Environment news

• As climate disaster looms, Malcolm Turnbull needs to stop appeasing and start leading

  05-11-2016 22:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Hazelwood’s closure should force both federal and state governments to acknowledge the future is here alreadyAs the Chicago Cubs finally won the baseball World Series, Twitter was awash with comments on things that had happened since 1908 – the last time the Cubs won. For example, since then there had been two world wars, the beginning and end of the Soviet Union and media had moved from a time when baseball wasn’t even broadcast on radio to when you could watch the game in HD
  
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• China announces plan to curb carbon emissions

  05-11-2016 17:00
  
  BEIJING (AP) — China has announced a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next several years, while capping coal consumption and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels.
  
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• To deal with climate change we need a new financial system

  05-11-2016 11:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Abolishing debt-based currency isn’t a new idea, but it could hold the secret to ending our economies’ environmentally damaging addiction to growthWhen it comes to global warming, we know that the real problem is not just fossil fuels – it is the logic of endless growth that is built into our economic system. If we don’t keep the global economy growing by at least 3% per year, it plunges into crisis. That means we have to double the size of the economy every 20 years, jus
  
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• How a new money system could help stop climate change

  05-11-2016 11:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Abolishing debt-based currency isn’t a new idea, but it could hold the secret to ending our economies’ environmentally damaging addiction to growthWhen it comes to global warming, we know that the real problem is not just fossil fuels – it is the logic of endless growth that is built into our economic system. If we don’t keep the global economy growing by at least 3% per year, it plunges into crisis. That means we have to double the size of the economy every 20 years, jus
  
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• Birds are more like ‘feathered apes’ than ‘bird brains’

  05-11-2016 10:53 via theguardian.com
  
  For centuries scientists dismissed birds as dumb based on physical differences in their brains. How wrong we were.When Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees making tools in 1960, humans lost their self-aggrandizing status as the world’s only tool makers. Now scientists are beginning to realise there may be much more ‘intelligent life’ in the universe than previously thought, but it’s just here: on our planet. Since Goodall’s discovery, researchers have found numerous ot
  
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• Your chance to go green with an energy Isa

  05-11-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Product from ethical investment platform Abundance and Swindon council allows public to invest in renewables tax-freeWhat’s been described as the UK’s first “green energy” Isa is set to go on sale this weekend, and has received an endorsement of sorts from a senior government minister.It is the result of a link-up between ethical investment platform Abundance and Swindon borough council, and will allow the public to invest directly in renewable energy projects, tax free.
  
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• Riverside encounter with an otter and her young

  05-11-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Newcastle Emlyn, West Wales Even in the fading light I could pick out every detail of them: the small rounded ears, the luxurious whiskers, the broad muzzle and their wonderful strangenessThe Afon Teifi, one of the most beautiful Welsh rivers, loops round the castle at Emlyn, the bailey of which is sentinelled with field maples. The bank is palisaded with fine alders, hung with purple cones and catkins. Standing by one of these on an autumn afternoon, I thought about the alder’s remarkable
  
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• China pledges 18-percent carbon emissions cut by 2020

  05-11-2016 06:16
  China's cabinet issued a new climate plan targeting an 18-percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared to 2015 levels, the same day that the Paris Agreement of nearly 200 countries took effect. Under ...
  
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• Sharks and seals feast on salmon off Australia's coast – video

  05-11-2016 04:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Ocean predators swirl through a growing school of salmon gathering just off the coast of New South Wales on Friday. The footage also features kayakers paddling nearby. The images were captured using a drone hovering near Avoca beach on the central coast Continue reading...
  
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• What's in store at the Marrakech climate talks – and will Australia still back coal? | Graham Readfearn

  05-11-2016 02:06 via theguardian.com
  
  The US presidential race is guaranteed to prove a distraction at the Morocco COP22 gathering, where action is on the agendaThe Australian government takes a delegation to the United Nations climate change talks in Morocco starting Monday – two weeks that are sure to be dominated by, well, who knows?Because, during the first week, the United States will go to the polls to pick a new president – an event that will act like a giant weapon of mass distraction in Marrakech.Continue readin
  
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• SpaceX aiming to return to flight next month: CEO Musk

  05-11-2016 00:38
  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Friday his space launch company is aiming to return its rockets to flight in mid-December following a launch pad accident two months ago. During an interview with CNBC, Musk said investigators had figured out why a Falcon 9 rocket burst into flames on Sept. 1 as it was being fueled for a routine, preflight test. The oxygen then reacted with a carbon composite bottle containing liquid helium that sits inside
  
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