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SENG National Newsletter - August 2015

Newsletters National - Tue, 2015-08-25 21:25
SENG National Newsletter - August 2015
Categories: Newsletters National

Here’s what happens when you try to replicate climate contrarian papers | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-08-25 20:00

A new paper finds common errors among the 3% of climate papers that reject the global warming consensus

Those who reject the 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming often invoke Galileo as an example of when the scientific minority overturned the majority view. In reality, climate contrarians have almost nothing in common with Galileo, whose conclusions were based on empirical scientific evidence, supported by many scientific contemporaries, and persecuted by the religious-political establishment. Nevertheless, there’s a slim chance that the 2–3% minority is correct and the 97% climate consensus is wrong.

To evaluate that possibility, a new paper published in the journal of Theoretical and Applied Climatology examines a selection of contrarian climate science research and attempts to replicate their results. The idea is that accurate scientific research should be replicable, and through replication we can also identify any methodological flaws in that research. The study also seeks to answer the question, why do these contrarian papers come to a different conclusion than 97% of the climate science literature?

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Categories: Around The Web

SENG Newsletter No.53 - Earth overshoot day and much more

Newsletters QLD - Tue, 2015-08-25 13:35
SENG Newsletter No.53 - Earth overshoot day and much more
Categories: Newsletters QLD

Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship Bob Barker refused entry to Faroe Islands

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-08-25 12:28

Territory says it banned activist group’s entry after it had ‘deliberately attempted to disrupt the legal and regulated activity of driving and killing pilot whales’

Denmark’s autonomous Faroe Islands announced on Monday that they had refused entry to a ship carrying 21 activists from the militant conservation group Sea Shepherd who were trying to disrupt traditional whale hunts.

The territory’s government said in a statement that it had barred the ship, the Bob Barker, “with a basis in immigration legislation and in the interests of maintaining law and order”.

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Categories: Around The Web

Specieswatch: Wild boar

The Guardian - Mon, 2015-08-24 06:30

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) have been quietly re-establishing themselves in the woodlands of Britain for a couple of decades, although that statement might be challenged by those who have had their gardens dug up or crops eaten.

Related: Here comes trouble: the return of the wild boar to Britain

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Categories: Around The Web

Indigenous tribe opposes hydropower projects in Tawang | Janaki Lenin

The Guardian - Sat, 2015-08-22 16:25

An indigenous tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, the Monpa, fears its religious and cultural sites will be affected by 15 hydroelectric projects

On 24 and 25 August, the Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects of the Ministry of Environment and Forests is scheduled to discuss the impact of 15 hydroelectric projects planned for the Tawang river basin in western Arunachal Pradesh. In an area wedged between China and Bhutan, these dams, with a combined capacity of about 2800MW of power, will submerge 249 hectares (615 acres) of forest. Other construction work such as roads will affect an even larger area of forest.

The Buddhist Monpa tribe, which lives in Tawang, fears its sacred sites, monasteries, and springs will be affected by the various components of these hydel projects. Villagers organised a huge rally from Tawang monastery to protest the construction of hydroelectric projects, defying a ban on public gathering in December 2012.

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Categories: Around The Web

Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: March 2015

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-08-21 12:26
The March 2015 Quarterly Update has been released
Categories: Around The Web

Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: March 2015

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-08-21 12:26
The March 2015 Quarterly Update has been released
Categories: Around The Web

New Zealand hunters apologise over accidental shooting of takahē

The Guardian - Fri, 2015-08-21 11:09

An inquiry is under way into how a cull of somewhat similar-looking pukeko birds has led to the slaughter of 5% of the wild population of takahē

The head of New Zealand’s national deerstalkers’ association has apologised “to the country at large” after four critically endangered takahē were mistakenly shot by hunters carrying out a cull of a somewhat similar-looking bird.

Deerstalkers were contracted by the Department of Conservation to carry out a cull of pukeko, a non-endangered, very common relative of the takahē, on an island sanctuary in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.

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Categories: Around The Web

Ants hold protest calling for protection of Amazon rainforest - video

The Guardian - Fri, 2015-08-21 06:32

Around half a million ants hold a protest in Cologne, Germany, calling for Angela Merkel, the country’s chancellor, to continue supporting the protection of the Amazon rainforest. As Merkel makes a visit to Brazil, conservation organisation the World Wildlife Fund lazered messages onto leaves, which read, ‘Stand up’ and ‘Save the Amazon’. Ants then carried the messages on their backs as they crawled across their ant farm

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Categories: Around The Web

Climate philanthropist George Soros invests millions in coal

The Guardian - Wed, 2015-08-19 19:36

Billionaire has previously funded renewable energy and low-carbon initiatives and has called coal a ‘lethal bullet’ for climate change

Billionaire climate philanthropist George Soros invested more than $2m (£1.3m) in struggling coal giants Peabody Energy and Arch Coal in recent months, despite having once called the fuel “lethal” to the climate.

Filings with the Securities and Exchange commission show that between April and June this year Soros Fund Management (SFM) bought more than 1m shares in Peabody ($2.25m), the world’s largest private coal company, and 500,000 shares in Arch ($188,000).

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Categories: Around The Web

South Australian Marine Scalefish Fishery

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2015-08-19 16:20
Proposal to declare an approved wildlife trade operation for the incidental harvest of smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena) shark. Comments open from 20 August 2015 until 17 September 2015.
Categories: Around The Web

Great white shark and seal in mid-air clash above the ocean – video

The Guardian - Wed, 2015-08-19 11:47

Researchers with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy capture the moment a great white shark jumps out of the water as it chases a seal off the Massachusetts coast. The seal can be seen leaping out of the water and hitting the shark with its tail

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Categories: Around The Web

Coalition to restrict green groups' right to challenge after Carmichael setback

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-08-18 15:30

Decision to place restrictions on environment groups that can bring legal action comes after federal court overturned approval for the Queensland coalmine

The government will remove the right of most environmental organisations to challenge developments under federal laws unless they can show they are “directly affected” – a direct response to the federal court decision this month on Adani’s Carmichael coalmine.

Related: George Brandis: vigilante green groups destroying thousands of mining jobs

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Categories: Around The Web

Invitation to comment on listing assessment for Pterostylis psammophila

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2015-08-18 15:27
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the assessment of Pterostylis psammophila. The public consultation period will be open until 5 October 2015.
Categories: Around The Web

Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2015-08-17 10:22
Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments open from 17 August 2015 until 14 September 2015
Categories: Around The Web

A place where monsters hide

ABC Science - Mon, 2015-08-17 00:00
STARSTUFF IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Giant lobes of gas billow out from monster stars at the heart of Eta Carinae, the biggest star system in our part of the universe
Categories: Around The Web

Ohio zoo takes cubs of bear euthanized after Yellowstone hiker killed and eaten

The Guardian - Sat, 2015-08-15 10:33

Cubs’ mother was killed because she ate part of hiker Lance Crosby and hid the rest of the body, say park officials

A zoo in the state of Ohio will take two cubs of a grizzly bear that was euthanized after it killed a hiker in Yellowstone national park.

Park spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said the cubs’ mother was killed in Montana because she ate part of hiker Lance Crosby, 63, and hid the rest of the body — an abnormal behavior for a female bear defending its young.

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Categories: Around The Web

Clarification: statement from the Climate Change Authority

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-08-14 18:55
In relation to the statement issued today by the Chair of the Climate Change Authority, the Department of the Environment notes by way of clarification that: In its Final Report on Australia’s Future Emissions Reduction Targets, the...
Categories: Around The Web

Great white shark 'Deep Blue' swims near divers off coast of Mexico – video

The Guardian - Fri, 2015-08-14 13:07

Close-up footage of a great white shark near Guadalupe Island. The female shark, known as Deep Blue, is thought to be at least 50 years old. This clip was posted to Facebook by Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, a marine conservationist who is fundraising to protect sharks in the area, especially females with pups, from threats such as fishing nets and illegal hunters

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Categories: Around The Web

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