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Abandoned pipelines could release poisons into North Sea, scientists warn
Researchers say toxic chemicals pose a pollution risk as oil and gas companies are allowed to leave pipelines to rot
Decaying oil and gas pipelines left to fall apart in the North Sea could release large volumes of poisons such as mercury, radioactive lead and polonium-210, notorious for its part in the poisoning of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, scientists are warning.
Mercury, an extremely toxic element, occurs naturally in oil and gas. It sticks to the inside of pipelines and builds up over time, being released into the sea when the pipeline corrodes.
Continue reading...Europe’s largest solar module plant faces shutdown as company shifts focus to US
The post Europe’s largest solar module plant faces shutdown as company shifts focus to US appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Startup monetising individuals’ emissions reductions exits offsetting game
Speculators continue to take advantage of record CCA, RGGI prices, compliance builds North American carbon holdings
Rambo part II: wildlife in the forest where the feral fox once roamed is thriving – but is a comeback tour likely?
Hunted for years in NSW’s Pilliga, Rambo has now disappeared. In his place is an explosion of native species. But why will no one call Rambo ‘dead’?
There is a baby boom of critically endangered native species happening in north-west New South Wales. For the first time in more than a century, the Pilliga scrub – the largest native forest west of the Great Dividing Range – is crawling with multiple generations of greater bilbies, bridled nailtail wallabies, brush-tailed bettong, plains mice and Shark Bay bandicoots.
“All the animals are thriving and most of the females are breeding,” says the Australian Wildlife Conservancy ecologist Vicki Stokes, who monitors the colony’s progress via camera traps and transmitters attached to their tails. “And because the bandicoots have a gestation of just 18 days and the plains mice around 30, it’s happening fast. Some of them are on their third or fourth litters already.”
Continue reading...‘I love you,’ I whisper to the waterhole. When I wake up tomorrow, will it be gone? | Jessie Cole
Flooding is now so frequent that the water course shifts endlessly. In northern NSW, flood-PTSD is rife
This summer, despite a shift to El Niño, my region – northern New South Wales – has been plagued by flood warnings. We are, of course, thankful it is not fire. Flooding here, especially in the warmer months, is normal, though nothing feels normal after the “one-in-one-hundred-year” flood in 2017 that swept away a cabin on my property, or the “one-in-one-thousand-year” flood in 2022 that submerged many of our low-lying townships and reduced much of our highlands, through landslips, to rubble.
Since then, the warning system app Hazards Near Me has been updated, and my phone now pings with flood warnings. It is hard to assess how seriously to take these pings when they are so frequent. If there is a flood warning, and it gets late, should I try to sleep or should I pace about in the pouring rain with a torch attempting to gauge the danger?
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