Feed aggregator

From snakes to spiders, wasps to scorpions, the Natural History Museum’s new Venom exhibition promises to unnerve and entice, as it explores one of nature’s deadliest forces and its power to both kill and cure

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Billionaire’s campaign has seen half of US coal plants close in six years. Now he is targeting Europe and beyond to fight climate change and air pollution

The battle to end coal-burning, backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, is expanding out of the US and around the world in its bid to reduce the global warming threat posed by the most polluting fossil fuel.

Bloomberg, a UN special envoy on climate change and former mayor of New York city, has funded a $164m campaign in the US since 2010, during which time more than half the nation’s coal-fired power plants have been closed.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: The latest research leads the environment secretary to overturn the government’s previous opposition, making a total EU ban much more likely

A total ban on insect-harming pesticides in fields across Europe will be backed by the UK, environment secretary Michael Gove has revealed.

The decision reverses the government’s previous position and is justified by recent new evidence showing neonicotinoids have contaminated the whole landscape and cause damage to colonies of bees. It also follows the revelation that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, a discovery Gove said had shocked him.

Continue reading...

With more and more evidence emerging that these pesticides harm bees and other insects, it would be irresponsible not to restrict their use

Two principles guide this government’s approach to the natural world. We want not just to protect but to enhance the environment. And we want our decisions to be informed at all times by rigorous scientific evidence.

Which is why when the science shows that our environment is in increasing danger we have to act. Like many others, I was deeply concerned by a recently published German study into the health of some insect populations. The Guardian covered the report in depth, not least because the statistics were so stark. Data gathered over 25 years appeared to indicate a 75% fall in the numbers of flying insects within those sites.

Continue reading...

While other countries race into the distance, Australia is still on the starting grid when it comes to electric cars. Why so slow? Because we don't have a proper recharging network. Graciela Metternicht, Professor of Environmental Geography, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Danielle Drozdzewski, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

LNP leader Tim Nicholls says the advertising plan is to ‘overcome misleading green activist scare campaigns’

A Liberal National party plan to spend $4m on a Great Barrier Reef marketing campaign if it takes power in Queensland has drawn fire as an attempt at “greenwashing” in a void of climate policy.

The LNP leader, Tim Nicholls, said the advertising was to “overcome the misleading green activist scare campaigns which have talked down our greatest natural wonder”.

Continue reading...

SA energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says cannot support NEG, saying it attack on renewables and designed to keep alive dirty coal.

If the Turnbull government was setting the standard for global climate action... we'd be going to hell in a handcart, says new report.

International Energy Agency says solar, hydro and and wind have enormous potential for use in industrial processes – particularly in places like Australia, where the cost will be $USUS30/MWh.

For the first time in 113 years, live data is streaming from the top of the UK's tallest mountain.

Big fossil-fuel-based utilities are overcharging their customers, going on a “'gorging spree” while they still can.

Commercial solar growth helps push Australia's total PV installs to 107MW in October, almost guaranteeing 1GW record for 2017.

Booming of male bitterns reveals presence of at least 164 of the heron-like waders living in British wetlands, says charity

Populations of the bittern, a wetland bird that was facing extinction in the UK in the late 1990s, are at a record high, conservationists report.

Resident numbers of “Britain’s loudest bird” increased in 2017, and experts – using the foghorn-like booming call of the males to survey the species – have counted at least 164 birds at 71 sites.

Continue reading...

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, David Papps, and river operators are working together to improve ecological outcomes in the lower Darling.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder today announced the appointment of six permanent local engagement officers to work with communities to protect rivers and wetlands across the Murray Darling Basin.

Jinko sets new efficiency record for PERC solar cell and sees big future in "half cell" modules.

Long time far from home, with great views... the International Space Station is not your typical holiday spot.

Irish company DP Energy unveils major expansion of its Port Augusta hybrid renewable energy park, adding another 300MW of solar and 400MW of battery storage as South Australia continues to hurtle towards near 100 per cent renewable energy.

Astronomers discover the celestial equivalent of a horror film villain: a star that wouldn't stay dead.

To meet the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement to keep future warming 'well under two degrees, no new coal or gas resources should be opened up in Australia, says a new report from the Climate Council.