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Why wouldn't a straight banana make it onto a supermarket shelf?

We must reduce our dependence on plastics, especially single-use items, and seek out alternative materials

• 38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island

It’s everywhere. From the Mariana Trench to the floor of the Arctic Ocean, on tropical beaches and polar coasts. It’s in wildlife, seafood, sea salt and even on the surface of Mars. The world is blighted by plastic. Up to 12m tonnes of the stuff enters the world’s oceans every year (that’s one new tonne of plastic every three to 10 seconds) and it doesn’t go to that magical place called “away”.

Once in the oceans, it can float around for years, or even decades, before being swallowed by a bird or a whale. During that time, it can travel tens of thousands of kilometres, all the while absorbing contaminants from the sea water, concentrating them like a sponge. When wildlife ingest plastic, the brew of toxic chemicals can be transferred to the animal’s tissues with potentially dangerous consequences.

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Australia has had a record-breaking year when it comes to building large-scale solar power projects and our capacity for solar is about to triple.

Henderson Island in the South Pacific Ocean is believed to be one of the world’s worst polluted places. Australian scientists say they found its beaches littered with about 38m pieces of plastic during an investigation in 2015. The island is in the path of the South Pacific Gyre, an ocean current known for its accumulation of plastic debris

• 38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island
  

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The uninhabited Pacific island is littered with 37.7 million pieces of plastic debris, scientists say.

The Charted Institute for Waste and Environmental Management (Ciwem) Photographer of the Year competition was set up 10 years ago to chronicle human impact on the natural environment. The 2017 competition launches this week and judges include Stephen Fry, Ben Fogle and Steve Backshall

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Only 30 vaquita are left in Gulf of Mexico as pirate fishermen net them when fishing for highly valued totoaba maws

The world’s rarest marine mammal is on the verge of extinction due to the continuing illegal demand in China for a valuable fish organ, an undercover investigation has revealed.

There are no more than 30 vaquita – a five-foot porpoise – left in the northern Gulf of Mexico today and they could be extinct within months, conservationists have warned. The population has been all but eradicated by pirate fishermen catching the large totoaba fish and killing the vaquita in the process.

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Solar is cheap enough for homeowners to use it to power air conditioners to cool outdoor verandahs. The big challenge, ARENA says, is integration into the grid. The technology is there, but rules, regulations and business models will have to change.

AGL Energy (AGL) has commenced construction on the 200 MW Silverton Wind Farm in north western New South Wales near Broken Hill.

Buxton, Derbyshire They look like animate furry fruit bonbons. The queens hatch late and their preferred food is bilberry and heather

After the most rainless spring that I can recall, the vegetation on the moor tops is frazzled to an August tinder. The full sweep of folded slopes look grey rather than the usual heathery brown, and even the deepest gullies are dry bottomed and crunchy underfoot. Yet the strong north-easterlies have kept the entire season freeze-dried, and there are almost no swallows through the blue overhead, while the pipits, parachuting down in song display, whose notes are flat at best of times, were picked to desultory shreds by the currents of cold air.

It was so dry that I could at least lie among the bilberry bushes to escape the wind and there, in a condition of enforced sloth, I chanced upon a search method for the creature I’d come to see.

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ARENA says its large-scale solar program brought down costs to match wind energy five years ahead of expectations.

City of Sydney's has reinforced its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, sourcing half of its energy from renewables by 2030 and zero increase in water usage.

Staffers send Trump fake news - including long-debunked climate claims - to “gain an edge in the seemingly endless ‘Game of Thrones’ inside the West Wing.

Global big solar installed capacity sailed past 100GW at the end of March, as even Australia approaches the global Big League, if it can overtake Thailand.

With 2℃ of global warming, the stifling heat of January 2013 would be the norm for Australia.

Meet the scientist behind one of the biggest science projects in the Middle East.

Deborah Aukland - Brown Falconer

Deb Aukland is Education Sector Leader at Brown Falconer Architects. Deb has extensive educational facilities planning expertise and brings a unique perspective to her role, having worked for the Departments of Education in SA and Tasmania. She is committed to developing design solutions that respond to pedagogical priorities and enhance student learning outcomes and wellbeing.

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Victoria's biggest network operator Ausnet says future grid will be dominated by wind and solar, with some communities looking at 100% renewable energy options.

How an entrepreneur is bringing water to the deserts of Pakistan by using goats as currency.

A fishing ban extension is said to be the best hope for the world's most endangered marine species.