction due to climate change – study
New analysis reveals likely impact of global warming on plants and animals if we fail to take action, and comes ahead of crunch climate talks in Paris
In pictures: Animals and plants that could be lost because of climate change
One in six of the planet’s species will be lost forever to extinction if world leaders fail to take action on climate change, according to a new analysis.
The stark warning on the scale of global warming’s impact on animals and plants comes just months before nearly 200 governments meet for UN climate talks in Paris in an attempt to forge a global deal on cutting carbon emissions.
Continue reading...Matthew Waltho - Renewal SA - Tonsley Development
Matthew Waltho discusses the ambitions and happenings at the Tonsley Development, a mixed-use precinct which will support the transformation of South Australia’s manufacturing industry by providing a high quality, people-focused and knowledge-driven environment.
Matthew Waltho:
Prior to joining the Tonsley Project as Sustainability Manager, Matt worked for 10 years in UK Government and Local Council, integrating sustainability principles into economic development policy and large scale infrastructure projects. He also developed the Environmental evidence base and led the Strategic Environmental Assessment for the first Integrated Regional Strategy in England’s North West Region. Matt is responsible for delivering a Green Star Community for Tonsley under the Green Building Council Australia’s Pilot rating tool.
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Tags: Renewal SA, Tonsley, Green Star Communities and sustainable urban planning
Chairs’ Update 27 April 2015 | Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review
Shell lobbied to undermine EU renewables targets, documents reveal
Weak renewable energy goals for 2030 originated with Shell pitch for gas as a key technology for Europe to cut its carbon emissions in an affordable way
Shell successfully lobbied to undermine European renewable energy targets ahead of a key agreement on emissions cuts reached in October last year, newly released documents reveal.
At the time of the emissions deal, the European commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, said: “This package is very good news for our fight against climate change.” He added: “No player in the world is as ambitious as the EU.”
Continue reading...At home with the world's last male northern white rhinoceros
With rhino numbers collapsed due to poaching for their horns, a lot rides on one pampered animal in the Kenyan savannah doing his best to further the species
Mohamed Doyo seems to have a dream job. Every evening, he patrols the Kenyan savannah, glimpsing lions chasing down darting Thomson’s gazelles, hearing the calls of red-chested cuckoos and, when there is a full moon, seeing the majestic, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya in the distance.
But Doyo can scarcely stop to admire the extraordinary views because he and a large squad of rangers perform an extraordinary job: they must keep poachers away from one of the rarest species on earth, including the star attraction at the 135 sq mile conservancy, Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino.
Continue reading...Guardian Live: Freeing the Arctic 30
Greenpeace activists Frank Hewetson, Alex Harris and Phil Ball spent 100 days in a Russian prison after protesting against Arctic oil exploration. At a Guardian Members’ event they told the dramatic story of their imprisonment and release
By all accounts, the violent storming of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship by Russian commandos in September 2013 and the subsequent jailing of the 30 activists and journalists on board, facing a 15-year sentence for piracy, was a terrifying and devastating experience.
At a Guardian Live event, activists Frank Hewetson, Alex Harris and Phil Ball (in the audience), were joined by Ben Stewart – Greenpeace’s head of media at the time and author of a new book describing the events, Don’t Trust, Don’t Fear, Don’t Beg.
Continue reading...Threatened Species Summit - 16 July 2015
A 40-metre fatberg? That’s not even London’s worst …
You can run but you can’t hide … or flush your toilet. Yep, it’s the return of the fatberg, a monstrous blob of congealed fat, waste, and wet wipes coming soon to asewer near you. Especially if you happen to live in west London. This week’s culprit is a 40-metre bruiser removed from under the leafy streets of Chelsea and weighing as much as five Porsches. The latest fatberg was so big-boned it broke a 70-year-old sewer pipe, leaving Thames Water with a £400,000 repair bill.
It wasn’t even the area’s worst. In 2013, “Britain’s biggest berg”, weighing 15 tonnes and as long as a double-decker bus, was found in Kingston upon Thames, and last year a fatberg the size of a Boeing 747 was discovered under the streets of Shepherd’s Bush. It’s only a matter of time before a fatberg as mighty as the Titanic herself bursts out of the manholes on High Street Ken and starts ransacking the place, Slimer-from-Ghostbusters style.
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