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There’s filth in the water, and inhumanity in the air. Greed and nationalism have destroyed a great British pleasure

This ought to be a new golden age for the British seaside, since we have somehow managed to recreate the conditions of its last golden age, the late 1940s, and nobody can afford to go abroad. Take a plane almost anywhere, and you’re flying closer to a climate crisis and will find it hard not to ruminate on your own contribution to it. Take a boat and you’ll spend most of your holiday in Dover. These are the ideal circumstances in which to rediscover the beauty of, say, Weymouth or Scarborough.

But you have to wonder how charming it would be to go to a Dorset beach when the area is mainly in the news because of the Bibby Stockholm, the giant refugee barge that has just taken delivery of its first residents. Even if you couldn’t see it from your beach hut – it is modestly moored in a non-beauty spot – you couldn’t help but wonder what life is like on this cramped seaborne accommodation, where the walls are bare, the hours untenanted and the TVs have no plugs. Is it at all like a cruise? Or is it more like a prison hulk? Sure, we all live in the shadow of inhumanity, but it’s difficult to imagine a mini-break there.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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Study using specialised camera footage finds methane leaking or being deliberately vented from gas infrastructure across the country.

The post Methane pollution “pouring out” of Australian gas infrastructure, study finds appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia is lagging behind on regulation to control methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector, according to a report released Tuesday, as a conservation group has released footage that appears to show methane leaks across dozens of oil and gas facilities across the country.

Infrared videos show gas leaking or being vented from more than 100 places across 35 fossil fuel sites in Queensland and New South Wales, according to an investigation by environmental organisations. The Australian Conservation Foundation commissioned the US-based Clean Air Task Force, a global nonprofit, to use new technology to monitor if methane was leaking from coalmines and gas facilities owned by energy giants Santos and Origin and pipeline company Jemena. The organisations said the videos were recorded over a four-week period in which they visited 80 sites to take a snapshot of Australia’s fossil fuel infrastructure. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the global heating impact of CO2 over a 20 year period when released into the atmosphere

• Climate-heating gas released from dozens of Australian fossil fuel sites, environmental group claims

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Cosmetics firm L’Oreal has partnered with the Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) to offset its entire annual plastic footprint in the Philippines, starting from this year.

South Korea should draw up regulations for its emissions trading scheme that support progress towards reaching its 2030 renewable energy target, according to an analysis recently released by a state-run think tank.

He should stand firm against the headbangers in his party, eject them if necessary, but he won’t. They speak, he listens

The imagery is unfortunate. Our prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was apparently spotted in a gym at 7am in Santa Monica, California – where his family owns a £5.5m penthouse in a building with its own pet spa – pedalling away at an indoor SoulCycle session to Taylor Swift music. Pedalling like fury and going nowhere.

Back in Blighty, staycationers may or may not brave the sea where, to Britain’s international shame, 57 world triathlon athletes in Sunderland have just fallen sick after competing in swimming events in our filthy, sewage-tainted waters. On holiday in East Sussex, I watched the Conservatives lose power last week to Liberal Democrats in a county council byelection that tipped this deep blue county’s council into a position of no overall control. They lost the Eastbourne ward of Meads, where the politics professor Tim Bale lives. “Wide implications here,” he says. “Tory since time began, it’s Eastbourne’s richest suburb, average age 60.” Rishi Sunak’s anti-green gesturing cut no ice here.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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Living your life in air-conditioned comfort can actually put you more at risk from heat. Here’s why the age-old tradition of a midday nap could help. Simon Quilty, Purple House Medical Advisor. Honorary ANU., Australian National University Aparna Lal, Research Fellow, Australian National University Norman Frank Jupurrurla, Warumungu Elder and Director of the Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation, Tennant Creek, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

UK-based CreditNature has released its ecosystem integrity-based framework that has been designed to underpin the issuances of nature credits and other financial instruments.

The results of the Nature inFocus photography awards were announced at the Nature inFocus festival held at Jayamahal Palace in Bengaluru, India, on Monday 31 July. The awards honour photographers documenting unique natural history moments and critical conservation issues, and generate an impressive catalogue of imaginative and artistic images every year

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Temperatures in excess of 40C are expected to hit much of the Iberian peninsula this week.

A deal with Suntech, Powin and Rept Battero to establish PV and battery production lines in Indonesia will bolster Vena's plans to export solar to Singapore.

The post Massive new solar and battery project lays down challenge to Sun Cable export plans appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AEMO says media claims that its cost assessment on renewables do not include system costs are just wrong. But the campaign against wind and solar is getting pretty crazy.

The post AEMO slams Murdoch media campaign that claims renewables are not low cost appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Flaming debris was seen blazing across the night sky in Melbourne on Monday evening.

The output of Australia's rapidly growing solar farms hits new peak - in the middle of winter for the fourth year in a row.

The post Australian solar farms set new output record in middle of winter – again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NT seeks another 100MW of big solar, but the projects will have to come with their own storage to avoid the problems that have caused the first solar farms to sit idle.

The post NT seeks another 100MW of large scale solar, even as first projects sit idle appeared first on RenewEconomy.

It may soon be possible to reduce cyclone formation and intensity by spraying particles into the atmosphere above a forming storm. But the technology opens up a can of worms Aaron Tang, PhD Scholar in Climate Governance, Australian National University Jack W. Miller, Research assistant, Australian National University Mark Howden, Director, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University Roslyn Prinsley, Head, Disaster Solutions, Australian National University Thao Linh Tran, Research Fellow, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

ACT says final step to going all-electric is to abolish existing network connections. But currently that costs up to $800 for a home and $1,500 for a business.

The post Electrification: ACT seeks to cut hefty cost of quitting gas network appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Acciona unveils plans to install 58 turbines outside the towns of Evansford and Waubra – home to one of Acciona's earliest wind projects in Australia.

The post Spanish enegy giant flags 330MW wind farm plans for Victoria region with a history appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The eight countries who share the rainforest are meeting in Brazil for a "milestone" summit.