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Heathrow expansion opportunity squandered, MPs say
Transport secretary urged to commit to timetable in light of Airports Commission report backing third runway
Delaying a decision on a third runway has “squandered the opportunity” to act on evidence and expand Heathrow, a cross-party committee of MPs said as it called on the government to commit to a clear timetable.
The Commons transport select committee described ministerial claims of progress in the decision-making process as “illusory” and demanded that the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, make clear what the outstanding areas of contention were.
Continue reading...Global water shortages to deliver 'severe hit' to economies, World Bank warns
The Middle East, north Africa, central Asia and south Asia due to suffer biggest economic hit from water scarcity as climate change takes hold, report finds
Water shortages will deliver a “severe hit” to the economies of the Middle East, central Asia, and Africa by the middle of the century, taking double digits off their GDP, the World Bank warned on Tuesday.
By 2050, growing demand for cities and for agriculture would put water in short supply in regions where it is now plentiful – and worsen shortages across a vast swath of Africa and Asia, spurring conflict and migration, the bank said.
Continue reading...The time has come to turn up the heat on those who are wrecking planet Earth | Bill McKibben
Break free and join the biggest global action against fossil fuel companies the world has ever seen
An interesting question is, what are you waiting for?
Global warming is the biggest problem we’ve ever faced as a civilisation — certainly you want to act to slow it down, but perhaps you’ve been waiting for just the right moment.
Continue reading...Strawbale Construction - Bohdan Dorniak
April 2016
Bohdan Dorniak - Director of Bohdan Dorniak & Co Architects.
Bohdan Dorniak is the Director of Bohdan Dorniak & Co Architects, an Adelaide based architectural practice, established in 1989 and designing buildings that are sensitive to the environment and energy efficient. With a client-centered approach which respects the client’s wishes, needs, budgetary constraints and lifestyle, further consideration is given to energy demands and ongoing building efficiency and sustainability. Bohdan has extensive experience designing strawbale building, with a number of projects in completed and in progress around the state. He is also one of the founding members of Ausbale - Straw Bale Building: Australia & New Zealand
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Climate protesters invade UK's largest opencast coalmine
Hundreds of activists take control of vast site and bring operations to a halt as part of a coordinated global direct action against fossil fuel companies
Hundreds of environmental activists have invaded the UK’s largest opencast coalmine and halted operations across the vast site.
Dressed in red boiler suits, groups of protesters crossed barbed wire fences to gain access to Ffos-y-fran mine near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Some chained themselves to machinery, others lay across access roads.
Continue reading...Portfolio Budget Statements 2016-17
Hempcrete / Hemp Masonry - Klara Marosszeky
April 2016
Klara Marosszeky - Managing Director of Australian Hemp Masonry Company
Klara Marosszeky has been involved in the Australian Hemp industry for 16 years in both the farming and construction sectors. Beginning with agronomic research on 2ha in Wollombi in the NSW Hunter Valley in 1999, she has grown hemp for fibre on dryland as well as irrigated farms in several regions of NSW and since 2006 she has worked with seed breeders, farmers and processors around Australia.
Her research at the Australian Centre for Construction Innovation at UNSW between 2000 and 2006, resulted in the development of the low embodied energy, BCA compliant Hemp Lime building materials that the Australian Hemp Masonry Company has now supplied into 42 builds in Australia as well as into Singapore's first zero-energy public building. Klara is a qualified workplace assessor and provides training and information to architects, building designers, builders and owner builders. Her goal is to consolidate regional supply of Australian hemp for carbon neutral construction. She is the President of the recently formed Australian Industrial Hemp Alliance and Secretary of Northern River Hemp Inc.
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Tags: green buildings, hemp, hempcrete, hemp masonry, natural building materials, sustainable building, sustainable design and sustainability
Mammal on Victorian beach thought to be rare dwarf sperm whale
The 2.42-metre whale washed up on Lake Tyers beach and authorities suspect it could be rare species spotted only 17 times since records began in Australia
A rare dwarf sperm whale that has been spotted only 17 times since records began in Australia may have washed up on a Victorian beach, local authorities have said.
The 2.42-metre whale died after becoming stranded on Lake Tyers beach in Gippsland, about 330km east of Melbourne, on Saturday.
Continue reading...Blocking highs and jet stream kinks
New studies suggest that the weather in far off Greenland, one of the fastest warming parts of the Earth, is affecting the rainfall patterns in Britain. This is linked to the extremely wet summers of 2007 and 2012.
Sheffield University, checking data back to 1851, found that since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of summer high pressure blocking systems that become anchored over this vast island ice sheet. The result has been to drag warm air over Greenland causing melting on a much-increased scale.
Continue reading...Feast of cat shown on eagle cam scares feline owners: 'Nature isn't pretty'
Footage from a live web camera nest shows bald eagles serving up a cat to eaglets – but the Audubon Society determines dead cat was not preyed upon
Cat owners have been warned of the dangers their feline companions face when venturing outdoors after video emerged of bald eagles feasting on the body of a dead cat near Pittsburgh.
Footage from a live web camera mounted at the Hays bald eagle nest, located a few miles from the center of Pittsburgh, showed the eagles serving up the cat to hungry eaglets. Concerned cat owners bombarded the local Audubon Society about why the eagles had preyed upon the cat.
Continue reading...Benjamin Law explores 'Tang: treasures from the Silk Road capital'
While Europe was deep in the Dark Ages, Asia’s Tang Empire was the richest and most powerful political unit in the world. Benjamin Law looks at treasures from the golden age of China alongside latest art world innovations at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Pure Land: inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang (2012/16), created by Sarah Kenderdine and Jeffrey Shaw at City University Hong Kong in partnership with the Dunhuang Academy. Installed for Tang: 唐 treasures from the Silk Road capital by the Laboratory for Innovation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, University of New South Wales
Carp in the Murray-Darling Basin and Commonwealth environmental water
Unchecked pollution and bad food ‘killing thousands in UK’
Thousands of people are dying each year because of the government’s failure to tackle food poisoning, health and safety breaches and pollution, a thinktank is warning.
A new report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) claims that lax regulation and weak enforcement are failing to hold businesses in check and are tantamount to state-facilitated “social murder”.
Continue reading...Britain's best places to take off on a butterfly safari
The purple emperor and chequered skipper await, whether you just fancy a flutter or metamorphose into a full-blown spotter
The purple emperor butterfly, a rather eccentric 1950s schoolmaster called Ian Heslop once declared, is the ultimate “big game”. A renowned collector, he boasted of catching as many emperors as he had shot elephants (four) but said that no exotic African beast gave him “so much joy as the seeing of my first emperor safely in the net”.
It is no longer acceptable to shoot elephants or catch purple emperors but Heslop was on to something – the overlooked adrenal pleasure of a butterfly safari. Chasing butterflies, to photograph or simply to enjoy, may seem like a whimsical pastime but can be surprisingly thrilling.
Continue reading...Has the Chernobyl disaster affected the number of nuclear plants built?
Thirty years on from one of the worst radiation leaks in history, several countries have moved to phase out nuclear energy production altogether, and experts say another accident would kill the industry
Related: Chernobyl nuclear disaster 30th anniversary – in pictures
This week marks 30 years since an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine led to a huge leak of radiation across eastern Europe.
Continue reading...Sea lion found on farm 50 miles inland dies after release into ocean
The 160kg animal swam and waddled its way to the ranch in Washington state but has failed to survive the sea, biologists say
A sea lion that baffled scientists after being found in the driveway of a cattle ranch about 80km (50 miles) from the ocean in Washington state has been found dead two weeks after being released into the sea.
The male California sea lion was released into Puget Sound on 15 April after it apparently swam and waddled its way to the ranch near Oakville, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.
Continue reading...VW and Shell accused of trying to block EU push for electric cars
Industry giants’ call for biofuels over electric and fuel-efficient cars puts Europe’s carbon emissions targets at risk, say experts
VW and Shell have been accused of trying to block Europe’s push for electric cars and more efficient cars, by saying biofuels should be at heart of efforts to green the industry instead.
The EU is planning two new fuel efficiency targets for 2025 and 2030 to help meet promises made at the Paris climate summit last December.
Continue reading...Rowan Williams calls on Cambridge University to divest from fossil fuels
Former archbishop of Canterbury says the university should withdraw its £5.8bn fund from from oil, coal and gas on ethical and financial grounds
Rowan Williams has called on the University of Cambridge to divest from fossil fuels, arguing that climate change is “a life-and-death question”.
The former archbishop of Canterbury and master of Magdalene college made his comments in a foreword to a 74-page report on divestment by student campaign group Cambridge Zero Carbon Society.
Continue reading...Invitation to comment on listing assessment for Fregata andrewsi (Christmas Island frigatebird)
Could carbon farming be the answer for a 'clapped-out' Australia?
Farmers signing up for the carbon emissions reduction fund have to meet strict guidelines but there is significant profit and energy savings to be made
This week the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) will hold the third emissions reduction fund auction and farmers across Australia will move to the forefront of efforts to rescue a “clapped-out” country.
Australian farmers have long bought and sold their wares at auction. Sale yards were the hub of country towns and the din of a moleskin-clad auctioneer shouting over the bleating and mooing of fattened livestock has long been a familiar rural backdrop.
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