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Australia among the world's worst on biodiversity conservation

The Conversation - Fri, 2017-11-03 05:03
Australia is among seven countries contributing to more than half of the world's biodiversity loss. Yet next month, a crucial network of long-term research sites will lose funding. Noel D Preece, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at Charles Darwin and, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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New orangutan species discovered in Indonesia

BBC - Fri, 2017-11-03 03:59
Scientists have just identified a new great ape species - and it's already in danger.
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The UK's race to get its own nuclear safety inspectors

BBC - Fri, 2017-11-03 03:04
Highly-specialised staff are needed to take over from European nuclear regulators after Brexit.
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New great ape species identified in Indonesia

BBC - Fri, 2017-11-03 02:19
The apes in question were only reported to exist after an expedition into Sumatra mountains in 1997.
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'Big void' identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

BBC - Thu, 2017-11-02 22:01
Scanning technology suggests there is a large, previously unknown cavity in the ancient monument.
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Vic Liberal Party presents Morrison with lump of brown coal, Yates ejected

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 21:41
Former CEFC boss Oliver Yates says he was ejected from Victorian Liberal Party fundraiser after a Senator presented Treasurer Scott Morrison with a lump of brown coal, in thanks for his work.
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Nature@work photo competition winners - in pictures

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 20:00

The European Environment Agency invited European citizens to capture how nature benefits them in a competition called Nature@work. Here are the winning images, announced this week

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Six things we learnt at cycling's Six Day London

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 18:30

As the cycling event returns to the capital for the third year we get the trackside word on the races, the music and which riders like to party hardest

The lights are low and the music is loud. The beer is flowing and some of the world’s best riders are whipping round the wooden boards of Lee Valley velodrome in one of the many furious and fast paced races of the Six Day London event, now in its third year.

Night after night, thousands of people crowded to the velodrome to watch elite riders fight it out for laps and points to a background of flashing lights and a clubbing soundtrack. And like a club, the action is not just centre-stage; there’s something going on in every corner. Here are six lessons from Six Day London.

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Climate change 'will create world's biggest refugee crisis'

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 16:01

Experts warn refugees could number tens of millions in the next decade, and call for a new legal framework to protect the most vulnerable

Tens of millions of people will be forced from their homes by climate change in the next decade, creating the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen, according to a new report.

Senior US military and security experts have told the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) study that the number of climate refugees will dwarf those that have fled the Syrian conflict, bringing huge challenges to Europe.

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Country diary: mighty oaks and many, many, doomed acorns

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 15:30

Hollingside wood, Durham city Acorns’ chances of survival make lottery odds look attractive as most will be eaten by insects, birds and small mammals

This wood was last clear-felled in 1799, then replanted with beech and oak. Silver birch, horse chestnut, sycamore and holly have since found their own way in. On the southern slopes the oldest trees, straight-trunked with lofty crowns, tower above the understorey like the pillars and vaulted roof of a cathedral, inspiring a sense of reverence.

The raised voice of a distant dog-walker seemed almost like sacrilege, breaking the stillness of a tranquil afternoon. I sat on a fallen branch under an oak, to listen to the sounds of the woodland.

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Huge private sector investment puts Paris climate target in reach, says report

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 15:30

Global investment could hold the key to fighting climate change, with one trillion dollars already invested in solutions such as renewables and energy efficiency, says International Finance Corporation


At least one trillion dollars are being invested globally in ways to reduce the threat of climate change, including renewable power, energy efficiency, and public transport around the world.

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ESB to use inflated costs for wind and solar to justify NEG

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 14:17
Energy Security Board to use vastly inflated costs of wind and solar to justify its National Energy Guarantee. By using prices around 30-40 per cent above actual costs, will support its argument for little new wind and solar to be built in the coming decade.
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Let’s be honest: Australia is well behind on renewables

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 14:04
Australia’s fossil fuel share of electricity generation is higher than that of our peers. This chart is ugly for Australians who care about doing our bit in the 21st century.
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RES drops 758MW wind farm proposal, amid Victoria boom

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 14:02
Anti-wind resistance appears to win the day as RES Australia confirms Penshurst Wind Farm no longer an ongoing development opportunity.
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NEG: A rushed job that takes us backwards, not forwards

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 12:15
National Energy Guarantee appears to be a plan to get through the Coalition Party Room, and then a plan to have a plan. Unfortunately, that means many more months of uncertainty.
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Musk says Tesla big battery now more than 80% complete

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 11:59
Elon Musk says Tesla big battery in South Australia now more than 80% complete, but even bigger storage installations likely to follow.
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Tesla falls behind on Model 3 production, burns cash at record rate

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 11:57
Production line "bottlenecks" at Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory push Model 3 delivery target out 3 months. Musk says, "we've got it covered."
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Pregnant sharks and rays likely to abort their young if captured

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-11-02 11:57

New research has found a quarter of pregnant sharks and rays lose their pups when caught, threatening some species

Australian researchers have found a quarter of pregnant sharks and rays abort their pups when captured, revealing a little-known risk to the survival of the slow-growing animals.

An analysis of recorded instances of sharks and rays either aborting their pups or undergoing a premature birth once captured found 24% of pregnant females across 88 species lost their young. In some species, such as the pelagic stingray, the rate of abortion on capture was 85%.

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Explainer: hydrofluorocarbons saved the ozone layer, so why are we banning them?

The Conversation - Thu, 2017-11-02 11:31
Australia has ratified an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, a manmade compound once hailed as the saviour of the ozone layer. What went wrong? Jenny Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong Stephen Wilson, Associate Professor, University of Wollongong Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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China contractors and finance may help Adani’s mega coal mine

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-11-02 11:15
The potential involvement of China state-owned contractors and financiers may help Adani in its push for the mega coal mine in Queensland.
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