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As Sydney turns on its desalination plant for the first time in seven years, the way Australia manages its water resources has come into stark focus.

Adam Lovell, the executive director of the Water Services Association of Australia, discusses the challenges of climate change and population growth to the country's water supply – and how these are being met through a combination of techniques, including desalination, dams, water recycling and improved efficiency

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National park saw ‘irreparable’ damage including vandalism, ruined trails and trees cut down, says former superintendent

The former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park has said it could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever government shutdown.

“What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” Curt Sauer said at a rally over the weekend, according to a report from the Desert Sun. Sauer retired in 2010 after running the park for seven years.

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Anna Bergstrom runs a shopping mall in Sweden where everything for sale is recycled. Her goal is to make sustainable shopping fashionable.

If adopted by government, the proposal would make Germany the largest economy with concrete plans to end use of coal to produce electricity.

The post Germany eyes coal exit by 2038 in bid for climate-friendly economy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Store to sell pasta and granola bars made from ground buffalo worm and cricket flour

Pasta, protein bars and granola bars made from insect flour are to go on sale in Selfridges to highlight alternative proteins for inclusion in mainstream diets.

Amid growing awareness of the environmental impact of livestock farming – and the benefits of reducing meat consumption – the British department store is the latest retailer to tap into the rising recognition of the benefits of eating insects on both nutritional and environmental grounds.

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Former CEFC boss Oliver Yates to take on Josh Frydenberg in traditionally safe Coalition seat of Kooyong, as Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt also face competition from climate and energy focused independents.

The post Yates joint independent push to dethrone Coalition’s climate and energy failures appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Numerous environmental groups urged New Jersey to adopt a more stringent RGGI cap at its first stakeholder meeting on Friday in order to further strengthen the environmental performance of the regional carbon programme.

Hawaii state legislators put forth two different carbon tax proposals last week, with one seeking to swap out the state’s fuel tax and the other allocating a portion of the revenue to taxpayers.

Sydney's $2.3 billion desalination plant has been turned on for the first time in six years, as the city's dam levels fall below 60 per cent.

The possible bankruptcy of California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) could prompt future changes to the state's cap-and-trade regulations depending on the outcome of Chapter 11 proceedings, but the company can't immediately unwind any renewable energy contracts without federal approval.

California carbon market participants need additional counterparties who can hold volume for future use amid the rising WCI allowance surplus and tightening holding limits, numerous sources said.

An Ontario Superior Court justice ruled Friday that a green group’s challenge to the provincial government’s cancellation of its WCI-linked carbon market last year can continue, but a final ruling for the petitioners this spring would not bring back the scrapped ETS.

WCI, Inc. is seeking a qualified Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in either its Sacramento or Quebec City offices.

Communities in the far west of New South Wales are growingly increasingly anxious about the availability of water — for both drinking and their crops.

New satellite-based research shows there is at least as much value in knowing how much water is left for plants to use as there is in knowing how much rain may be on the way. Siyuan Tian, Postdoctoral fellow, Australian National University Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Councils say lack of funding and rock-bottom recycling prices is hampering efforts to build better infrastructure and reinvigorate dying market

Recycling is being stockpiled and council authorities fear it will soon head to landfill, as Australia’s recycling crisis continues to take its toll on the industry.

More than a year after China refused to accept 99% of the world’s recycling, halting the export of more than one million tonnes of Australian waste each year, the heads of local government warn the recycling market is still in trouble.

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The Rainbow Warrior III has spent the past two months sailing Australia’s southern waters, bolstering the fight to protect the bight

The ship sets sail and we brace our legs against the swell, sweeping and mopping around the cabins. Countering the tilt we work quickly and silently, trying not to wake any crew who had been on watch the previous night. Not even celebrities and photographers are spared the daily 8am chores, the ship’s third mate, Amrit Bakshi, tells us later, laughing.

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Thousands of lakes are set to lose their ice cover within a generation due to rising temperatures.