Environment news

• Magic mushrooms: art foraged from nature – in pictures

  19-08-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  The mysterious islands of the Salish Sea, between British Columbia and Washington State, are home to the ecological artist Jill Bliss, who since 2012 has devoted herself to exploring the isolated region, artistically and literally. The archipelago has its own unique ecosystem, and Bliss’s medleys of mushrooms and other arcane plants, which she calls her “living sculptures”, are gathered during a “daily treasure hunt”, hiking through woods and staying in isolated cab
  
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• 'They're like the mafia': the super gangs behind Africa's poaching crisis

  19-08-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Pressure is mounting against multi-faceted smugglers but the legal case, though strong, is enormously complexLate on 6 June 2014 Kenyan police, acting on a tip-off, raided a used car lot in Mombasa’s industrial area. Inside Fuji Motors East Africa Ltd, in one of the lock-ups, they found two tonnes of ivory. Days earlier a white Mitsubishi truck, its paperwork claiming “household equipment” but in fact carrying more than 300 elephant tusks secreted beneath a tarpaulin, had pulle
  
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• Late summer flowers make crucial refuelling stops for the insects

  19-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  New Forest, Hampshire Marsh flowers provide nectar for a long list of species, from marmalade hoverflies to silver-washed fritillariesThe New Forest rides, named long before many were gravelled to allow cyclists and others ease of access, cut through the inclosures and plantations, serving as motorways for the many small creatures that abound in these woodlands. Much of the colour here in earlier months has gone. The golden yellow rays of marsh ragwort, Jacobaea aquatica, a plant quickly disting
  
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• Tasmania can lead the way in renewable energy, Turnbull says

  19-08-2017 05:28 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister addresses state’s Liberal party council meeting and urges voters to retain the first-term Hodgman governmentThe prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has trumpeted Tasmania’s ability to lead the country in renewable energy at the state’s Liberal party council meeting.On Saturday, Turnbull addressed 250 delegates at the annual conference in Launceston, the party’s final gathering before a state election in March. Continue reading...
  
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• Numbers shrinking for Tasmania's weird but much-loved giant freshwater lobster

  19-08-2017 00:07 via theguardian.com
  Federal government calls for more areas to be placed in reserve to protect the huge crayfish, the world’s largest invertebrateThe federal government has called for more areas of north-west Tasmania to be placed in reserve as part of a conservation plan designed to protect the endangered giant freshwater crayfish.The crayfish, Astacopsis gouldi, can weigh up to 6kg and live for 60 years. Commonly called the giant freshwater lobster, it is the largest invertebrate in the world and endemic to
  
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• Electricity retailer selling plans with 'discounts' on artificially inflated prices

  19-08-2017 00:07 via theguardian.com
  Click Energy plans reduced from seemingly arbitrary rates as ACCC urges businesses to be upfront about discountsAn electricity retailer is selling plans with “discounts” on prices that have been arbitrarily inflated, resulting in some customers paying hundreds of dollars more per year on their electricity bills.The practice highlights a weakness in the recently announced agreement between energy retailers and the government. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said the companies ag
  
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