Feed aggregator

Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say

The Guardian - Tue, 2016-03-22 05:00

Research led by Oxford Martin School finds widespread adoption of vegetarian diet would cut food-related emissions by 63% and make people healthier too

Growing food for the world’s burgeoning population is likely to send greenhouse gas emissions over the threshold of safety, unless more is done to cut meat consumption, a new report has found.

A widespread switch to vegetarianism would cut emissions by nearly two-thirds, it said.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Proposal to grant Multiple Use Consignment Authorities for the import of perishable goods under exceptional circumstances

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2016-03-21 09:35
Invitation to comment on Proposal to grant Multiple Use Consignment Authorities (multiple-use permits) for the import of perishable goods under the exceptional circumstances provision of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act...
Categories: Around The Web

By rejecting $1bn for a pipeline, a First Nation has put Trudeau's climate plan on trial

The Guardian - Mon, 2016-03-21 04:20

Canada’s Lax Kw’alaams show us how we can be saved: by loving the natural world and local living economies more than mere money and profit

Everything has a price. Everyone can be bought. We assume this principle is endemic to modern life — and that accepting it is most obvious to the impoverished. Except all over the world, people are defying it for a greater cause. That courage may be even more contagious.

It has been in full supply in north-west Canada, where an oil giant is aiming to construct one of the country’s biggest fossil fuel developments: a pipeline to ship liquified natural gas (LNG) out of British Colombia. To export it overseas via tankers, Malaysian-owned Petronas must first win approval for a multi-billion dollar terminal on the coast.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Environmental Risk Assessment seminar, 22 March

Newsletters VIC - Sun, 2016-03-20 14:15
Environmental Risk Assessment seminar, 22 March
Categories: Newsletters VIC

Waste, buildings, consumption, and your chance for $250,000 in funding

Newsletters S.A. - Sun, 2016-03-20 13:25
Waste, buildings, consumption, and your chance for $250,000 in funding
Categories: Newsletters S.A.

'A tipping point': record number of Americans see global warming as threat

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-03-19 04:05

New polling data shows that public concern about climate change is at a new high, as the US emerges from its warmest-ever winter

A record number of Americans believe global warming will pose a threat to their way of life, new polling data shows, amid strengthening public acceptance that rising temperatures are being driven by human activity.

Related: February breaks global temperature records by 'shocking' amount

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Five ways to power the UK that are far better than Hinkley Point

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-03-18 21:00

These alternatives to the troubled planned nuclear plant will be faster to build and cheaper for energy consumers, say experts

The planned £18bn nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset are derided by critics as “one of the worst deals ever” for Britain, but defended as crucial to the UK’s energy policy by the government.

Recent resignations and financial warnings have knocked confidence in the Hinkley C deal, raising the question of whether clean energy alternatives could plug the gap. The fast-changing economics of the energy world, with renewables and other clean technologies falling in cost, indicate they can. The alternatives also look faster to build – it would take a decade to get Hinkley into operation – and cheaper for consumers, who ultimately foot the bills.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Worst Mediterranean drought in 900 years has human fingerprints all over it | John Abraham

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-03-18 20:00

A new study shows that the current Mediterranean drought is likely the worst in 900 years, probably due to human-caused intensification

In a warming world, we expect to see increases in some extreme weather events. The science is pretty clear that in some parts of the world, drought and heat waves have and will continue to increase. In other areas, more severe storms along with precipitation and flooding have increased. Drought, heat waves, and floods are examples of changes to weather and climate patterns that will have costs for human society.

It’s tricky to discern not only whether past extreme weather have changed, but also whether human-caused global warming is a factor. Scientists need high-quality records that go back many decades to see if there is any trend towards increasing or decreasing extreme weather. But weather is quite variable. We can see a rise or fall in extreme weather events with no apparent cause, human or natural.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Pluto may have an underground ocean

ABC Science - Fri, 2016-03-18 17:54
WATER WORLD?: Internal heating, fuelled by the natural decay of radioactive elements in Pluto's rocks and other sources, likely keeps an ocean of ammonia-rich water liquid beneath the dwarf planet's frozen surface, new data suggests.

Victoria Corner Inlet Fishery- Agency application 2016

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2016-03-18 14:40
Application on ecological sustainability - call for public comments open from 22 March 2016 until 26 April 2016.
Categories: Around The Web

Drones give precise picture of seabird numbers

ABC Science - Fri, 2016-03-18 10:46
WILDLIFE WARRIORS: Drones can provide a more precise way of monitoring nesting seabird colonies than traditional methods used in wildlife conservation, according to a new Australian study.

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

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2016-03-18 09:53
The September 2015 Quarterly Update has been released.
Categories: Around The Web

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

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2016-03-18 09:53
The September 2015 Quarterly Update has been released.
Categories: Around The Web

Your final date could be 'one face late' if you speed rate

ABC Science - Fri, 2016-03-18 08:22
ONLINE DATING: If you're looking for the love of your life on online dating sites it may pay to take your time rather than rapidly swiping through profile pictures and making snap judgments about their attractiveness.

Shut old nuclear reactors, says unprecedented alliance of EU cities

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-03-18 01:16

Communities and campaigners in Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg lobby for closure of two ageing 40-year old Belgian nuclear reactors close to borders

An unprecedented alliance of 30 major cities and districts from three countries has joined forces to try to shut down two ageing Belgian nuclear reactors close to their borders.

Cologne and Dusseldorf in Germany, Luxembourg City and Maastricht in the Netherlands are among the cities co-funding a lawsuit to close one reactor – Tihange 2 – and calling on the European commission to prepare a separate case at the European court of justice.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Pregnant T. rex dinosaur found

ABC Science - Wed, 2016-03-16 14:24
OLD MUM: A pregnant Tyrannosaurus rex has been found, shedding light on the evolution of egg-laying as well as on gender differences in the dinosaur

Southern right whale study quantifies impact of whaling in NZ

ABC Science - Wed, 2016-03-16 11:35
WHALE TALE: The population of southern right whales in the waters off New Zealand today is just 12 per cent of its size before whaling began, according to a new study.

Record-breaking temperatures 'have robbed the Arctic of its winter'

The Guardian - Wed, 2016-03-16 03:48

Fort Yukon has recorded Alaska’s coldest ever temperatures but this winter temperatures have been much warmer than usual, leading to dangerously thin ice

This year’s record-breaking temperatures have robbed the Arctic of its winter, sending snowmobilers plunging through thin ice into freezing rivers and forcing deliveries of snow to the starting line of Alaska’s legendary Iditarod dogsledding race.

Last month’s high temperatures – up to 16C (29F) above normal in some parts of the Arctic – flummoxed scientists, and are redefining life in the Arctic, especially for the indigenous people who live close to the land.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Louisiana's vanishing island: the climate 'refugees' resettling for $52m

The Guardian - Tue, 2016-03-15 22:30

Isle de Jean Charles has lost 98% of its land and most of its population to rising sea levels – but as remaining residents consider relocation, what happens next is a test case to address resettlement needs

Wenceslaus Billiot, an 88-year-old native of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, remembers growing up on a much different island than the two-mile sliver of his ancestral home that remains today.

“When I was a kid I used to do trapping in the back,” he said, gesturing towards the back of the small, one-story house that stands elevated on stilts to escape the floods that roll in from the bayou after nearly every storm. “You could walk for a long time. Now, nothing but water.”

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Recovery Plan for Three Handfish Species

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2016-03-15 16:49
Recovery Plan for Three Handfish Species: Spotted handfish Brachionichthys hirsutus, Red handfish Thymichthys politus and Ziebell's handfish Brachiopsilus ziebelli
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator