Around The Web

Environment officials are unsure whether the poisoning of the birds in northeast Victoria was an accident

An insecticide is likely to be behind the deaths of almost 200 native birds in northeast Victoria, environment officials believe.

After dead wedge-tailed eagles were found near Violet Town in August the state’s environment department found more – along with hawks and falcons – on a nearby property.

Continue reading...

I use an average of under 4 kWh/day in my all- electric home with a peak of about 9 kWh—and I could reduce that peak even more by further upgrading my home’s thermal performance. An electric vehicle typically has a battery of 40 kWh to 100 kWh. Yet the ‘average’ daily distance travelled by an...

The post Electric vehicles and stationary energy – emerging possibilities appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Commissioning of second Tesla big battery at the Lake Boney wind farm in South Australia delayed again, while wind farms switch off in negative prices.

The post New Tesla big battery at Lake Bonney wind farm delayed again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A cataclysmic energy flare started near the massive black hole in our galaxy, a new research says.

It's long been known that our diet choices help determine our carbon footprint. But do you know which of your favourite foods are the most water-hungry? Brad Ridoutt, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Agriculture, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Environmental activists plan to blockade roads in the centre of government for two weeks

Environmental activists from around Britain are set to swoop on Westminster on Monday morning in an attempt to “shut down” the heart of government with two weeks of disruptive protests.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) said its members are planning to blockade “every single road” into the central London district and plan to maintain the protests for at least 14 days, or until their demands are met.

Continue reading...

Indigenous tribes see the Catholic church as a key ally in the ecological fight – and an unprecedented synod is focused on how to stop the destruction

A hundred years ago the Harakmbut people were nearly wiped out.

Inhabitants of a vast jungle region where Peru intersects with Brazil and Bolivia, the tribespeople were enslaved by rubber barons and murdered en masse, only surviving thanks to the help of Dominican missionaries.

Continue reading...

In effort to restore marsupial’s population, 30 released into Mallee Cliffs national park inside predator-free enclosure

Bilbies have been reintroduced to the Mallee Cliffs national park in the far south-west of New South Wales in an effort to restore populations of the marsupial, which is regionally extinct in the state.

Greater bilbies haven’t been seen in the national park for more than a century.

Continue reading...

Miner given permission due to ‘loopholes’ in safeguard mechanism, Australian Conservation Foundation says

An Australian mining company was able to massively increase greenhouse gas emissions from two of its coalmines without penalty under a government policy that is meant to limit carbon pollution from large facilities.

Centennial Coal was given permission on three occasions since 2016/17 to increase the greenhouse gas emissions from its Myuna colliery and Mandalong mines in New South Wales, according to data kept by the clean energy regulator.

Continue reading...

David Littleproud signals more taxpayer support for rural communities as big dry ‘escalates’

The drought and water resources minister, David Littleproud, has acknowledged he “totally” accepts that worsening droughts are linked to climate change, as he signalled more taxpayer support for regional communities was coming as Australia’s big dry “escalates”.

Littleproud, who stumbled last month by first telling Guardian Australia he did not know if climate change was manmade, then later clarifying he had always accepted the science on the role humans play in the climate changing, told the ABC on Sunday he understood the link between global warming and drought because “I live it”.

Continue reading...

There’s a new emphasis on land reclamation and building floating structures for everything from accommodation to marine farming to energy generation. Re-defining the use of the ocean is part of the emerging “blue economy” – one that can be both economically beneficial and environmentally responsible. How well can these often contradictory goals be reconciled?

The number of rare goshawks in the New Forest has doubled in the last eight years.

The Nobel Prizes are amongst the most prestigious awards in a variety of fields, so how do you win one?

Meet the "transhumanists" who are pushing the boundaries of technology to implant chips and more into their bodies.

Toowoomba’s toxic 2006 poll put recycled water off the drinking table – but there is a push to bring it back

Right now, country towns in New South Wales and Queensland are heading for that fateful “day zero” where the supplies of drinking water end and the desperate contingency plans begin.

Pipelines are one solution and daily truck arrivals are another.

Continue reading...

Officers raid building used by climate crisis activists to store items for Westminster rally

Police have taken pre-emptive action against environmental protesters who are planning to cause disruption in Westminster.

Dozens of officers from the Metropolitan police’s territorial support group raided a building in Kennington, south London, where Extinction Rebellion activists were storing equipment to use in a demonstration next week.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK supermarkets admit there may be soya-led deforestation in their supply chains due to problems with traceability

• Rise of the ‘wonder bean’: from deforestation to your plate
  
• Home to the screaming hairy armadillo: the forest the world forgot
  

Tesco, M&S and several other UK supermarkets admit that they cannot guarantee that soya from deforested areas is not in their supply chain despite commitments to phase out its use, the Guardian has found.

An investigation has revealed that Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and M&S all buy products from UK farmers using animal feed that includes soya from Argentina. About 14% of Argentina’s planted soya is in the north of the country, where deforestation has laid waste to huge areas of the Gran Chaco forest.

Continue reading...

The meat and dairy industry’s demand for soya is driving environmental crisis in one of the world’s most threatened forests. We trace the seven steps from the Chaco to the food we eat

• Tesco and M&S likely to have soya linked to deforestation in supply chains
  
• Home to the screaming hairy armadillo: the forest the world forgot
  

Continue reading...

The deforestation of the Gran Chaco is dangerously overshadowed by its neighbour, the Amazon

• Tesco and M&S likely to have soya linked to deforestation in supply chains
  
• Home to the screaming hairy armadillo: the forest the world forgot
  

Somehow the Gran Chaco has remained off the world’s radar, its endless expanse of dry woodland overshadowed by the nearby superstar of forests – the Amazon.

Covering a vast area one and a half times the size of California – half in Argentina, a third in Paraguay and the remainder in Bolivia– the gargantuan scale of the Chaco tells only part of the story.

Continue reading...

Comments from ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco, the British Retail Consortium, Cadbury and the Food and Drink Federation

We spoke to a number of companies in the course of writing our piece on on the joint problem of soya-led deforestation in Argentina, and the lack of traceability in that country. We asked them if they were aware of the issue, and if so what action they were taking. Their full comments are below.

Continue reading...