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The most controversial feature of the New Zealand flora is the plethora of small-leaved trees and shrubs with wiry interlaced branches. Can a synthesis of competing explanations solve this mystery? Chris Lusk, Associate Professor of Ecology, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The photographs show how climate change is disrupting our marine ecosystems – sometimes in ways previously unknown to marine scientists. Gretta Pecl, Professor, ARC Future Fellow & Director of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania Barrett Wolfe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Tasmania Curtis Champion, Research Scientist, Southern Cross University Jan Strugnell, Associate Professor Marine Biology and Aquaculture, James Cook University Sue-Ann Watson, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Drinking reprocessed water is "perfectly safe and healthy", the Environment Agency chief tells public.

The release of vast new areas along the Australian coast for oil and gas exploration is undermining proclamations about creating a cleaner economy

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The Albanese government has a decision to make: does it want people to think it takes the climate crisis seriously? Because at the moment it’s sending mixed messages.

On one hand, it is telling a story of progress. Its ascent to power has, along with the rise of the teals and the Greens, reset the way the country thinks about dealing with the problem.

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Across Britain we are witnessing processes that look familiar but are too early and not what they seem. We must use them as a warning to act

Across Britain, the woods are turning orange. Drifts of dry leaves are growing on forest floors and eddying into street corners. Hawthorn and rowan, elder and holly berries are all ripening, and the ferns are fringes of gold. From a distance, it is beautiful. But the air is still warm and summery.

And all of it is two or three months early. Holly berries usually ripen in November or December. Blackberries, traditionally a late August treat, began ripening at the end of June. This turning and leaf fall is not the usual gradual preparation for winter in temperate zones but a stress response by trees trying to conserve water. We are now in a false autumn, caused by heat and drought. And it feels wrong.

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Environment Agency chief calls for new attitudes to conserve water and avoid droughts

British people need to be “less squeamish” about drinking water derived from sewage, the boss of the Environment Agency has said.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir James Bevan outlined measures the government, water companies and ordinary people should be taking to avoid severe droughts.

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Contractor confirms delays and cost blowouts at Snowy 2.0, as departing Snowy CEO launches broadside at Labor's renewable and hydrogen plans and "misleading" advice.

The post Contractor confirms delays and cost overruns at Snowy 2.0, as CEO fires off at government appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Having raw sewage lapping around the UK is a fitting symbol of our freedom from the tyranny of EU red tape

Apparently, you can now see the ring of human excrement surrounding Brexit Britain from space, the raw sewage of Brexit’s environmental fallout lapping at the shores of our sceptic isle. The Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping, whom I befriended at one of Robin Ince and Brian Cox’s Hammersmith Apollo space-comedy events while dancing to Charlotte Church’s indie-pop covers band, contacted me from her sleep pod on the Tianhe space station module to describe the sight. “Oh Stewart! From space, Britain now looks like a beautiful green jade earring, but a beautiful green jade earring that has been dropped in an oyster pail Chinese takeaway box full of dog diarrhoea. Oh Stewart!” Wang sighed, clearly distressed, “no fine ladies will want to wear that filthy earring that is Brexit Britain now. So sad. So sad for you. How is your Edinburgh fringe going? I hear Kunt and the Gang’s Shannon Matthews: The Musical is very good.”

Like me, I am sure you remember reasonable Remainers’ warnings about the incoming non-availability of European manufactured, sewage-refining chemicals being dismissed as “project fear”; like me, I am sure you remember how Michael Gove snorted with haughty delight as he promised us leaving the EU would enable us to enjoy even tighter environmental protections, rather than being swamped with raw sewage. Another Brexit-non-bonus; like me, I am sure you worried that the EU’s fines for water pollution by privatised water companies were all that was saving us from capitalism crapping into every culvert, as big business kleptocrats asset-stripped the water infrastructure and processed the profits abroad; like me, I am sure you realised that the Conservatives’ October 2021 decision to vote down an amendment that would have stopped the dumping of raw sewage into seas and rivers would mean their friends who own the water companies would be free to choke our waterways and coastlines; and like me, I am sure you were more than a little bewildered to find that the most consistent voice of reason in this crisis is former Undertones frontman and keen fly fisher Feargal Sharkey. Who can forget the prophetic hit single, Here Comes the Summer, with its classic couplet: “Keep looking for the girls with their bodies so fit, lying on the beaches all covered in shit”?

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Gardeners say that warmer weather is boosting the growth of figs, watermelon and other exotic plants.

The extreme heat this summer has exacerbated the many hazards, leading to a sudden spike in deaths in Hungary.

Major works begin at massive new South Australia wind farm that will take share of wind and solar in state demand to a world-leading 80 per cent.

The post Major works start on giant project that will propel South Australia to more than 80 pct wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Governments urged to plan for emerging technologies that will allow bidirectional charging so vehicle batteries can power homes

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Australia’s first mandate to make new apartment buildings “electric vehicle-ready” should be extended to all new housing, potentially turning entire suburbs into virtual batteries supporting the power grid, the federal science minister said.

Ed Husic helped helm Friday’s gathering of federal, state and territory building ministers in Sydney, where it was agreed to amend the national construction code to require new apartment blocks to be capable of charging cars in all their parking spots.

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If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges

For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.

Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.

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This fifth round of discussions was meant to establish a UN Ocean Treaty that would protect biodiversity in international waters

The latest round of talks at the United Nations aimed at securing protections for marine life in international waters that cover half the planet ended without agreement Saturday.

The fifth round of discussions, which began two weeks ago, were designed to establish a UN Ocean Treaty that would set rules for protecting biodiversity in two-thirds of the world’s oceanic areas that lie outside territorial waters.

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Agricultural waste outstrips sewage as the main danger – and activists blame the ex-environment secretary’s cuts to farm inspections

Liz Truss is responsible for farmers being allowed to dump a catastrophic “chemical cocktail” of pollutants into Britain’s rivers, according to environmental campaigners.

This has meant agricultural waste now outstrips sewage as the leading danger to England’s waterways.

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Sale of peat-based compost for use on private gardens and allotments to be outlawed within 18 months

Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024, the government has announced.

Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands.

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Unless an emergency meeting for a further round of negotiations is convened an agreement looks unlikely in 2022, Greenpeace warns

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A fifth round of negotiations for a UN ocean treaty to protect and manage the high seas failed to reach an agreement on Friday in New York.

The treaty has been described as “the most significant ocean protection agreement for four decades”.

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Pumped hydro projects are riding the accelerating flow of the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

The post Pumped hydro: The power of gravity and moving water appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Campaigners say it is a missed opportunity to protect species like sharks at risk of extinction.

Scientists suspect a pollutant caused high salt levels, encouraging algae to flourish, suffocating fish.