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Great Barrier Reef: Australia's 'response plan' draft contains no new action or funding
Exclusive: ‘Confidential’ draft acknowledges coral bleaching but does not make any attempt to address climate change
The Australian government’s official “response plan” to the worst ever bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef commits it to no new action, pledges no new money and does not make any attempt to address climate change, according to a draft seen by the Guardian.
The Northern Great Barrier Reef Response Plan, marked “draft” and “confidential”, begins by describing the bleaching event as “the worst ever coral bleaching” and attributes its cause to climate change.
Continue reading...How to See Through Fog: a portrait of a mining town in its darkest days – video
Queenstown, on the remote west coast of Tasmania, is known for two things: copper mining and the harsh gravel oval that is home to the local Australian rules football team. A series of deaths at the Mount Lyell mine brought operations to a standstill and put the future of the town in doubt. Thomas Hyland’s evocative film, shown here after screenings at the Unconformity festival, tracks the story of the town, the people and their football team through shock, grief and change
• Devastation and beauty collide in Tasmanian mining town
Timelapse shows Chernobyl shelter construction – video
Timelapse footage shows the construction of a steel shelter designed to prevent radiation leaks from the site of reactor No 4 at Chernobyl. The series of videos captures the shelter’s progression over several years up to its placement on Tuesday. High radiation levels near the reactor meant parts had to be assembled several hundred metres away and then slid slowly into place
Continue reading...Mars probe returns first pictures
Greece must end its reliance on dirty coal | Letters
It isn’t a great surprise to learn that a director of Greece’s Public Power Corporation believes in exemptions for lignite – an especially polluting type of coal burnt at Greek power plants (Letters, theguardian.com, 24 November). However, the claim that Greece is “among the best performers in emission reductions” must not go unchallenged.
In a recent report, Lifting Europe’s Dark Cloud: How cutting coal saves lives, we revealed how Greek lignite plants, responsible for hundreds of premature deaths and thousands of cases of respiratory illness every year, have in fact been granted special exemptions to EU limits set in the industrial emissions directive. As a result, when it comes to emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx), dust and mercury, Greek plants are undoubtedly among the worst performers in Europe.
Continue reading...French nuclear power in 'worst situation ever', says former EDF director
In the week Britain exports electricity to France for first time in four years, Gérard Magnin says renewable power will match Hinkley Point C on cost
The French nuclear industry is in its “worst situation ever” because of a spate of plant closures in France and the complexities it faces with the reactor design for the UK’s Hinkley Point C power station, according to a former Électricité de France director.
Gérard Magnin, who called Hinkley “very risky” when he resigned as a board member over the project in July, argued that the situation for the state-owned EDF had deteriorated since he stepped down, with more than a dozen French reactors closed over safety checks and routine maintenance.
Continue reading...Let the people lighten energy load with citizen-owned schemes
Urgent climate action must be taken and communities are willing to participate in their own electricity production – if the incentives are right
The challenge of climate change is global and it demands action on an international scale, such as the Paris Agreement. But a large part of the solution will be local, involving all of us in the way energy is produced and consumed.
The potential for citizen involvement in electricity production is considerable. A recent study showed that by 2050 half of all Europeans could produce their own electricity either at home, as part of a cooperative, or in their small business. Counting generation from wind and solar power alone, these small actors could meet almost half of Europe’s total electricity needs.
Continue reading...Rare Antarctic beetle find delights
Megacity planning must change in four years to limit global warming
High-carbon infrastructures lock planet into irreversible greenhouse gas emissions, says campaign group
By the end of this decade it may be too late to limit global warming to scientifically guided limits, if the infrastructure built in the next four years is constructed along the same lines as currently planned.
Building high-carbon infrastructure – from transport systems predicated on motor car use, to new coal-fired power plants, and buildings that leak energy – effectively “locks in” a future of greenhouse gas emissions that are likely to far exceed the planet’s capacity to absorb carbon.
Continue reading...David Attenborough on climate change: 'The world will be transformed' – video
An extract from Liberatum’s documentary In this Climate, in which a range of cultural and environmental figures including Noam Chomsky, David Attenborough and Mark Ruffalo respond to the threat of climate change and to the deniers. The full-length film is scheduled for release before the World Economic Forum in January 2017
如何让被保护区困住的大象重拾自由？
封闭式野生大象保护区承受着生态系统失衡的风险，如何打破保护区壁垒？威尔·琼斯给出了他的答案。(翻译：翻译/chinadialogue)
Related: 《卫报》为何要用中文报道大象的生存危机？
我刚刚从肯尼亚东北省回来。有一天晚上我们在一个干燥的河堤上露营，只用了一个简单的蚊帐当遮盖。夜色之中，我好像感到一群庞然大物静悄悄地出现在了我附近，定睛一看，原来是一群大象。
Continue reading...China on verge of wasting $490 billion on unnecessary coal plants, says carbon tracker
Change market rules, and battery storage will easily beat gas
Terry McCrann leaps back to top of the class for climate denial
Meet the latest organisation to join the Carbon Neutral Program
Meet the latest organisation to join the Carbon Neutral Program
Meet the latest organisation to join the Carbon Neutral Program
Western Power launches 5MW microgrid project for Kalbarri
India’s electricity sector transformation builds momentum
CSIRO inks major China solar thermal deal, but home market remains stalled
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