Environment news

• 'Not safe, not wanted': is the end of NT fracking ban a taste of things to come?

  17-06-2018 20:00
  The NT government has lifted its fracking moratorium despite fierce opposition, reflecting the war of attrition being waged by gas companiesWhen the Northern Territory government announced a moratorium on fracking in 2016, it was a victory for those fighting the expansion of the unconventional gas industry.
  That elation was replaced with shock and disappointment in April, when the chief minister, Michael Gunner, said the practice could resume following a 15-month scientific inquiry. Continue rea
  
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• Australian firms told to catch up on climate change risk checks

  17-06-2018 20:00
  New report says Australian companies lag behind international organisations Australian companies are not doing enough work to model the risks of climate change and how it will affect their profitability, a new report by a thinktank says.Progressive thinktank the Centre for Policy Development says that while most companies have committed to considering what climate change and the Paris climate agreement means for their business strategy, too few have begun using scenario analysis techniques to mo
  
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• An unconventional gas boom: the rise of CSG in Australia

  17-06-2018 20:00
  In two decades coal seam gas has come to account for 30% of gas production. Here’s how the picture varies state to stateAustralia’s production of coal seam gas has risen exponentially since 1995, going from zero to 30% of the country’s overall gas production in 2015-16. Continue reading...
  
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• Siemens pilots the use of ammonia for green energy storage

  17-06-2018 15:01
  Firm hopes to better conventional batteries to store renewably generated powerA chemical compound commonly used to boost crop yields could be the answer to helping the world increase its consumption of renewable energy.In a world first, Siemens is opening a £1.5m pilot project in Oxfordshire employing ammonia as a new form of energy storage. Continue reading...
  
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• Surfers Against Sewage ride the wave of the 'Harry and Meghan effect'

  17-06-2018 14:14
  In nearly 30 years, a bunch of surfers concerned about pollution have become a serious marine conservation force. An unexpected royal patronage has given them more funding and greater reach than ever to fight plastic pollution Despite its eye-catching name, Surfers Against Sewage probably owes its existence to plastic. “The advent of panty-liners meant you could really see sewage slicks. Condoms, panty-liners and other plastic refuse made for a visceral, and visual, reminder of pollution,&
  
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• Paper straw factory to open in Britain as restaurants ditch plastic

  17-06-2018 13:25
  Production line in Ebbw Vale, Wales, to make straws for McDonald’s and othersNo paper straws have been made in Britain for the last several decades. But that is about to change as a group of packaging industry veterans prepare to open a dedicated paper straw production line in Ebbw Vale, Wales, making hundreds of millions of straws a year for McDonald’s and other food companies as they prepare for a ban on plastic straws in the UK.“We spotted a huge opportunity, and we went for
  
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• High risk of food shortages without pesticides, says chemical giant

  17-06-2018 13:00
  Head of Syngenta, world’s biggest pesticide maker, says rejecting farming tech could have serious consequences within 20 yearsThe world is likely to face food shortages within 20 years if pesticides and genetically modified crops are shunned, according to the head of the world’s biggest pesticide manufacturer.
  J Erik Fyrwald, CEO of Syngenta, also said the technologies to produce more food from less land are vital in halting climate change, but that better targeting will mean farmers
  
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• Mozambique: the secret rainforest at the heart of an African volcano

  17-06-2018 10:02
  A ‘dream team’ of scientists scaled Mount Lico and found a wealth of new speciesStanding in a pit in the red soil of a mountaintop forest in northern Mozambique, Dr Simon Willcock was dirty but very excited. “Undisturbed forest is incredibly rare,” he said. “That is why we scaled a 125-metre-tall cliff with a pickaxe.” Willcock, from Bangor University in Wales, knew of no other rainforest in Africa that scientists can confidently say has not been disturbed by
  
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• Where have all our insects gone?

  17-06-2018 10:00
  There is a crisis in the countryside – and a massive decline in insect numbers could have significant consequences for the environmentWhen Simon Leather was a student in the 1970s, he took a summer job as a postman and delivered mail to the villages of Kirk Hammerton and Green Hammerton in North Yorkshire. He recalls his early morning walks through its lanes, past the porches of houses on his round. At virtually every home, he saw the same picture: windows plastered with tiger moths that h
  
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• How safe are savings as Fed rushes in where ECB fears to tread?

  17-06-2018 08:00
  With the base rate in the eurozone still at 0%, funds are flowing back to the US using a myriad of financial instrumentsWhile governments around the world contemplate the fallout from Donald Trump’s trade war with China, banks are wrestling with central bank moves that are likely to have a much more fundamental impact on the global economy.On Wednesday the US Federal Reserve pressed ahead with its policy of raising interest rates, adding a seventh quarter-point rise since 2015 to leave the
  
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• The secret rainforest hidden at the heart of an African volcano - in pictures

  17-06-2018 07:00
  A ‘dream team’ of international scientists scaled Mozambique’s Mount Lico and found a wealth of new species. Allianceearth.org Continue reading...
  
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• Woman swallowed by giant python in Indonesia

  17-06-2018 02:52
  Seven-metre snake found during search for woman who had gone to do some gardeningAn Indonesian woman has been found in the belly of a giant python after the swollen snake was captured near where she vanished while tending her vegetable garden, police said on Saturday.Related: Giant python swallows Indonesian farmer wholeContinue reading...
  
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