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New coral bleaching outbreak in NT a worrying sign of our warming oceans

The Conversation - Tue, 2018-03-20 04:37
Coral bleaching has struck the Northern Territory, adding urgency to the need for better national management strategies for our warming oceans. Selina Ward, Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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London air pollution activists 'prepared to go to prison' to force action

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-20 03:09

Group of campaigners arrested after spray painting mayor’s offices as part of a series of direct action protests over of the capital’s illegal air pollution

Air pollution protesters say they are prepared to go to prison as they step up their campaign against the poisonous air that kills tens of thousands of people in the UK each year.

A group of campaigners including pensioners and young parents, were arrested on Monday after targeting the offices of London mayor Sadiq Khan, spraying slogans on the walls calling for tougher action on air pollution.

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Regional forest agreement renewals spark fresh forest wars

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-20 03:00

RFAs were meant to protect forests and create a sustainable timber industry, but as renewals approach both sides are readying for battle

For more than 30 years Jill Redwood has fought to save the ancient old growth forests of East Gippsland in Victoria.

Living alone, isolated and self-sufficient on a small rural property in the Brodribb river valley alongside the Snowy river national park, Redwood, the coordinator of the East Gippsland Environment Centre, says there have been endless attempts to silence and frighten her. She’s undaunted.

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Climate change soon to cause mass movement, World Bank warns

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-20 02:44

140m people in three regions expected to migrate before 2050 unless environment is improved

Climate change will result in a massive movement of people inside countries and across borders, creating “hotspots” where tens of millions pour into already crowded slums, according to the World Bank.

More than 140m people in just three regions of the developing world are likely to migrate within their native countries between now and 2050, the first report on the subject has found.

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Macular degeneration: 'I've been given my sight back'

BBC - Tue, 2018-03-20 02:00
Two patients have had pioneering stem cell therapy to restore their vision.
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Rare poison

BBC - Mon, 2018-03-19 23:09
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned by Novichok nerve agents, the PM says. So what are they?
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Toxic task

BBC - Mon, 2018-03-19 20:55
The organisation keeping track of the deadly chemicals held by countries around the world.
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John Kelly shut down Pruitt’s climate denial ‘red team,’ but they have a Plan B | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-03-19 20:00

Let fossil fuel-funded think tanks make their case, then ignore it

In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant, which means that if it poses a threat to public health or welfare, the EPA must regulate it under the Clean Air Act. In 2009, the EPA completed its review of the climate science literature and correctly concluded in its Endangerment Finding that carbon pollution poses such a threat via climate change. That document is the foundation for all government climate policies, including the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. Climate deniers have thus long had their sights set on revoking the Endangerment Finding.

That’s a tall order, since the scientific literature is crystal clear on this question. House Republicans first tried to simply rewrite the Clean Air Act to state the greenhouse gases aren’t pollutants, but they failed to get nearly enough support to pass that legislation. Next they proposed setting up a ‘Red Team’ of climate deniers to debate the mainstream climate science ‘Blue Team.’ But Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly worried that having this prominent debate on the record would be a distraction and potentially expose the administration to litigation, so he killed the idea.

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Water shortages could affect 5bn people by 2050, UN report warns

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-03-19 17:00

Conflict and civilisational threats likely unless action is taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs

More than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand and polluted supplies, according to a UN report on the state of the world’s water.

The comprehensive annual study warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs.

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Country diary: beavers adjust to the first proper Highland winter in years

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-03-19 15:30

Aigas, Beauly, Inverness-shire They had to hurry to cache enough food before the ice took over, an underwater stash of nutritious bark kept fresh for winter snacking

I think we’d almost forgotten about ice. A decade of mild winters had pressed delete in our recent memory banks, banished ice to the Winter Olympics or perhaps to nostalgia – something that happened back then. Well, this Highland winter was having none of it. It rampaged in with sharp teeth in November, bit hard and hasn’t let go. It shows no sign of doing so yet.

The beavers in the Aigas loch had to hurry to cache enough food before the ice took over, an underwater stash of birch and willow logs, the nutritious bark kept fresh for winter snacking. They don’t hibernate. They still emerge in the long dark to forage where they can, labouring away at their evenly spaced breathing holes in the ice, gnawing at the rims every night to keep them open.

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Sailing to Japan

ABC Environment - Mon, 2018-03-19 15:25
The ocean race from Melbourne to Osaka takes place on March 25th.  
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Wild quolls take bait of cane-toad sausages, offering hope for species

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-03-19 15:19

Wildlife managers hope taste aversion technique can help safeguard the endangered northern quoll

Scientists are a step closer to stopping the devastating march of toxic cane toads across northern Australia, as the introduced species continues to decimate what is left of the native quoll populations.

Field trials of a technique used to turn quolls off the taste of toads has yielded positive results, which were published in this month’s Austral Ecology journal.

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Carnegie wins grant to power offshore gas platform with solar

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 14:27
Carnegie wins NERA funding to integrate solar PV and storage at the Blacktip Wellhead Platform in the Southern Bonaparte Basin.
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UK wind farms deliver record 37% of nation’s electricity

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 14:26
Strong winds and offshore wind farms helped deliver record 39.6% of UK electricity on Sunday morning.
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Jupiter wind farm plans abandoned in face of community opposition

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 14:04
EPYC withdraws application to develop 54 turbine wind farm in NSW, after two planning department rejections and 400 community objections.
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How tree bonds can help preserve the urban forest

The Conversation - Mon, 2018-03-19 13:39
Tree bonds are set to be introduced by a Melbourne city council to protect city trees. But how do they work and why are they needed? Joe Hurley, Senior Lecturer, Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT University Dave Kendal, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management, University of Tasmania Judy Bush, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, University of Melbourne Stephen Rowley, Lecturer in Urban Planning, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Speed of Australia’s energy transition hostage to Marshall law

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 12:59
Election of Steve Marshall – and expectation he will be a vassal of Coalition in Canberra – likely to do more damage to country's renewable energy transition than that of his state. Jay Weatherill will be missed, but he leaves SA with huge momentum.
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Reappointments to the Australian Heritage Council

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2018-03-19 12:05
Five members have been reappointed to the Australian Heritage Council: the Hon Dr Kemp AC (chair), Dr Jane Harrington, Associate Professor Don Garden OAM, Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker and Ms Rachel Perkins.
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Journey to zero emissions electricity: What happens when sun don’t shine, wind don’t blow?

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 10:18
In part two of three-part series, we consider the question of firming variable renewable generation.
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Marshall’s first promise as SA premier: Kill Tesla battery plan

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-03-19 09:19
New SA Premier Steven Marshall vows to scrap Tesla's plans for world's biggest virtual power plant targeting low income households, in favour of a $100 million subsidy for those homes already with solar.
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