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Conservationist who inspired the creation of wildlife trusts and nature reserves

In the school summer holiday of 1937, the conservationist Ted Smith, who has died aged 95, cycled 14 miles from his home in rural Lincolnshire to Gibraltar Point. The sixth-former took his cheap binoculars to look for terns on this lonely stretch of sand and salt marsh beyond Skegness and, surrounded by sky and sea, he fell in love with the place. He noted three “gaudy new houses” on a road cut into the sand dunes, typical of the unrestrained development then enveloping the British coastline.

A passion for wildlife and its habitats fired Smith for the rest of his life. This unassuming teacher battled against the tides of his time, industrial agriculture, toxic pesticides, the supplanting of ancient woods with conifers, the ploughing of heaths, and urban development, to cajole into existence a national network of 47 conservation charities now known as the Wildlife Trusts. Smith combined practical action – saving the last fragments of heath, meadow and coast (including Gibraltar Point) from destruction in Lincolnshire – with farsighted thinking, stressing the importance of landscape-scale conservation and the need to open the trusts’ 2,300 nature reserves to the public.

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The Minister has approved the addition of Acacia leptoneura to the critically endangered category effective 24 September 2015.

The people behind a manifesto for solving environmental problems through science and technology are intelligent but wrong on their assumptions about farming and urbanisation

Beware of simple solutions to complex problems. That is a crucial lesson from history; a lesson that intelligent people in every age keep failing to learn.

On Thursday, a group of people who call themselves Ecomodernists launch their manifesto in the UK. The media loves them, not least because some of what they say chimes with dominant political and economic narratives. So you will doubtless be hearing a lot about them.

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In a bid to reduce CO2 emissions in the 90s, Europe backed a major switch from petrol to diesel cars but the result was a rise in deadly air pollution

Volkswagen’s rigging of emissions tests for diesel cars comes after nearly 20 years of the technology being incentivised in Europe in the knowledge that its adoption would reduce global warming emissions but lead to thousands of extra deaths from increased levels of toxic gases.

Diesel was a niche market in Europe until the mid-1990s, making up less than 10% of the car fleet. Diesels produce 15% less CO2 than petrol, but emit four times more nitrogen dioxide pollution (NO2) and 22 times more particulates - the tiny particles that penetrate the lungs, brain and heart.

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A man seeking to be the world’s first climate change refugee has been booked on a flight home to Kiribati on Wednesday, despite his lawyer saying that is a breach of justice, reports Stuff.co.nz

Ioane Teitiota has been in custody in Mount Eden Prison, one of two private prisons in New Zealand, after his bid to claim climate change refugee status was dismissed last week.

He was arrested by police and immigration officials at his West Auckland home on Tuesday morning for overstaying his permit.

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Agency application on ecological sustainability - call for public comments open from 24 September 2015 until 26 October 2015.

Overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue, the Hinkley project needs to be killed off and the money invested into other low-carbon technologies

• Read more: Nuclear supporting environmentalists in call to scrap Hinkley C plans

As committed environmentalists, our conversion to the cause of nuclear power was painful and disorienting. All of us carried a cost in changing our position, antagonising friends and alienating colleagues. But we believe that shutting down – or failing to replace – our primary source of low carbon energy during a climate emergency is a refined form of madness.

Because atomic energy provides a steady baseload of electricity, it has great potential to balance the output from renewables, aiding the total decarbonisation of the power supply. The dangers associated with nuclear power have been wildly exaggerated, all too often with the help of junk science. Climate breakdown presents a far greater hazard to human life. The same goes for the air pollution caused by burning coal.

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The public consultation period will be open until 6 November 2015.

The Minister has approved the deletion of 15 species from various categories effective 16 September 2015. Fourteen species have been deleted from the threatened species list because the museum specimens that were originally used to describe the...

Green campaigners say recent removal of 500-year-old virgin forest is an ecological disaster and dismiss officials’ ‘patronising’ offer to restore habitat

Campaigners in South Korea have accused organisers of the 2018 winter Olympics of destroying a “sacred” forest to make room for a ski slope, and dismissed official assurances that the site will be restored to its original state after the Games.

Environment groups say the recently-completed removal of tens of thousands of trees from the slopes of Mount Gariwang, including ancient and rare species, amounts to an ecological disaster.

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Two kayakers outside the harbour of Moss Landing in California have a narrow escape on Monday after a large humpback whale launches out of the water and lands on them. Fortunately neither of the people on the kayak was hurt and the video from Sanctuary Cruses shows stills of the (fairly surprised) pair after the event

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Scientists describe the highly camouflaged Kimberley death adder, native to Western Australia, as one of the world’s most venomous snakes

Related: Snakebite treatment 'will run out next year'

Ophidiophobics should fret not, but Australia has a new species of snake. Scientists have identified a new type of death adder in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

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A moneyless economy shows how our lives are intrinsically linked to the great web of life. In this deep ecology, our security comes from our relationships with people and nature

With little idea of what I was to expect, or how I was to go about it, seven years ago I began living without money. Originally intended as a one-year experiment in ecological living, I wanted to explore how it felt as a human being to live without the trappings and security that money had long-since afforded me. While terrifying and tough to begin with, by the end of the first year I somehow found myself more content, healthier and at peace than I had ever been. And although three years later I made a difficult decision to re-enter the monetary world – to establish projects that would enable others to loosen the grip that money has on their lives – I took from it many lessons that have changed my life forever.

For the first time I experienced how connected and interdependent I was on the people and natural world around me, something I had previously only intellectualised. It is not until you become physically aware of how your own health is entirely reliant on the health of the great web of life, that ideas such as deep ecology absorb themselves into your arteries, sinews and bones.

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#PKNADL17 Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Jeremy Miller | Sustainability House | Emily Street Residence
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Presenter Bio:

Jeremy is an Urban Planner working at the building permit end of the planning process with Sustainability House. His main professional focus is working with builders and developers in improving their energy efficiency, understanding legislative and statutory requirements and developing understanding of the factors that contribute to the thermal performance of buildings. Jeremy is also responsible for the SUHOstudio design arm of Sustainability House working with clients to develop cost effective residential design solutions. His role also involves advocacy and research with Government both at a State and Federal level, delivering training and seminars.

Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

#PKNADL17 – Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Nathan McGair | Passive Resistance House | Home Owner
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Project Short Story:
Middle aged couple (with 2 young boys) who were tired of our old house. Our best friends are architects, inspiring us to want more out of our house. We rebuilt from an old timber and iron rental property, right next door to Ali’s grandpa. Eight years in the planning, one year in the making we now have our own grand design.

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

#PKNADL17 Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Bohdan Dorniak | Bohdan Dorniak Architects | Peacock Residence
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Company Bio:
Bohdan Dorniak & Co Pty Ltd was established in 1989. Since then, this Adelaide based architectural practice has been designing buildings that are sensitive to the environment and energy efficient.

Our architectural services are in the areas of design, documentation and contract administration. We pride ourselves in providing excellent services to individual, domestic, corporate and government clients.

With a client-centered approach which respects the client’s wishes, needs, budgetary constraints and lifestyle, further consideration is given to energy demands and ongoing building efficiency and sustainability. Our challenge and commitment is to create a design to fulfill client needs and site conditions

Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

#PKNADL17 Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Mark Thomas | Goodhouse | Goodhouse #05 & #07
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GOODHOUSE Bio:
GOODHOUSE is pioneering an alternative design and construction system that delivers an affordable, highly sustainable, quality architectural housing product.
GOODHOUSE is able to offer this by focusing on efficiencies gained by the systemisation of the design and construction process.
Each home is a composition of well researched materials, systems and construction details, and utilizes offsite manufacture where appropriate. All elements have been considered and balanced in terms of the associated economic considerations, the performance and the carbon footprint impact.Both design and build times are condensed, increasing efficiency and reducing cost.

Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

#PKNADL17 – Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
Friday, 11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Brett Aylen | Architect | TS4 Living
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Presenter Bio:
Brett Aylen is co-founder of TS4 Living, the company behind Australia’s first designed and built zero carbon house. Brett is an architect with a clear vision of what it takes to deliver a sustainable project. He has been working in the industry for 20 years and his broad experience enriches his understanding of sustainability at all levels, from the dynamics of people and communities through to the selection of robust materials and the construction of healthy buildings. Brett is a strong believer in the value of multi-disciplinary teams and is pro-active in building the right team for each project.

Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

#PKNADL17 Sustainable House Day Pecha Kucha Night
11th of September, 2015
The Joinery – 111 Franklin St, Adelaide 5000

Peter Morrison | Strawbilly House | Owner/Designer/Builder
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Presenter Bio:
Peter is a retired high school tech teacher, designed and built first house in Adelaide Hills about 1975, second one at Goolwa about 1983. Reading “Small is Beautiful” by Francis Schumacher and books by Ghandi, Ivan Illich etc. about this time fostered an interest in sustainability and Global issues. From 1988 to 1993 he worked in Tigray, northern Ethiopia with Community Aid Abroad, and in recent years in Tigray as a volunteer. In 2006 Peter designed and built his current straw bale house in the Aldinga Arts Eco Village South Australia, living currently with his partner Jane.

Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM

Tags: eco-homes, sustainable design, south australia, adelaide and pecha kucha

Greenpeace says it has uncovered a large illegal tuna fishing operation in the waters of Papua New Guinea after apprehending a Taiwanese ship with 75kg of shark fins. Irregularities in the ships log book raised activists’ suspicions and they later found that the Shuen De Ching No.888 had no fishing licence for the area

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